A large number of fans who purchased tickets for Dua Lipa‘s Sydney concert at Qudos Bank Arena in Olympic Park last night (Wednesday, 9th November) were left waiting outside the venue, after Ticketek’s digital ticket system reportedly crashed prior to its start time.
Due to the outage, many fans’ tickets on the Ticketek app were unable to be processed by machines at the venue, with some waiting for hours to get inside. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, in some cases staff at Qudos Bank Arena were forced to manually check patrons’ emails before they were permitted entry, delaying the thousands of ticketholders who had gathered for the concert.
Dua Lipa Fans Wait Outside Qudos Bank Arena After Ticketek’s Ticket Processing System Crashes
This is disgusting. @Ticketek_AU has gone down and thousands of people can't get in to see @DUALIPA pic.twitter.com/j7cRrzVP1F
— DW (@danieloverheard) November 9, 2022
Many fans who were stuck outside the venue took to social media to vent frustrations at the error, with some calling for refunds from Ticketek. Doors were opened for the second of Lipa’s two-night stint at the venue at 6.30pm, with the show set to kick off with support act Tkay Maidza an hour later.
According to reports, Lipa’s start time was pushed back slightly due to the technical glitch. The pop star appearing onstage at 9pm, apologising to fans who had a lengthy wait and thanking them for their patience. At this point, the arena appeared to have filled, but it’s unclear if the system had been fixed.
The crash also reportedly affected other concerts and events in Sydney. Patrons at the Sydney Cricket Ground shared on Twitter that they were stuck outside the stadium as Ticketek was unable to process their tickets for the T20 World Cup cricket match.
Massive @Ticketek_AU outage for the second night of the @DUALIPA concert. Box office has to print individual tickets LOL pic.twitter.com/bYdxWMiAJ0
— ath-in-a (@athinamallis) November 9, 2022
Trying to get into my @Ticketek_AU account and it's not working, so I've come to twitter to see what's going on and people can't even get into the Dua Lipa concert right now…Why not just make the print at home option available?
— brontë (@brontevsworld3) November 9, 2022
I’m expecting a refund for my dua lipa ticket @Ticketek_AU. I’m not waiting in line all night because of a technical difficulty
— Queen B (@TheRegalHood) November 9, 2022
@Ticketek_AU you need to REFUND or compensate all the Ticket holders for Dua Lipa’s concert in Sydney!! So bad. Complete outtage with ticketek. No one can access their tickets.
— Amy (@_amycaccamo) November 9, 2022
@Ticketek_AU we are stuck outside the @scg because your servers are down! Come on here and help or tell people what they are supposed to do before this escalates as the crowd is swelling #PakvsNz #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/Di2PqDdZ73
— Aditya Bajaj (@adityabajaj) November 9, 2022
Dua Lipa’s Australian tour will continue tomorrow night (11th November) in Melbourne, with the singer performing two shows at Rod Laver Arena over consecutive nights. She’ll perform at Adelaide’s AEC Arena on Monday, 14th November and RAC Arena in Perth on Wednesday, 16th November.
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