Touts bid to cash in on gig

Mumford and Sons - gig is sold out.

GREEDY ticket touts are already trying to cash in on the sell-out Mumford and Sons gig in Inverness – by flogging them at FIVE times the price online.

Hundreds of people were turned away from the Ironworks venue’s box office on Saturday morning after the 1,000 £20 tickets were snapped up by queuing music fans, some of whom had camped out overnight.

However, within two days, briefs for the gig by the Brit Award winners were being advertised on auction website ebay, with attempts being made to shift them for up to £100 each.

The band announced their tour of the Highlands the day after winning the Album of the Year title at the Brit Awards.

The four-piece band will play to 3,500 people at eight Highland gigs, including The Ironworks on Tuesday, March 8.

On Tuesday, six tickets for the Inverness show were going under the online hammer. By Wednesday morning, there was a bid of £136 for two tickets.

Promotor Robert Hicks said he was aware tickets were being sold online, but was pleased about the low numbers involved.

He told the HN: "I’m aware some people have been trying to sell them online, but I have heartened by how few have actually gone online. If someone has queued for five hours, it shows they really want to go to that event.

"It’s the day and age we’re living in, but for a handful of tickets to be sold out of 3,500 is not even a percentage point so it’s actually quite heartwarming."

He added: "We limited the tickets to two per person to beat the profiteering and I think it worked."

He described how demand for the tickets has been "astronomical".

Fans began queuing for tickets, which were only available in person, by 10.30pm on Friday evening.

The box office opened at 10am on Saturday, and by this time the queue was backed up to TK Maxx on Strothers Lane.

He added: "We knew it would be busy, but everybody was surprised by just how busy. However, Mumford and Sons are at a point in their career where they could play any venue of any size so we’re over the moon to have them.

"It’s commendable the band are making a return to the Highlands when they said they would come back."

The band have previously played at Hootananny in Inverness and at the Loopallu festival.

Dougie Brown, Ironworks duty manager, said while it was a "shame" a very small proportion of ticket holders were selling online, he said it was inevitable it might happen.

He said: "We sold the tickets in person to try to stop people from buying tickets with credit cards from all over the world.

"If people didn’t buy from touts, there wouldn’t be touts."