What should have been a moment of pure joy for Radiohead fans quickly turned into a sh**show of frustration, confusion, and chaos. After tickets for the band’s long-awaited European tour went on sale, thousands of loyal fans were left empty-handed. It happened despite Radiohead’s attempt to outsmart scalpers with a new, tech-driven lottery system.
Fans frustrated with Radiohead tour tickets
One fan on Reddit described seeing Radiohead as the culmination of a lifelong bond — and it’s very personal. “My wife and I met over our mutual love of Radiohead,” he said.
“We swore that whenever they toured again, we’d go see them wherever that would be. When the European dates were announced, one of them landed on our anniversary. It felt like fate.”
Like many diehard fans, the fan and his wife, along with friends in London, registered for the band’s official presale. The new system was designed to prevent scalping by tying ticket access to registered emails and limiting fans to one venue selection. But despite the well-intentioned design, the rollout quickly fell apart.
“Out of the four of us, only my London friend got a code,” the fan explained. “When the sale came, she had no luck. We thought there’d be another wave, but that came and went with nothing.”
The resale opportunity, meant to give fans another fair shot, only deepened the chaos. Fans reported endless error messages, “phantom” ticket listings that disappeared upon checkout, and hours of fruitless refreshing. “It was just one giant mess that gave me more anxiety than it should have,” said the fan. “We’ll keep our fingers crossed for a North American leg next year.”
Social media was flooded with similar accounts of broken queues and false bot detections. One buyer who managed to get through said, “I got tickets for London, went to payment, and then the verification failed — it canceled my tickets.”
Another fan echoed the frustration: “AXS has the worst bot identification. The pages wouldn’t load, I got kicked for being a bot, and after switching between WiFi and data for 20 minutes, I finally got through.”
Those lucky enough to secure tickets have found themselves staying quiet to avoid being bombarded by messages from desperate fans.
“I think a lot of people who got tickets aren’t talking about it because of the spam,” one fan admitted. “All of my tickets are accounted for, but I’m getting endless DMs asking if I’ll sell. It’s gotten really annoying.”
Despite the backlash, some fans acknowledge that Radiohead’s intentions were admirable, aiming to keep tickets in the hands of real fans rather than scalpers.
“Buying tickets for a hugely popular band is always a mess,” one commenter wrote. “Frankly, it always sucks for those who don’t get tickets. But I think their goal was accomplished — most tickets went to fans instead of bots.”
Still, for many who were shut out, the experience has left a sour taste. What was meant to be an exciting comeback for one of the world’s most innovative bands became a reminder that even the best intentions can falter under the weight of demand, and the limits of technology.
Whether future dates will fix the system remains to be seen, but for now, thousands of devoted Radiohead fans are left waiting, watching, and hoping for another chance to hear their favorite band live.
