U2 tickets again sell out fast

Fans Emily Wright and Hayden Maskell, both 17, joined the queue for the U2 concert tickets yesterday morning. Picture / Dean Purcell

Tickets for the second U2 concert in Auckland went in less than two hours this morning - around the same amount of time it took for the first date to sell out last week.

Some fans queued for up to 36 hours. Others trying to obtain tickets found the Ticketmaster website and phonelines blocked all morning.

Promoters said  the tickets, which went on sale at 9am, sold out at 10.43am. They quashed rumours that a third concert might be staged.

Online auctions of the tickets were again brisk, with the Trade Me website showing 261 listings under a search for "U2 tickets" at 11.30am. Bidders were offering hundreds of dollars per ticket.

Scott Catley was one of those who spent two nights on the street for his favourite rock band.

The pool-maintenance worker was first in line for tickets to Irish stars U2's second concert, having camped outside Auckland record store Real Groovy since 3pm on Saturday.

Equipped with beach-chair, biscuits, drink and newspaper, Mr Catley was all set for a 42-hour wait for ticket counters at the store to open at 9am today.

But he was not among the hordes who missed out on the first concert. As a fan club member, he has tickets already.

"But it's such a good rock group, you know, that I'd like to see them again if I can."

Mr Catley has all the albums and DVDs and has already seen the band live three times.

"If I could have some tickets, I'd be real happy."

By yesterday afternoon, a queue of about 100 people - and growing - had formed outside the record store for the band's March 18 concert at Ericsson Stadium.

Tickets for the first concert on St Patrick's Day (March 17) sold out in 90 minutes last Monday, and scalpers onsold them for hundreds of dollars' profit on auction website Trade Me.

Although buying and selling tickets for profit is not illegal in New Zealand, it is a condition of sale imposed by U2 management that tickets cannot be onsold. But organisers admit that tracking those tickets is difficult.

They reduced the ticket quota for the second concert from eight to four a person in a bid to ease demand.

The expectation of high demand also brought out a new approach to scalping, with one man approaching Mr Catley and others offering to sell their place in line on Trade Me.

Mr Catley didn't think the man had a lot of luck.

"He could have offered me $5000, I still wouldn't have taken it."

A little bit further down the line were Geoffrey Hebden and Tila Avakh, snug inside a tent set up in anticipation of a sudden thunderstorm.

Mr Hebden had been at his spot since 2am yesterday, having been alerted by his sister, Grace, that a queue was already forming. Ms Avakh, meanwhile, was helping Grace, who had to go to work.

The siblings had failed to get tickets to the first concert, despite Grace camping outside the record store and family and friends using the internet and phone to improve their chances.

"We just weren't lucky enough - so we've doubled our efforts this time," said Mr Hebden.

One tent behind them were 17-year-olds Hayden Maskell and Emily Wright. They were surprised to find a queue when they got there at 8am yesterday, and even more surprised to find some had been there since the previous day. "We are by no means so dedicated," said Mr Maskell.

The pair were optimistic about their chances but that mood diminished further down the queue.

Property manager James Spence, 90th in line, rated his chances as "50-50". Next to him were friends Kristin Thoy and Michelle Sanders, who had narrowly missed out on tickets for the first concert.

All three took hope from the reduced ticket quota.

But Mr Spence was not taking chances, and said he would be trying with his cellphone as well today.

Real Groovy's assistant counter manager, Jay White, said he had never seen people queuing for tickets this early before. The store was refilling their drink bottles, and allowing them to use its restrooms, he said.

Someone had also dropped off chocolate biscuits for fans yesterday.