Lewis Capaldi’s management has been urged to back his stand against touts after his tour was targeted by secondary sellers.
The Someone You Loved singer, 22, waged a verbal war on scalpers earlier this year, vowing to cancel any tickets being sold on rogue site Viagogo.
But when his tour went on sale this week, there were no terms to deter touts, like demanding ID and stating tickets can’t be resold for profit.
Lewis’s SSE Hydro gig for March sold out in minutes on Wednesday.
Parasitic touts predictably descended – craftily signing up to presale bodies O2, Live Nation, the SSE Hydro and Gigs in Scotland – enabling them to nab hundreds of tickets.
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If Capaldi’s management Coda and promoter DF Concerts had laid down Ts and Cs, touts could very easily be prosecuted.
Ticketing investigator Reg Walker, of the Iridium Consultancy, said: “I noted Capaldi slamming Viagogo and promising to have tickets cancelled so it came as a surprise to see the tour tickets being sold with practically zero safeguards to protect fans from touts.
“They could have stopped this scandalous abuse of his tickets with a click of their fingers if they wanted to.”
Capaldi’s spokesman said: "Lewis is overwhelmed by the response to the new tour dates and is very grateful to all the fans who have bought tickets for the shows.
"He has been very clear about what he thinks of secondary ticketing sites and people who resell tickets at inflated prices, calling them 'money grabbing b******s'.
"His management, agent, promoter and ticketing partners considered all the options before putting this tour on sale but were not able to find an enforceable solution which would work across the whole tour without causing significant extra cost and inconvenience to genuine fans.
"A second Hydro show was added to meet demand in Glasgow with tickets for both shows sold via a pre-sale sign-up, limited to four per person. We are confident that the vast majority were bought by genuine fans. A number of tickets bought by people attempting to break the four-ticket condition have been cancelled and will go into the general sale on Friday via official ticketing outlets.
"Lewis and his team have the wellbeing of his fans at the forefront of everything they do. After a year of preparation they have introduced the LIVELIVE initiative to support fans with anxiety or mental health issues at Lewis’s shows. In the same way, they will continue to work on a solution to the touting issue which truly results in a better experience for everyone who supports him. A change in the law to prohibit the resale of tickets at a profit would help the entire industry to tackle the problem.
"We strongly advise fans not to buy from sites such as Viagogo which profit by enabling professional touts to overcharge fans. There is no guarantee that tickets advertised there are actually held by the seller or that purchases will be fulfilled. Fans who have bought tickets but can no longer go to a show are encouraged to use the Ticketmaster and Twickets face value resale services."
