“It's time, let's go!
“It is 10 am sharp, this Tuesday, February 7.
The general ticket office of Beyoncé's two French stadiums, on May 26 in Saint-Denis and June 11 in Marseille, opens.
And those who imagine great excitement at its Parisian producer, Live Nation, are wrong.
The French boss of the planetary giant, Angelo Gopee, is alone behind his computer.
“You don't need to be numerous to observe what is happening on the sales networks,” he smiles.
And on a strike day, its 114 employees are mostly teleworking.
The main purchasing sites are Ticketmaster, Fnac, Seetickets, Stade de France, etc. To observe the sale on the public side, we positioned ourselves on the first at 9:30 am.
"You should not connect at 10 am sharp but as soon as the site opens its reservations", advises Angelo Gopee.
And for good reason, at 10 a.m., there are already 269,244 people on the waiting list on Ticketmaster alone… And we are in 70,768th position.
While there are only 60,000 tickets available at the Stade de France and 55,000 in Marseille…
Seats on sale?
"Too late...I wasn't fast enough"
There have already been pre-sales on Friday and Monday, the first by Live Nation for its members, the second for the Beyoncé fan club.
“We are doing this more and more often to prevent sales sites from exploding on D-Day, explains the general manager of Live Nation France.
The ticket office is like a pipe, you don't need too much flow.
We sold 35,000 tickets on presales and set aside places for works councils, with whom we work throughout the year.
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Despite these precautions, at 10:01 a.m., the Stade de France online ticket office was inaccessible… “It crashed”, notes Angelo Gopee for a few minutes.
At 10:05 a.m., he opens the private application on his smartphone that allows him to see sales in real time.
At 10:08 a.m., Fnac announces that the concert in Marseille is unavailable on its network.
“More than 32,000 tickets have already been sold at the Vélodrome, admits the producer.
I'm always impressed by the enthusiasm that these big concerts arouse.
And unfortunately, we were unable to do two Stades de France with Beyoncé because of the SNCF works on Saturday…”
At 10:08 a.m., Fnac announces that the concert in Marseille is unavailable on its network.
A few minutes later, tickets will be on sale again.
LP/Fred Dugit
At 10:30 a.m., we are still 56,437th on the waiting list, which is to say that the case is over.
“No, you have to stay awake until the sale is closed, assures Angelo Gopee.
Do not believe that because 270,000 people are there, we can sell 270,000 tickets and fill four stadiums.
Many come to see the prices (here from 85 euros), the location of the seats and leave.
For Madonna, we had 120,000 fans waiting and we sold 60,000 tickets.
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Fnac proves him right by making places available… A high stand at the Stade de France at 170 euros.
He tries to buy it.
“Suspense… Too late, I wasn't fast enough”.
How is a re-sale possible?
“Because the customers realize that the place does not suit them and cancel the purchase, answers the producer.
Some have multiple computers and phones to track multiple sites and choose what they like best.
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To avoid massive resales, you can't buy more than four tickets for each Beyoncé stadium… “The black market is much less strong than before, assures the head of Live Nation.
Thanks to the Prodiss (union which brings together the main producers of shows), a law prohibits this practice in France on sites like Viagogo.
When individuals buy four seats, they sometimes resell two on stock exchanges, but this is not a problem.
Nothing to do with the United States.
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An hour after the ticket office opened, 238,000 Beyoncé fans are still hoping… For nothing.
Ticketmaster announces at 10:46 a.m. that its two stadiums are full.
“The demand has been huge,” enthuses Angelo Gopee.
Congratulations to the pugnacious ones who have their tickets.
For the others, we must remain attentive because we release some when we have the amplitude of the scene.
“In Marseille, the boss of the Vélodrome stadium, Martin d'Argenlieu, is also impressed: “We had never experienced such demand since 2014!
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