Photo: Eddie Mulholland
Tickets for the Rolling Stones’ much-ballyhooed show at London’s O2 Arena on Sunday night were still available online just moments before the show. The Telegraph reports that while tickets went on sale for a top price of £406, scalpers were trying to get as much as £1,300 before showtime. A band spokesman told the paper, “It’s a real shame that fans have been prevented from buying tickets at the original price and that secondary marketing agencies are attempting to profit. The band does not participate in anything of this nature.”
But U.S. music industry watchdog Bob Lefsetz accuses the band themselves of being behind it. He writes: “Where do you think the [scalpers] got those seats? THE STONES THEMSELVES! This is how it works. The band gets $26 million for four gigs and a private. But that’s not enough. They’ve got to make more. So they take a bunch of their seats, mark them up and sell them to the scalpers.”
