When contacted about its role in the denial of entry to hundreds of fans who purchased tickets to its show at the Wiltern last week for purchasing tickets on secondary markets, The Black Keys issued a statement condemning “scalpers” who were out to “defraud our fans and steal their money” by reselling tickets to the show, priced at $25 for members of its fan club.
Now, Digital Music News is reporting that the band was also selling uber-premium tickets itself – at more than 20 times the $25 price point it chided “scalpers” for trying to take advantage of.
But the band was also selling extremely high-priced premium tickets with prices exceeding $500, according to information now confirmed by Digital Music News. Those tickets were sold alongside the $25 primary tickets, with Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster handling transactions for both. Even worse, fans who were unable to obtain the $25 seats were quickly offered the high-priced premium seats.
Fans speaking to DMN indicated that there were premium presale tickets going “in the $400 or $500 range” by one account, while another fan confirmed seeing limited-access seats for $375, $475, and $575. Fans also complained online about presales available to fans purchasing via Citi – a presenting sponsor of the performance – for significantly higher than the advertised price, while fans who purchased seats anywhere besides the “official” marketplace were denied entry.
“So Citi can sell Premium Seating to this show for $575 each but 50% of all fans were denied entry because of non transferable tickets?” one fan tweeted. “Not one place on Ticketmaster, Live Nation or any Black Keys emails did it state this fact.”
“Dick move by the band,” another stated.
Live Nation did not comment for DMN regarding the pre-sale tickets. Requests for comment by TicketNews sent to Live Nation, The Wiltern, and management for The Black Keys have not received any response.
