Photo Credit: Sam Fender by Raph_PH / CC by 2.0
Sam Fender postpones a pre-sale for three shows in his upcoming tour in the face of a “sophisticated bot attack.”
On Wednesday, Sam Fender took to Instagram to tell fans he had pulled the pre-sale for three of his upcoming shows, moving it to Thursday, October 29, “to ensure real fans get the tickets.” The reason? A “sophisticated bot attack,” making Fender the latest artist to scramble to reschedule a pre-sale.
“Being told by the promoters that there’s been a sophisticated bot attack to the Gigantic ticket site, which is impacting the St. James’ Park pre-sale,” Fender wrote in his Instagram Stories. “We’re having to move the Newcastle pre-sale to 9:30 AM tomorrow (Thursday, October 29) to ensure real fans get the tickets.”
Originally, the pre-sale for tickets to Fender’s Proper Massive Tour in the UK and Ireland started on Wednesday, October 28. But the pre-sale for three shows at St. James’ Park—the only tickets on the tour held on Gigantic rather than Ticketmaster—was quickly postponed in the face of rampant bots. Reports indicate that the remaining shows’ pre-sale tickets remain unaffected.
Fender’s decision to modify the pre-sale for the affected shows follows similar moves from other artists, including Raye and Garth Brooks. Raye’s team manually reviewed the sign-up list for her upcoming Albert Hall show to identify a shortlist of people believed to be “real fans.” Garth Brooks canceled the Kansas City pre-sale for his Blame It All On My Roots Tour after only 30 minutes due to rampant bot activity, following a similar move for his Salt Lake City show.
Notably, all of the artists’ affected shows used ticketing platforms other than Ticketmaster; Brooks’ tickets were held on AXS, while the Royal Albert Hall uses its own ticketing system.
Sam Fender will kick off his Proper Massive stadium tour in St. James Park in Newcastle (the artist’s hometown) on June 3, 2027. He then heads to Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Manchester before concluding with two shows at London’s Wembley Stadium. The general on-sale for all shows starts at 9:30 AM on Friday, October 30.
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