MILWAUKEE, Wis. — What was supposed to be a memorable night for hundreds of young Freya Skye fans turned into hours of confusion and frustration Wednesday as ticketing problems left concertgoers stranded outside a downtown Milwaukee venue, unsure whether they would be allowed inside.
Families who attended the Freya Skye concert at Landmark Credit Union Live said tickets they purchased through third-party marketplaces like StubHub, Vivid Seats and Seat Geek either never arrived or would not scan at the door. Many spent hours seeking answers before eventually being admitted shortly before the show began.
"It's just overall really, really sad because the core audience was little girls, and you just don't want to mess with their emotions," Alicyn Bartsch said.
Bartsch took her 13-year-old daughter Kiera to the concert Wednesday. It was her first one.
"She hasn't been to a concert before, so she has been asking forever," Bartsch said. "When we found out she was coming to Milwaukee, I had to get her a ticket."
Bartsch said she purchased tickets through StubHub months ago, but never received the transfer needed to access them.
"They kept telling me Ticketmaster was going to send me a link, but they never did," she said.
When they arrived at the venue seeking help, Bartsch said staff could do little to resolve the issue.
"They told me there was nothing they could do as a venue," she said.
She was not alone.
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One concertgoer said she traveled six hours after purchasing tickets in February, only to encounter problems at the venue.
As families waited outside, crowds of young fans chanted Skye's name in hopes of getting inside before the show started.
According to attendees, venue staff eventually allowed many affected guests into the concert shortly before Freya Skye took the stage.
"It was really chaotic," Bartsch said. "They were kind of half looking at your tickets and half not. You were instructed to stand in the back because no one was sure if the tickets were real or not."
When TMJ4 News first contacted StubHub on Thursday morning, a representative initially suggested barcode issues were affecting multiple ticketing platforms, including Ticketmaster, and indicated the problem may have stemmed from a technical issue related to the event or venue.
However, concertgoers who purchased tickets directly through Ticketmaster told TMJ4 they experienced no issues entering the show.
A Ticketmaster spokesperson said the Freya Skye tour is part of the company's "Face Value Exchange" program. Under the program, participating artists can place restrictions on ticket transfers and resale pricing.
According to Ticketmaster, Freya Skye opted into the program, meaning ticket transfers were disabled and tickets could only be resold through Ticketmaster or CashorTrade.
Live Nation, which owns and operates Landmark Credit Union Live, and is a sister company of Ticketmaster, said in a statement: "Major resale marketplaces allowed scalpers to sell invalid tickets for last night's show which impacted fans at the door. We understand how frustrating this was for fans and while we were able to help many of them who purchased invalid tickets get into the show, we unfortunately could not resolve every situation. This demonstrates how difficult it is to protect fans when scalpers disregard an artist’s terms and why stronger reforms are needed to rein in predatory resale."
When asked about Ticketmaster's explanation, StubHub disputed it.
"Just because Ticketmaster says they are the only place tickets can be resold doesn't make it true," the company spokesperson said in an email.
StubHub added that it encountered issues involving ticket transfers, transfers that failed to go through, and barcode delivery problems.
Many attendees now say they believe refunds are warranted, especially after missing portions of the concert.
"For one, we missed the entire opening act," Bartsch said. "For two, the emotional toll that took on my poor daughter and all those little kids definitely affected their experience."
Families affected by the ticketing issues say they are still seeking answers about what caused the problems and whether they will be reimbursed for the disrupted concert experience.
This story was reported on-air by Jenna Rae and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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