There were more sales records for Adele’s ’25’ to report yesterday: the album passed 3m units sold in the US, and with 737k sales in the UK, broke Oasis’ longstanding record for opening-week album sales too.

But the day’s big news was the announcement of a European tour for 2016 – and a blunt message for the secondary ticketing market.

The tour kicks off in Belfast at the end of February before moving through Ireland, the UK, Scandinavia and western Europe.

Fans are being encouraged to sign up on Adele’s official website to get advance access to tickets when they go on sale on 1 December in the UK and the following day elsewhere in Europe, with those advance sales exclusive to her website.

And the blunt message? “The resale of tickets will not be tolerated.”

Update: see our more recent story on how Adele tickets found their way onto secondary sites within hours of the first fan pre-sale.

That’s a bold move, certainly for markets like the UK where it is not illegal to resell tickets for concerts, although depending on the terms and conditions, promoters could bring civil prosecutions against people who do it.

That said, promoters can certainly deny entry to people who aren’t the named ticketholders. As much as we hate to raise this topic, in the wake of the recent Paris attacks any major concert may be considered as a potential terrorist target – Adele will play gigs in both Paris and Brussels next June – so moving against ticket reselling could also be pitched as a security move.

Adele’s tour – a US jaunt will surely follow – will be THE hot ticket of 2016, so it will be fascinating to see how the promoter tries to stamp out resales entirely. The pre-registration and ID-at-the-door approach taken by festivals like Glastonbury may be a guide.

One final note: Adele’s tour looks like the latest coup for live music/tech firm Songkick, which gets a credit on the live.adele.com page. The extent of its involvement has yet to be announced, but may become clearer on Sunday when fans are emailed details on how to apply for advance tickets.

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26 Comments

  4. can`t tell you how angry i am after spending most of the morning on line in a queue from 9am after i took a day off work to not get a ticket, their were sold out, but to see them for sale for £400 plus on another web site its all wrong but what do you care you`ve got your sale i am just a fan that buys her cd`s so angry you let this happen

  5. I agree with Edward Crangle. Waited over three hours in the que, only to be told they were sold out. Completely gutted… And just to rub salt in the wound selfish ticket scouts are reselling tickets for 500 per ticket already, total disgrace and just really really crap for true fans. I love Adele and first started following her career back in the Myspace days, never had the opportunity to get to see her live and was just so excited when she announced this tour. 🙁

  6. Sat today for 2 hours to be told pre sale sold out .However before the sale was finished tickets already on resale sites for 5 times the face value .To quote your website “the resale of tickets will not be Tolerated ” if only this practise could be stopped so REAL fans could benefit .

  7. Ridiculously angry with Songkick! I bought tickets yesterday for £105 but am now unable to go due to a new job and friends not being able to afford the tickets. Tried to get a refund within 4 hours of purchase which they are unable to issue due to their policy but am also unable to resell so I am basically £425 out of pocket with no solution. Absolute joke of a company. Ticketmaster offer full refunds within 72 hours of purchase!!

  9. I have the same problem like Emma. I was lucky and I bought 4 tickets for 15th March London concert, it should be xmas gift for my friends, but it will not, because I´m unable go to the concert with them.

    Now I have 4 tickets for Adele, which I can´t use, SongKick is not able to refund money and I even can resell it for cost price to someone, who really want (and can) go to the concert, although there is thousands of Adele fans without tickets…

    Great job SongKick guys!

    kimijan {at} gmail.com

  10. yeah i bought 4 tickets as a gift, what day do we live in where you cant buy tickets as a gift unless you go too!

    COMMMON SORT THIS OUT, WHO CARES IF 1.9% of PEOPLE PROFIT,yeh its annoying but its just a commodity your making everyone suffer

  11. I was lucky enough to get some tickets buying them on behalf of a family member . I could do this as I was home and they had to go to work. Therefore my name is on the details . I obviously am not going . So could somebody explain these new restrictions stating that I have to be there??? Extremely confusing!!

  12. I am in the same situation. I just can not belive that they are just take our money and do nothing… Adele Team shame of You… You are saying that this is for Your fans but it looks like that it is only for money…

  13. In the same situation. Bought tickets and within hours found out I can’t go. Now I’m stuck with 4 tickets and my siblings won’t be able to get in without me. Horrible business practice

  14. that’s what every one gets for buy up more tickets than they need and now even knowing they can go… and I wait in line to find out they are sold out then on stubhub for $800+…. DONT BUY TICKETS UNLESS YOU CAN GO AND ITS SICK TO SEE THEM GOING FOR THAT MUCH…. I hope all you resellers lose all your money. I get freemarket and shit but I mean something should be done about people buying up all the tickets for any show and selling them for crazy money.. its not fair to the bands, the fans or the venues… just the greedy scalpers and sites like stubhub charging both buyers and sellers…

  15. what a joke!! I had 7 tabs open (for multiple cities, hoping to get something for ONE of them) starting yesterday, with my pre-sale code ready. didn’t get any yesterday, none today either when tickets went on general sale. meanwhile LAST NIGHT, just after the presale, $15,000 for ONE ticket for Boston on StubHub, $5000 for show in NYC. people are charging close to $1000 for seats WAY in the back, where you can’t even see. “the resale of tickets will not be tolerated”. yeah, ok.

  16. same situation i bought two tickets for my wife and her mum for christmas,but my is name on them,I ‘ve even said i will go to the arena with my passport and photo id.everyone I’ve spoken to think this is a disgrace they need to change thier stance on family names on tickets at least.

  17. I bought 2 tickets as presents for my sister in law and brother in law. Now been told one of them cant go as i have to be in attendance and if i turn up on the night with my ID and dont go in they will cancel both tickets. Disgraceful you cant even do something nice for someone. Makes it worse for me as i dont even like adele. Now i have to sit through one of her concerts…..shocking tactic ill never buy from songkick or adele ever again

  18. This ticket ID rule is an absolute joke, my wife and I had tickets bought us as a gift from a close friend, and obviously booked them in her name. Decent people are getting punished for doing nothing wrong, this needs sorting out before the tour starts, I just hope common sense prevails and people like me will be allowed in to the venues.

  20. In a similar situation to a lot of people I’m reading about. Bought tickets for a gift they are now in my name but It’s not me who is going. Now stuck with tickets that won’t be used! Does that mean there will be a lot of empty seats at her gigs? Should at least have a buy back system so they can take control of reselling them for face value surely? Not happy.

  21. I bought 3 tickets with See Tickers at the same time my Husband bought 4 tickets with Ticketmaster. See tickets are no longer needed but they wont do a damn thing. Who says I cant gift them to a friend. So annoying that they only the person that bought them has to be the person that attends, Stupid!! What if they were a present for some one . You have to attend with them ? CRAZY!!

  22. I have 2 tickets bought by husband but he has no photo id but other id. Not sure how this will affect getting in.

  23. I bought my sister 2 tickets for her birthday so that her and a friend could go but now I’ve found out that I have to be in attendance. I’m not able to go as I have to work. My sister has waited years to see Adele live and now she’s going to be turned away. How is that fair?. So now I’m out £150 with no chance of a refund. Absolutely disgraceful!!!!!

  25. We bought tickets months ago through Song Kick and where we know that the resale of tickets will not be tolerated, we no longer live in the city we bought tickets for. To top it off, our son was diagnosed with bone marrow failure. Now we have to find a way to be in Nashville, TN on the night of the concert — he can no longer go to. The situation wasn’t perfect before and now there are a new set of problems. If there is anything you can do to help, it would be appreciated.

  26. I’m in the same situation . I bought 2 tickets for her Los Angejes show on August 9,2016.

    I’m now booked for a business conference in Las Vegas the 9-12th
    Why can’t I just give my ticket to a friend rather than waste 2 tickets that cost $340usd?!

    I understand and appreciate her policy however circumstances arise and there must be exceptions. This is now turning me off to Adele all together. I’m sick about this!

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