Industry News

Slow ticketing sees fans show up a year early

 Slow ticketing implementation meant several Shawn Mendes fans showed up for his Pittsburgh concert a year early.

Mendes is using the increasingly popular “slow ticketing” method in a bid to keep tickets away from touts and in the hands of real fans.

The pop star used Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan programme to put his upcoming tour on sale early. The service is used when artists show an interest in the feature and a registration page is created for fans to sign up for a special presale. They will be required to enter a host of information to verify their identity, then based on a fan score, people will get a code that they can use for a specific presale, preventing them from competing with bots to get the best seats.

However, it caused confusion for some fans who had secured tickets for his Pittsburgh gig. After realising the show was scheduled for 2019, fans took to Twitter to highlight their mistake.

Bob Rice shared a picture of himself and his family outside the Pittsburgh PPG Paints Arena, which said: “We got tickets for the Shawn Mendes concert on August 6. However, getting here we realised it was for 2019.

“And we weren’t the only ones! We will be back next year!”

Other fans who had travelled further said: “Sooooo [sic] @ShawnMendes I appreciate you selling your 2019 tour tickets this early, but my friends and I all just drove 6 hrs to Pittsburgh to the PPG Paints Arena to see you in concert, a YEAR in advance.”

Image: Josiah VanDien