Soldplay — an unexpected concert score: Luck favoured me twice and I scored four Coldplay tickets. Now, people are offering me double my monthly salary for each of them

This is an as-told-to essay about a 24-year-old from Noida who prefers to remain anonymous. Business Insider India has verified the story details. The story is based on a real event and conversation but has been edited for length and clarity.

Last week, I asked my colleague if she believed in luck and she said she did as she recounted a few recent episodes. I believed in luck too, but my belief was a bit contrarian, meaning my luck had never been on my side. However, that perception changed at noon on Sunday, September 22, 2024, when the entire nation seemed to have a collective breakdown on social media over being unable to get tickets to Coldplay’s concert in Mumbai.

Here’s my story!

From ignorance to an online queue

On Sunday, I returned from the gym after a brutal leg workout. At 11:55, I received a call from a friend asking, “Are you getting tickets for the Coldplay concert?” I had no idea they were coming to India, but since I like Coldplay, I said, “Yes! I’ll try to get them.” By 11:58, I was buzzing with excitement and I opened BookMyShow on both my laptop and my phone, as I didn’t want to miss out on the tickets.

When the bookings finally opened, the website and app started glitching, as expected. After a few nerve-wracking minutes, things calmed down and I saw that I was in the queue on both my laptop and my phone. However, I wasn’t happy with my position as my laptop showed that there were 3,750 people ahead of me, while my phone indicated 12,992.

In a fit of frustration, I posted an Instagram story asking why the queue was so ridiculously long. To my surprise, minutes later, my phone was bombarded with messages. Some were facing queue numbers—over 3,00,000 and even more than 6,00,000 ahead of them. Suddenly, I felt a rush of excitement and a ray of hope, thinking maybe luck was actually on my side that day. As I watched the queue move at a snail’s pace, hope surged within me. One could bottle and resell the hope that surged within me on eBay as I watched the queue move slowly.

From hope to despair to joy

Now, I was glued to my laptop screen, refreshing the page continuously to see the queue drop. Moments later, I found myself on the booking page on my laptop, where I had to select the pricing and seats I wanted. My heart was racing and I had four minutes to book the tickets and make the payment. This is where I lost my first chance.

Due to the site lagging, chaos in my mind and overall confusion about how to choose the seats, I couldn’t complete the transaction within four minutes. Boom! I was redirected to the homepage, and my chance to book the tickets was gone.

To be honest, I felt a wave of disappointment for not getting the tickets, but then I remembered I still had a chance through the phone app. By the time I opened it, my queue number had dropped to 2059. I felt hopeful again, but the tickets were flying off the virtual shelves, and most of the blocks were already fully booked by then.

I held my breath, waited anxiously, and after some time, I found myself back on the booking page. This time, there was actually hope, and I was literally shaking with excitement as I selected the seats and prepared to pay. Finally, the payment went through, and I scored four tickets. I felt happy and relieved, realising that no one else in my friend circle was even close to the booking page. I understood how lucky I actually was.

But things didn’t end there.

Unbelievable — or rather unwanted — bidding on my tickets

I was so happy to score the tickets that I posted an Instagram story of my ticket confirmation on my private account with the song "Millionaire" by Honey Singh. I usually am not too active on social media, but this was different. And, in my mind, worth celebrating.

A few minutes later, when I checked Instagram again, I was bombarded with messages from friends and acquaintances — even from people I hadn’t spoken to in years. Many of them were ready to pay me double of what I had spent on the booking amount, but I didn’t want to sell the tickets, so I politely declined.

After a conversation with my friends, it hit me just how big this hype really was and how lucky I’d been this time around. A friend mentioned that someone she knows tried booking tickets on eight devices and still couldn’t get it. I checked Instagram and some online ticket reselling platforms, and I saw that the tickets were being sold for 5 to 10 times their original price.

Specifically, the tickets I had were listed for close to a lakh rupees! By that time, I had received more than 60 calls. I concluded that this frenzy would continue, so I put my phone on silent and went on with my usual work.

Even after 24 hours now, people are continuing to approach me for tickets, with offers going 8-10 times the actual price — almost double my monthly salary.

I am still in no mood to sell the tickets, for the record. But I recall telling my colleague how luck never favours me. Now, however, I think that maybe, just maybe, it does sometimes after all. I now wonder what would have happened if I had bought lottery tickets on Sunday at noon!

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