Ed Sheeran has objected to plans by the Royal Albert Hall to sell dozens of seats at the prestigious London venue to investors, some of whom sell them on for inflated prices.
Currently, 319 people own 1,268 – almost one in four – of the Royal Albert Hall’s seats on 999-year leases. A bill going through parliament would grant the hall’s governing body the power to sell an extra 52 seats to investors.
Sheeran is “vehemently opposed” to the practice of these seat-holders selling their unwanted tickets at inflated prices, a letter from his aides said.
The star’s team has “worked tirelessly to get his tickets into the hands of his genuine fans at the intended price”, the letter said. It criticised “unscrupulous sites where tickets are listed at many times over the face value”.
Ed Sheeran has objected to plans by the Royal Albert Hall to sell dozens of seats at the prestigious London venue to investors, some of whom sell them on for inflated prices.
Currently, 319 people own 1,268 – almost one in four – of the Royal Albert Hall’s seats on 999-year leases. A bill going through parliament would grant the hall’s governing body the power to sell an extra 52 seats to investors.
Sheeran is “vehemently opposed” to the practice of these seat-holders selling their unwanted tickets at inflated prices, a letter from his aides said.
The star’s team has “worked tirelessly to get his tickets into the hands of his genuine fans at the intended price”, the letter said. It criticised “unscrupulous sites where tickets are listed at many times over the face value”.
Liam Gallagher fans have also complained that tickets for next year’s Definitely Maybe tour were offered at inflated prices on third-party sites soon after selling out on Friday morning. Viagogo was advertising tickets on Friday afternoon for between £180 and £409 each.
One fan posted on social media: “Trying to get tickets for Liam Gallagher has been an absolute joke. Everything sold out in seconds and suddenly there are tickets all over Viagogo being sold for quadruple the price. Can’t stand the way modern-day tickets are sold.”
In July, Viagogo’s boss, Cris Miller, defended his company’s practice, saying some fans “don’t want to be forced to get up on Friday morning and wait in a queue that may or may not happen”.
He refused “to apologise for the service we provide”. “I wake up every single day, as does everybody else that works at the company, thinking about one thing, and that’s getting fans into these events all over the world,” he told the BBC.
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