Pay more than $600 for a ticket or give up seeing your favorite band on stage? This is the dilemma facing fans of the American formation the Foo Fighters, who will perform in the Verdun auditorium on July 10.
The approximately 4,000 tickets available for the surprise concert sold out in minutes when they went on sale last Thursday. While entry-level tickets initially sold for $180, their price today varies between $600 and $900 on the resale site billets.ca. On stubhub.ca, they are displayed at $278. Something to give fans headaches.
“I am really very sad. It’s really frustrating. On the phone, the emotion in Fanny Marchand’s voice is palpable. She must give up the idea of seeing her favorite group, of which she has been a fan for 20 years, perform in the intimate auditorium of Verdun.
However, it is not for lack of trying: Fanny and the three friends with whom she planned to attend the concert all connected on the morning of June 29 on the Ticketmaster ticket sales platform. “We were well connected to be in the first and to have places, she says. There was a technical problem five or ten minutes before the opening of the sale. When I got back in line, there were over 2000 people in front of me. »
But the coup de grace came a little later. “An hour later, we saw that hundreds of places were available on resale sites. »
Scam
If the Foo Fighters have chosen to perform in a venue much smaller than those to which they are accustomed, it is not trivial: the group has already performed there exactly 20 years ago, in July 2003. Ten years earlier, the leader of the formation, Dave Grohl, had played in the same place with the legendary group Nirvana, of which he was a part.
“It’s the history that makes the event exceptional,” emphasizes Fanny Marchand. “Dave Grohl wants to present this concert for the fans. […] For artists, it’s extremely frustrating to think that they’re doing things for the fans, but the fans can’t benefit from it. »
We feel that they don’t care that people can’t go to a concert. Fans haven’t been able to get tickets for years.
In desperation, the 30-year-old issued a Facebook post to signify that she was looking for tickets. A young woman answered him. “I asked him for screenshots of the tickets,” says Mme Merchant. Reassured, she decides to buy them. The two women agree that she will pay the price of a first ticket to the seller and then pay the other three.
“When I received the tickets, the Ticketmaster logo was wrong and I didn’t receive any confirmation email from the company,” she says. Wanting to tell her that the tickets were not valid, Fanny Marchand found that the seller’s Facebook account had disappeared and, with it, the $200 paid.
Resale sites singled out
For the Montrealer, the situation is clear: resale platforms have free rein, and the situation must change. “We feel that they don’t care that people can’t go to a concert. Fans haven’t been able to get tickets for years. »
In 2014, four sites specializing in the resale of tickets, including tickets.ca, faced 65 charges, and were awarded infringement contracts ranging from $4,000 to $60,000. More recently, music lovers wishing to attend the Festival d’été de Québec have also had to fall back on resale platforms, where tickets sell for high prices.
Billets.ca customer service refused our request for an interview on Sunday, stating that the organization does not respond to “this type of request”.
As for Fanny Marchand, she will at least be able to see her favorite group on stage during the Festival d’été de Québec. And she intends to present herself at the entrance of the artists of the auditorium of Verdun on July 10th. “Maybe Dave Grohl will see that his fans didn’t get tickets and he’ll come say hi!” »