The surprise release of tickets on Saturday morning for U2's third and final Dublin concert in June has led to a flurry of activity on the internet with more than €550 being sought for some tickets.
Some 80,000 tickets for the performance on Monday, June 27th, went on sale at 84 outlets around the State on Saturday, and were sold out within hours. They cost between €59.50 and €80, including booking fee, but some purchasers are now looking for a lot more for their tickets.
Yesterday evening bidders on the auction website eBay had offered €330 for two tickets with a face value of €119.
However, the getmetickets.net website was seeking much more for tickets. The €80 tickets were on sale for €553 each , while the €59.50 tickets were retailing for €260. The splendidtickets.com website was seeking €286 for the cheapest tickets and €345 for the best seats.
The organisers of the U2 concerts had deliberately changed their ticket-sale policy for the final concert to discourage the resale of tickets by ticket touts. It gave very little prior notice of the ticket sales and limited tickets to two per person rather than six.
Some 160,000 tickets have already been sold for the first two concerts in Croke Park.
Planning permission had been obtained for a third concert at the Dublin venue, but a dispute between the band and GAA officials over the price being sought for the use of the venue had delayed the concert.
Yesterday the eBay website was carrying 2,471 advertisements for U2 tickets, mostly in the US. Some ticket sellers were describing Croke Park as the venue U2 were most looking forward to playing in.
