Chart topper George Ezra is currently on a tour for his latest album Gold Rush Kid, travelling around the UK and then onto Australia and Europe. The ‘Hold my Girl’ singer performed in Liverpool a few days ago but not all fans were able to see him, even if they purchased a ticket.
Paul Farnworth, 32, with his daughter Mollie, six, and son Davis, nine, had travelled with a group of other adults and children, who were between the ages of six and 10 to see the 'Shotgun' singer. All queued excitedly in their George Ezra t-shirts for at least an hour to see the little girls’ idol.
The family from Wigan passed through bag checks and were in the final stages of queuing when they were denied entry to the standing area. It was only then that they were told that children under 14 were not permitted in that area so their ticket was invalid.
Paul told the LiverpoolEcho: “They waited until we got round to the front of the queue and said no you’re not coming in and we queued for an hour already. If they had said to us an hour before, we could have gone to the box or ticket office there, we would have been able to upgrade our seats to go somewhere the kids were allowed but obviously they hadn’t done.”
When the family tried to get seated elsewhere in the arena, there were no seats left to upgrade to. Paul said this was because the issue had happened to other families, including the woman in front with her 13 and 14-year-old children.
Two of the girls had previously been to the arena to see Little Mix and had been allowed in the standing area at the time. As there was no notice on the tickets about the age limit, Paul and the other parents assumed it would be the same.
The dad-of-two explained: “We presumed as long as the child was going with an adult we would get in. We didn’t give it a second thought to be fair because if it said on the tickets no under 14s in that area, we wouldn’t have booked the tickets.”
Paul’s daughter Mollie and her friends were devastated, Paul said: “They were absolutely heartbroken and crying their eyes out. We were shocked and lost for words and it’s not nice seeing your kids crying like that.
The lads took it better than the little girls, they were gutted, but the girls had George Ezra hats on and George Ezra t-shirts on. They couldn’t wait, they were telling their teachers all day in school.”
Ben Williams, commercial director for The ACC Liverpool Group said: "We are very sorry to hear that this customer had an unsatisfactory experience at one of our events. Our number one priority is keeping our audiences safe, therefore we don’t allow children under 14 to watch concerts from the floor while standing.
"Ordinarily, tickets for under 14s are not available to buy on the floor, but unfortunately on this occasion a ticketing agency incorrectly made these tickets available for purchase. On the night, when we were made aware of the situation, we did our utmost to help customers including re-seating most of those affected, but as the event was sold out this was not possible in all cases. We are working with the ticketing agency to ensure this never happens again."
A spokesperson for Ticketmaster also said: "This was a policy implemented by the event organiser. It was communicated to the buyer of the tickets, who unfortunately did not pass along to Paul when they transferred the tickets over to him."
Tickets for one of George Ezra’s concerts will set you back around £35 minimum per ticket. Upcoming gigs such as Scarborough, Dublin and Sheffield are already sold out while a few tickets remain for his next concert in Birmingham.
