Sam Fender Postpones Newcastle Ticket Pre-Sale Following Bot Attack

Musician Sam Fender has delayed the pre-sale for his homecoming stadium shows in Newcastle after a sophisticated bot attack hit a ticketing website. Fender announced on Instagram that the pre-sale for his concerts at St James' Park in summer 2027 was pushed back 24 hours to 09:30 GMT on Thursday. The ticketing site Gigantic stated that its system found a very high volume of suspicious activity that caused error messages on the page, leading the company to stop the sale to protect fans. Fender stated he moved the timing to make sure real fans get the tickets. The disruption follows his recent decision to remove a ticket category from sale because he was unhappy with high costs for fans, which he noted were out of his control. Fender announced the Proper Massive Stadium Tour last week, covering cities like Newcastle, Cardiff, London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Manchester. While the bot attack affected the Newcastle dates, a source told the BBC that buyers had no issues purchasing tickets for the London show.

Context

Bot attacks on ticket websites happen when automated computer programs try to buy up large amounts of tickets instantly, often to resell them at higher prices. Musicians and ticket sellers use security checks and delays to stop these automated scripts and keep ticket access fair for real fans.