Anger as Fans are Told Top Show Tickets are Sold Out (Wings 1975)

 File under -- some things never change.  50 years ago, Paul McCartney fans were angry about how tickets to his concerts were distributed, causing fans who wanted tickets to be unable to get them.    Sound familar???

Anger as Fans are Told Top Show Tickets are Sold Out

No Writer Listed

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

August 27, 1975

    Fans of top pop band Paul McCartney and Wings were today furious that tickets for next month's concert had been sold out at the city hall Newcastle. The long-awaited show was advertised at City Hall last week. Callers were told that tickets would not be on sale until yesterday. Hundreds of fans queued in vain yesterday because most of the tickets had, in fact, been sold on Saturday. 

    Mr. Bob Brown, manager of the city hall, confirmed today that there were very few left to sell yesterday morning. He said the confusion had arisen because the city hall management was not sure when the tickets were going to arrive from the printers. It was on this basis that booking office staff last week told the fans that tickets would not be on sale until Tuesday this week. 

    The concert was then officially advertised at the end of last week, but the advert did not say when the tickets would be on sale. Then, when they arrived in time to be sold on Saturday, the box office went ahead. Mr. Brown added, "We were in the lap of the gods. Most of them were sold on Saturday, and a few yesterday morning. The trouble was that we didn't really expect them back from the printers with any confidence until yesterday."

     Hundreds of fans had taken the trouble to queue on Saturday, but one fan who was disappointed, 21-year-old civil servant Phil Currie of Whitehall Road, Gateshead, said, "I was furious that all the tickets had sold out. When I got there yesterday, I had been told that they were going on sale on Tuesday. This comes as a blow. I'm a great fan of Paul McCartney and Wings. I bought all their records and was looking forward to seeing the concert. I don't mind queuing for them. I knew that there would be 1000s of fans there, but no one could have complained if we had all been given the same fair chance to queue for the tickets."

     Tickets for the concert on Tuesday, September 16 are priced from  ₤1 - ₤2.50