Ticketmaster 'crashes' as Eurovision fans scramble to get seats for Liverpool shows
7 March 2023, 15:18 | Updated: 8 March 2023, 12:13
Eurovision fans crashed part of the Ticketmaster website as they attempted to secure tickets on Tuesday, with them selling out in just over half an hour.
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Tickets for the international music event went on sale at midday on Tuesday - with nine different live shows available.
The dedicated website page appeared to crash shortly before tickets were due to become available, with issues continuing throughout the sale.
Some fans were met with a "500 - Internal Server Error" message when they attempted to click through to find tickets.
Meanwhile, others said they had been ejected from the virtual queue after receiving a message saying their session had expired "due to inactivity".
The official Eurovision account later revelaed that all tickets to the event - including previews - had sold out.
"All #Eurovision2023 shows including previews are now SOLD OUT.
"Demand was super high but don’t forget we have 3 amazing TV shows planned for this year's Contest & lots of Eurovision activities and parties around Liverpool during the event!"
The international singing competition will take place at the 11,000-capacity Liverpool Arena later this year, culminating in the grand final on May 13.
The event is being held in the city after the UK was chosen to host the competition on behalf of war-torn 2022 winner Ukraine.
Tickets for the semi-final shows are priced from £30 to £290, with the cost increasing to between £80 and £380 for the grand final shows.
A Ticketmaster spokesperson said: “The Ticketmaster site did not crash today – rather a very small number of fans experienced issues accessing the queue.
"Ticket sales were unaffected, and thousands of fans secured their seats for the Eurovision Song Contest, which is now sold out.”
A BBC Spokesperson said: “As expected demand for Eurovision Song Contest tickets was extremely high and tickets for all nine shows sold out in 90 minutes. Congratulations to those who secured their seats to Liverpool Arena in May.
"We are now looking forward to putting on a brilliant show for our global TV audience and those watching on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK."
