Ticketmaster slammed again over early sale of Leonard Cohen tickets
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 | 12:20 PM ET
CBC News
Leonard Cohen, seen during his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, is on a world tour that returns to North America in the spring. (Canadian Press) More complaints are surfacing about Ticketmaster, this time about inflated ticket prices for Leonard Cohen's upcoming concerts in Canada.
Ticketmaster's website says tickets don't go on sale until Wednesday for most Canadian dates, but the company's affiliated website, TicketsNow, began selling tickets to the shows for hundreds of dollars more than their face value before that.
Tickets to Cohen's concerts were withdrawn from sale by TicketsNow sometime Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
Tickets for Cohen's tour are in high demand. The Canadian poet and musician is scheduled to perform at Hamilton's Copps Coliseum on May 19.
When told the tickets for Cohen's appearance in Hamilton were already on sale at TicketsNow, Copps Coliseum chief executive officer Duncan Gillespie was upset.
"Sometimes it's a matter [in] large corporations like that of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Is that understandable? Yes. Is that excusable? No. Do they need to correct it? Absolutely. We're not happy and I think fans are justifiably very unhappy," he said.
Tickets with a face value of $99 to $250 were being sold on TicketsNow.com for between $568 to $856, plus a service of charge ranging from $85 to $128 per ticket.
"The reality is that somebody will pay $1,000 for a Cohen ticket, but he [Cohen] wants to keep it at reasonable prices for people, so this undermines this totally," said Gillespie.
After hearing about the ticket sales from CBC, Gillespie contacted a senior official at Ticketmaster, who promised quick action.
Cohen is scheduled to appear in Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg before his Hamilton performance.
Later this spring he will perform in Quebec City, Ottawa, Kingston and London, Ont.
