Around 1,000 furious EMINEM fans were turned away from the doors of VIRGIN MEGASTORE in GLASGOW on Saturday (January 31) after the ticket system collapsed.
All 40,000 tickets for the star’s June 24 Hampden Park stadium show sold out within 45 minutes, with 65% of them being sold online, which meant that fans who had queued overnight were left ticketless.
According to the Sunday Herald, the scene descended into farce, with the store being forced to close its doors as staff feared for their safety, and police were called. The booking system collapsed minutes after the tickets went on sale at 9am. A spokeswoman told the newspaper: “The system went down and then it got quite scary as the crowd wouldn’t disperse from the store. There was shouting and our staff felt really intimidated so we decided with the police to close the store to guarantee the safety of our staff.”
The report said that fans who had also queued outside Edinburgh and Aberdeen stores were also disappointed.
Sean McLean, 20, a student from Motherwell, had been queuing in the rain since 8.30pm the previous night. He told the Sunday Herald: “I’ve got on three jackets and two shirts and I came here early to be first in the queue. I can’t believe this has happened. I’m absolutely gutted. If you’re first in the queue you expect to get a ticket.”
Ticketmaster, who run the ticketing system used by Virgin, issued an apology, saying: “Ticketmaster apologises to both Eminem fans and Virgin Megastores for difficulties experienced by those fans waiting to purchase tickets from Virgin Megastores.
“The higher-than-anticipated demand overwhelmed Ticketmasters ability to provide sales at these locations. An investigation will take place to help prevent future problems arising.”
Tickets for the Hampden Park gig are changing hands on Internet auction site ebay for £175.
Tickets for the rapper’s Milton Keynes Bowl show on June 21 sold out equally fast, and, as previously reported on NME.COM, a second date was added on June 22.