Hey there, friends and fellow music enthusiasts! I want to share a story that delves into my passion for Coldplay's music, while also shedding light on Ticketmaster's controversial practices at present day in the year 2024. Do you recall when ticket scalping used to be illegal? Fast forward to today, where Ticketmaster not only tolerates but actually promotes ticket scalping through its "verified resale" program.
It's time to take a stand! As you go through my account of what trying to acquire tickets was like this week, please reach out if you've faced a similar situation – I'm eager to hear your perspective. To complement the Coldplay vibe, I've put together a playlist featuring some of my favorite songs over the years by the band. Please feel free to listen to the playlist on Spotify here while you have a read through!
As a musician, music teacher, and devoted music enthusiast, I have been to more than 300 concerts since I was 14 years old, keeping nearly every concert ticket, including digital ones. These concerts have undoubtedly been some of the most special and unforgettable moments in my life.
I'm sure you can relate to the magic of attending a concert by your favorite band or group, creating cherished memories with friends and loved ones, and singing along at the top of your lungs with thousands of other fans who share your passion. It's a truly special experience that brings people together through the love of music and community. Hold that thought, never forget it, and now on to Coldplay.
Coldplay commenced their Music of the Spheres tour on March 18th 2022 and is soaring high with the release of the highly inspirational release of Moon Music otherwise known as Music of the spheres vol ii with plans for a break from the epically long tour as of September 8th 2025.
Live Nation released a rental of Coldplay's "Music of the Spheres: Live at River Plate" on May 11, 2024, available for rent through Veep. I was truly impressed by the incredible performance they delivered and how enjoyable it can be to watch a concert from home with today's technology. Concert films have certainly evolved significantly since U2's "Rattle and Hum." Which was the first concert film I remember seeing at a young age. After watching the stunning footage from that concert in Buenes Aires multiple times, like many others I'm sure, I was eagerly looking forward to their next show in Toronto.
I have attended 2 or 3 Coldplay live performances in the past. The first time I saw them play live is a memory that will always stay with me. It was on Saturday, September 21, 2002, around 4 months after they released their amazing second album A Rush of Blood to the Head.
Back then, the concert only filled half of the Air Canada Center. They used to set up a divider halfway down the arena, giving the Air Canada Center a more theatrical appearance. My ticket for that 2002 show costed me $42.50.
As for their latest album, Moon Music, I was fortunate to acquire one of the signed editions in July of this year through their website. It stated that the Eco Record would be arriving a week or so after the release date of the release date of October 4th 2024. At the time of purchasing, October seemed very distant. I was very excited.
After much anticipation, I joyfully received the exquisite eco Vinyl the day before tickets for the new announced Toronto Shows went on sale! It truly felt like the music gods were smiling upon me and everything was really falling into place beautifully, meanwhile Coldplay's latest album is sounding better and better after every listen and is a serious mood booster!
One of my fellow longtime concert going friends Laura and I strategized on the phone the night before that we would both try for a set of tickets starting at 9 am on Friday. Looking at the seating plot for the not yet built Rogers Stadium, we had agreed that we're getting older and sitting would be nice, but we would totally stand on the floor if not ..."I just want to be there" I believe I had said multiple times to which she completely agreed!
After a restful night's sleep, enjoying my morning coffee around 8:30 am, I checked my phone and saw a message from Laura saying she was in the queue for the presale. An hour or so later, she called to inform me that there were 46,000 people ahead of her in the digital Ticketmaster lineup for the concert at the yet-to-be-constructed Rogers Stadium.
I must admit, this was a new experience for me. Reserving seats for a stadium that doesn't even exist yet felt oddly reminiscent of the real estate market rather than a Coldplay concert.
Her wait turned into one that took her about an hour and a half or 2 hours and I was still waiting to get in. She gave me a call me saying "Hi! So i'm in, the seats on the sides are $400 a ticket"
Me: "Yeah, fuck that." hahaha. We quickly acknowledged that general admission (standing room) would be the best route to go as they were priced at a far more familiar, acceptable $130 some odd dollars. As we agreed, and proceeded over the phone I heard the click of the mouse..... followed by silence over the phone *Poof* "the tickets are no longer available."
"Oooh but it's okay!" she said "They've just announced 2 more dates on the Friday and Saturday. Not to worry we thought, two more dates have been added, we were DEFINATELY going to get tickets this time. We both queued up for them (digitally on ticketmaster.ca) in these now digital lineups at our separate homes and computers.
After patiently waiting in line behind 35,000 people for one date and 8,900 for the other, we encountered the same recurring issue: we would select a suitable ticket, click proceed, only to receive a prompt stating that the tickets were no longer available.
This swift disappearance of tickets was not a result of indecisiveness on our part; rather, it occurred within seconds, highlighting the challenges of navigating the digital realm of ticket sales, as we are both well aware of the competitive nature of platforms like Ticketmaster.
The only tickets I did have a chance at were at the sides of the stage which I would obviously be missing out on any visuals on the screens of the stage and screens etc. and those tickets were priced at $300. Or there was also the Kaotica Lounge experience or the Kubik experience priced way out of my price range.
Again, it's very hard to visualise what things will look like for the not yet built stadium but based on the below seating chart I simply had to say no. To quote the legendary Darryl Hall and John Oates, "I can't go for that (no can do)".
5 hours later from our collective efforts and multiple phone calls back and forth at 2:00pm Friday, we both surrendered (temporary) defeat! I say temporary because we are still determined to hopefully get some tickets between now and the show in July.
Moments later, as if spotify got a digital wiff of the recent defeat, I hilariously opened Spotify only to receive this glowing message for my patreonage to Coldplay. Thank you to the good folks at spotify making this fruitless ticket mission even more harsh!
The next morning, Saturday at 3:24am in the morning I received an automated email from ticketmaster stating "that my tickets were waiting for me".
Out of curiosity, I clicked through the prompts to see if maybe some more tickets had been released only to find out they were still very much sold out.
Today, on Canadian thanksgiving Monday morning I received another email from ticketmaster stating that tickets were now “within my reach and to act now”.
Curious, I once again clicked on. Oh good, the tickets are here folks, the verified resale tickets have entered the gauntlet and these prices would suggest paying 13 times more than what they were worth on that initial date and a whopping 94 times what I paid to see them play for that first and oh so magical time in 2002.
I know I am not the only one with this experience, but really. What is happening here? Can we all give this a moment? Remember lining up at a physical location and getting tickets? I think that needs to happen again folks. Also I think artists and ticketmaster need to have caps on resale simply not selling for more than they were initially worth. Let's get real here.
I call on you the fans, CBC, Ticketmaster, Coldplay and the not yet built Rogers stadium. Over the weekend I have now talked to four other friends who all went through the same misfortunes and read through other fans experiences on reddit and some scenarios were even more extreme 90,000 people ahead of some folks.
Remember when ticket scalping was illegal in this Country? Well it is now completely endorsed by ticketmaster with verified resale and I have a sneaking suspicion that true fans aren’t getting the opportunities to see their favourite bands or to maybe bring their children to their first concert experiences, and if they are it could be the only concert they see in their lives at these prices!
Coldplay I love you, I love your music, I love your forward thinking ways of cutting emissions and giving a shit about this planet. I love this album, and the ones before it but! Live nation / ticketmaster and ticket flippers please stop this absolute madness!
Concerts are some of the most unifying experiences we can have and these practices go directly against the love and inclusion that Coldplay seem to stand for. Also if all 4 shows sold out with no verified resale this article would not be written. I would just say okay, that sucked.
What do I want? Why Am I writing this? Simply to bring awareness and for us to have a discussion. I would love to hear from the band or ticketmaster and of course what your experiences were with this.
I'm still determined to hopefully acquire general admission tickets for myself and my friends and family who are all true fans of the band. And I sincerely hope that other fans get some sort of other chance, because this rollout was painful, awful and gross feeling.
Also, please remember that for every person who agrees to pay these prices is also part of the problem, I say enough is enough! As Daft Punk said " Bring the Music back to life, bring the life back to music."
How Do you feel about Ticketmasters verified resale?
This needs to stop, it's gross and unfair to music fans
I like verified Resale
written by Brad Gardner Monday, October 14th 2024.
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