Iron Maiden have revealed that their efforts to safeguard fans against scalpers and counterfeit tickets on their upcoming UK arena tour have been an overwhelming success.
By implementing an extensive “Paperless Ticketing” policy and ensuring all other available tickets would carry the name of the purchaser and would also require the purchaser’s credit card and ID on entry, amongst other measures, the number of tickets available for the 12-date run in support of 2015’s “The Book Of Souls” at inflated prices on the secondary platforms plummeted by over 95% compared with the band’s last UK arena tour in 2011.
By eliminating many of the resale platforms there was nowhere for the so called ticketing “power brokers” and counterfeiters to go to sell, thus largely eliminating scalping and keeping tickets on the official box office at the correct pricing, with over 100,000 tickets sold the first day and all at the intended price.
“We are delighted that the paperless ticketing system and other measures we instigated here in the UK have proved a massive deterrent to touts (scalpers) and counterfeiters,” says Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood. “We want to thank our fans for their enduring support and patience. We appreciate that our stringent policy has meant fans having to jump over one more hurdle in the ticket-buying process, but the results speak for themselves and I think everyone can agree this was well worth it.
“On the first day of public sale, we sold over 100,000 tickets nationwide direct to genuine fans through the proper legitimate channels,” he continues. “This is an incredible achievement and victory for concert-goers, not least as this is a full 12 date UK tour we’re undertaking, not just a couple of dates in the bigger cities.
"We’ve calculated that around one million pounds worth of mark-up on tickets is not sitting in the hands of touts, but instead the tickets are sitting in the hands of the fans at the correct price and we think that is a great result and makes all our efforts worthwhile.”
Iron Maiden will launch their 2017 concert dates with a five show run in Europe starting April 22 in Antwerp, Belgium; the UK trek will begin in Nottingham on May 4.
The band will open a North American tour in Bristow, VA on June 3.
Iron Maiden
The Book Of Souls
2017 UK tour
May 04 - Nottingham, UK - Motorpoint Arena
May 06 - Dublin, Ireland - 3arena
May 08 - Manchester, UK - Arena
May 10 - Sheffield, UK - Arena
May 11 - Leeds, UK - First Direct Arena
May 14 - Newcastle, UK - Metro Radio Arena
May 16 - Glasgow, Scotland SSE Hydro Arena
May 17 - Aberdeen, Scotland - AECC GE Oil & Gas Arena
May 20 - Liverpool, UK - Echo Arena
May 21 - Birmingham, UK - Barclaycard Arena
May 24 - Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena
May 27 - London, UK - O2 Arena
May 28 - London, UK - O2 Arena
See also:
Iron Maiden announce North American tour
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Iron Maiden announce UK tour
Iron Maiden tackle scalpers ahead of UK tour announcement
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