Many fans slammed the promoters for failing to adopt a stricter ticketing policy, with one writing that they should 'get rid of resales.'
- Jun 2, 2018
AceShowbiz - BTS fans have slammed the promoters of their first U.K. gigs after touts advertised tickets for more than $1,300 (£1,000) within minutes of the concert selling out.
The K-Pop band, who have built a huge following on social media and recently topped the U.S. album chart, are playing two dates at London's O2 Arena in October.
Tickets went on sale on Friday, June 1 and apparently sold out within minutes, disappointing many of their fans - who are known as the BTS Army. Army members disappointment turned to fury however, when they saw tickets placed on resale sites at grossly inflated prices, moments after they'd been told they were unavailable.
Tickets were originally priced between $83 (£62.50) and $213 (£160) for general admission and $292 (£220) for V.I.P. access - but were being sold for more than $1,300 on the website GetMeIn! and almost $600 (£450) on rival site Viagogo.
One teenage fan criticised the group on Twitter for failing to adopt a stricter ticketing policy, writing: "If BTS wanted to make tickets fair by getting rid of priority why didn't they get rid of resales too. E.g. (the musical) Hamilton only sold through ticketmaster and you had to have the original buyers card and id to get in."
If BTS wanted to make tickets fair by getting rid of priority why didn't they get rid of resales too
E.g. Hamilton only sold through ticketmaster and you had to have the original buyers card and id to get in
— lαυrα | Exams till the 14th (@LaurasLaurel) June 1, 2018
British acts have begun cracking down on those profiteering from reselling tickets - and Ed Sheeran cancelled thousands of resold tickets for his ongoing U.K. tour.
Angela Lee told Britain's Metro newspaper she was upset touts appeared to have blocked real fans from seeing the band.
"The tickets went on sale at 8.59am, if I wasn't already online then I wouldn't have even realised, and what makes it worse is that by the time it was 9.01am all the tickets were apparently sold out with tout sites marking these up to £1,000+," she explained.
Others expressed frustration that a priority sale for customers of mobile network O2 was cancelled earlier this week (end June 3).
The "Fake Love" musicians' popularity in Britain is rising fast and their new album "Love Yourself" entered the top ten of the U.K. charts last Friday, May 25.
