Foo Fighters spark fan frenzy with new ticket rule for surprise gig

Foo Fighters fans embarked on a frantic dash to Dublin’s city centre on Sunday after the band announced tickets for an intimate gig the following day.

The surprise Monday night show sparked a scramble, as tickets were available exclusively from a single box office.

A 10am press release stated tickets would go on sale at noon, but only in person from Dame Street.

The gig is at The Academy on Middle Abbey Street, a venue whose main room holds just 850 people.

Lifelong fan Colm Scott-Byrne secured a coveted spot.

“I literally can’t even put it into words, I’m just so excited,” he said.

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His wife saw the Instagram announcement “one minute” after it was posted and he ordered a taxi from Perrystown “right away”, he said, adding that it will be his “25th or 26th” time seeing the band.

The tickets did not officially go on sale until midday, but the first few hundred people to arrive at the box office were ushered inside the venue before access was closed at around 11.15.

Amy Malloy said: “We didn’t know what’s going on ’til about 10 minutes before they started selling the tickets and they told us we were all guaranteed ones.”

At that point, she said, the crowd started to high-five each other.

The €99 (£87) tickets could only be bought using a physical card and by those with physical ID on them.

Ms Malloy said she “got in and then I realised I brought the wrong bank card” before her boyfriend’s father was able to come to the rescue and deliver her purse.

A fan of the US rock band since the age of eight, Michael Parker said he “never experienced something like this”.

“I thought this was only in the States, where they announce a gig at the very last second, and charge only pennies for it.”

He said he did not believe the announcement when he first heard it

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“I was very much expecting it to be a tribute band,” he said.

“I’ve been telling everybody I was expecting the Food Fighters, not the Foo Fighters.”

But there was deep disappointment for others, including Andrea Felix, who was in tears after arriving shortly after the queue was closed having run to the theatre.

A dedicated fan with the band’s logo tattooed on her neck, she had hoped to secure tickets for her birthday which is on Monday.

She was comforted by others waiting outside the venue.