The sun has gone down on many Elton John fans hoping to snag tickets for the music legend’s March concerts in Victoria.
Officials confirmed tickets had sold out in a little over an hour after they went on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, with people lining up in person at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre and flooding the official online ticket seller Select Your Tickets to try to get seats.
But within minutes of tickets going on sale, some were being posted on resale websites for exponentially higher prices.
Tickets were officially priced between $75.50 and $195 for the March 11 and 12 shows at Save-On Centre.
But on resale sites like StubHub and Vivid Seats, some floor tickets were posted for up to $950 each for the Saturday show, and $650 each for the Sunday show.
Many fans took to Twitter to voice their frustration at not being able to snap up tickets on the official website or by phone.
@CTVNewsVI it's a joke. Website down before 10am. Phones ringing busy. And while I'm stuck in the online que, tickets are up on stubhub.
— Chris. (@MagicPizza101) November 25, 2016
@cfax1070 tried to get tickets for my parents but the website wasn't working for a solid 20 minutes before on-sale and 10-15 after. no dice.
— Kylie Hill (@kylieee3) November 25, 2016
It’s another case of scalpers snapping up tickets to a high-profile concert and instantly reselling them at a marked-up price online.
Fans were angered when tickets instantly sold out for The Tragically Hip’s cross-Canada tour, believed to be their last after lead singer Gord Downie was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Those tickets were gone within minutes and were being resold for up to $4,000 online.
Canadians, it seems, have had enough.
A July 2016 Insights West poll found about nine-in-ten concertgoers support a law that would see scalpers who use bots to buy tickets facing severe fines or even time behind bars.
I was afraid of this. #EltonJohn #YYJ pic.twitter.com/Cic40DbQxX
— Joe Perkins (@CTVNewsJoe) November 25, 2016
