MADONNA’S troubled Scottish show was at the centre of yet more controversy today after a second batch of tickets were given away for free.
A link to a competition winner’s section of the ticket website was posted online, meaning fans could snap up tickets worth at least £66 for nothing.
Free tickets to the 60,000-seat capacity show at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, were given away as the result of an identical blunder on Tuesday this week.
The star has been subject to a string of setbacks in recent days, revealing today that plans for an Australian tour had been cancelled.
Wednesday night’s performance in Hyde Park, London, was branded a flop by critics and some fans walked out.
A Twitter user posted a link to free Madonna tickets at lunchtime today.
Clicking on the link took fans to a section of the website that should be available only to competition winners.
It was possible to select up to two tickets on each visit – all for free.
But the promoters of Saturday night’s show, Live Nation, denied the suggestion that tickets were being deliberately released for free to avoid the embarrassment of empty seats.
A spokeswoman said: “The hidden link customers were able to access was intended for a closed group of competition winners to redeem the limited number of tickets available.
“The link was then posted via a social networking site by one of those winners and other members of the public were then able to access them.”
The spokeswoman confirmed: “Those that were able to redeem tickets before the allocation ran out do have legitimate tickets and will be able to access the event.”
It emerged yesterday that rather than being the sell out predicted, thousands of tickets are still available.
Hundreds are being sold on eBay for less than their face value – as little as £37 – or are not selling at all.
Official ticket sites still have hundreds of tickets available.
Viagogo, another official ticket site, still has five pages of tickets left available but with so many tickets being given away for free it will be even harder for these to be sold.
Her show in Hyde Park failed to sell out and was described by reviewers today as “agonising” and “dreary”.
Her team have refused to explain why the planed Australian shows have been cancelled.
She has not performed live in the continent for almost 20 years, when she visited on her 1993 world tour.
The MDNA show has also attracted widespread criticism for the brandishing of pistols and AK47 assault rifles during songs.
Lothian and Borders Police have warned Madonna that such a display on Saturday could be deemed “inappropriate behavior” under the licensing arrangements for the show.
