Second Auckland U2 concert announced after tickets sell out in minutes
Irish rockstars U2 will play a second New Zealand show at Auckland's Mt Smart stadium, after tickets sold out in just two minutes.
Their second show, set down for Saturday November 9, would be the final New Zealand show of their Joshua Tree tour.
Tickets for the band's Mt Smart Stadium gig on November 8 went on sale at 2pm on Tuesday, but fans said they were gone in minutes.
U2 had planned to perform just one New Zealand show, with Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher in support, in November.
But a few hours after tickets for the first show went on sale and promptly sold out, touring company Live Nation announced U2 would play a second show.
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The band were last in New Zealand nine years ago, when they paid tribute to the Pike River victims just one week after the tragedy. U2 frontman Bono led the tribute, as the band played One Tree Hill while the names fo the dead miners scrolled across the screens at Mt Smart.
Tickets for their November shows cost upwards of $63. Front row seats getting up to $400 and VIP packages from between $450 and $900.
Ticket scalpers were quick to scoop up tickets, buying and quickly reselling many of the pre-sale tickets before Tuesday's general release.
U2 fan Clare Palmer said her friend accidently bought overpriced tickets from Viagogo and ended up paying $287 for $120 tickets.
"It wasn't until the adrenaline and euphoric rush of buying tickets to a fun gig faded that I paused to reflect on what had just happened. My friend texted asking me to transfer $554 and so I plucked up the courage to ask what website she had used to buy them," she said.
Another fan, Annabelle Bunny missed her chance to get tickets on Tuesday - even though she was waiting at 2pm.
She said Ticketmaster had U2 tickets on sale one minute early and, in the few seconds of flurry, she was only able to get $360 tickets. "I had to let them go, I don't have that kind of money," she said.
Tickets for the second show would be on sale from Monday, at 1pm via Ticketmaster.
Journalist Chloe Hubbard was in a similar situation on Tuesday. She was ready and waiting at 2pm, but still didn't get tickets. It was "super disappointing" to have missed out and although she was happy to have another chance to score tickets, she said it was "annoying" when bands acted like this.
"People end up getting conned into buying more expensive packages, or paying over the odds from ticket resale sites," Hubbard said.
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