Fans scramble to get tickets for âonce-in-a-lifetimeâ Black Sabbath gig
Ticketmaster said â??there were no issuesâ?? on its website.
Fans have scrambled to get pre-sale tickets to the one-off Black Sabbath show.
Frontman Ozzy Osbourne is reuniting with the original line-up â Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward â for the first time in 20 years for the Back To The Beginning show in Birmingham, where the heavy metal rockers began in 1968.
The all-day event at Villa Park in Birmingham, will also feature sets by a host of major metal bands including Metallica, Slayer and Alice In Chains, and see Osbourne play his own short set before joining with Black Sabbath for what has been billed as âhis final bowâ.
Some fans reported being unable to get tickets for the first pre-sale, which opened on Tuesday morning.
They claimed they were stuck at the seating map, where tickets can be chosen for the venue, while other fans shared their delight on social media at being successful.
However, Ticketmaster said âthere were no issuesâ on its website and it âalways advises fans to make sure they only use one tab, clear their cookies, and do not use any VPN (virtual private network) software on their deviceâ.
Ian Gould, 53, from Liverpool, claimed he encountered issues on Ticketmaster and told the PA news agency that he was unable to load the seat map of the venue so he could book tickets.
âI then tried and logged in through my phone,â he said.
âWhen Iâve gone through (my phone), itâs then basically given me two options, one being to either start a fresh queue on this⦠at the back of the queue, pointless, or to eventually return to the original device, which is⦠the computer in front of me, which is giving me the same load map error message.â
He said he was frustrated as âit is such a special occasionâ, and compared the importance of the event as being like the UK version of Woodstock festival.
âThis is a once-in-a-lifetime gig that has now been basically snatched from under the noses of what would appear a lot of people,â he said.
Mr Gould said he was part of a WhatsApp group of more than 40 people, who he said had not been able to get through to buy tickets.
The regular ticket buyer said he found it to be an âongoing issue with Ticketmasterâ and other selling websites when it came to the increased demand for big gigs.
He added that he thinks âthe way the system worksâ, makes it so it is difficult to get through via direct sellers, and forces people to go and pay âextortionate feesâ through secondary selling websites.
âIt irritates me, no end that I can go and pay £1,000 or £2,000 a ticket on Viagogo, which I should be able to buy at face value through Ticketmaster,â he said.
Also going through the same issue of getting âfrozenâ in the Ticketmaster queue was Emily Pywell, 29, from London, who was hoping to get tickets for her boyfriend, Brandon Hall.
Ms Pywell said it âwould be devastating if he doesnât get a ticketâ with âthis being his last chance to see himâ.
Mr Hall was originally due to see Osbourne perform in London on his farewell tour in 2023, but the singer cancelled the dates as he struggled to recover from a spine injury.
Ms Pywell said that the Ticketmaster queue âcaused stressâ as she did not know âwhether to refresh or wait and hope for the bestâ, before explaining that when she did get through, the options meant it was difficult to find seats that had not sold out.
âOnce we got through it was a âselect your seatâ from the map which is only good if you have a quick reflex â I kept clicking on seats to then find out theyâd already sold,â Ms Pywell said.
Emily Pywell and Brandon Hall. (Emily Pywell)
âEven now, more tickets keep popping up but itâs a race of who can zoom in (to the seat map), find the available seat and click on it first, itâs so unfair.â
Both Mr Gould and Ms Pywell will continue to try and get tickets throughout the week, they said.
All profits from the July 5 show will go to charities including Cure Parkinsonâs, Birmingham Childrenâs Hospital and Acorn Childrenâs Hospice, which is supported by Aston Villa.
They have been listed at prices ranging from £197.50 upwards.
In 2020, Osbourne revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinsonâs disease and he paused touring âfor nowâ in 2023 after extensive spinal surgery.
He had a fall at home in 2019 which aggravated injuries from a near-fatal quad bike crash in 2003, stopping his farewell No More Tours 2 shows from going ahead in Europe and the UK.
The tour had previously been rescheduled several times because of illness, the Covid pandemic and logistical issues.
Tickets for Birmingham will go on general sale at 10am on Friday.