To hate the process for buying concert tickets☹️

I agree. I tried for Radiohead tickets, well I didn't even get the code. It's such a shame. I used to go to loads of gigs when I was in my teens and at uni and throughout my 20s. I've had no luck lately. I used to easily get festivals tickets too. Nothing sold out in minutes.

I think some of the problem now is the huge fan base these older bands have across many generations. Radiohead released their first songs in 1992 and are still amazing, they got together in 1985, that's 40 of collecting fans! It was the same with the Foo Fighters and Oasis, many years of releasing music and so hard to get tickets.

That is usually people forgetting to de-list a ticket after they have sold it to a friend or some other way. I (innocently) had to resell a ticket as I bought it 6 months in advance (which I had to do to secure a ticket) then booked a trip that couldn’t be done any other time so couldn’t make it. I listed it on a couple of platforms then managed to sell it on social media. I can’t remember if I de-listed it off Crowdvolt, Stubhub etc. but maybe not. Those platforms guarantee buyers a refund if tickets aren’t transferred on sale for this reason.

It’s shit for you now because you find it harder to access. Back when you found it easy, it was shit for the people who had no access or very difficult access.

It was always shit for someone.

Not many people could phone though – you had to be at a landline and in a place where you could make a call. Now many more people can call from almost anywhere with their mobile. Call lines would be as swamped as online access.

I get what you’re saying, and it definitely felt simpler back then. But in reality, far fewer people had access. Now anyone with an internet connection or a phone can try, and with cheaper travel and global fanbases thanks to streaming, the pool of people competing is massive compared to before. That’s why it feels so much harder. The real problem isn’t accessibility – it’s the ridiculous prices and resale.

It's so shit, never used to be this hard to get gig tickets. I've stopped trying which is gutting as I love live music.

Also, ticketmaster only let's you queue for the date you would like. Not the venue. Last year I'd been queuing for coldplay for a couple of hours when a message pinged up to say tickets for that date were almost gone and they'd added two new dates. Did it automatically filter me into that queue so I kept my place? No, I had to leave my queue and go to the back of the queue for a new date. I just wanted wembley, I can book annual leave once I've got any tickets for any date

My mum sent postal orders for her Stones and Beatles tickets back in the day 😭. I phoned for Madonna, Prince etc.

Yes, this is a bane of my existence.

Rant incoming.

1. I hate how early things go on sale and therefore sell out. You have to know exactly what you’re doing / commit to things up to 12 months in advance. I’m not exaggerating. A festival I’m keen to go to in May 2026 sold out in… May 2025. 😐 It’s madness.

2. The other issue is ticket touting. I went to buy a ticket from a resale website and clicked on the seller’s profile. It was a young man and he had completed 97 sales on the resale website. Clearly that’s more than just an innocent change of plans causing him to sell a ticket. He buys tickets at face value and sells at multiple times the price. It’s a source of income for some people.

3. Increased demand. I’m not sure when you purchased Madonna tickets so easily, OP, but my guess is it was some time in the 1990s. The population has grown substantially since then, but more importantly, the population of people with enough disposable income to spend on concert/festival tickets has grown hugely. Additionally, there’s changing tastes, people spend far more on “experiences” now than on material things, further pushing up demand (you see the same effect in travel destinations).

4. Social media. People hear about events more easily. No more flicking through Timeout magazine to see what gigs are on that weekend. Events are marketed on Instagram, Facebook etc. months and months in advance, you register for a “presale” (which is the only sale, for popular events), get sent a “code” and if you don’t login and join the queue to purchase at precisely when the presale begins (which is often 9am or 10am, so you’d better make sure you’re WFH that day and put that fake meeting in your calendar…), then you have no chance of getting a ticket.

TLDR: take me back to the 90s.

The thing that confuses me is that the are so many tickets going spare on the reseller sites. I've looked before literally half an hour before the gig starts and they are still at full price or more. Surely it would be better to sell the ticket and make half your money back rather than lose all of it?

I don't understand why it's so hard. Just make the tickets un-sell-on-able. The person going has to be the person who is buying the tickets plus up to 1/2/3 others. When you attend the event you have to show ID along with your booking confirmation - if the names don't match, tough luck, not allowed in.

Unfortunately it means people can't buy presents for others as surprises but that's a relatively small price to pay to stop this insanity.

The other alternative is going even stricter and you have to name every single person going, before buying the tickets, like buying flight tickets. In which case you could still buy surprise tickets for others.

If for whatever reason you can't make it the only way you can get money back is offering the tickets back to the original reseller i.e. ticketmaster) who will accept them minus booking fee or whatever deduction. Then the tickets go back into circulation again, but still only with the original seller.

I always say this, name a large amount of the big artists and I saw them, no hassle getting tickets, the code crap now is horrible!

YANBU that getting tickets is a nightmare nowadays, but surely you realise that accessing those Madonna tickets was quite a privilege that many wouldn’t have been able to? Not many people would have worked or lived next to Wembley and been able to saunter down there. So great for, but not so great for many more others – and for countless others, getting tickets would have been near in impossible.

Difficulty in getting tickets nowadays is part and parcel in making them ten times more accessible.

Accessibility, ultimately, is a very good thing.

What’s more terrible is the prices.

Totally agree. Everyone should stop buying on StubHub or Viagogo. I was lucky enough to get a Radiohead code but couldn’t get tickets. There were loads on StubHub at ridiculous prices. Same for Florence and the Machine. Why can’t the secondary ticket sellers (who are clearly only wanting to make money) be banned! So annoying for real fans who just want to see their favourite band.

Crossed - agree 👍

Oh, and booking a driving test is up there with concert ticket booking! Awful experience.

Yeah, completely sucks. So annoying that within minutes they’re all up on resale at 5x the price.

It’s the same with trying to get a driving test slot

My DH got a code for Radiohead - the only one of his friends to get one. He had terrible trouble on the website. Eventually managed to get tickets for the Monday night but they are VIP so expensive. But, Radiohead are worth it. They are amazing live.

I agree that other ticket booking is awful too. I bought autumn international tickets at twickenham and that was horrible too.

No one seems to be able to stop the problem. It seems that the resellers are working with the primary sellers but difficult to prove.

It’s so stressful. Fine for smaller gigs but awful for Oasis, Coldplay etc.

Agree, it is really shit. My top tip is that if you are still sane after waiting in the queue, seeing it go down fast, then seeing there are no tickets available - if you can stand it, go back every 10 or 15 mins and see if there's something you can snap up. Quite often there is. You might not get a pair of tickets though.

Absolutely agree. DS tried (along with several mates) to get tickets for Radiohead. Never got a code, just added to a 'waiting list'. And only one concert in the UK. He's not going to be able to fly to Spain to see them, fgs even if he got a ticket. He can't afford it.

Going to see bands has just become something else only the comfortably off can afford to do nowadays at vastly inflated prices.

Yes it's shit, I can't believe it has got to this stage.

I agree that Wimbledon and Glasto manage it. The last bastion of sensible fair ticket allocation (kind of).

My teen DS was desperate for Oasis tickets but that was a total joke and I refuse to buy on Viagogo.

DD's friend wanted tickets for Florence and the Machine. They sold out straight away and resales were on Viagogo within minutes.

I don't know how you control it though

Don't buy from viagogo or touts. If people didn't keep buying tickets from touts at vastly inflated prices, they would quickly disappear.

Or bring in a ban on selling tickets at more than face value, same as they have in Ireland. Popular concerts still sell out quickly, but it's harder to sell on tickets for profit afterwards.

It’s an awful process now. And tickets always seem to go on sale on a weekday at 10am - great if you have a flexible job or don’t work, no good for anyone working who can’t just sit watching/refreshing their device for ages.