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Foo Fighters apologise to fans turned away from O2 show

By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 21 September 2017

The Foo Fighters have apologised to fans who were turned away from a show at the O2 Arena in London on Tuesday night. Although they also pointed out to said fans that it was all their own fault for buying tickets from the secondary sites.

In an attempt to curb tickets appearing on the resale platforms, each buyer’s name was printed on each ticket for the O2 Arena show. Fans were then required to show ID to prove it was their name on the ticket before being granted entry. This led to around 200 people being turned away at the door – a number of whom claimed that they had actually purchased their tickets from primary sellers but were unaware of the strict ID policy.

However, both the band and promoter SJM Concerts say that the rules were clearly stated prior to the event. Those turned away have been encouraged to seek refunds.

In a statement, the band said: “The Foo Fighters show that took place at The O2 last night had a strict ‘names on ticket’ policy. The stipulation that ID would be required for admittance to the show was clearly stated at the time of announcement and was explicitly noticed at the point of purchase”.

A number of other measures to ensure that tickets were not resold by touts were also put in place, they said. However, “despite these requirements being in place, some purchasers listed their tickets for resale on secondary sites, including StubHub, in clear contravention to the ID requirement and the direction received from The O2, the Foo Fighters and the promoter of the show”.

SJM added: “Fans that bought tickets through our official box offices had to agree that they were buying named tickets prior to purchase. This was not a ‘last minute’ decision but was clear from the outset. We did this to prevent tickets being re-sold at extortionate prices. The vast majority of fans understood and adhered to this”.

Many promoters and artists are now implementing a variety of anti-touting measures in an attempt to stop tickets appearing on secondary sites at inflated prices. However, measures such as this – and also cancelling tickets that appear for resale – can often leave fans disappointed and possibly out of pocket, rather than the touts.

But these hardline measures, like refusing entry to those with touted tickets, aim to discourage people from using resale sites, and educate consumers that they should only buy from official sellers. Though many consumers are still unable to tell the difference between official and unofficial sources – something that’s not helped by touting platform Viagogo’s use of the word “official” in its Google advertising.

Anti-touting organisation FanFair has published two guides to help consumers, one guiding them on where to buy their tickets, and another on how to get refunds from the secondary sites, especially the famously unhelpful Viagogo.