Tickets To BTS’s London Concert Are Selling For Shockingly High Prices
BTS fans are outraged after tickets for the BTS World Tour UK dates became unavailable then appeared with resale prices as high as £12,000 (approximately $16,000 USD).
The tickets in question are for BTS’s October 9 and 10 London shows at the O2 Arena, which has a capacity of 20,000. When logging on to attempt to buy these tickets, fans saw the following message:
Wow! Loads of people have turned up today.
As so many people are trying to book tickets, we've started a queue. Don't refresh this page as you may lose your place in the queue.Thanks for your patience.
— ari | was @JVNGSUBlN 📌 (@timecfsorrow) June 1, 2018
The tickets, originally listed at £62.50-£160 ($83 – $214 USD), sold out in less than 10 minutes, then reappeared on resale sites such as GetMeIn, Viagog, and StubHub for up to 150 times the face value. Fans were unimpressed, to say the least.
the fucking scalpers are selling BTS London VIP tickets for 12,000 pounds??? EACH??? BITCH IF I PAY THAT MUCH TAEHYUNG BETTER BE SERENADING ME WHILST JUNGKOOK GIVES ME A BACK MASSAGE AND HOSEOK DOES A PRIVATE DANCE FOR ME
— mel (@taesquared) June 1, 2018
Prior to the ticket sale date, O2 released this statement on Twitter:
Statement regarding BTS presale:
We know so many of you are excited about BTS and eager to buy tickets. To clarify there is no O2 presale on Wednesday 30th May. We’ll share more details as soon as we can. pic.twitter.com/m5lyofTuCx— The O2 (@TheO2) May 29, 2018
All BTS World Tour shows have not had the option of presale or priority tickets, which has led to extra stress for fans hoping to attend these in-demand concerts.
After the tickets were sold out, O2 released this follow-up statement:
Tickets for the BTS shows are now sold out. We understand your disappointment and are sorry for those of you who have missed out, but the demand for these UK dates has been incredibly high. We remind you to only use verified ticketing agents for all purchases. pic.twitter.com/88ORzPBDyd
— The O2 (@TheO2) June 1, 2018
Other than advising fans to use verified resellers, O2 did not offer fans any other options.
In the wake of this outrageous turn of events, A.R.M.Y took to social media to ask O2 and Ticketmaster for help.
So far, fans have not been happy with the “help” they have received.
#FAKE_LOVE #BTSLONDON @simone_bridgey rang O2 about the ticket fiasco and they told her to contact BTS. That's right. Specifically BTS. I told her I'd just text ma mans and be like: yo Jin my bruv it's been a long time since mandem met up but can ya sort that ticket shit out???
— Trish should be revising (@nam_prune) June 1, 2018
One BTS fan, Angela Lee, gave Metro this insight into the fandom’s strife.
“The tickets went on sale at 8.59am, if I wasn’t already online then I wouldn’t have even realised, and what makes it worse is that by the time it was 9.01am all the tickets were apparently sold out with tout sites marking these up to £1,000+. “What makes the situation even worse is that I’ve been with O2 for over 10 years but then they decided to take off the priority sale at the eleventh hour.” – Angela Lee, A.R.M.Y.
Fans are protesting the sky-high resale prices and have accused the O2 of taking advantage of fans by allowing these expensive resales to happen.
A.R.M.Y has even launched a Change.org petition, asking Big Hit Entertainment to prohibit resale tickets. The petition is well on its way to meeting its 5,000 signature quota.
Ticketmaster is believed to be taking follow-up measures to ensure tickets do not end up in the hands of scalpers, as they have done for other BTS World Tour shows. Unfortunately, this does not completely bar tickets from being sold at high prices.
The O2 is in the process of cancelling tickets for @BTS_twt’s concert they believe belong to resellers. If your ticket was cancelled make sure to contact the O2 to get it back!
These tickets should go on sale soon on AXS/Ticketmaster
— BTS UK UNITE (London Fan Project in Progress) (@BTSUKUNITE) June 3, 2018
In spite of everything, BTS fans are encouraging each other to stay strong in the face of adversity and to keep trying to find tickets.
everyone still looking for bts london tickets: please DONT stop trying !! my friend just got a standing from ticketmaster randomly and i got 2 standing for £300 each on stubhub !! please don't give up💗
— rachel is seeing bts (@bbytans) June 3, 2018
For everyone who didn't get any BTS ticket. Please don't give up. Don't buy tickets from sites like viagogo because those tickets are mostly fake. Try to look for tickets 2-3 weeks before the concert. Usually you will get tickets for a very cheap price. #BTSinBerlin
— 小玫瑰🌹| kim namjoon (@mht_b) June 1, 2018
Tickets on ticketmaster are slowly starting to drop, don’t give up army we still have a chance! The tickets that were once £500 are now £300 let’s wait for it to go back to face value:)) 💗#BTS_Europe_ticket_scam #bts #LOVEYOURSELF轉Tear #btstour #loveyourselftour
— Tae 🥀 (@unspokenkth) June 3, 2018
Stay strong, A.R.M.Y!
