Sam Fender rescheduled pre-sale after bot attack
Sam Fender rescheduled the pre-sale for his Newcastle homecoming show after a sophisticated bot attack hit the ticketing website Gigantic. bbc.com reported that the 32-year-old musician moved the sale back 24 hours to 09:30 GMT on Thursday for his summer 2027 shows at St James’ Park.
Bot Attack Forces Pre-Sale Delay at St James’ Park
Fender announced his Proper Massive Stadium Tour last week, setting dates across Newcastle, Cardiff, London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Manchester. Chronicle Live reported that fans attempting to secure tickets for the St James’ Park dates on Gigantic encountered “bad gateway” errors and site crashes. Social media users expressed frustration over missing pre-sale codes and inaccessible pages, while other dates on the tour used Ticketmaster without reported outages.
“Being told 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 an Instagram post. “We’re going to have to move the Newcastle pre-sale to 09:30 tomorrow to ensure real fans get the tickets.”
Ticket Costs Prompt Category Removal Ahead of Sales
The ticketing trouble arrived just days after Fender removed a ticket category from sale because he was unhappy with the costs for fans, stating the pricing was out of his control. Chronicle Live noted that general admission ticket prices for the stadium shows are set at £55, £75, and £95, with standing tickets priced at £85. Hospitality packages ranging from £350 to £800 are available at Murrayfield, featuring themed pub and dining experiences inspired by the artist’s roots. Fans pre-ordering the fourth album could access the presale with a unique code and link sent by email by 8pm on Tuesday 27th October, subject to a maximum purchase of six tickets per person, though entry to the presale did not guarantee tickets.
A BBC source stated that buyers experienced no issues purchasing tickets for the London show at Wembley Stadium. Gigantic, which is advertising general sale tickets for Friday, has been approached for comment.
Stadium Tour Tickets Go on Sale October 30
The general sale for the stadium tour will start at 9:30am on Friday, October 30, according to Chronicle Live and Cool FM. The tour kicks off with two nights at St James’ Park in June 2027, followed by stops at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, Wembley Stadium, Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium, Manchester’s Etihad Stadium, and Marlay Park in Dublin on July 1, before heading to Rock Werchter in Belgium on July 3. The artist’s third album, People Watching, won the 2025 Mercury Prize and featured the duet “Rein Me In” with Olivia Dean, which achieved a record-breaking 23 non-consecutive weeks at number one in British history after being performed live to over 80,000 fans at a London Stadium show.
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