Remaining Rolling Stones tickets sell out “within minutes”

According to figures released by Billboard magazine this week, The Rolling Stones had the highest-grossing British tour of 2013. The 23 shows, attended by 326,998 fans, made  £77.5 million (A$144.28 million). Those figures put them at #6 in the international list of high-grossing tours.

Yesterday, Australian fans proved the veteran band’s pulling power remains as strong as ever. There was already a slight indication last month when 50,000 tickets went in three hours for the March 22 show at Adelaide Oval.

Now tickets for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Hanging Rock – which were announced some weeks after the Adelaide show – went “within minutes”, according to the 14 On Fire tour’s promoter, Frontier Touring. Frontier declined to provide figures for the amount of tickets sold.

Fans took to social media to complain that Ticketek’s site melted under the surge in transaction. At on point they were not able to log in. Those from Brisbane and Perth, in later time zones, were told tickets were “exhausted” even though they were still to go on sale in those cities.

VIP ticket packages where fans can sit closest to the stage, valued from $575 to $1275, were still available in all cities.

Frontier’s Managing Director Michael Gudinski said, “The Rolling Stones have proven yet again why they are one of the biggest rock acts in the world. With the shows strictly limited it was inevitable that tickets would sell quickly. With just a limited number of ticket packages remaining, fans will want to get in fast before these shows sell out completely.”

Despite warnings from Frontier, tickets appeared on eBay for $5,000 and on Gumtree for $2500 a pair. “Despite claims from many of these unauthorised sellers that they will guarantee tickets, evidence from numerous tours would suggest this is not the case, with many fans being defrauded or left standing outside a venue without legitimate tickets,” Gudinski sad. “I cannot stress the importance of buying tickets from authorised outlets only.”

Over in New Zealand, most of the 30,000 tickets for Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland disappeared within the first half hour. The briskest trade were for the NZ$165.55 general admission standing (5,000 tickets in all) and those for $213.85 and $297.80. By 7.30 pm last night, all but the most expensive $395.55 packages were gone.

The biggest international tour, according to Billboard, was Bon Jovi which grossed US$205 million after playing to 2.1 million fans. They were followed by Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson tribute Immortal ($157 million to 1.4 million fans), then Pink ($147 million to 1.5 million attendees), Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band ($147million to 1.3 million fans) and Rihanna. ($137 million to 1.5 million fans).