Sam Fender has criticised ticket pricing for his forthcoming tour, vowing to lower the expected prices as they had been “inflated”.
The British rock musician announced a stadium tour earlier this week, which will see him perform a number of high-profile dates around the UK.
Ahead of the ticket sale next week, an Instagram post leaked what were alleged to be the pricing bands for the tour, which varied by venue but saw standing prices mostly set at around £100. For the date at Wembley, it was claimed that “front standing” tickets – more expensive tickets in which the area closest to the stage is segregated – would cost £130.75 each.
Dividing the standing audience into two tiers has become an increasingly common – though much-criticised – practice at large stadium gigs, with London’s Hyde Park BST festival also renowned for its use of the system.
Responding to the post on social media, Fender said he was “not happy” with the prices, and also said that the standing areas would not be divided by price tier at his gigs, stating that he had “no idea how this was normalised”.
“I’m not happy with these prices, they’re getting changed,” he wrote on Instagram. “It got inflated well more than I’d had in mind, it should only be inflated in relation to the cost of putting the show on.”
He continued: “The standing will not be split as well, I had no idea about it. I have no idea how this was normalised in gigs. It’s b******s and it won’t be happening on this tour.”
Announced this week, Fender’s Proper Massive Stadium Tour will take place next Summer, and will see the Geordie musician perform in Newcastle, Cardiff, London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Manchester.
Fender, 32, is also rumoured to be one of the headliners at next year’s Glastonbury Festival.
Tickets for his tour are set to go on general sale at 9.30am GMT next Friday, with a pre-sale taking place 48 hours before, on Wednesday.