Thirty-eight seconds to be exact. That’s right; in less time than it takes to warm up a cup of coffee tickets for the Spice Girls London reunion show completely sold out. And, wait until you find out how long it took for Miley Cyrus’ concerts to sell out. More on “Hannah Montana” later… let’s discuss those spicy Brits first.
The all-girl group hasn’t performed together in nearly a decade (Geri Halliwel, a.k.a. “Ginger Spice,” quit, citing “differences in 1998), but who knew their popularity would rival acts such U2, Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen (all who remain in the record books for having sold out concert venues in less than it takes to take a shower).
According to the BBC, more than 1 million people registered for the London concert.
“It was a dramatic moment,” the head of TicketMaster told news reporters. “The sales went live and there was a huge surge as fans bombarded the lines.”
The surge was so great that show promoters had to add three more London dates to accommodate the demand. The BBC is reporting that top legitimate tickets went for $150, though some scalpers are reportedly selling tickets on the Internet for $900 each.
Across the Atlantic, the hottest concert ticket of the year is for a pop star half the age of the youngest Spice Girl. Fourteen-year-old pop star Miley Cyrus, star of the Disney Channel’s “Hannah Montana” TV show is red hot… and she has the ticket sales to prove it.
That’s great news for Cyrus, but for parents trying to get their 9-year-old daughters a seat to see the daughter of country music singer Billy Ray Cyrus perform live, it has been a living nightmare.
According to ticket handlers, fans are so desperate for seats that some venues have sold out in as little as four minutes and scalpers are asking five times the face value for tickets. Think about what that does to a kid who has diligently saved up the $65 that tour promoters capped prices at (they also put a four-ticket maximum on each transaction). However, the average ticket for Cyrus’ “Best of Both Worlds Tour,” which doesn’t even begin for another couple of weeks was being resold for $214. According to TicketMaster, that tops the average resale price for Justin Timberlake ($182), Beyonce ($193), and The Police ($209).
If you think that’s crazy, consider this: A TV station in North Carolina reported that a single ticket for Cyrus’ Charlotte show recently sold for $2,565.
“We knew it was hot, but we had no idea it was this crazy,” a tour operator told news reporters. “It’s like the Beatles.”
In Memphis, all 12,000 seats for Cyrus’ appearance sold out in 8 minutes. It took 15 minutes in Columbus, Ohio, and tickets reportedly went just as quickly in cities across the country including Nashville, Miami, Atlanta, and Lexington, Kentucky.
Is your daughter still holding out hope for a ticket? Or are you one of the lucky ones?