With the UK Government recently confirming the Prime Minister’s personal commitment to tackling the scourge of online ticket touting, new research highlights how Manchester’s independent and grassroots music venues are being targeted by rogue offshore ticket sellers operating from resale site viagogo.
Collated by campaigners at FanFair Alliance, the research found almost 300 events across 13 venues in Manchester, Salford and Stockport where tickets were being touted on viagogo – including Band On The Wall, Gorilla, Night & Day Cafe, The Star & Garter, YES, Rebellion, New Century and The White Hotel.
Incredibly, just three touts – based in Latvia, North America and Germany – were responsible for more than 75% of the 1,600+ tickets being listed for resale on the controversial website.
All were advertised at significantly over cost price.
The most expensive ticket listed was £5,899 for Mica Millar’s show at New Century – a 19,728% mark-up.
At the same venue, tickets to a 40th anniversary celebration of The Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead, featuring a conversation between the band’s drummer Mike Joyce and producer Stephen Street, were being touted for £549 each.
Other tickets were listed in systematic breach of UK consumer law, with bogus details and seller information.
Latest O2 research also found tickets for 2027 Manchester arena tours, including Tame Impala and Gracie Abrams, being listed on uncapped resale websites at more than 1,000% above face value, while tickets for artists including Tinie Tempah and Dizzee Rascal were priced at almost £6,000 each.
Tinie Tempah:
“Seeing tickets for my Manchester show being resold for nearly £6,000 each is crazy. That’s not what live music is about. The reality is that this goes well beyond any one artist or tour. As O2 and FanFair Alliance’s research makes clear, ticket touts are targeting venues and events at every level, right across the industry. At a time when emerging artists and grassroots venues are working harder than ever to survive, it’s sad to see money being siphoned away by people who contribute nothing to live music but are happy to profit from it. Fans deserve better.”
Mike Joyce (The Smiths):
“Manchester earned its reputation as one of the world’s great music cities through its venues, its artists and the fans who support them, not through ticket touts looking to make a quick profit. Seeing tickets for shows being resold for thousands of pounds is outrageous. Fans pay more, artists gain nothing, and venues see none of the benefit. That’s not supporting live music, it’s taking money away from the scene that made Manchester what it is. That’s why I’m backing O2 and FanFair Alliance’s campaign for a fairer ticketing market – it’s time to stop this for good.”
Gavin Sharp, CEO, Band On The Wall:
“I was astonished to see tickets being sold on Viagogo at inflated prices by individuals trading out of Eastern Europe when they clearly (after checking our database) had not bought them from us in advance. This is just digital touting, using promotional online tools to speculatively sell things that they don’t actually own in the first place and raise themselves up the search rankings to appear above our own bona-fide ticketing partners. It’s an unfair and unethical practice which is exploiting fans, while removing revenue from the legitimate and already stretched ticket income pathway that supports venues, production staff, promoters, agents, managers and ultimately artists!”
Adam Webb, Campaign Manager, FanFair Alliance:
“Ticket touts are typically attracted to large, high-demand shows. However, this new research demonstrates how events taking place in independent and grassroots venues are also being targeted. What we’re seeing in Manchester is literally the tip of the iceberg, and being replicated at small-scale shows across the UK, Europe and the US. We urge the Prime Minister to make good on his Government’s promise to put fans first and end this industrial-scale rip off.”
According to 2024 research by O2 and YouGov, unscrupulous online ticket touts cost UK music fans an extra £145m per year.
Gareth Griffiths, Director, Partnerships and Sponsorship, Virgin Media O2:
“O2 is tired of professional ticket touts ripping off music fans, damaging our live music industry, and getting away with it. This new research shows just how insidious the ticket touting problem is and that no venue or show is immune to the harm it causes. Manchester is one of the greatest music cities in the world. Its health and growth should not be compromised by offshore traders who are sucking money out of the city’s live economy and care only about lining their own pockets. We urge the government to act quickly and ban ticket touting once and for all.”
Meanwhile, UK music lovers continue to fall victim to the unscrupulous activities of offshore ticket touts – most recently at a Katseye concert at Manchester’s Coop Live earlier this month, when reportedly hundreds of teenage fans were left outside after being missold tickets by resale websites including viagogo and Hello Tickets.
Having announced detailed plans to “ban” ticket touting in November 2025, the UK Government subsequently introduced “draft” legislation in the 2026 King’s Speech – delaying the implementation of a cap on ticket resale prices by at least 12 months.
However, recent comments by Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy MP, have suggested a renewed sense of purpose under Prime Minister Andy Burnham to “treat this piece of legislation as a priority.”
Jon Collins, CEO, LIVE:
“Ticket touts have continued to rinse fans, while waiting for Government to act and this new research shows the impact this is having not only on larger shows, but on the grassroots music venues that provide the next generation of talent with a space to learn their craft. Manchester makes up 9.4% of the live music industry’s £7.6bn total spend, but this report shows that touts are profiteering and taking value away from artists and businesses in the sector. Fans have waited long enough for an end to the ticket touting scandal, and there is no need for further consultation. It’s time for the Government to deliver on its promise.”