GLASVEGAS have slammed the ticket touts who are cashing in on their cheap ticket prices.
The Glasgow band, who have been described as “the most exciting Scottish band in the last 20 years”, have deliberately kept the ticket prices for their forthcoming tour low – but greedy touts are flogging the briefs for up to five times the face value.
Scores of pairs of tickets for the band’s 17-date British tour are currently for sale on auction site eBay, with pairs of the £8 tickets selling for between £80 and £100, meaning hundreds of music fans will miss out.
The band has now blasted the touts for making a fortune on the back of the band’s success.
Lead singer James Allan said: “Ripping off fans through ticket touting is something we feel is extremely unfair and exploitative.
“Excessive profiteering by touts prevents our real fans from being able to afford tickets due to overinflated prices which for us is the most frustrating part.
“It’s difficult when a band is starting out, but we are looking into other ways of selling tickets and stopping the touts from getting hold of then in the first place.”
Fan Emma Battes, 21, from Cowdenbeath, Fife, said: “I tried to get tickets for the Edinburgh gig but they had sold out in a couple of days. I then found out that there are stacks of them for sale on eBay which really annoyed me.
“I’ve followed the band for the past couple of years and saw them play in half-empty halls, but now they’ve got some success I just can’t get a ticket for any of their shows.
“It’s not the band’s fault, but somebody is making an absolute fortune out of this tour and real fans like me now can’t get in to see them.”
A spokesperson for eBay said: “As a champion of consumer choice, eBay believes that people with legitimate tickets have the right to resell them on the secondary market and both the Government and Office of Fair Trading have also recognised this as legitimate.
“We do however make it explicitly clear to anyone seeking to sell a ticket that they must specify the face value so that users are aware of the original purchase price before bidding.”
The band leapt to fame when music mogul Alan McGee claimed Glasvegas were “the most exciting Scottish band in the last 20 years” after he saw them playing a gig at King Tuts.
After signing to Columbia, the group was flown out to New York to record their debut album which is released next month.
All tickets for the band’s 17-date British tour sold out within a week.
