Plan to beat eBay ticket touts for Boss's Dublin gig
Monday, November 26, 2007
By Eddie McIlwaine
Promoter Peter Aiken has Bruce Springsteen fans on his mind today as he
prepares to welcome The Boss to Belfast for a Christmas gig while preparing
to put 35,000 tickets for the superstar's open air gig at the RDS in Dublin
on sale on Wednesday.
Mr Aiken is sure there won't be a repeat of the fiasco last summer when
seats for Springsteen's December 15 concert at the Odyssey sold out in
minutes on the web.
Tickets will be available across the counter at outlets in Belfast, through
Ticketmaster and at various town centres, as well as on the internet. Each
would-be purchaser will be limited to two.
"We will be taking all possible steps to ensure that people buying
tickets are real fans planning to be at the RDS and not speculators about to
auction them off on eBay. There are certain precautions we can take,"
he said.
"Selling tickets on the web is the modern way and is here to stay.
However, Aiken Promotions are concerned that concert-goers are properly
treated and get a fair deal, although once tickets go on sale matters can be
taken out of our hands.
"Springsteen is arguably the most popular artist in the world right now
and there are faithful followers all over who will travel anywhere,
including Dublin and Belfast, to see and hear him.
"That's what happened last time when the tickets went on sale for next
month's gig. Fans who couldn't get tickets for concerts in other cities like
London and New York turned to Belfast immediately and that caused major
problems for home-based Springsteen watchers."
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