BGT live semi finals

[Stopdropnroll]

I've got tickets for the first BGT semi final but it's one of those where they give away too many tickets so you have to go and queue on the day.

In a moment of madness I've booked train tickets and a hotel on the off chance we manage to get in but I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of this or any tips!

It's at Hammersmith appollo so I've booked hotel nearby as I'll have DD(8) with me so if we do get in I don't want to be dragging her on the tube late at night.

Our train gets into Euston at 9.10 so we'll tube it straight to Hammersmith to get in the queue but I'm wondering if we'll be too late even by then. I've seen something online from 2019 that said they started giving out tickets at 9.30 and all were gone by 11am... We would be there before 11am but probably only by half an hour.

If anyone has any experience of this let me know. I've already warned DD that we might not get tickets and that we'll have a lovely couple of days in London if we don't. Just want to know if I'm completely mad even trying to get tickets 😬

Pretty sure my ears are still ringing and it's a week since we've been thankfully I talked DD out of taking her whistle

I still think Jamie and Chuck should have won but I may be biased as they got through in the show we watched!

Hello all
is anyone going again this year ?!

Hi, was thinking about this thread yesterday. I'm going on the Monday 29th 😊

Yes! We’re going on Tues 30th! 😃

Possibly going Wednesday 31st. But train strikes this day I believe. I’ve also applied for thurs&fri but not heard back if I’ve been successful for these days yet. Will it be the same format as last year for queuing?

I applied for every day to give myself more chance of being successful, only got them for the Monday though. Yes, queuing format is the same.

Perfect because last year I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was & how quickly we got our tickets.
Ok so if I was successful for the other days I would have heard by now? Typical the one I’ve got is a strike day I didn’t realise at the time.

That's so annoying for you. I received my ticket confirmation on 7th May which was obviously over 2 weeks ago, so I'd imagine we would have heard by now if we'd been successful for any other dates, but I could be wrong.

Yep that’s the day I got my confirmation as well.

The applause store website says its fully booked except for the Friday, so you might be lucky 🤞

We got Monday 29th & Tuesday 30th

I was thinking about bgt the other day and how fab this thread and been and now it's back again!

Sadly we've not applied for tickets this time as we've got too much on but I hope you all have a fab time. Hopefully we'll be joining you next year!

Hello all. I have tickets for weds 31st. Train strikes on that day though so I'm going up the day before. What time do people suggest arriving at venue to secure tickets? I've booked a hotel near to Apollo and will literally be there from 6am if I have to be lol. 15 year old is super duper excited for it and will be soooo gutted if we miss out. Would love to hear others experiences with this.
So so glad I found this thread and realised that you had to be there before the start time and actually tickets aren't guaranteed. Thanks x

We went last year & going again Wednesday. We arrived around 10ish & joined the que. It wasn’t massive but a fair few already there & it hadn’t yet opened. Around 10:30 they started coming around checking ids giving out wristbands and things started to move. We got our tickets around 11 and was then free to go off and to come back later around 5ish I think it was but can’t remember exactly. We then had to que and felt like a long wait until we were let in.

all in all it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, you could possibly risk arriving later in the day and would probably walk straight to get tickets without having to que for long if at all as the rush would have gone, but that’s risking there not being any left. I’m aiming to arrive the same sort of time as I did before as that worked for us

Hi, I've been loads of times and the waiting times always vary. The shortest time I've queued was 15 minutes, longest was 3 hours. I always arrive around 9am and that has always been fine. They tell you what time to come back in the evening, last year I think they said 6.30pm but we didn't get there till 7 (friend got lost 🙄) but that turned out great in the end as we went straight in without queueing. The people giving out tickets have to wait for Applause Store to issue them, so they don't know themselves what time that will be in the morning. Always read the small print and bring photo ID, they won't let you in without it.

Thanks for replying. And for the info, it's appreciated. I'll get there about 8.30am then I think aha extra hour or 2 kip! Yeah I read the t&C's and have dug out photo ID for myself but 15 year old doesn't have any but what I can make out from their info as long as he has birth certificate in same surname them that's okay?
Don't know why I'm getting such anxiety over it lolol.
Are you going this year? X

Yes, I think birth certificate for 15s and under is fine. Don't worry, its normal to be anxious if you've not been before, I've seen many people heartbroken because they didn't get in because they turned up too late and tickets were all gone or didn't bring ID, but once you've done it once and you know how it all works, its a piece of cake.
Yes, I'm going on Monday 😊

Yes birth certificate for a child was fine last year, we had a similar issue as couldn't find DDs passport so took birth certificate and that was fine. From memory they weren't really bothered about her id just mine but as they'd told us to have paperwork at the ready I had it in my hand.

Have a fab time, gutted we're not going this year but you'll have a ball!

Where are you staying? We stayed at the Novotel and all the acts where staying there so saw a few at brekkie the morning after!

Will getting there at 10am be okay?
Also what is the dress code?

Yep should be fine at that time. No dress code, I just wore jeans and a top I think, you want something comfy and they have you up dancing a lot so comfy shoes.

I got there at 10 last time and that was fine, the time I’m aiming for this time round as well. Dress code I think more smart than casual but I don’t actually think it matters

Hi just wondering what time they started giving out tickets last year. I’m going tomorrow and not sure what time I should get there x

When I went it was about 1030 they came out to start handing out the wristbands & checking id within the que. We got there at 10 and was away by 11ish. I think people would have been ok for a bit after as well, it wasn’t crazy busy at this time. Of course it may be slightly different each day depending how many arrive to que early.

Rest of my party can't get there until 1.30 pm. Please can Monday attendees let me know if there will be any chance to get tickets? Saw on this thread that last year tickets were given out at 11 but we received an email today saying that the Applause staff would arrive 2 hours before the doors open which is 3 pm and also saw Priority tickets given out until 2pm so won't they only be able to give general public tickets after that?

It varies in my experience, they might be okay at 1.30, but I wouldn't want to risk it just in case. I've seen people heartbroken because they got there too late and tickets had all gone. Whenever I've been, there's been 2 different queues, one for priority guests and one for everyone else. Some Applause store staff do one queue and some do the other, usually at the same time. I always arrive around 9am. I'm supposed to be going tomorrow, but my friend has let me down at the last minute 😡 So I'm not sure if I want to go alone.