LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) — Hundreds of fans who purchased tickets through seemingly reliable secondary market services such as StubHub and SeatGeek were turned away at the door of the Black Keys tour opening in Los Angeles on Thursday night.
According to the Los Angeles Times, video recorded at the scene showed hundreds of rejected fans on the sidewalks outside of the Wiltern during the concert while trying to contact customer service reps at their ticket vendors.
A statement from the Black Keys noted that the affected tickets, which had a face value of $25, had been intended for the band’s fan club and were not transferable.
“Last night’s concert tickets were $25 and geared toward the fan club,” the band said in a statement to the Times “This was our first show in over four years and the kickoff of the Let’s Rock Tour. Because we were playing a venue far smaller than the rest of the venues on the tour as a warmup show, we turned off ticket transferability to ensure that our fans got in the door at the low ticket prices we set for them.”
“The presenters of the concert directed that these tickets be made available only to fans and that they be strictly nontransferable,” Ticketmaster added in a separate statement. “This was messaged from the beginning with the announcement of the performance and throughout the sales process. Unfortunately, bad actors took advantage of this situation and posted screenshots of tickets that were not valid for entry onto the secondary market. We always recommend purchasing tickets from the official source.”
According to the Times, three of the third-party vendors – SeatGeek, StubHub and Vivid Seats – have pledged refunds but reps of some of the vendors told the newspaper that they were never informed that transferability for the tickets had been revoked.
A representative for the band and Ticketmaster told the Times that fans who had purchased tickets through Ticketmaster were all admitted to the show and that the event was nearly sold out with 97% of the 1,850 seats in the venue filled, indicating that the canceled tickets had been resold.
Tickets on the secondary market were a hot commodity, with some listed at 800% markups, the Times reported.
