"Nobody said it was easy" is a line from hit song "The Scientist" of the world-renowned band Coldplay.

It looks like the lyrics was given life in India where fans is confronted with an overwhelming challenge in securing tickets to the band’s upcoming concerts.

With tickets quickly selling out and reappearing on resale platforms for as much as $11,000, the excitement for the Music Of The Spheres tour has turned into frustration. As fans grapple with technical glitches, long virtual queues, and bots snapping up tickets, many are left feeling disheartened, caught in a scramble that seems far from the “paradise” they’d hoped for.

The British band is scheduled to perform three shows in Mumbai in January as part of their highly anticipated Music Of The Spheres tour, marking their first performances in India since 2016.

Tickets were slated to go on sale through the official platform, BookMyShow (BMS), at noon on September 22. However, the website and app experienced crashes due to high demand.

Those who managed to join the virtual queue to purchase tickets, priced between 2,500 and 35,000 rupees ($30 to $417), found themselves behind hundreds of thousands of other users. Within minutes, tickets sold out and reappeared on other platforms with prices reaching as high as 960,000 rupees ($11,458). This sparked outrage, with concerns that bots were used to buy up tickets, contributing to the resale frenzy. For context, India’s GDP per capita is roughly $2,500 annually, according to the World Bank.

Amit Vyas, a lawyer and co-founder of the Mumbai-based law firm Vertices Partners, was one of many fans trying to secure tickets when he was suddenly blocked from accessing the site. He lodged a police complaint, accusing the platform of making tickets available to scalpers and allowing them to be resold at inflated prices on secondary markets.

“None of my friends in Mumbai or even from outside managed to get tickets,” Vyas told CNN, expressing frustration over the lack of protection for fans against bots and resellers. On Monday, Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing summoned Ashish Hemjarani, the CEO of BookMyShow, for questioning about the suspected black-market sales of tickets.

In response, BookMyShow issued a statement on X (formerly Twitter), distancing itself from any third-party ticket resale platforms or individuals. The company also confirmed it had filed its own police complaint regarding the alleged sale of counterfeit tickets for the concerts, as reported by CNN affiliate News18. “Scalping is illegal and punishable by law in India,” the platform stated, pledging full cooperation with the authorities in their investigation.

One fan, 26-year-old journalist Arkatapa Basu from Bengaluru, recounted waiting behind 130,000 people in the queue before discovering a third show had been added. However, she gave up trying when she saw 700,000 others were already waiting ahead of her for the new show. Meanwhile, 22-year-old engineering student Ishaan Jhamb from Delhi and his friends found ticket prices so steep that they opted to fly to Abu Dhabi to see the band, as it proved to be a more affordable option.

The difficulties in securing concert tickets have been a recurring issue worldwide. In recent months, Ticketmaster has faced backlash over dynamic pricing, which adjusts ticket costs based on demand. The controversy resurfaced when the band Oasis announced a reunion tour, prompting criticism of the practice. Ticketmaster clarified that while they manage ticket distribution, prices are set by artists and promoters. The company also came under fire in 2022 for its handling of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which saw unprecedented demand, causing frustration for fans.(MyTVCebu)

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