Coldplay fans in India are enraged. Those eagerly awaiting to secure the band’s ‘Music of the Spheres’ World Tour concert tickets faced major disappointment after waiting for the sale to go live. Instead of being excited, many fans are now furious over what they describe as a chaotic and unfair ticket-booking process through BookMyShow, India’s leading online ticketing platform.
What initially appeared to be a technical glitch has now raised eyebrows with the development being lined to third-party resale platforms like Viagogo.
What went wrong?
Coldplay’s concert, scheduled for January 18-19, 2025, at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Sports Stadium, has been the talk of the town with millions of fans vying for a limited number of tickets. The stadium has a capacity of over 50,000 people, however, it seems like the majority of fans were unable to secure tickets.
Coldplay had set ticket prices for the concert ranging from a minimum of Rs 2,500 to Rs 12,500 (per person), in between the options varied from Rs 3,000, Rs 3,500, Rs 4,000, Rs 4,500, Rs 9,000, and Rs 9,500. The highest price for concert tickets was parked at Rs 35,000 (per person) for the lounge seats.
The band's announcement of their upcoming concert had been a buzz for weeks before ticket sale leading to an unprecedented spike in ticket demand. BookMyShow's servers, however, were not prepared for the sheer volume of visitors.
The excitement of Coldplay fans quickly turned to frustration as BookMyShow’s system (both the app and website) crashed just moments before ticket sales opened on September 22, 2024.
“Not Enough Ticket”
The BookMyShow site went live again a few minutes after the crash but the users were stuck in long online queues. Many fans shared screenshots of the site displaying messages like 'six lakh people ahead of you' and ‘not enough tickets’.
Where’s the foul play?
Tickets initially (and originally) sold on BookMyShow for a range of Rs 2,000 to Rs 35,000 soon reappeared on resale platforms like Viagogo with exorbitant prices.
Taking the matter on social media, fans highlighted the issue of ‘ticket scalping’ - where individuals or groups purchase large volumes of tickets during the initial sale and resell them at higher rates on secondary markets and platforms.
Some fans reported seeing tickets listed at four to five times the original price on third-party websites like Viagogo and social media platforms.
According to some reports, a Rs 12,500 ticket was being resold for as high as Rs 3.36 lakh. The lounge tickets which were originally priced for Rs 35,000 were being sold for an exorbitant amount of Rs 10 lakh.
The pattern left fans, who waited for hours, feeling cheated and scammed. Many criticised the BookMyShow platform stating that either their system was inadequately prepared for the high demand or compromised, with scalpers capitalising on the frenzy. Fans have also raised questions about how such tickets could be resold within minutes of the official sale going live with almost everybody complaining about “not enough tickets”.
The Black Market Sale
Additionally, some fans have also alleged that tickets were being blocked by black market operators in bulk who then resold them on unofficial platforms at steep prices.
Such tactics have sparked outrage, with many accusing Bookmyshow of not doing enough to counter these unethical practices.
BookMyShow Responds
In the face of massive media backlash, the platform released a statement acknowledging the overwhelming demand and apologising for the issue fans faced. The platform stated that it has implemented measures to tackle scalping and prevent bots from buying tickets in bulk.
However, many fans remain unconvinced, questioning how scalpers were able to acquire tickets so easily.
To subdue the outrage, a third show was added in Mumbai on January 21, 2025, but even those were sold out quickly. The platform and its live division, BookMyShow Live, shared a joint post on Instagram alerting fans about potential scams.
“It has come to our attention that unauthorised platforms are listing tickets for Coldplay's Music Of The Spheres World Tour 2025 in India, both before and after the official sale. These tickets are invalid,” the statement read.
Fans should know that ticket scalping is illegal in India and punishable by law. The platform has further requested people to not fall for this. “You will be buying fake tickets. Avoid scams! BookMyShow is the only official platform for ticket sales,” it has said.
