Flaunt Weeekly
Later in the day, two more shows were announced for January 12 and 14, giving some fans renewed hope
By Sugra Khanwala
Published: Wed 25 Sep 2024, 5:38 PM
Last updated: Thu 26 Sep 2024, 11:20 AM
As the pre-salt for Coldplay’s much-anticipated Abu Dhabi concert on January 11, 2025, went live on Wednesday, many UAE residents logged in promptly at 12pm, eager to secure their tickets.
However, instead of a smooth process, thousands found themselves stuck in virtual queues, some with over 200,000 people ahead of them.
Fans waited for hours, only to be met with disappointment.
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“This is too taxing,” said Namira R., a 35-year-old Dubai resident who had pre-registered and logged in early at 11am on ticketmaster.ae.
“After waiting for hours, I got logged out and had to rejoin the queue from the end. Eventually, I gave up.”
Her frustration was echoed by many others.
“After 2.5 hours of waiting, I finally reached the front of the queue,” said 26-year-old Naushad Dhun, who resides in Dubai. “With only one person ahead of me, anxiety built — stories of people getting logged out right before they could book the tickets were spreading among friends and colleagues.”
“When my turn came, I saw the Ruby (Category 2) seats were gone. So were the Gold (Category 3) and Silver (Category 4) options. The only choices left were General Admission Standing, Reserved Seating, and Side View.”
Naushad selected Side View and tried to purchase four tickets. “I clicked ‘find tickets’, but the system said they weren’t available. I tried again with Reserved Seating and Side View — no luck. After several attempts, I got blocked for ‘unusual browsing behaviour'”.
Frustrated, he rejoined the queue only to find himself at position 233,446. “By this time, the ‘enhanced experience’ tickets had been released, but they were over Dh1,200 — way more than what I expected to pay.”
Later in the day on September 25, two more shows were announced for January 12 and January 14, giving some fans renewed hope. However, the ticketing experience remained equally challenging.
For many Coldplay fans, the pre-sale was a stressful and exhausting experience filled with technical glitches, long wait times, and high prices.
“Securing a ticket felt more like winning a lottery than a regular online purchase,” said Sara Saify, another 32-year-old Dubai resident who was disappointed after waiting for nearly four hours only to leave empty handed.
General ticket sales for the January 11 concert begin on Friday, September 27, at 12pm on the band’s official website, as well as Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
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