When we checked the cue for members of Southbank when tickets went on sale 10 am Wednesday, it was over 1,500 in the cue, this got us thinking, will there be any tickets for non-members?
Well, more than 55,000 people tried to buy tickets to see Michelle Obama speak at London’s Southbank Centre for an event meant to seat just 2,700 people.
An allocation of tickets for ‘Becoming: An Evening with Michelle Obama’, went on sale at 10 am on Thursday, but just 30 minutes later it had sold out, the centre announced on Twitter.
Even most members couldn’t get a ticket.
Think I may have to give up on the dream of members tickets for #MichelleObama @southbankcentre pic.twitter.com/IrTEg06XZK
— Julia Pidduck (@juliacatherine) November 7, 2018
One Twitter user said
I have three devices queuing up for the Michelle Obama event at the Southbank Centre.
Device 1 is in 966th place.
Device 2 is in 28,100th place.
Device 3 is in 42,167th place.If I don't get in, I just want the records to reflect that I tried, yea? Okay, thanks.
— Davida (@davalynx) November 8, 2018
But then another Twitter user who managed to get not one but 2 a tickets said
When you’ve secured the bag for Michelle Obama tickets. Taking Mum for her birthday 🙌🏾👑🎉 @southbankcentre #MichelleObama @MichelleObama pic.twitter.com/sV0y7DtK0l
— Pilar (@PilarOfSociety) November 8, 2018
On the controversial re-sale website Viagogo, one seat for the event was being sold for up to £10,000 by 11 am this morning. The Southbank centre said it was taking the issue of secondary ticketing “very seriously”.
News of the visit was announced last week on the Southbank’s website, where it was billed as an “exclusive” in conversation with the acclaimed novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about Obama’s forthcoming memoir, ‘Becoming’, which will be published by Penguin.
It promised to “invite audiences into [Obama’s] world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work to her time spent at the world’s most famous address.”
The Southbank Centre and Penguin Live said they would be donating 300 free tickets to secondary school pupils from across London and the UK, as well as some local charities. The Royal Festival Hall auditorium seats just over 2,700 people.
I was 300th in the queue at opening. Royal Festival Hall holds 2500.
And limited to 2 tickets per person.But it’s sold out when I get in. How does that work @southbankcentre? @MichelleObama #MichelleObama pic.twitter.com/IXruay0AOI
— Paul James (@paulj85) November 8, 2018
Did you manage to get a ticket? Let us know in the comment section down below.
