Garth Brooks cancels Kansas City show, saying bots made up most of a 90,000-plus ticket queue
Garth Brooks has cancelled a Kansas City matinee after a ticket queue of more than 90,000 was found to consist mostly of bots, according to a statement on his website. The bots reportedly held tickets across the floor and lower bowl, restricting fans’ access; Brooks said the sale was stopped and buyers will be refunded automatically.
The Saturday 7 November show was added on 21 October, with tickets sold through AXS from 23 October. Brooks’ evening concerts on 6 and 7 November remain scheduled. In Seattle, three shows sold out within minutes and a fourth was added while more than 30,000 people waited; the Kansas City incident follows a similar bot-related ticket sale shutdown in Salt Lake City.
In short
- Brooks cancelled the Kansas City matinee after bots swamped its ticket sale.
- More than 90,000 people were in the queue, mostly bots.
- Evening shows remain scheduled and matinee buyers will be refunded.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Cancelling the matinee can be defended as the fairest response if bots captured much of the available inventory: proceeding could leave genuine fans with little chance to attend and reward a compromised sale. Stopping the sale and refunding buyers may allow organisers to address the problem before offering tickets again, while protecting confidence in the remaining concerts.
The case against
Fans who secured tickets through the announced sale may reasonably feel that cancelling punishes legitimate buyers for a failure in the ticketing system. Organisers could instead try to verify purchases, cancel suspected bot orders and release recovered seats, preserving the event for genuine ticket-holders while still tackling automated buying.
Explained simply
Garth Brooks is an American country music singer whose concerts can attract large numbers of fans. Ticket queues let people wait online for the chance to buy tickets, but automated computer programmes, often called bots, can also enter them and try to secure tickets.
The Kansas City matinee was an extra daytime concert added to Brooks’s run of shows there. AXS, the ticketing company handling the sale, is part of a wider ticket market where high demand and automated buying can make it harder for fans to get tickets directly.