Cape Town/ Johannesburg - Some queued on their camp chairs, others stood.
Mothers woke up extra early to rush their daughters and sons to the nearest ticket outlets in the hopes of getting their hands on at least one ticket to the much anticipated One Direction (1D) tour.
The UK boy band, which took the world by storm after being formed in 2010 on Britain’s singing competition The X Factor, will play two concerts at Joburg’s FNB Stadium on March 28 and 29, before going to Cape Town on April 1 for a single gig.
The excitement was fostered by a Twitter countdown, as fans took to the social networking site to post their feelings and their pictures before the tickets officially went on sale at 9am.
From Monument Mall in Krugersdorp to East Rand Mall in Boksburg fans across Gauteng braved the cold weather to wait their turn to purchase a ticket.
In Cape Town, there were tears of joy and cries of anguish at Computicket outlets at 9am.
Within five minutes, golden circle tickets were sold out, leading to cries of anguish and even tears from dozens of queueing fans at the V&A Waterfront outlet who didn’t make the cut.
Among the lucky few were Shanaaz Bailey, who arrived with her 14-year-old daughter Bilqees, more than 24 hours before the tickets went on sale. They spent an uncomfortable night sleeping on the ground in order to buy five golden circle tickets.
“It was absolutely worth it,” said Bailey on Friday morning. The Baileys adopted a two-prong approach to maximise their chances of getting tickets. Bilqees’s grandmother was at home, trying to buy a ticket online while Shanaaz and her daughter queued.
Minutes before the tickets went on sale, there were scenes of hysteria as Bilqees and a number of other teenage fans broke down in tears of excitement and anticipation.
“My daughter is in a different world at the moment. She is overwhelmed and crying. But in this happiness I also have to spare a thought for those moms and kids who did not manage to get a ticket. I saw a lot of dejected faces around, and that made me feel kind of bad,” Shanaaz said.
Apparently only the first two groups in a queue of around 60 people at the Waterfront managed to get tickets before they sold out nationally.
“The group behind us got tickets, but not the group behind them,” said Bailey. “They had been here since around lunch time on Thursday, so I really feel for them in particular.”
Shakirah Dramat, of Bo Kaap, used a more stealthy approach by seeking out one of the CBD’s more hidden and discreet Computicket outlets – the one at Cape Town Tourism. She arrived there at 4.30am on Friday and managed to bag eight general standing tickets. She had watched with disappointment as the man in front of her apparently bought “the last pair” of golden circle tickets.
“I had told my sister I was waking up early today to buy her a birthday present. At least I’m not going back empty-handed. But I really wanted to get as close to the stage as possible.”
Jacaranda FM and Highveld Stereo 94.7 in Gauteng gave some tickets away and had callers phoning in to talk about their love for the band.
“The fever is hitting big time, we’ll see by the end of the day how the ticket sales have gone,” said Big Concerts spokeswoman Dionne Domyan earlier on Friday.
Cape Argus and The Star