Consol Energy Center's concerts by Paul McCartney sell out in minutes
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People lined up at the Mellon Arena box office listen to the instructions for the lottery system for tickets to the Paul McCartney concert at the Consol Energy Center, set to open in August. A second concert was added Monday morning after the first concert sold out in about three minutes.
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Three minutes.
That's all it took for the Consol Energy Center's grand-opening concert by Paul McCartney to sell out Monday morning.
It prompted the quick announcement of a hoped-for second show the following night and a second mad dash for tickets that sold out as well.
The rock 'n' roll legend and ex-Beatle, still a vital performer at 67, will open the new arena in Uptown on Aug. 18 and 19, marking his first appearance here since his two-night stand at Mellon Arena in 1990.
"We had an inkling last week when we saw the fervor and the demand and we started working to secure the [second] date," said Rob Goodman, of arena management company SMG.
It was decided shortly before the on-sale time of 10 a.m. Monday that the second show would go on sale immediately.
From all reports, it was a very rough go for the general public trying to land tickets for the roughly 15,000 seats, retailing for $59 to $250, for the first night. Untold thousands were sold over the past week during pre-sales for American Express cardholders and fan club members. Among charge-by-phone, Internet and ticket outlets, Ticketmaster dispatched what was left in mere minutes. The ticket limit was four for VIP and pre-sales and six for all others. By noon, the second show had sold out.
SEEKING YOUR HELPAlready, hundreds of tickets have turned up on secondary sites such as Connecticut-based ticketnetwork.com, ranging from $107 to $4,077. The site is an outlet for fans selling tickets, as well as ticket brokers, who have vast pre-sale connections and a network of people using phones and computers to purchase tickets. Last month, the state passed a law prohibiting the use of computer software to purchase mass quantities of tickets, but enforcement requires a police complaint and investigation.
"The shows are selling well so far. Tickets for the second show went on sale on our ticket exchange [Monday] morning, and tickets for the first show went on sale on our exchange on June 2. The highest priced ticket sold so far was $2,717, for the show on the 18th," a Ticketnetwork representative said on Monday.
First Published June 15, 2010 12:00 am
