Millions scramble for tickets to China’s TFBOYS concert as front seats cost US$28,000 and scalpers offer US$700 ‘tree-climbing’ spots
- Tree ‘seats’ outside concert stadium are available for US$700 an hour, telescopes cost extra, as does insurance in case of a fall
- One fan claimed cost of a ticket to sit in front row had surged to 2 million yuan (US$280,000) on black market
Tickets to see boy group TFBOYS perform in China have sold out in just one second due to massive demand as scalpers offer front-row seats for a staggering 200,000 yuan (US$28,000).
Demand to see the group perform is so intense that trees outside the concert stadium are being offered to rent for 5,000 yuan (US$700) an hour for fans willing to climb high enough – telescopes cost extra, as does insurance in case of a fall, mainland news outlet Lanjing Finance reported
One of the most popular boy bands in China, TFBOYS, also known as The Fighting Boys, has three members – 24-year-old Karry Wang Junkai, and 23-year-olds Jackson Yee Yang Qianxi and Roy Wang Yuan, who made their debut in 2013 as teenagers.
The band has an estimated commercial value of more than US$430 million from endorsements and branding as of 2018, according to the China Business News Data.
With each of the three stars having more than 80 million fans on Weibo alone, ticket agents are not concerned about charging such exorbitant ticket prices.
The 10th-anniversary concert in Xian in northwestern China’s Shaanxi province on August 6 is rumoured to be the last time all three members will perform as a group.
On July 24, the first batch of tickets sold out instantly, with an estimated 5,000 snapped up in just one second, with a reported 4 million fans left disappointed.