Before online box offices opened at 10 a.m. on Friday, eager fans were stuck in a virtual waiting room.
Shania Twain fan Jeff Flanagan purchased his tickets during Thursday’s presale. He attempted to purchase additional tickets for family the next morning.
“The buffering page is actually still on my laptop and cellphone right now,” he told CTV. “I was [logged] on this morning and they’re still going, so not getting into that at all.”
While some were lucky enough to make it past the virtual waiting room to purchase their tickets, finding seats was a challenge.
This left many fans saying “That don’t impress me much.”
“We decided to get our own groups,” said Sarah MacKinnon. “We thought smaller amount of tickets would mean a greater chance of getting two or three together as opposed to eight or nine. Right away, I just didn’t get any.”
Fans even resorted to looking at tickets in Moncton.
On a ticket resale site, the cost jumped extraordinarily.
“It was like $900 dollars and essentially the [original] tickets that we wanted were about $280 and even that was quite expensive,” said Mary Lee, who attempted to purchase the tickets all morning.
CTV News reached to a ticket resale site. They said the tickets in Moncton have sold out.
Many have taken to social media to voice their complaints. As for those calling in to purchase tickets for Twain’s concert at the Scotiabank Centre, they say their prices will increase depending on the volume of calls they receive.
In a tweet, Ticket Atlantic said that Twain tickets are in very high demand and while they are aware of third party websites selling higher cost tickets, reselling them is not illegal in Nova Scotia.
Twain first performed in the Maritimes in 1993 when she opened for country singer Ricky Van Shelton.
A few months after getting married to Mutt Lang, their collaboration further boosted Twain’s career.
“She went on to sell 20 million albums, the next one after that was 40 millions albums. To think that was brewing when she was here opening for Ricky Van Shelton in 1993, that’s an incredible time in her career.”
Decades later, Twain’s music continues to inspire fans.
“I love her,” MacKinnon said. “I’ve grown up with Shania Twain. I’m in the age range where she was our country idol. It’s sad we won’t be able to see her in Halifax, but we will see where else we can see her.”
