Paul McCartney fans need more than love to get tickets
Paul McCartney performs live at the Budokan on April 28, 2015 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Ken Ishii/Getty Images)
TAMPA (FOX 13) - Jeff Dykes had big plans for to share with his 8-year old son: Paul McCartney at Amalie Arena. Tickets for the July 10 show went on sale Monday morning.
"I was like first in line at 10 a.m. I even took time off from work to make sure I was right there when it first opened," Dykes said.
But as soon as the clock struck 10, Dykes says tickets sold out online instantaneously. Those who went to the box office didn't fare any better.
"I didn't know they were going to sell out that quick. I would have gotten down here sooner," Charles Branan said, after attempting to get tickets at Amalie Arena Monday afternoon.
Many took to social media Monday with similar grievances. Amalie Arena says they expected big interest in the show.
"Supply and demand. We only have a certain amount of seats in the building," Kevin Preast, senior vice president of event management, said Monday.
Amalie Arena had roughly 14,000 seats available. Preast says nearly half were pre-sold to Paul McCartney Fan Club members and American Express card holders. The rest were released online.
"This morning, every ticket was put into the selling queue system. Very few dropped out," Preast said.
Dykes says the only tickets available to him this morning were singles or seats selling at $500 apiece, making the father-son trip simply impossible from the start.
"You can't just gobble everything up. There ought to be something available to the common person without any special connections like me and my son," he complained.
Amalie Arena says more tickets may open up closer to the date. They encourage people to keep checking their website or Ticketmaster. Preast says to beware of buying tickets off the secondary market.