Rolling Stones tour: Scalpers selling Adelaide tickets for $3,000

Updated

Premium tickets to the sold-out Rolling Stones concert in Adelaide are being offered online for more than $3,000 - about six times their initial cost.

There are no laws against ticket scalping in South Australia, but the $3,000 is a far cry from the $18 tickets the Stones offered in Paris at a secret gig in October.

In response to the scalping, South Australian Attorney-General John Rau says a proposed Major Events Bill could cap the re-sale of tickets to 10 per cent above their face value.

"The idea was in big events like that you could declare the event and that would protect the authorised offerers of merchandise and advertising from that sort of unauthorised, basically ripping-off," he said.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon says he will move this week to set up a national Senate inquiry into ticket scalping.

South Australians will also be footing a hefty $450,000 bill just for the band to come to the city of churches.

The March 22 concert will be the first time in almost two decades the British band has performed in Adelaide, where they will be the opening act for the redeveloped Adelaide Oval.

Cash payment defended

At the time it emerged South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill defended the payment, saying the concert to help officially open the upgraded oval would be money well spent for the state's taxpayers.

"You really get, on really conservative estimates, a $10 return for every dollar we put in," he said.

"To have the only full-scale stadium show in the Rolling Stones' Australian tour is a coup for Adelaide. Hosting the world's greatest rock and roll band at Adelaide Oval will be a superb way to celebrate the completion of our world-class stadium.

"I understand that Mick Jagger is an avid cricket fan and is very excited to be playing the first concert at the new Adelaide Oval."

Will you be attending the Rolling Stones concert at Adelaide Oval next year? Should taxpayers foot the bill? Have your say.

The band last toured Australia in 2006, 41 years after first playing in the country.

Moments after the Adelaide concert was confirmed band frontman Jagger tweeted:

Can't wait to be back in Australia after all this time & what a buzz to be the first to play at the Adelaide Oval! #StonesAdelaide — Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) November 20, 2013

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood will be joined for a special appearance by guitarist Mick Taylor, who was a member of the band between 1969 and 1974 and played on classic albums including Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street.

SA Opposition treasury spokesman Iain Evans thinks the money would be better spent on a local band, and claims the payment is more than the amount revealed.

"We understand from Government sources it's closer to a million, so the reality is with cost of living the way it is, taxes the way it is, the State Government borrowing this money to bring an overseas act when there are plenty of good South Australian and Australian acts, most South Australians would scratch their head and ask why," he said.

Topics: rock, arts-and-entertainment, government-and-politics, adelaide-5000, sa, australia

First posted