Bruce Springsteen Tickets Scalped As Pre-Sale Crashes

Auction websites have been swamped with Bruce Springsteen tickets today after the Ticketek website struggled under the weight of pre-sales yesterday.

Tickets for the Perth, Hunter Valley, Sydney and Melbourne shows were put on sale for Frontier members yesterday, with the ticketing company's website struggling to cope with demand. Both Ticketek and Frontier's social media accounts were inundated with complaints from punters unable to buy tickets, complaints which continued onto ABC talkback radio this morning.

As a result of the pressure Frontier moved to delay the Brisbane and Adelaide pre-sales yesterday.

“While we appreciate this delay may cause some inconvenience to fans we would prefer that the Ticketek website be stabilised so all users have equal opportunity to purchase for these markets,” they said.

It is also believed that Swiss-based scalpers, who have attacked previous music and sports events, are responsible for a sizeable chunk of the tickets that have appeared on auction websites. Tickets are selling for up to $600 this morning.

Chairman of Frontier's parent group Mushroom Michael Gudinski has regularly spoken out against scalping, but was unable for immediate comment this morning. The high profile pre-sale meltdown and scalped tickets has once again raised calls for anti-scalping legislation.

Frontier have anti-scalping terms in place, but without legislation it is difficult to track tickets effectively through third-party websites.

Promoters have long called for federal legislation, but ticketing companies have traditionally lobbied for self-regulation and have moved to launch their own on-selling companies.

New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell has proposed a new crackdown on scalpers in the state by giving promoters more power to track tickets that appear on websites and either cancel them or cap the price.

Earlier this month The Financial Review reported that international Ticketmaster executives met with O'Farrell to protest against any such legislation. It is believed Ticketmaster are shaping to launch into the on-selling market by early next year.

Telstra's premium ticket company BangTango last week suggested that major venue operator AEG Ogden should be investigated by the ACCC for holding on to too many tickets. They argued that they should be allowed 30 percent of a tour or event's tickets to offer to their client's, in this case Telstra's, customers.

At time of publish pre-sale ticket details are available for all venues, except Perth which has sold out. General public go on sale Monday 26 August.

UPDATE 4.30pm: In a statement this afternoon Frontier have threatened to cancel scalped tickets.

“Like you, we are strongly against ticket scalping,” they wrote. “We monitor prominent auction sites and wherever possible, we identify the seller and cancel any tickets that are in breach of our Terms Of Sale. We also set a ticket limit of four per purchaser, per show in the pre-sale in an effort to counteract ticket scalping.

“It is worth noting that it is against the Listing Policy of these auction sites to offer products that are not physically in the seller's possession. As the tickets to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's tour are not yet printed/delivered, any current listings are false.”

They added, “We have the right to cancel any tickets we know are being sold in contravention of our Terms Of Sale – you should seriously consider whether to buy tickets from a scalper. We encourage you to only purchase tickets from our authorised ticket sellers – for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's tour, they are Ticketmaster (for Hunter Valley and Auckland) and Ticketek (for all other shows).

“We know that Australians and New Zealanders are as passionate about music and live entertainment as we are and we believe that you shouldn't be taken advantage of by unscrupulous individuals."