In 2007, when hard rock legends Led Zeppelin reunited after nearly three decades, the concert website crashed immediately as one million fans logged in to grab less than 20,000 tickets. Such frenzy had been unheard of in India for decades. But not anymore.

Last week, tickets for upcoming Coldplay concerts in Mumbai in January 2025 vanished instantly and were resold at sky-high rates. More than 13 million people swarmed to the official platform, BookMyShow, for 150,000 tickets. The platform distanced itself from resellers and filed a police complaint as frustrated fans raised questions about fairness.

Originally priced in the range of Rs 2,000 to Rs 35,000, the tickets were listed at reselling platforms at eye-watering rates that shot up to Rs 10 lakh. On behalf of fans, a lawyer also filed a complaint with the Mumbai Police’s economic offences wing against BookMyShow and US-based concert promoter Live Nation, accusing them of unethical practices.

A representative of Live Nation acknowledged the record demand in India for Coldplay, putting it at “60 times the number of available tickets”. “With so many eager fans, we commend BookMyShow for tackling scalpers (those who buy and resell tickets at exorbitant prices) and protecting access to tickets for fans,” Live Nation said in an email response to FE. Live Nation, which promotes several big names in the industry, sees India as an exciting and growing market for live music. “The success of Lollapalooza India (2023 and 2024) and the recent Coldplay sales highlight the untapped fan demand for live experiences. With nearly 20% of the world’s population, we are focused on helping more international artists visit local fans, while also helping to expand the global popularity of Southeast Asian pop with audiences worldwide,” the representative added.

A spokesperson for Viagogo, a Switzerland-based platform that was among the resellers of Coldplay tickets, told FE, “Viagogo is a safe, secure, and regulated global marketplace that is open to all. Our platform is fully compliant with Indian law — as it is in all markets in which it operates. Tickets listed on Viagogo come from a range of sources including multinational event organisers, professional resellers, corporate ticket holders, season ticket holders, sponsors, and fans who simply can no longer attend an event.”

Amit Gurbaxani, music journalist and co-founder of The Indian Music Charts Podcast, said that although it is common abroad, it is arguably the first time that India is witnessing such clamour over concert tickets. “Obviously, there is a broken system when it comes to concert tickets. We keep hearing about how people have paid 10 times the ticket price for Taylor Swift in the US,” he said.

In fact, there was fan outcry in Britain recently, when a reunion of Oasis sprang an unpleasant surprise with dynamic pricing, prompting the Labour government to promise tickets would be sold at fair prices and the country’s competition authority to probe the sale. In the US, audiences have had to contend with dynamic pricing for longer. In 2022, Bruce Springsteen fans faced it, and Swifties endured a website meltdown while trying to buy tickets for Taylor Swift’s 2023 Eras Tour. US lawmakers have introduced various Bills, including a Boss and Swift Act, to try and regulate ticket sales, while the justice department has sought to break up an allegedly monopolistic Live Nation, which owns sales giant Ticketmaster, and launched an anti-trust lawsuit.

It may take a while before things come to such a pass in India.

When Coldplay performed in India in 2016 at the Global Citizen Festival in Mumbai, a bulk of the tickets were for free, Gurbaxani pointed out, adding that their 2025 concerts had been rumoured for months. So, the reasonably priced original tickets came as a pleasant surprise to many. “But a lot of the audience are just coming to attend because of the hype. It is both good and bad,” he added.

Earlier this year, when Ed Sheeran performed in Mumbai, it saw the highest footfall (over 50,000) for an international act in India, but minus the craze and mess over ticket sales.

BookMyShow has planned a second round of ticket sales for Coldplay in November. But, Gurbaxani said they are vulnerable to scalpers and there might be a repeat of what transpired last week. “Individuals who may not be into the band but were lucky enough to buy tickets were obviously selling them at a higher price,” he said, predicting that we could see more of this for the most popular international acts in India.

According to Nirmika Singh, founder and CEO of talent agency MOX Asia, and former editor of Rolling Stone India, Coldplay has a solid fanbase in India, and “there’s no reason why ticketing platforms would need to employ fear-generation as a PR/marketing tactic at the point of sale.”

She added that India has remained a low-priority market for globally touring bands because of two reasons. “First, we lack infrastructure in terms of venues and an organised live entertainment economy. The red tape and systemic malpractices involved in any ground event of a large scale are major disincentives.

“Second, for the most part, we Indians are a ‘free pass/guest list’-demanding population that doesn’t see a high value in buying expensive tickets for a concert, although this culture is changing for the better,” she explained.

Also, she added, artists like Coldplay, Bryan Adams, and U2 are sell-outs and generate audience frenzy because “they are legacy names who we don’t mind paying for” while peer pressure and concerts becoming a status symbol among older generations are also contributing factors.

A wind of change is blowing for live events in India.

According to data shared by BookMyShow, last year demand for premium live entertainment surged with 82% growth in specially curated global events over 2022. About 13.5 million people attended live entertainment across over 26,000 events in 2023.

Ashish Pherwani, media and entertainment leader, EY India, estimated that India has a strength of 50 million households with significant per capita income, which has emerged because of the economic growth over the past two decades. That is a class, which seeks variety and has driven demand for entertainment — especially post-Covid.

The government has already taken steps, such as in securing permissions, to facilitate ease of staging global events, Pherwani said. However, by further simplifying the conduct of events, and building and investing in infrastructure and hospitality, India could increase its potential as a market manifold and lure the biggest names in live music much more.