Fans scramble to get tickets for ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ Black Sabbath gig
Ticketmaster said ‘there were no issues’ on its website.
Fans have scrambled to get pre-sale tickets to the one-off Black Sabbath show.
Frontman Ozzy Osbourne is reuniting with the original line-up – Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward – for the first time in 20 years for the Back To The Beginning show in Birmingham, where the heavy metal rockers began in 1968.
The all-day event at Villa Park in Birmingham, will also feature sets by a host of major metal bands including Metallica, Slayer and Alice In Chains, and see Osbourne play his own short set before joining with Black Sabbath for what has been billed as “his final bow”.
Some fans reported being unable to get tickets for the first pre-sale, which opened on Tuesday morning.
They claimed they were stuck at the seating map, where tickets can be chosen for the venue, while other fans shared their delight on social media at being successful.
However, Ticketmaster said “there were no issues” on its website and it “always advises fans to make sure they only use one tab, clear their cookies, and do not use any VPN (virtual private network) software on their device”.
Ian Gould, 53, from Liverpool, claimed he encountered issues on Ticketmaster and told the PA news agency that he was unable to load the seat map of the venue so he could book tickets.
“I then tried and logged in through my phone,” he said.
“When I’ve gone through (my phone), it’s then basically given me two options, one being to either start a fresh queue on this… at the back of the queue, pointless, or to eventually return to the original device, which is… the computer in front of me, which is giving me the same load map error message.”
He said he was frustrated as “it is such a special occasion”, and compared the importance of the event as being like the UK version of Woodstock festival.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime gig that has now been basically snatched from under the noses of what would appear a lot of people,” he said.
Mr Gould said he was part of a WhatsApp group of more than 40 people, who he said had not been able to get through to buy tickets.
The regular ticket buyer said he found it to be an “ongoing issue with Ticketmaster” and other selling websites when it came to the increased demand for big gigs.
He added that he thinks “the way the system works”, makes it so it is difficult to get through via direct sellers, and forces people to go and pay “extortionate fees” through secondary selling websites.
“It irritates me, no end that I can go and pay £1,000 or £2,000 a ticket on Viagogo, which I should be able to buy at face value through Ticketmaster,” he said.
Also going through the same issue of getting “frozen” in the Ticketmaster queue was Emily Pywell, 29, from London, who was hoping to get tickets for her boyfriend, Brandon Hall.
Ms Pywell said it “would be devastating if he doesn’t get a ticket” with “this being his last chance to see him”.
Mr Hall was originally due to see Osbourne perform in London on his farewell tour in 2023, but the singer cancelled the dates as he struggled to recover from a spine injury.
Ms Pywell said that the Ticketmaster queue “caused stress” as she did not know “whether to refresh or wait and hope for the best”, before explaining that when she did get through, the options meant it was difficult to find seats that had not sold out.
“Once we got through it was a ‘select your seat’ from the map which is only good if you have a quick reflex – I kept clicking on seats to then find out they’d already sold,” Ms Pywell said.
“Even now, more tickets keep popping up but it’s a race of who can zoom in (to the seat map), find the available seat and click on it first, it’s so unfair.”
Both Mr Gould and Ms Pywell will continue to try and get tickets throughout the week, they said.
All profits from the July 5 show will go to charities including Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorn Children’s Hospice, which is supported by Aston Villa.
They have been listed at prices ranging from £197.50 upwards.
In 2020, Osbourne revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and he paused touring “for now” in 2023 after extensive spinal surgery.
He had a fall at home in 2019 which aggravated injuries from a near-fatal quad bike crash in 2003, stopping his farewell No More Tours 2 shows from going ahead in Europe and the UK.
The tour had previously been rescheduled several times because of illness, the Covid pandemic and logistical issues.
Tickets for Birmingham will go on general sale at 10am on Friday.
