‘Disgusting how many tickets have been bought to resell for a ridiculous price’
Peter Kay might have wanted to keep tickets to his upcoming tour the “same price as they were on my previous tour in 2010” but that hasn’t stopped resellers asking for upwards of £1,000 for tickets that went on just today.
The 49-year-old announced his comeback tour earlier this week and is due to perform at arenas across the UK next year starting in Manchester before travelling to Birmingham, Liverpool, Belfast, Newcastle, Dublin, Glasgow, Cardiff and Nottingham. He is also doing a month-long London residency at the 02.
Due to demand further dates in Birmingham, London, Manchester and Sheffield were announced on Saturday as Ticketmaster was overwhelmed with interest. Some fans complained they were in a virtual queue for tickets with 280,000 people ahead of them.
280,000 ahead of me! 😱
— Emma Greatorex (@Emma5News) November 12, 2022
See also: Peter Kay fans fuming as they struggle to get tickets for 2023 comeback tour
Some people lucky enough to nab tickets, however, were soon trying to sell them for massive profits on social media and resale site Viagogo. Kay had, due to the cost of living crisis, priced tickets from £35.
“So @peterkay_co_uk has tried to liaise with the general public by setting his prices low because of the cost of living crisis….just for them to be sold on for ten times more? @viagogo should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for these staggering prices,” one person tweeted, sharing a screenshot of tickets going for over £340 each.
“Disgusting how many tickets have been bought to resell for a ridiculous price for Peter Kay. Especially as he priced tickets to help people with cost of living,” another tweeted.
Resale of @peterkay_co_uk tickets already on @viagogo for Cardiff, some over a £1000 already, only been on sale since 10am! Have a word!!! #peterkay #peterkaytour #peterkaytickets
— Ryan Tett (@Ryan_Tett13) November 12, 2022
Disgusting how many tickets have been bought to resell for a ridiculous price for Peter Kay. Especially as he priced tickets to help people with cost of living.
— Elton 🦁🏴 (@YorkshireTeaFC) November 12, 2022
Seems perfectly fair price for Peter Kay tickets 🤣 when is this gunna stop pic.twitter.com/UHQWGLliCj
— Rhys (@AyupMeDuckyy) November 12, 2022
Anyones who’s a genuine Peter Kay fan and who’s sat for an hour this morning to get tickets – don’t worry, ViaGoGo have them at the cheap cheap price at £400 for 2. Touts and Resale websites are the absolute scum of the earth – when is something going to be done about this? pic.twitter.com/i5Z1n5AEzK
— LC (@NUFCLC) November 12, 2022
@viagogo please explain how Peter Kay tickets are already on your site at a VASTLY inflated price while the tickets sales are STILL open and I am currently still in the queues. This is blatent profiteering as you seem to have access to buying the tickets before genuine fans. pic.twitter.com/3bmVf7PL02
— Jayniep 🌻🇺🇦 🏴 (@JayneJayniep73) November 12, 2022
One person on Twitter who managed to buy eight tickets admitted they had a face value of £57.75 each – but was openly selling them for £400 each, or £3,200 for the lot, Metro reported.
Another critic of the resell system lamented sarcastically: “Anyone who’s a genuine Peter Kay fan and who’s sat for an hour this morning to get tickets – don’t worry, ViaGoGo have them at the cheap cheap price at £400 for 2.”
Extra dates added to Peter Kay's arena tour! Tickets on sale now at https://t.co/LPWCTyZLzv pic.twitter.com/cafQdXOCp2
— Peter Kay (@peterkay_co_uk) November 12, 2022
Ahead of the general release of tickets, O2 Priority customers faced difficulties getting their hands on pre-sale tickets with the mobile network revealing they had experienced the “highest demand” in 15 years.
O2 tweeted on Friday: “We’re seeing unprecedented demand for Peter Kay tickets & we know a lot of you can’t access Priority. Sorry, we’re working on it. Please be patient; this is by far the highest demand we’ve ever seen for Priority Tickets in 15 years.
“The presale lasts for 48h so keep checking.”
Kay shared a statement on Twitter from organiser SJM Concerts in reaction to the huge demand. It read: “We’d like to acknowledge and apologise for a number of technical issues customers experience while trying to buy tickets for Peter Kay’s upcoming tour via the O2 Priority pre-sale earlier today.
“SJM Concerts would like to reassure customers that substantial provision has been put in place for the main ticket on-sale this Saturday 12th at 10am.
“Plenty of tickets will be available throughout the day so please persevere and please buy from official ticket outlets listed on the attached link.”
The new show was announced during the I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! ad break, with a clip of Kay carrying a roll of carpet and shouting to a man in a car.
Peter Kay announces his first new live stand-up tour in 12 years!
Tickets go on sale 10am Saturday 12th November at https://t.co/EVCiTLh3J7 pic.twitter.com/lJBK8R8Y8I
— Peter Kay (@peterkay_co_uk) November 6, 2022
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- Peter Kay announces first live standup tour in 12 years
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