Tuesday May 31, 2016

Tragically Unhip – Tragically Hip fans cry foul after presale tickets scooped up in minutes

Many fans hoping to grab presale tickets to the Tragically Hip’s farewell tour this morning found disappointment instead, with tickets selling out quickly then appearing minutes later at a massive markup on resale sites.

Tickets to the summer tour, which begins July 22 in Victoria, went on sale at 10 a.m. local time this morning to registered users of the band’s fan club who got a presale code by email.

Demand was high for this last opportunity to see the iconic Canadian rock band, whose lead singer Gord Downie announced last week he has terminal brain cancer.

But fans cried foul when they found no tickets available for some shows on Ticketmaster within minutes — even though tickets were already being resold on StubHub.

In Vancouver, for example, at 11 a.m. PT, all the Ticketmaster tickets for the July 24 show were gone, but nearly 100 floor seats were being offered on StubHub for between $237 and $2,799 US per ticket.

The original prices were between $116 and $166 Cdn for the same seats, according to Ticketmaster’s website>. (Source: CBC News)

Cartoon modified from original publication date on February 26, 2009.