Off to a gig at the O2 academy in Leeds this. Ticketmaster sent me an email saying I need to download the O2 Academy app to get my ticket, and there is no other way - what an f'ing stupid way to operate but ok...
Please note, as you will be using the O2 Academy app, your tickets will not be emailed to you, available to print, or available at the box office.
However, the app is not compatible with my ancient phone, and almost every review is from someone who's tried to use it and can't login or their tickets aren't there.
The email linked me to their terms and conditions, which obviously I didn't read, and I assumed I'd agreed to this, but it doesn't say anything about an app.
I can see a ticket on the Ticketmaster website though:
Your phone is your ticket - display your tickets below from your phone or the Ticketmaster App so they can be scanned at the venue
With a QR code below.
Anyone got any experience of going to the O2 in Leeds, or other O2s where they presumably have the same terrible system?
I'm usually more selective and just go to smaller local venues and avoid buying tickets from Ticketmaster, but this is a band I was really into back in the day who haven't toured in nearly a decade so I got suckered in. Never again. The ticket buying experience was awful, the shafting for fees is well documented, and now this.
Logging in to the website should be fine to get you in. It's a very irritating way to operate though, pushing you to use the app.
I utterly despise Ticketmaster - they are vampires suckling at the teat of gig goers the world over.
What an utterly ridiculous system that is - assuming that everyone has a smart phone & is willing to download the O2 app.
I particularly like the way their new app has exactly the same Icon as their old one, which means I have 2 Ticketmaster apps, one of which no longer works. It's a 50/50 chance I delete the old one.
Agreed. When I am king of the world (which is surely any day now), Ticketmaster and their associated goons will be next against the wall, after estate agents.
I was told I had to use the O2 Academy for a few gigs recently. Initially it refused to log me in and when it finally did it was an endless loop trying to connect to my TM account. Useless POS. Used the TM app in the end.
I had problems with something similar last week when I turned up at the venue and the app kept crashing. Ended up being directed to the actual physical box office, where I showed them my booking confirmation email, gave them a couple of other details to confirm it was me and they sent me a text message with a link to a webpage that displayed the barcode I could show the door staff.
The barcode on that specific page has an animated stripe across it; I think it's probably an anti-tout thing so the door staff know you're not just showing them a screenshot.
For the ridiculous "admin" charges Ticketmaster add, I'd certainly want an option for them to send me a paper ticket if requested!
Good to know that people have managed to get it without using the O2 app. I don't want the Ticketmaster app either, but the QR code with the animated stripe is there in my account, so I'm sure that will be fine. Since the app seems so useless, I'm sure we'd have heard if people were being turned away because of it.
Reading the email again, it seems cleverly worded to strongly imply that you must have the O2 app, without saying that you can't use the Ticketmaster app/website.
For the ridiculous "admin" charges Ticketmaster add, I'd certainly want an option for them to send me a paper ticket if requested!
I think it was this gig where I was offered the option of a "souvenir" ticket with no function, to arrive after the gig, for yet another extra fee. To be fair I often go for a paper ticket if there's the option, sometimes even if it costs a little bit more for postage, but since face value was 37.50 and I was already paying 9.70 in fees, enough piss had already been taken.
I wish venues and artists would/could wrest control back from the likes of Ticketmaster. Leeches of the highest order!
Case in point, I'm going to see The Pixies at the Eden project next year. Tickets for the gig were available from the Eden Project website, literally the easiest purchase I've ever made for something like that, and the e-ticket was emailed to me straight away.
All that, and the standard standing tickets prices to see the band were half the price of all the other UK venues they're playing at!
I decided against going to see 1000 Mods in Glasgow after realising I could only book through Ticketmaster, twice the price of their last gig and then it turns out they're just the support act, turns out we're advertising support gigs as actual gigs now 🙄
I've mentioned this on the Gigs thread (I think it was that thread) – some smaller gigs are listed on Ticketmaster, but if you look on the venue site, you can often buy direct (I know this doesn't help the OP).
And talking of O2 – the Leeds venue is *way* to packed when it is a sell out event. Clearly maximising profits over crowd safety.
I find the ticketmaster app always logs you out just as you get to the front of the queue
I agree that Ticketmaster should be brought to heel, divested of their other assets like Livenation, and make them open up their ticket buying platform to enable customers to buy a physical ticket.
I went to a gig at the O2 in London and I was having issues with the app, so I went to the box office, claiming that my phone’s battery was almost dead, and I was given a paper printout, but they do keep fannying around with the apps, sometimes you have to use the O2 Venue app, sometimes Ticketmaster’s, and sometimes AXS!
Then there’s the issue with having to wait until about an hour before the concert before the tickets go ‘live’, when the QR Code starts rolling, which is designed to prevent people taking screenshots of the tickets and selling to touts and scalpers.
Most other venues I go to include the ticket with the order reply, and will allow screenshots or paper printouts, which is much more user friendly.
I wish venues and artists would/could wrest control back from the likes of Ticketmaster. Leeches of the highest order!
Absolutely. Livenation have a huge chunk of the industry sewn up and are rinsing artists and fans for profit... But I do think more bigger artists should be doing more about it. Some (e.g. The Cure) are, but most are just keeping their heads below the parapet.
Don't forget TM's official reseller vivagogo - tickers often available on there before the gig has even sold out for inflated prices.
You shouldn't be able to re-sell tickets until at least a month after the initial sale to cool down the hype.
Twickets are the way forward.
the o2 app is bewildering. I'd bought tickets for a Brixton event via SeeTickets but had to download the O2 app to get the ticket, which is run by Ticketmaster. But I'd used a different email address for see tickets so ended up with 2 accounts on o2 and switching between them (the next event I'd used Ticketmaster for purchase) was a nightmare - I think I had to delete all my cookies/internet history to get it to work, then do it again for the next event.
I always check if I can buy via DICE. Properly transparent pricing and much slicker app/ticket experience.
Its an awful experience. I got some non existent tickets a few weeks ago. I ended up with 3 apps (seetickets, ticketmaster and O2) in a desperate attempt to get hold of something that would actually let me in the venue. 2 weeks of panic before it popped up in an app. God knows why they cannot just email you the damn thing. never again.