Beyoncé's 'sold out' Wembley Stadium concert looked half empty too
Rihanna had a similar problem earlier this week
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Despite Beyoncé's second show at Wembley Stadium being ‘sold out’, fans have been posting pictures online of empty seats at the 90,000-capacity venue.
Various reports have since come trickling in that dozens of places remained unfilled while the Formation singer performed, despite her reaffirming the show had sold out while on stage.
Whether due to tickets not actually selling out or people just not turning up, it remains unclear, however, the most likely reason for the empty seats is probably due to touts.
Earlier this week, a similar report on Rihanna’s ‘sold out’ Wembley concert appeared online, with dozens of spaces remaining noticeably unfilled.
It was soon reported that touts had bought up the majority of the tickets yet failed to sell them on for the extortionate prices demanded, not helped by The Weeknd pulling out of his support slot.
Empty seats at sold out shows due to touts has become very common in recent years, including the Harry Potter West End show, The Cursed Child, with some seats gaining unsold after appearing online for £2,000 plus.
Mumford & Sons tour manager Adam Tudhope said of touts” “We work hard to make the face value of the ticket as accessible to as many of the fans as possible
“So there’s nothing worse for the band playing a ‘sold-out’ show than looking out at empty seats because touts bought the tickets and tried to sell them on secondary sites at massively inflated prices.”
Recently, Ticketmaster’s ex-CEO revealed why it is so hard to get tickets to the biggest gigs, blaming touts and how they’re constantly finding ways to be the first to buy tickets.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments