U2 concert tickets in Dublin sell out as extra Belfast show added

Fans enraged as tickets appear on resale sites for hundreds and thousands of euro

U2 perform at Croke Park, Dublin in 2017. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters
U2 perform at Croke Park, Dublin in 2017. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

Tickets for the four U2 concerts in Dublin and one Belfast show sold out on Friday morning.

However, a second show has been announced for Belfast on October 28th with tickets going on sale on February 9th.

Live Nation and MCD have confirmed this will be the final added concert in Ireland .

The shows are part of the European leg of their eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE 2018 tour this October and November.

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The Irish band will play in Dublin’s 3Arena on four dates dates, November 5th, 6th,9th and 10th.

They will now play two shows at Belfast’s SSE Arena on October 27th and 28th.

Many fans took to social media to complain about the problems buying the tickets on the Ticketmaster site with technical errors popping up.

A nubmer of people noticed not long after tickets were sold out they appeared on resale websites at much higher costs.

Prices on Ticketmaster for the official sale started at about €40.50 for stand and seated tickets to more than €200.

It is understood standard tickets sold out shortly after going on sale at 9am.

Two U2 tickets appeared on eBay selling at €1,500 for a silver VIP package at a Dublin show.

Fine Gael TD Noel Rock said also tickets instantly appeared on Ticketmaster-owned Seatwave for multiples of face value - in Dublin up to €800.

He called for legislation to ban the above cost reselling of tickets to be enacted by the Government immediately.

“Today’s outrageous cornering of the market by touts whose only goal is to gouge hard-working fans is an absolute disgrace and shows clearly the problem we have here,” he said.

“If the companies charged with selling tickets wanted to stamp out this practice, they could easily have done so.”

“This situation cannot continue: the ticketing industry cannot be relied upon to regulate itself.”

The band’s European tour starts in Berlin on August 31st.

The European dates follow the North American leg of the tour, which begins on May 2nd in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The band last played in Ireland in 2017 in a sold out concert in Croke Park.

U2 - European dates announced so far:

August 31st: Berlin, DE Mercedes-Benz Arena

September 1st: Berlin, DE Mercedes-Benz Arena

September 4th: Cologne, DE Lanxess Arena

September 5th: Cologne, DE Lanxess Arena

September 8th: Paris, FR AccorHotels Arena

September 9th: Paris, FR AccorHotels Arena

September 12th: Paris, FR AccorHotels Arena

September 16th: Lisbon, PT Altice Arena

September 17th: Lisbon, PT Altice Arena

September 20th: Madrid, ES WiZink Arena

September 21st: Madrid, ES WiZink Arena

September 29th: Copenhagen, DK Royal Arena

September 30th: Copenhagen, DK Royal Arena

October 3rd: Hamburg, DE Barclaycard Arena

October 4th: Hamburg, DE Barclaycard Arena

October 7th: Amsterdam, NL Ziggo Dome

October 8th: Amsterdam, NL Ziggo Dome

October 11th: Milan, IT Mediolanum Forum

October 12th: Milan, IT Mediolanum Forum

October 15th: Milan, IT Mediolanum Forum

October 19th: Manchester, UK Manchester Arena

October 20th: Manchester, UK Manchester Arena

October 23rd: London, UK The O2

October 24th: London, UK The O2

October 27th: Belfast, SSE Arena

October 28th: Belast, SSE Arena

November 5th: Dublin, 3Arena

November 6th: Dublin, 3Arena

November 9th: Dublin, 3Arena

November 10th: Dublin, 3Arena

For complete tour and ticket information, visit: www.U2.com and www.livenation.com

Rachel Flaherty

Rachel Flaherty

Rachel Flaherty is Digital Features Editor and journalist with The Irish Times