T-minus three days before the Coldplay ticket sale: Guys, we got this. It’ll sell out in a minute or two, but we’ll make it. I just know.
T-minus two days before the Coldplay ticket sale: I’m gonna have a full-blown breakdown if I don’t get the tickets. THIS IS IMPORTANT.
T-minus one day before the Coldplay ticket sale: I heard there’s a queue system, so no fastest finger first. Let’s stay vigilant and glued to our screens 30 minutes in advance.
The morning of the ticketing debacle: I just dreamt of Coldplay. This is a sign from god, I’m getting the tickets, come what may.
15 minutes before the Coldplay sale: I’ve been logged out. HELP!
15 minutes after the Coldplay sale: Two lakh people ahead of me in the queue? Are you kidding me? What is this snail’s pace?
One hour later: They announced another show. Let’s go! *enrols in the queue in a nanosecond*
Two P.M.: Two lakh again? Really?
15 minutes later: Nevermind. *shuts laptop*
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Last Sunday was the most stress-inducing, heartbreaking, and earth-shattering experience for most (read: 99 per cent) Indian Coldplay fans. One per cent of India’s mammoth population tried contesting for tickets for a concert under Coldplay’s World Of The Spheres tour, which will be held in Navi Mumbai on January 18th, 19th, and 21st, 2025, at D.Y. Patil stadium.
The ticketing platform Book My Show was exposed to record-breaking traffic, complaints, and technical glitches, given the swarm of people eyeing a slot. Having three to four devices per head in the running didn’t really help ensure fair play. And we’re all guilty as charged. Although they lessened the buying limit from eight to four, it still felt unfair as the now-shady resellers have utilised that very misgiving to the fullest, with scalping hitting an all-time high, thanks to the tussle for Coldplay tickets in this country.
Eight years ago, the Paradise hitmakers graced the grounds of Mumbai for the Global Citizen Festival, with rapper Jay Z in attendance as well. So, the wait has been long. Incredibly long, and fans are out for blood. So much so that people who managed to get tickets are choosing to keep a low profile to avoid bullying and excessive questioning. And, of course, nazar. We spoke to a few lucky fans who fought against time and luck and will be attending their shows in January (by fair means).
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Coldplay’s Lucky Four
Anusha Kala, a content strategist at Tira Beauty, is one of god’s favourites. She managed to get four standing tickets and will be giving one to her boyfriend, whereas the other two are for her parents, who also happen to be long-time fans. “In the first round, I attempted to get tickets for Saturday. I was at around 70,000, but obviously, I didn’t get any. But when I saw that they had added a new show, I logged in from multiple devices. It was completely luck-based because it didn’t matter which device I had entered first. I got in at 10,900 on my laptop, and the queue moved insanely fast. Before I knew it, I was in. I was panicking so hard because seeing the seating tickets was close to impossible. Ideally, I wanted to go for Level 2 seating tickets, but booking standing seemed easier. Something is better than nothing.”
Kala explained how she was frazzled throughout. “I was on video call the whole time with my boyfriend, and I was screaming. The seating icons were so tiny, and the interface was terrible!” Afterwards, she hopped on a FaceTime call with her parents.
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For Michelle Lobo, a PR professional who’s a big Fix You and Adventures of A Lifetime fan (yes, the monkey song), she had to endure a painfully slow trickle from 93,000 to 73,000 for the Sunday listing with visibly puzzled grandparents around, wondering what’s wrong with their granddaughter glued to the screen, distressed, and confused. “When they suddenly announced a show on the 21st, I quickly logged in, and my number was 2000. However, for my sister, who logged in two seconds after me, there were two lakh people in front of her, so I don’t know how right or rigged the system is.”
Closer to my desk was another one of god’s favourites, my colleague at ELLE India, exclaiming, “F*ck you. A big f*ck you to all the resellers.” She’s been a Coldplay fan for over a decade and wants to remain anonymous because of the hate (ugh why) some people have received over the whole ticket ordeal. Understandable. Sitting with more than half a dozen screens and a party of three, it was her sister who managed to seal the deal as she was allotted a number somewhere in the mid-2000s for the show happening on the 21st of January. The payment and address procedure had to be completed by my colleague as her sister was hyperventilating and ‘talking cr*p’ (her words, not mine!) and, thus, couldn’t be trusted with a screen.
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For Aviral Agarwal, an up-and-coming musician, getting four tickets was a dream come true. The joy was somehow short-lived as he started pondering about the distribution of the other two tickets. One was obviously reserved for him and the second for his girlfriend (a sacred pact), but the other two had numerous contenders vying for a spot (I, too, was hanging somewhere in the middle there, with a dozen people). He was almost heartbroken the first time as all the seats for Coldplay’s 18th January concert were sold out, just as he reached the number 600 in the queue. I cannot imagine. I just can’t. “I had genuinely lost all hope. Then they announced the new show, and I had to go to teach a class to my students. I asked the students if they were willing to come, to which they said no. So I got in at around 10,526 or something. It was quickly going down and cut to me getting the tickets,” stated Agarwal. “I know this might be a very good source for those selling it in black, and I’m being honest here: for something like this, which has healed so many hearts through music, you’re just crushing people’s hopes here. Know that.”
Three out of the four people I interviewed for this story unanimously said ‘magical’ when I asked them to describe Coldplay in one word. Agarwal called it ‘extravagant,’ and for me, the word is ‘bittersweet.’ I haven’t gotten the tickets, but I’m still desperately looking for them (to be completely transparent, I have spoken to a couple of people selling them at 4x the rates) and still hoping they announce more shows in the country. We deserve it.
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