Coldplay ticket chaos in South Africa as Computicket systems crash

Cape Town – In scenes that mirrored those seen when U2 tickets went on sale in October last year, Coldplay fans were left cursing ticket retailer Computicket as their systems failed to accommodate the huge demand for tickets of the UK band's tour of South Africa, according to website Channel24 this week.

Promoter Big Concerts announced on Monday that tickets would go on sale at retailers and on Computicket's website at 09:00 on Thursday. But as 09:00 came and went, many fans found that they were either unable to access the website or were stuck in long queues at Shoprite and Checkers stores around the country due to system crashes.

But it was little comfort to fans who continued to wrestle with Computicket's online system, with most reporting that they were either unable to log onto the website or had secured their tickets before the payment system crashed and their booking was lost.

An hour after tickets went on sale, reports came through that all Golden Circle tickets (at R665 each) for the Cape Town and Johannesburg concerts had sold out. As the hours passed, it appeared that the waiting had paid off with some reporting that they had had better luck in the supermarket queues than those who opted to buy via the website.

Ticket prices range from R265 and R565 for seated areas, R415-R440 for general admission and R665 for the coveted Golden Circle area. Coldplay are set to play the Cape Town Stadium on October 5 and the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on October 8.

Big Concerts says South Africans fans have already snapped up 60 percent of the tickets for the Coldplay concerts in Johannesburg and Cape Town in October. A total of 103,000 tickets went on sale on Thursday and more than 30,000 fans have already secured their place at either FNB Stadium or Cape Town Stadium. Big Concerts’ Attie van Wyk confirmed that all golden circle tickets were sold out within the first couple of hours. He said the response has been "phenomenal" adding, "Over many years we’ve done our homework in relation to Coldplay’s popularity. We have been trying for literally 10 years to get them here."

Coldplay will perform two shows on its debut South African tour. The first show is scheduled for Wednesday, 5 October at Cape Town Stadium and the second show for Saturday, 8 October at FNB Stadium Johannesburg.

Coldplaying TV (episode 3) is now live!