We’ve all suffered the frustration of missing out on concert tickets – you wait until the very second they go on sale, with your bank card at the ready – only to find that they’re all gone within moments.
Most of us just shrug, blame online touts and then go on with our lives. But not nine-year-old Zachary Simmons.
He’d asked his mum, Samantha, to grab two tickets to see the Take That star perform at the Eden Project in June next year, only for the tickets to sell out before she had the chance.
And the boy, who grew up listening to Gary, was absolutely gutted, so he wrote a beautiful letter to the singer expressing his sadness.
Samantha said to the Mirror: “I started waiting at 2.30pm. The sale started at 3pm, I was 164th in the queue and I think I ended up 44th before it kicked me out.”
After checking with friends, Samantha realised that she wasn’t alone in failing to grab tickets – and they were already being sold at hugely inflated prices on mark-up sites.
She continued: “The prices ranged from £90 to more than £200. Many true fans cannot afford that.”
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“I told Zachary and he was in tears. I explained to him that many people buy tickets to make profit and it made him really angry and frustrated. He decided to write a letter to Gary Barlow to say how angry he was.”
The heartfelt letter written by the youngster read:
“Dear Gary Barlow,
“My name is Zachary Simmons, I am nine years old and I live in Redruth in Cornwall. I am a really big fan of yours as is my mum.
“I have been a fan since I was very young as my mum has always played your music in the car and around the house.
“When I heard you were playing down at the Eden Project next year, I was so excited as I always wanted to see you live and my mum said she would try and get tickets as a Christmas present but she couldn’t get any as they had all sold out!
“When my mum told me that she couldn’t get the tickets I started to cry and get upset because I really wanted to see you live and sing along to your songs.
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“Mum was explaining to me why we couldn’t get tickets and one of the reasons was that people buy the tickets to sell on and make money on them.
“This made me very angry and upset because as a fan I’d really love to see you. I think this is very unfair as the price goes so high we can’t buy them. This has to stop!!
“I hope you get to see this letter and see how frustrating this is for genuine fans!
“All my love from Zachary Simmons”
Many other fans also branded the ticketing situation a fiasco and a disgrace – we’ll see if Gary replies to each letter!