Stones' fans fume at ticket prices

Rolling Stones fans have been left fuming after realising they may end up shelling out thousands to see the band for their 50th anniversary shows.

Some "secondary" ticketing sites have put them on sale for four or five-figure sums and fans have grumbled that they faced huge bills even for standard "pre-sale" tickets to see the pair of gigs at London's O2 Arena.

It comes as the band's first new studio recording for seven years has been unable to persuade many fans to part with 99p for a download, with the song at a lowly number 74 in the charts.

According to midweek sales figures, Doom And Gloom, which went on sale just days ago is a long way from making it into the top 40 on Sunday. The band last made it into the top ten in 1981 with Start Me Up.

Priority customers have been able to order some of the tickets, but they do not go on general sale until Friday. Even so, there have been reports that a secondary ticket site was selling seats for £13,000.

When the November 25 and 29 concerts were announced on Monday, promoters said the face value price of the tickets ranged from £95 to £375. A "VIP hospitality" ticket was priced at £950.

But one potential buyer said on Facebook: "Just tried to buy a couple of tickets for the Rolling Stones at the O2 next month but didn't proceed when I found out the price - an incredible £1,302. They weren't even particularly special seats. For those you need the VIP package at £950 or £1,900 for two."

And one site dealing in tickets had added a £140 processing fee to the cost of two tickets it was selling for £770.

One fan wrote on a ticketing site: "These prices are a joke. To expect this sort of money just makes me lose a lot of respect for these guys."

The band will play to 40,000 people during their two nights at the O2 and will play two more shows in Newark, New Jersey, in the US, in December.