Scalpers profit from band’s last gigs
of boy band Wanna One have expressed frustration at the high ticket prices being offered by scalpers for the K-Pop idols’ concerts in Bangkok.
The tickets for the Korean supergroup were snapped up moments after they became available for purchase online at wannaone1theworldinbkk.com at 10am on Saturday. The tickets for the band’s two shows at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani on Aug 4-5 were sold out within minutes, causing the server to collapse under the weight of all the website traffic.
Shortly afterwards, scalpers began offering tickets for sale on social media, especially on Twitter with the hash tag# Wanna One 1 The World in BK K.
The official prices range from 7,500 baht for the best seats near the stage to 2,500 baht at the back of the arena. The most sought-after tickets were in the standing areas priced at 5,500 baht and 6,500 baht.
But the prices offered by scalpers have been hairraising. A 5,500-baht standing ticket is selling for 13,000 baht or more. Some of the best seats are being offered at 18,000-20,000 baht.
“So people who really want a ticket like me weren’t even lucky enough to get one ticket, but those who use tickets to make money were able to get them. I’m crying,” one fan tweeted.
“Don’t buy them. Sellers will slash the prices before the concerts if some cannot be sold,” suggested another.
On Monday afternoon, Twitter messages were still piling up on “Wannable”, the band’s fan club feed, from fans who “wannago” and scalpers who “wannagetrich” at their expense.
The fight for tickets has made# Wanna One - 1TheWorldinBKK among the top-trending hash tags on Twitter in Thailand. More than 10 million messages were tweeted on Sunday, and a further 600,000 by Monday evening.
Wanna One is probably the most popular K-Pop band in Thailand. It features 11 stars from different record companies in South Korea.
Their world tour kicked off in Seoul on June 1 and includes the two-day stop in Bangkok. Those will be the final concerts before the supergroup breaks up and the various stars resume working on their own projects.