SINGAPORE – Tickets for all six of British band Coldplay’s concerts in Singapore, as part of their Music Of The Spheres world tour, have sold out. 

This comes after the band added an unprecedented fifth and sixth show to take place on Jan 30 and Jan 31, 2024 – announced by promoter Live Nation on Monday and Tuesday respectively – following the sale of more than 200,000 tickets for their original four shows on Jan 23, 24, 26 and 27 at the National Stadium.

After failing to get tickets during the Monday pre-sales, barista Casey James decided to start queueing at SingPost’s Sengkang Community Centre outlet from midnight on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old and her friend were two out of 70 people in the queue on Tuesday morning, waiting for general sales to open at 10am.

She told The Straits Times that her experience with online pre-sales was unsuccessful, as her preferred tickets had sold out within a few hours.

Ms James, who went early to get a spot at the front of the queue, said that she had taken a nap before going.

She said: “It’s Coldplay, so I expected the queues to be long. But it’s worth it, because to see them live would be absolutely magical.”

After getting tickets, Ms James and her friend were giggling with excitement as they walked out of SingPost.

“I feel so accomplished,” she said.

“I am quite happy about the process, but I feel like it could have been improved, and it was tough to just stand around and wait,” she added.

Fans lined up at SingPost outlets islandwide on Tuesday morning to queue for tickets after pre-sales on Monday sold out within five hours, with more than a million virtual queue numbers issued.

Many fans faced technical issues during the Monday pre-sales, such as blank ticketing screens and getting kicked out of the queue.

At SingPost’s Ghim Moh outlet, people were queueing from 3am, two of whom were husband and wife Balasupramaniam and Sharlot Lizardo, who co-own a business in the construction industry.

Madam Lizardo said she was looking to score tickets for her parents and siblings, who are big fans of Coldplay.

“I’ve heard that they have a lot of energy and they’re known for their good performances and their shows’ special effects,” said the 35-year-old.

Her husband, 48, said: “They’re one of the bands we must watch, so we can tick that off our bucket list.”

He added that he felt hopeful at the Ghim Moh outlet as it was an “estate with more older folk” and expected demand to be less than that at other outlets serving a higher number of younger residents.

The couple managed to obtain 12 Category 1 tickets, each priced at $298, for more than $3,500.

“We wanted to have our family sit together,” Madam Lizardo said, adding that she is happy and excited that she gets to watch the concert during her husband’s birthday month.

Fans at SingPost’s Ang Mo Kio outlet arrived at about 6am, with more than 40 people in the queue.

Ms Jamie Foo, 31, who gave up on Ticketmaster after getting kicked out twice on Monday, decided to try her luck queueing in person.

“It was really frustrating that, despite my best efforts and following instructions on the website, it just didn’t work for me,” said the senior manager at an American multinational corporation, who took leave just to queue for the tickets on Tuesday.

After three hours of queueing, Ms Foo managed to obtain four Category 1 tickets. She said: “I am mostly relieved, and today made me realise that the manual option still works the best.”

Those in line at some SingPost outlets received forms allowing them to fill out their personal details, how many tickets they would be purchasing and to rank their preferred categories.

Online, nearly a million virtual queue numbers were issued on Tuesday for general sales. Tickets for the first five concerts were released at 10am and sold out by 11.45am.

Mr Lex Pang, 23, and his girlfriend Nikki Pang, 24, tried their luck online on both days, but were unable to obtain tickets.

Ms Pang, a digital marketing executive, said that by the time she managed to enter the ticketing website on Tuesday for general sales, the shows were sold out.

“It seemed like they did not allocate enough for general sales,” she said, adding that website issues had caused her to be kicked out of the queue on both days.

Mr Pang, a student, said he wanted to get tickets this time as he had been unable to do so when the rock band last came to Singapore in 2017.

The couple eventually secured their tickets with the help of a family member who had queued since 7am at SingPost’s Simpang Bedok outlet.

Coldplay’s six-show run in Singapore for their Music Of The Spheres world tour puts the Republic on a par with countries such as England (six shows) and Mexico (seven shows). Argentina and Brazil had 10 and 11 shows respectively.

Organiser Live Nation said on Tuesday that Coldplay are the first act to play six nights at Singapore’s National Stadium.

The band’s 2017 Singapore show saw them rock the National Stadium over two nights.

Formed in London in 1997, Coldplay have released a string of hits over the years, such as Yellow, Viva La Vida, A Sky Full Of Stars and Higher Power.