By Benjamin Jackson

Copyright scotsman

Lewis Capaldi’s 2026 tour went on general sale this morning – 24 hours after fans complained over Ariana Grande tickets selling out.Of those complaints came tales of website crashes and tickets disappearing from checkout carts.Benjamin Jackson got up earlier than usual this morning to see if he could attempt the unthinkable – Lewis Capaldi tickets at face value.

It’s been a hot minute since I last queued up for tickets; that’s not me bragging about getting ‘comps,’ more the fact that there hasn’t been too much I’ve felt I had to queue up for the morning of general sales.

But owing to the dramas that occurred earlier this week, when Ariana Grande’s tickets sold out and tales of websites crashing and tickets disappearing moments after being placed on hold for almost two minutes to complete the transaction, I felt I owed it to myself (and you, the reader) to see how arduous a task it would be to pick up tickets for another huge show taking place next year.

Lewis Capaldi is set to hit the road once again with a series of huge outdoor concerts, including a performance at Roundhay Park in Leeds as part of the brand new Roundhay Festival.

Given that it would appear to be the ticket ‘du jour’ this weekend, why not put myself in the position of Capaldi fans and roll the dice to pick up tickets the moment they go on sale?

My previous experience with Ticketmaster wasn’t an arduous one; I wanted to see Tool perform at the AO Arena in Manchester – not quite the ‘hot’ tickets compared to Grande or Capaldi, but certainly enough interest in the band that it would sell out.

It did – but my wife and I managed to pick up tickets, without any dramas or website crashes, on that occasion. But reading the horror stories people have had waiting for tickets, could something have changed with Ticketmaster or AXS, another outlet selling tickets, in that time frame that has warranted unhappy, ticketless fans?

Or is it more of the case of just rotten luck?

It was 8.35am when my journey first began.

8.35am – ‘sitting’ in the Ticketmaster waiting room

Armed with a cup of coffee and with one device logged into Ticketmaster, per their suggestion, I scanned over social media while the wait took place to see if anyone had already had any issues with the system or any dramas before tickets went on general sale.

Hopping on X (formerly Twitter, as I believe we’re still saying that?), there were more posts when searching for ‘Lewis Capaldi Tickets’ offering last minute sales from fans who could no longer attend his current tour – and, somehow, the odd 2026 tour date, but we can place that on pre-sale tickets that took place throughout the week.

Sometimes, even the best laid plans don’t come together for some people.

To credit Ticketmaster, they did inform those of us in line how much we could expect to pay for tickets: I read while in the waiting room that it would cost between £85.20 to £116.70 (including fees) with a per order handling fee of £4.25 for the Exeter show, while the Roundhay Park show is £85.75 to £220.95 and Manchester prices £79.60. But would those prices fluctuate, as has been the ‘bogeyman’ regarding picking up tickets the day of release at face value?

It’s 8:55am now, after cruising around other tabs on my desktop, and so I felt that I should be more attentive to the Ticketmaster tab I have neglected for the past 20 minutes. Zero hour approaches, as it were.

9.00am – access permitted

9am rolled around and I found myself only 147 in the queue, which then quickly moved to 17, then finally I was there at the ticketing page, 9.01am, to secure my tickets to see Lewis Capaldi in… Exeter?

Yes, for as astute as I thought I was coming in early, gearing up, logging into my Ticketmaster account, ready to face whatever dramas you’ve read about on social media, it would be my own neglectful nature that caused an issue this time. Though good news for those who are looking to see him perform at that location as tickets, at that time, seemed bountiful; as you would imagine, being the virtual ‘box office’ had only just opened up.

“This,” I thought to myself, “this might be the undoing of what has been a relatively painless task so far.” Was my luck due to picking a location that some fans might not want to travel to? That’s been some of the sage advice given out before regarding attaining tickets to the biggest events the UK has to offer, so if you missed out on Manchester or Leeds tickets, you could try your hand elsewhere and maybe use some of the money saved on travel and accommodation.

9.03am – desperate shuffle to the right location

Ok – 3 minutes over my initial schedule, but I’ve managed to move over to the Roundhay Festival section, which had quite the queue at that point in time.

Starting in 847th position, which I thought was a bad sign, in moments my position shot to 461, then 123, and finally 50. So far, so good – and then when I finally arrived on the page to choose which tickets I wanted, I encountered my first issue.

The cheapest tickets had sold out, but once again, in fairness to Ticketmaster, they had advised the range I may have to pay to get tickets to Lewis’ Roundhay Festival show. Plus, the price for Tier 1 tickets at £91.45 each wasn’t too much of an overpayment, if I were looking to go to the shows. I was even told I had 2 minutes to confirm my order, in which time I started to think about who might be ‘sat behind’ me in the queue, so promptly left to allow someone else the opportunity while it was still present.

I wonder if there’s been any issues with another ticketing outlet – AXS on this occasion?

9.10am – heading over to AXS to try my luck there

Heading over to AXS, which also had tickets to the Roundhay Festival performance, my aim was two-fold: could, at this late juncture, I still secure tickets and would there be any cheaper options compared to Ticketmaster?

Signing up and then heading to the specific link this time (rather than the mistake I initially made), I found myself able to access the tickets almost immediately. After two checks to determine I wasn’t a bot, and although the cheapest option was still not available, I was still given the option for Tier 2 tickets.

So both Ticketmaster and AXS were quick, effortless pursuits to pick up tickets. But what about Manchester, where he is also set to play, should I have missed out on Leeds tickets?

9.15am – what about Wythenshawe Park?

So, 15 minutes since tickets went on general sale, I found myself back where it all began – Ticketmaster. So, at this late stage, have I left it too late to get tickets to the Wythenshawe Park performance?

No – in fact, it was the quickest queue for tickets throughout the morning, with tickets still available at that stage. But let’s try and return to those tickets for Roundhay Park once again and see if the situation has changed.

It’s 9:26am, almost a full 30 minutes since tickets went on sale, and I was met once again with the option of two tickets for £91.45 each. In each instance, the website didn’t crash on me at all, the queues were not quite as arduous, and if I wanted to, I could pick up the tickets I required.

9.30am – four options and four results – so what might be going wrong for other people?

Having been ‘victorious’ throughout my efforts, I did start to wonder what issues might occur that have led other people to get into ‘fights’ with ticketing outlets; it can’t be that the show I was looking to attend wasn’t popular, as the promotion for the 2026 tour has been strong, and people have been talking about it.

I figured that, perhaps, it is more of a case of not following instructions? For example, if you are given two minutes to confirm your purchase, and you don’t succeed in doing so, then why shouldn’t someone ready and willing have that opportunity to take advantage of being punctual?

The only dramas that I saw on social media came more from an admin standpoint than a website functionality one; those who were looking to pick up accessibility tickets either didn’t give the correct details on hand (Nimbus ID number, for example) or found the app wouldn’t allow them that option. In both cases, when I took a look for accessibility tickets, I was met with the information to email Ticketmaster specifically for help.

Which, from experience, has been the case for a number of shows and festivals – so as much as it seems like I am glazing Ticketmaster, I really can’t hold them at fault this morning, and from the looks on X also, no one else could.

10:00am – Capaldi announces several sell-outs, but additional shows are on sale

10am rolls around, and it’s been a full hour since general ticket sales went… well, on sale…and Lewis Capaldi posts on Instagram the number of shows that have sold out; though he assures people that sales for additional shows will take place soon.

His message then stated that he didn’t know if the Leeds or London shows had sold out, and I had dipped in and out of the queue too many times this morning that I didn’t want to stand in a line I had no intention of using once I got to the front.

So, in conclusion, did I manage to get a chance to pick up Lewis Capaldi tickets at face value when they went on sale? Yes, in fact, I had four chances throughout the morning for three different shows. I’m somewhat confused about the issues that have previously arisen, more specifically around alleged ‘dynamic pricing’ or perhaps it’s more sour grapes, as some people left it to the last minute to pick up tickets, then were somewhat shocked that they all sold out ahead of time.

But then maybe I’m lucky, old and have been at this rodeo before. Congratulations if you did get tickets, and commiserations if you missed out.