The scary thing about the internet is that there are so many bots. After a while, it can be unnecessarily difficult to parse what’s real. This has especially affected music, with fake streams inflating an artist’s audience. Sam Fender has experienced this first time, with bots radically impacting what was supposed to be a homecoming concert.
Nottingham, England ticketing company Gigantic Tickets revealed that an “unusually high volume of suspicious activity” impacted the pre-sale for Fender’s concert.
“We acted immediately to protect genuine fans by stopping the pre-sale and blocking the malicious traffic. We know how frustrating this morning was for many of you, and we’re sorry. Fans should be able to buy tickets fairly, and that is what we’re working to make sure happens,” the company said.
Sam Fender will host his shows for his upcoming 2027 Proper Massive Stadium tour. He recently added more dates in Cardiff and Edinburgh, England. Additionally, he tacked on a third blockbuster show at the iconic Wembley Stadium in London.
To ensure his fans got to see him perform live, he went out of his way to lower ticket prices. Apparently, the prices was inflated more than he expected and it went in direct contrast to his belief of what concert tickets should cost.
Sam Fender Deals With Concert Hassles After ‘suspicious activity’ during Presale
“I’m not happy with these prices, they’re getting changed,” Fender 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. The standing will not be split as well, I had no idea about it. I have no idea how this was normalized in gigs. It’s bollocks and it won’t be happening on this tour.”
This stance for the working class has remained a constant throughout Sam Fender’s career. In a 2021 interview with The Guardian, he called out both the political left and the right. The former felt like it overlooked the blue collar folks and the latter made it clear they don’t represent the poor.
“That’s the one thing that always going to be my main gripe on this planet, the sheer disparity between the 1% and the rest of the world. These culture wars are valid wars that need to be fought,” Sam Fender told the publication. “There’s a lot of bigotry, a lot of racism and homophobia. But in order to get the Tories out, you’ve got to start representing the working class people of this country.”
Photo by JMEnternational/Getty Images
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