Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
ERIC Clapton fans performed a triple whammy approach to secure tickets for the guitar star’s concert in Bahrain at the weekend with disappointed music lovers demanding a rethink over the organisation of future appearances by global superstars, writes Stan Szecowka.
Hundreds of people joined the queue at the Spring of Culture stand at Bahrain City Centre on Saturday morning, with some dedicated followers of the former Cream legend arriving at the mall before 7am.
As they waited patiently for the 10am start of sales, they made their best efforts using smart phones to log on to the online ticket sales centre as their family and friends tried frantically on computers at home.
“I was here just before 8am and there were still around 20 people in front of me,” said Janet Beedie, from Amwaj. “I felt really sorry for the people at the back of the queue because it was pretty obvious they had no chance of buying tickets before they were sold out.
“We managed to get the last available cheap seats, all the good seats had already been snapped up!”
Bahrain Rugby Football Club president Mehdi Honar was up bright and early to buy a pair of tickets as a birthday present for his wife, Vicky, and was clearly concerned he would miss out before retreating from the queue with a big smile on his face. Fortunately, as he waited, Vicky had managed to get through to the website and book seats.
The same happened with medical student David Cohen who was trying frantically to reach the box office on his smart phone as he queued only for it to continue crashing as his mother suffered a similar fate on the home computer.
Just when all looked lost he finally made it through to buy three tickets and the big-hearted 22-year-old used the device to help a gentleman standing in the queue behind him, who he had befriended, buy tickets too.
“We Clapton fans have got to stick together,” he said. “It’s just a shame they couldn’t have put the concert on at a larger venue so all his fans could have attended, or invite him to play for two or three nights.”
Mohammed Al Ghamdi, who had driven over the Causeway from Saudi Arabia, could not agree more, after failing in his attempt to attend the concert at the 2,000-capacity Arad Fort on March 8.
“Why not hold it at the Bahrain International Circuit or National Stadium?” he asked. “I’m sure thousands of people would have travelled from Saudi which would have been good business for Bahrain for all sorts of reasons. I alone wanted to book three hotel rooms for the night for my family!”
Disappointed Tracy Langton, a British expat from Saar, said: “I so wanted to get tickets and just couldn’t get through on the website so rushed over to the mall but it was too late.
“I just hope the venue is full of true Clapton fans. I desperately wanted to watch the Philharmonic Orchestra in Bahrain and found the tickets sold out too. Luckily, a friend had a spare ticket because her husband was called away on business and I got to see the show.
“What I found frustrating and disappointing was the fact that there were empty seats because invited VIPs did not show up.”
Social media outlets were alive with Clapton fans trying to buy tickets with many willing to pay well over the original price for the privilege.
A spokesman for the concert organisers, the Economic Development Board, said it was ‘good news’ that the tickets had sold out.
