Robbie Williams cancels pre-sale in Australia to beat touts

Pop star Robbie Williams has scrapped a pre-sale for his upcoming Australian tour in an effort to hinder touts.

The Heavy Entertainment Show world tour, which will reach Australia in February and March next year, will see all tickets go on sale at the same time on September 7.  The move means that mega fans will be lumped in with the general sale and won’t be able to secure early bird tickets.

Promoter Michael Chugg said it is hoped that removing the pre-sale option will prevent scalpers from securing early bird tickets and selling them for inflated prices.

The pre-sale gives promoters a chance to evaluate the demand for a show, though Chugg said he is “very happy” authorities appear to finally be cracking down on ticket resellers.

“They [Williams’ team] were doing it in Europe when I was there checking out the shows about six weeks or so ago and we talked about it then,” Chugg said, according to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. “All this Viagogo stuff is blowing up now, so I thought it’d be a good way to test out how it works.”

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has taken Viagogo to federal court for alleged misleading representations and huge booking fees.

The secondary ticketing site also promoted itself through the use of the word “official” in its Google Ads, which the ACCC said misled customers to believe it was the primary ticket seller.

“We’ll check it out and see how it goes,” Chugg said. “The [Viagogo] court case mightn’t happen for 12 months, so we can’t rest on our laurels. We’re gunna beat this one way or another.”

Robbie Williams’ six-date tour in Australia kicks off on February 20 in Brisbane.

Image: Drew d. F. Fawkes