RAYE is taking matters into her own hands after her upcoming one-night-only concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall attracted 1.8 million sign-ups for approximately 5,000 seats. The British singer revealed that hundreds of thousands of registrations were allegedly generated by AI bots used by ticket scalpers, prompting her team to manually review applications rather than risk a presale being exploited.
In a statement shared on Instagram, RAYE described the scale of the activity as unprecedented in her experience. “Sadly our sign-up process was overwhelmed by scalpers, using AI bots to create hundreds of thousands of fake registrations,” she explained. “I have never witnessed bots on this scale.”
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She said protecting genuine fans and keeping tickets available at face value were the priorities behind the decision. Instead of opening a conventional presale, her team reviewed the registration list to identify people they believed were real fans. Those selected were due to receive their presale links and codes by email at 11:45 a.m. BST on Tuesday, October 13, ahead of the presale opening at noon. Any remaining tickets are scheduled to go on general sale on Thursday, October 15, at 10 a.m.
“I’m not sure what the future holds for ticketing, I do know this experience has really opened my eyes,” RAYE added. “Me and my team are going to think really hard about what we can do in the future.”
The concert, titled This Symphony May Contain Hope, will take place at the Royal Albert Hall on October 23. RAYE plans to perform her second studio album, This Music May Contain Hope, in full with her band, the Heritage Orchestra and the Flames Collective choir. The venue also connects the show to her earlier My 21st Century Symphony performances, including the 2023 concerts that were filmed and later earned a Grammy nomination for Best Music Film.
Released independently through Human Re Sources on March 27, This Music May Contain Hope is a 17-track concept album built around four seasons, moving from emotional darkness toward optimism. Its sound draws on jazz, orchestral pop, R&B, soul, big-band and blues, with guest appearances including Hans Zimmer on “Click Clack Symphony” and Al Green on “Goodbye Henry.” The album reached No. 1 in the UK and several other countries, while “Where Is My Husband!” emerged as one of its defining singles.
Photo: Aliyah Otchere
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