DUBAI // So how much does your daughter love One Direction? Is it Dh3,000 worth?
Because that’s what you can expect to pay for a Dh500 ticket as greedy touts cash in on the boy band’s sold-out concert in Dubai next year.
And even that price is expected to increase as April 4 draws closer and Harry, Liam, Zayn, Louis and Niall take to the stage at the 30,000-capacity Sevens stadium.
When tickets went on sale in May priced at Dh250 to Dh1,000, there was a limit of eight per person. But organisers admit there was nothing to stop people making more than one application.
And when the concert sold out in a record 22 days, that was a licence to print money for touts.
This week about 50 tickets were on sale on the Dubizzle website. Most were at three or four times face value, and one seller lists a Dh500 gold ticket for Dh3,000.
One seller called Peter was selling four Dh250 bronze tickets for Dh1,000 each. He will be out of the country in April.
“I bought them when they first came out and I am going to make some money on them,” he said.
Another advertiser called Craig sold four diamond tickets for Dh3,000 each, three times face value.
“That is the price I want to sell them at,” he said. “I had six and I have sold four. That is the price they were purchased for. It is pretty much the going rate.”
Hiral Desai bought eight tickets, and put four Dh500 gold tickets up for sale at Dh1,700 each. “Within two hours, I had three text messages. I had five or six people call me.
“One guy was willing to pay me Dh2,000. I know people who are actually willing to pay Dh4,000 for a ticket. It is crazy. I have people from Lebanon and the US sending messages wanting these tickets.”
Mr Desai will use two of his tickets to take his 11-year-old daughter to the show.
“I know come February or March, there will still be people who want tickets,” he said.
The One Direction show, part of the band’s On the Road Again world tour, is the fastest selling in UAE history. About 4,000 fans queued from 4am to buy tickets when they first went on sale.
The inflated prices also make it one of the most expensive concerts anywhere in the world. Only Sting’s 60th birthday concert in New York, where tickets topped US$1,000, or more than Dh3,600, appears to beat the record.
Rod Stewart fills stadiums for just under $800 a ticket, Elton John averages just under $500 a ticket and Donny and Marie Osmond’s reunion concert fetched $750 a ticket.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
