Paolo Nutini’s Aberdeen gig sold out within minutes of going on sale this morning with many fans left disappointed but also angry at tickets appearing on resale sites for hundreds of pounds.
The Scottish star is finishing his UK and European tour with a keenly-anticipated gig at the Music Hall on November 1 – but within four minutes of the onsale at 9am all the briefs had been snapped up.
Many fans took to social media to express their frustration and also complain about tickets being offered on resale sites, with some asking up to £600 for tickets with a face value of £45.
This was despite an earlier plea from Paolo that fans should not turn to unauthorised sites to see his shows.
Paolo Nutini’s plea not to be tickets from unauthorised sites
“Please DON’T buy tickets at inflated prices from unauthorised resale sites … as those tickets will not be valid,” the star tweeted earlier this month after announcing a series of intimate gigs, including Corran Halls in Oban.
One fan, Bruce Duncan, contacted the P&J to express his annoyance at being unable to get a ticket for the Music Hall show, despite being online waiting as the 9am onsale went live.
“I was counting down to the sale, saying three seconds to go, two seconds, one second… then it just said all tickets sold,” said the retired teacher.
But Bruce had noticed tickets for the gig – which had a pre-sale yesterday – were already on resale sites at a huge mark up of £388.
Please DON'T buy tickets at inflated prices from unauthorised resale sites such as Viagogo as those tickets will not be valid. pic.twitter.com/XKxB8VWF2P
— Paolo Nutini (@PaoloNutini) May 10, 2022
Fans call for more to be done to clamp down on ticket touts
“Who gets the extra money? Certainly not Paolo Nutini,” said Bruce, adding more should be done to clamp down on ticket touts.
One Twitter user wrote: “Was waiting at 9am on the dot and all sold out for Aberdeen. Could greet.”
Another said: “Tickets for Paolo Nutini in Aberdeen ‘sold out’ by 9am for the presale and general sale, but there are tickets on viagogo already at £338 a pop.”
One ticket site, StubHub, was offering four standing tickets for Paolo’s Music Hall gig for £600 each.
Music Hall’s measures to ensure Nutini tickets went to genuine fans
A spokesperson for Aberdeen Performing Arts said: “We anticipated a high demand for Paolo Nutini tickets and worked closely with his team to make sure that tickets ended up in the hands of genuine fans, with measures including restricting the number of tickets per sale and encouraging the use of e-tickets to stop them being handed over.
“Any printed tickets will require ID on the door from the lead buyer. We would discourage anyone from buying tickets from a second-hand resale site.”
A spokesperson for viagogo said: “Listing prices are set by the seller but are ultimately determined by the fans in a free marketplace and our platform takes nothing away from artists, promoters and venues who, in the case of Paolo Nutini’s popular tour, sold out all their tickets at the prices they set.”