Ticket holders of a Korean group’s upcoming concert shall be pre-screened at the venue.
SM Tickets issued this advisory following reports about alleged reselling of tickets for Enhypen’s “Manifesto in Manila” concert.
Enhypen, comprising members NI-KI, Heeseung, Sunghoon, Jay, Jungwon, Jake and Sunoo, will perform for their fans in the Philippines at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on Feb. 4 and 5, 2023.
Tickets went on sale on December 10. It was officially sold out at 2 p.m. on December 11.
However, some fans, collectively called Engenes, alleged on social media that scalpers or resellers were the ones who bought most of the tickets instead of them.
Some fans also complained about alleged nepotism or favoritism to certain fans.
This prompted SM Tickets, the official event ticket seller, to issue a statement in response to these reports.
In its advisory, the ticketing body said that the valid ID to be presented should match to the name registered on the ticket.
“All ticket holders to ENHYPEN’s MANIFESTO IN MANILA must go through a pre-screening ticket checking before venue entry,” SM Tickets said.
“Each ticket holder must present a Valid ID that matches the name registered on your ticket or your group tickets,” it added.
This new policy was also shared by Pulp Live World, the organizer of the event.
“Here’s a reminder to all #MANIFESTO_IN_MANILA ticket holders. Thanks for your cooperation!” the organizer said on Twitter.
Filipino Engenes welcomed such a move. They also thanked Happee Sy, who they fondly call “Inang Happee,” for this response. Happee is the co-founder of Pulp Live World.
“Sinisikap talaga ni Inang Happee ng Pulp na mabawasan na yang mga scalpers. Sana lahat ng organizers ganyan—may concern sa mga tunay na fans!” one Facebook user said.
Other fans, meanwhile, suggested conducting the pre-screening of tickets before the concert day.
“Inaaaaang @happeehour, pwede po ba earlier mavoid ang tix ng scalpers??? May mga Engenes po from provinces sa Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao,” a fan said.
“A suggestion lang po is to do some of the pre-screening a few days or weeks before the concert itself and provide them a QR code para ‘yung mga na void na tix are up for grab na po ulit ng mas maaga,” another user tweeted.
Fans who will attend Enhypen’s two-day stop next year may read Pulp Live World’s guidelines. It was posted in a Facebook album: “Guidelines to Enhypen Manifesto in Manila.”
Enhypen visited the Philippines early this month. Last December 3, they held a fan-meeting as part of cosmetic brand BYS’ 10th anniversary at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.