Tokyo-based management companies On The Line Inc. and Maverick DC were ordered to take preventive measures by Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency under the Law Against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations due to infraction of rules in the ticket sales of the rock band L’Arc-en-Ciel’s concert last year.

According to a report on Japanese daily newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, L’Arc-en-Ciel fans who had tickets for the front seats were forced to be relocated to the back rows at the band’s 30th anniversary concerts which took place at Tokyo Dome on May 21-22, 2022.

The concert planning and management company, On The Line Inc., and the band’s management agency, Maverick DC, were reported to begin selling tickets in January 2022, four months ahead of the concerts. The sales process resulted in the over-sell of the very front seats, SS seats – about 14,400 tickets for about 6,600 seats – and some of the S and A seats had to be pushed back farther from the stage.

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Country’s Consumer Affairs Agency claimed that the venue map shown online displayed that SS seats (¥22,000) would be located close to the stage on what is ordinarily a baseball field, while S seats (¥16,500) would be in the first-level stands and the A seats (¥11,000) would be located in the balcony and second-level stands. However, just three days before the concert, the SS seats were expanded into the first-level stands area and the S seats were also allocated in the second-level stands, while nominally maintaining the initial seating categories.

The agency issued the order, recognizing the case as one of representations that may mislead consumers as to the quality of goods — the first such case for a live concert, and a situation that affected about 24,000 fans to be assigned to downgraded seats away from the stage, according to the news report.

The agency asked the companies to clean up their act.

L’Arc-en-Ciel are known to be the first Japanese performers to headline at Madison Square Garden.