KEY POINTS:
Eager fans snapped up more than 10,000 tickets to Elton John's only New Zealand show within the first hour of advance sales yesterday morning - three days before general sales open on Thursday.
Half of the total ticket allocation has already sold for the one-night only concert at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, which has a maximum capacity of 40,000.
Advance ticket sales opened yesterday but were only available online to Visa card holders.
Event promoter Phil Sprey said there were no legal limitations on how many advance tickets could be sold, but some tickets had been set aside for general sales.
"We are holding a few thousand seats aside, at the very minimum, for public sales. There will definitely be seats on sale on Thursday."
Sprey said he was pleased with ticket sales but had anticipated they would be high, given John's widespread appeal.
Priced from $80 up to $325, tickets were selling evenly across the price brackets, said Sprey.
Sprey said the decision to offer advance ticket sales was due to the last-minute nature of the show, which will take place on December 6, but was only confirmed six weeks ago.
John was set to play several Australian shows, but had not planned on visiting New Zealand until Sprey contacted him.
An avid cricket fan, John planned his tour down under to coincide with the Ashes series, said Sprey.
A six-day break during the singer's performance schedule had been reserved for the star to watch the Ashes test in Adelaide, however, Sprey convinced John to give up some of that time to perform for New Zealand fans.
The concert will be John's first New Zealand performance since his 1998 Auckland show with Billy Joel, and will feature his classic hits, as well as tracks from his new album The Captain and the Kid.
"He plays about half a dozen songs from the album in the concert, but most of the concert will be his signature, classic hits... Saturday Night's All Right for Fighting, Crocodile Rock, and all those sorts of songs people expect to hear," said Sprey.
John hit international headlines this week after launching a heated tirade against his record label Universal during a sell-out New York gig.
The award-winning singer reportedly used the f-word 15 times in one minute, accusing the company of neglecting to promote his new album, before saying: "F*** Universal. Please drop me. I'm 58 and I don't care anymore."
