Mark Hoppus Tried to Buy Blink-182 Tickets + Lost Them
We all know how frustrating it is to try and buy concert tickets nowadays, especially for high-demand tours, such as the recently-announced Blink-182 reunion trek with Tom DeLonge. Mark Hoppus tried to buy tickets to their shows himself to see what the experience is like, and ended up losing them.
Blink just announced DeLonge's return to the trio last week, which was accompanied by a massive set of tour dates as well as news of an upcoming album. The tour kicks off in Mexico in March, and the North American leg starts in May. Tickets went on sale this morning (Oct. 17), and thanks to Ticketmaster's "dynamic ticket pricing," not only are the prices extremely high, but they're difficult to secure as well.
A Redditor shared a screenshot of a post Hoppus wrote on Discord a couple of days ago, which read, "I understand that the ticketing can be frustrating. I bought tickets for two of our shows myself just to see what the experience was like. I had tickets yoinked from my cart and the whole thing crash out. Dynamic pricing. I'm not in charge of it. It's meant to discourage scalpers. We're trying to bring you the best possible show for the best price."
See the image below.
Last week, Billboard reported that the pre-sale for Blink-182's 2023 tour showed that pit tickets were going for around $600. Upon looking at tickets for their May 19 show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the lowest official platinum ticket price remaining is $499, while the highest-available official platinum floor tickets are going for $1,464.
Fans have taken to social media to express their sentiments about the ticket-buying experience for this tour. Some have noted that upon immediately joining the queue when they went on sale, there were already no tickets left.
"What's my age again? The age where I have to decide between rent and Blink-182 tickets," someone wrote on Twitter.
"Ticketmaster is an evil monopoly that’s destroying live music and they should be hacked to bits and broken up like the oil monopolies. On an unrelated note, all Blink-182 tickets were gone at 10AM pre-sale," another fan remarked.
See other reactions below, and check out tickets for the tour here.
Ticketmaster's supply-and-demand-based algorithm for setting ticket prices has been under scrutiny for a while now. Over the summer, Bruce Springsteen announced his first proper tour in six years, and fans were appalled to see the prices reaching $5,000, and Ticketmaster showed no mercy for fans. "Prices and formats are consistent with industry standards for top performers," the company wrote in a statement.