Does a $0.25 cover charge for some superintimate, semi-secret show at a small waterfront bar with French art-rock geniuses Phoenix sound too good to be true?
Well, yeah. But fans weren't about to hesitate clicking the "Buy Tickets" button when Live Nation and Ticketmaster suddenly sent out an app alert that Thomas Mars, Deck d'Arcy, Christian Mazzalai, and Laurent Brancowitz had just announced a Miami concert at Key Biscayne's Mad House.
"I was text messaging all my friends, frantically," says tipster Pabla Ayala of PFunk Media and the LAB Miami. "Like, 'Get these tickets now! Just get them! They're only 25 cents each! Who knows how many they have!'"
See also:
-Concert Review: Phoenix and Wavves at Fillmore Miami Beach in 2010
"At first, we were like, 'Is that right?'" Pabla admits. "But then I confirmed that Live Nation actually did list that specific show online. And so, immediately, we purchased tickets."
Soon, though, she and her pals got the feeling this whole thing was, as she says, either a "hoax or a massive Live Nation fuck-up."
But they figured "we'll just get the tickets and ask questions later."
"Once everything died down," Pabla says, "my friend Catalina, a photographer who works here at the LAB Miami, called Live Nation and that's when they told her that apparently a client or promoter was trying to do a test on the app but actually published the event live."
We here at Crossfade have also contacted Live Nation and Ticketmaster, wondering exactly how many Phoenix fanatics purchased tickets to a non-existent concert.
But so far, the event promotions and ticket sales giant has only replied to the buyers themselves, issuing, as Pabla jokes, an "oooopsies, our ba'ad" apology email.
Ticketmaster Important AlertDear fan,
This is not the kind of email we like to send. We had to cancel the tickets you bought for the following event.
Event Management
Round 3
Unfortunately, this is not an actual event and should have been used for testing purchases only.
When we caught the error, we quickly issued a full refund to your credit card.
What do I need to do?
The good news is you don't have to do a thing - you should see the full refund posted to your account within 7 - 10 business days. Just discard the tickets we sent, they've been canceled and will not get you in to the event.
Please accept our sincere apologies for this inconvenience.
If you need anything else, we're always here for you - just hit reply and ask us or visit Ticketmaster.com!
Thanks for being a fan!
Ticketmaster Fan Support
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