TORONTO — Many Tragically Hip fans were left empty-handed Friday as tickets for some of the band's upcoming summer concerts sold out almost immediately.
Within minutes after the start of the public sale, it appeared that all available tickets for three arena shows at Toronto's Air Canada Centre had been snapped up, along with dates in Hamilton and the band's final stop in Kingston, Ont.
Shows in Edmonton also sold out while tickets for three concerts in British Columbia will go on sale later today.
Disappointed fans took to social media to express their suspicion that a large portion of the tickets were bought by resellers hoping to capitalize on the intense interest.
This tour is widely expected to be the final one for the iconic Canadian band, given lead singer Gord Downie's diagnosis of incurable brain cancer.
"Hope the scalpers have a great time at the Tragically Hip shows!" tweeted user David Kennedy shortly after tickets sold out.
Others remarked that there seemed to be relatively few happy tweets from fans who were actually able to buy tickets.
"So did literally no one get Tragically Hip tickets??" asked user Ali Neil on Twitter.
Not everyone was shut out of tickets though and fans who chose the old-fashioned approach — lining up at Ticketmaster outlets — seemed to have greater success.
Emily Plunkett was one of the fortunate ones who stood outside the ticket booth at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa where a small group of fans waited all night.
All of them were able to secure tickets, she said.
Less than half an hour after the public sale began for the Toronto shows, more than 2,500 tickets were listed for marked-up prices on StubHub.
