Desperate dads and infuriated moms have been left scrambling as inflated scalper prices for the wildly popular Hannah Montana stage show set a record for the most expensive act this year.
A total of 54 shows, scheduled from Oct. 18 to Jan.9, sold out in minutes. This left parents turning to scalpers to contend with their disappointed teenagers.
Debra Rathwell, vice-president of concert promoter AEG Live, told Â鶹´«Ã½net that the average ticket price in the smaller markets started out as US$55 and $65 in larger ones.
Moms are now shelling out as much as $1,000 for a pair of tickets, while dads are dressing in drag to get a crack at winning some seats for their kids. One ticket for the "Best of Both Worlds Tour" in Charlotte, N.C., sold for $2,565.
"We've had so many complaints from parents who have been to websites seeing tickets for the shows that they want to go and see, selling in the hundreds to thousands of dollars and they are completely outraged that people could have these tickets and are charging these prices," Rathwell said Saturday from New York.
Those over the age of 14 may not be aware of the phenomenon currently sweeping across North America known as Hannah Montana.
Fourteen-year-old Miley Cyrus, daughter of famed country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, stars in the Disney Channel's smash hit series that depicts the life of a normal teenager with a secret career as a pop star.
Tickets for her tour have outpriced iconic acts like Bruce Springsteen and The Police. Shows have sold out in as little as four minutes.
"I think in a lot of these markets, people have never experienced not being able to buy a ticket, assuming they did all the right things," Rathwell said.
Rathwell said the speed of Internet ticket purchases left many who lined up at ticket kiosks or who tried to purchase seats over the phone empty-handed.
"Once they were gone, we couldn't possibly meet the demand for the people looking for the tickets," she said.
As a result, furious parents launched aggressive complaints campaigns with local media, the U.S. Better Business Bureau and even their state attorney generals.
Four separate attorney generals across the United States are currently investigating whether scalpers used computer software to snatch the prized tickets faster than the general public.
"When Disney first announced these 54 shows ... immediately the (ticket) broker sites started lighting up with these tickets that they have for hundreds and thousand of dollars when we actually haven't printed any of these tickets yet," Rathwell said Saturday. "So that's the kind of thing the attorney generals are looking into."
Earlier this week, a U.S. judge granted a request by Ticketmaster LLC to block a software company from making or distributing the computer programs.
In her ruling, the judge determined that that the software harms Ticketmaster and the public "because it denies consumers the opportunity to purchase tickets to events at a fair price."
With a report from CTV's John Vennavally-Rao and files from The Associated Press
