BookMyShow makes wave during Coldplay ticket sale: Recap of Mumbai bookings row

Fans of British rock band Coldplay got another chance to witness their performance on Saturday as ticket sales went live for their fourth show in the country as part of the band's Music Of The Spheres World Tour 2025. The tickets for the fourth show, which will be held at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium on January 25, 2025, were available on BookMyShow and sold out within minutes on Saturday.

Minutes after the show got sold out, BookMyShow added a second concert in Ahmedabad for January 26, 2025.

The ticket rollout for the fourth show comes weeks after the September 22 sales for their Navi Mumbai concerts, slated to take place in January next year, sparked a massive row and ultimately a probe over fraudulent deals following a blazing fast sell-out of their show. The same happened with actor-singer Diljit Dosanjh's ‘Dil-Luminati’ tour, whose Delhi tickets sold out in under a minute on official ticketing partner Zomato.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, November 13, BookMyShow said that to ensure a level playing field for all fans, the ticket booking process will feature a virtual queue with a waiting room, where fans will be allocated queue positions through an Automated Queue Randomisation System, when the sale goes live.

Coldplay India tour ticket row

The official ticketing partners, BookMyShow and Zomato Live, reported that tickets sold out in just minutes on their platforms, which ultimately led to black-marketing at exorbitant prices, according the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which launched a probe on the sale of tickets and later filed a money laundering case.

Also Read: Coldplay Ahmedabad concerts tickets go live: All about Narendra Modi Stadium capacity, how to book on BookMyShow

The ED in October said it detected alleged irregularities after it conducted raids in a money laundering case to probe "black marketing" of tickets for two "highly anticipated" music concerts - one by Coldplay and another by Diljit Dosanjh.

Citing “numerous reports” of people being “deceived or cheated through fraudulent ticket sales”, the ED said some were sold fake tickets while others were charged exorbitant prices for legitimate ones. Apart from this, Coldplay Navi Mumbai concert's queues ran into lakhs, with scores of people failing to book tickets.

In September, Coldplay announced two shows on January 18 and 19, 2025, at the DY Patil Sports Stadium of Navi Mumbai. The music group added a third concert on January 21 at the same venue on popular demand.

The British band, led by vocalist Chris Martin, posted on their official X page about the new concert in Ahmedabad on November 13.

Mumbai police record statement of BookMyShow COO

In October, the Mumbai police recorded the statement of the chief operating officer of online ticket aggregator BookMyShow in connection with the complaint alleging black marketing of tickets for shows of Coldplay.

Anil Makhija, COO of the company, appeared before officials of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on October 1 to record his statement, an official had said.

The EOW had summoned BookMyShow's chief executive officer (CEO) Ashish Hemrajani in connection with a complaint by an advocate accusing the ticketing platform.

Maharashtra police's cyber wing on November 7 issued a notice to BookMyShow, asking it to implement strict measures including sale of name-based tickets for the concerts Coldplay in January and other shows as well.

The Delhi High Court also in October issued a notice regarding a public interest litigation (PIL) against the practice of "ticket scalping," which involves reselling event tickets at inflated prices. The plea, was prompted by the ticket sale row involving Coldplay, Diljit Dosanjh, and even artist Karan Aujla.

The Delhi High Court on October 24 also issued a notice to the Centre and three private entities regarding a plea that seeks the establishment of norms to regulate the resale of concert tickets and to block illegal ticket-selling websites.

A PIL was filed in the Bombay High Court as well in connection with the Coldplay concert ticket sales seeking guidelines to curb black marketing and ticket scalping at major events.