Music fans hoping to slash concert ticket prices were met with disappointment and 503 errors when they tried to buy tickets as part of Live Nation’s Concert Week promotion.
The event, which offered $25 tickets to a wide variety of artists and more than 5,000 shows and concerts, crashed Live Nation and Ticketmaster servers, resulting in page loading errors and “page not found” notifications. Those who managed to get in line for tickets saw wait times increase to half an hour or more as the system struggled to keep up, but when it was time to purchase they were faced with an error.
Others found that long waits meant they missed out on tickets.
It was 10th anniversary of the campaign, which will last until May 18. However, tickets are limited and fans hoping to find a cheap seat at a concert near them have flooded the site. Show discounts were as high as 75%, and the $25 price included all fees (but not taxes where applicable).
Social media was full of people complaining about bugs and glitches that were still happening almost an hour after the promotion began, which can be an eternity when you’re battling bots for tickets to live events.
Ticketmaster website will crash as soon as $25 concert week goes on sale lmfaoo.
— Chantel Nanami. (@chantellyyy) May 8, 2024
A live look at @LiveNation‘s execs rn:
(Here’s a concert week for $25…) pic.twitter.com/lFUbjO9Ins— Austin Shipley (@austen_shipley) May 8, 2024
Hello @LiveNation Can you fix your site, I would like to buy tickets
— Ash 🪩 (@seaviewrry) May 8, 2024
Live nation and ticket agent are truly the worst
— Marie (@loverrycore) May 8, 2024
Live Nation could do without the black eye for its $25 concert promotion. The company is still feeling the pain from disgruntled users who couldn’t get tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour last year.
The US Department of Justice is reportedly preparing an antitrust lawsuit against the company over monopolistic behavior.