After the presence of tickets on resale sites was noted in the media, Marie-Annick Lépine, from Cowboys Fringants, herself intervened to ask the public to abstain.
“Out of respect for Karl, I would like no one to buy the tickets which are currently selling for $500,” she wrote Thursday noon on Facebook. We are working to find possible solutions around the Bell Centre. »
FACEBOOK SCREENSHOT
To the many admirers who were unable to get tickets and who were wondering how to see the ceremony, Marie-Annick replied that the ceremony will be broadcast on social networks.
Tickets for the ceremony were notably seen in the morning on the resale site StubHub. Mathieu Monette, from Repentigny, took a screenshot because he was so shocked by the nerve of the resellers. He himself tried to book tickets for the ceremony, to no avail. “These people abuse and take advantage of national mourning to make money,” laments the Repentigny resident, a big fan of the Cowboys Fringants.
SCREENSHOT PROVIDED BY MATHIEU MONETTE
Tickets resold at $215
At noon on Thursday, no tickets were offered on the site, a sign that Marie-Annick Lépine’s message may have been heard. No tickets were available on Marketplace either.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Marie-Annick Lépine
On Facebook, the host of ICI musique Olivier Robillard Laveaux deplored this resale of tickets – which, remember, were distributed free of charge. ” It’s a shame ! But it was written in the sky… Despite various measures, the entertainment industry seems incapable of countering the problem of resellers which has worsened since the pandemic. »
The approximately 14,000 tickets for the ceremony, made available at 10 a.m. Thursday, were sold out in 15 to 20 minutes, making thousands happy and many disappointed. The ceremony – which will be secular, at the request of the family – will take place Tuesday evening at the Bell Centre. On the program: the screening of the film America cries on a giant screen, a few songs accompanied by musicians from the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and a speech by Jean-François Pauzé, songwriter and guitarist of the Cowboys Fringants.
By 10 a.m., thousands of people were already waiting in a virtual queue on the evenko website, and each of them could purchase a maximum of 4 tickets. And at 10:15 a.m., it was no longer possible to reserve tickets, noted The Press. The capacity of the Bell Center for a concert is approximately 15,000 seats.
Isabelle Laroche, from Laval, managed to obtain penalty and misery tickets. When his turn came, there were only a few tickets left. She was able to reserve two, side by side, in section 400 – so at the very top of the room. She will go with her sister, who has been grieving a lot since the death of Karl Tremblay last week. “I am aware of how lucky I am,” says Isabelle.
Mitsou Chartrand, from Beloeil, was able to get her hands on four tickets, also with difficulty. “I lost the places I was trying to reserve four times, but at one point I lost,” she explains. She is the only one in her group of friends who has managed to get some, and she plans to go with her two children aged 13 and 9, who also like the group. She will probably give the last ticket to a friend with whom she went to see the first Cowboys Fringants show at the Bell Center in 2003.
Nicole Larivée, from Montreal North, was not so lucky. When she connected to the evenko site at 10 a.m., she was at 5690e position in the waiting list. She waited in line for 20 minutes, but when her turn arrived, the tickets were sold out. “It broke my heart, but hey, Karl was loved very much; It was predictable that the tickets would fly away like a shooting star,” agrees Nicole Larivée.
Mathieu Tremblay, from Farnham, must suffer a great disappointment. When finalizing the booking of three tickets – one for him, one for his mother and one for his stepfather, the page, he says, reset. No more trace of the reservation. “I had tears in my eyes,” says Mathieu. I had to queue again, but when it was my turn, there were no more places. » On his Facebook page, he offers jewelry in exchange for three tickets. “I know Marie-Annick wouldn’t be proud, but I wouldn’t miss the ceremony for her son for anything in the world,” says the admirer of the group, who will go to the Bell Center during the ceremony if he can’t find of tickets.
According to evenko, however, no technical failure was noted during the booking of the tickets.
On Wednesday, the Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, stressed that the death of Karl Tremblay affected many Quebecers, and that they wanted to come together. “The current situation is not easy at the moment, Quebecers do not always have it easy and therefore, to be able to experience this together, to put some good things around it, it will do good for everyone. world,” he said.
The Quebec flag will fly at half-mast above the Parliament Building on the day of the ceremony in tribute to the deceased, who died of cancer at the age of 47.
A condolence register has also been put online to allow those who wish to offer their condolences to the family of Karl Tremblay.
Legal, is this resale of free tickets?
There Consumer Protection Act prohibits merchants from reselling a show ticket for more than the price announced by the producer, but it does not regulate the resale of tickets between individuals. Thus, from a strictly legal point of view, “an individual can sell tickets that he obtained for free, at the price he wants,” explains Charles Tanguay, responsible for media relations at the Office for the Protection of the consumer. Be careful, however, if you are a buyer, be sure to buy valid tickets and do not make a bank transfer before having this certainty. »