Rolling Stone's London concert sold out 65,000 seats in less than 5 minutes
April 05, 2013
The 65,000 tickets for the Rolling Stones' upcoming concert in London's Hyde Park sold out in under five minutes on Friday.
The clamour came despite anger from some fans at how much the ageing British rock legends are charging for their shows, with a standard ticket for July's open-air Hyde Park gig costing £95 ($146, 112 euros) and an upmarket "hospitality" package priced at £299.
"We sold 65,000 tickets in the speed the system could handle it," said Rob Hallett of concert promoter AEG Live.
"If the system could handle it in seconds, we would have probably sold out in seconds."
The show comes 44 years after the legendary group played another famous concert in Hyde Park -- for free.
"Hyde Park holds such great memories for us," said frontman Mick Jagger, 69.
"We can't think of anywhere better to perform to our UK fans this summer."
The Stones have been criticised over the steep prices of tickets for the "50 and Counting" tour marking a half-century of the band.
Fans were charged up to £406 for the two dates at London's O2 Arena last November while ticket prices soared to thousands of pounds on resale websites, with hundreds taking to the Internet to complain.
Fans again headed to Twitter and online message forums to voice their anger over the price of tickets for the Hyde Park gig, which will be standing-only.
"I'm not paying 100 to stand in a field at 300m from the stage screen," one fan wrote.
"£110 for the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park? I don't think so, especially with a 10.30pm curfew," wrote another. "Ripoff."
The Stones were announced last week as one of the headline acts for Britain's Glastonbury Festival, while on Wednesday the band added nine dates in the US and Canada to their "50 and Counting" tour.
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