Buying concert tickets has become the great rock ’n’ roll swindle
When my teenager came storming into the sitting room the other evening begging, with me to buy her tickets for a concert right that minute, I demurred.
Then she sobbed: “But it’s Nils Frahm! And he’s really old so you can come, too!” Talk about cognitive dissonance, Dear Reader. I’d never heard of Nils Frahm but he didn’t sound like a sweary scary grime artist. And she asked me along! Me!
While I sent her to fetch my handbag, I googled him; he turned out to be an earnest, bald, 36-year-old German composer and musician, combining modern classical and electronic sounds.
Weird, yes, but at least nobody was going to hurl me into a mosh pit.
On the ticket website, flashing notifications kept urging us to hurry up because prices were rising and these in-demand tickets would be sold to someone else if we didn’t stump up the cash. The countdown was displayed on a huge digital clock to inject even more panic into the mix.
Now, deep down, I sort of knew that we were buying not direct from the venue but from secondary ticket sellers Viagogo, and that we really shouldn’t.
Why not? Well, for starters, Switzerland-based Viagogo is currently facing legal action
from the Competition and Markets Authority for allegedly failing to comply with British competition law.
Digital minister Margot James told BBC Radio 5 Live earlier this year that if fans had to use a secondary site to buy tickets, “don’t choose Viagogo – they are the worst”. Ed Sheeran is boycotting them.
Viagogo are essentially online ticket touts, who engage in “drip-pricing” customers so that they only learn about the VAT, booking and delivery fees at the end of the booking process. But the pressure was on. It was all such a horrible, confusing blur that I ended up paying well over the odds, but at least I consoled myself that we got a pair in the stalls so presumably the final figure of £150.44 (gulp) wasn’t too bad for the best seats in the house.
This week our tickets arrived. The original cost? £33.50 each. I was mortified. The “seats”? Stalls Standing. I was furious. So far I’ve not been able to speak to anyone at Viagogo but all I can say is that I better get a refund; or I’ll be chanting “caveat emptor” from the mosh pit.