There is a now annual tradition of mass hysteria long after Electric Picnic has sold out, and the fomo starts to take hold in the run-in to the festival. The best place to sit and watch the sane crumble is the online marketplace. The hunger for a weekend camping pass has reached Californian gold rush proportions earlier than usual this year, and this is most obvious in the price of tickets in the secondary market place.
Touting and scalping tickets is a legal grey area in Ireland, falling into the category of “frowned upon by the law” instead of being actively prohibited, not unlike the subletting racket, and lock-ins in your local. Consequently, online ticket values have redefined the phrase silly money, and asking prices of “Dowry, or nearest offer” are being openly met.
Earlier this year, the UK brought in stricter laws on touting with maximum fines of £5,000. This is but a scratch on ticket prices for some of history’s best reunion tours, with resold passes for Led Zeppelin’s 2007 final show fetching £10,000.
While event organisers and bands alike have attempted to quell touting, no one methodology seems to have worked effectively. Foo Fighters (above) launched a massive anti-scalping campaign earlier this year in the US that allowed fans to buy hard copy pre-sale tickets via designated box offices, but somehow their tour still reached the 15th most expensive in second-hand sales.
And then there is the problem of fake tickets. Perhaps we need to set up an official evaluation by the hosts from Cash In the Attic or Flog It!. Prospective buyers could look on while auctioneers explain the quality of the hologram and read out the original face value printed on the ticket front. It would certainly make for a decent, nailbiting sideshow beside the queues into this year's Electric Picnic.
