Published
Tue, Feb 10, 2009, 12:30
- Internet reports suggest that an online trickster has sold over 2000 tickets for a fictitious show in Shanghai.
Bought tickets to see Daft Punk in Shanghai recently? If so, you might have been taken for a ride.
Yesterday, the Shanghaiist website reported that a secret Daft Punk show was set to go ahead in the city on February 13th, pointing to a Facebook page for the event (which now states that the event has been cancelled). When it did actually contain some content, the page reported that "the french mythical electronic band Daft Punk is coming in Shanghai for one very special night on friday 13th February with a devious concept called dafthidden 09 tour as the concert venue will be kept hidden till Friday 13th morning. Daft Punk is working on his new album for 2 years and want to share the sound with their fans only before the album launch. And they planned 3 dates in Asia including Shanghai, 2 in Europe and 1 in US." The dubious grammar may have set a few alarm bells ringing, but many eager fans took the leap of faith, paying 500RMB ($73) and leaving their phone numbers to be contacted with the gig's location on the morning of the show.
One of the reasons that many fans were convinced was the presence of a link to dafthidden.com address, which was designed and run by a Shanghai-based web developer by the name of Sun Chen. After bloggers at the 56minus1 site tracked him down, Chen disclosed that he had been hired to design the site by a "French guy" by the name of "Andy," but had nothing to do with the actual ticketing procedure, whilst adding that his employer was currently neglecting to answer his phone.
With an official confirmation from Daft Punk's PR saying that there will be no date in Shanghai this Friday, and with a reported 3800 tickets sold, it looks like there are going to be a lot of unhappy fans once the news spreads.