Elton John ticket frenzy crashes hotline

A hotline number for places at Sir Elton John's eagerly-anticipated gig at Shrewsbury Town has repeatedly crashed because so many people are trying to snap up tickets, organisers said today.

Sir Elton will play an open air concert at the Greenhous Meadow on June 12 to around 18,000 fans and tickets go on sale tomorrow at 9am.

Shrewsbury Town FC created a pre-booking system for people who wanted to register an interest in the event.

Today Ian Bebbington, the football club's operations and commercial manager, said: "We had so many telephone calls that the system crashed on a number of occasions because it was briefly unable to cope with the sheer volume of inquiries.

"We are expecting massive interest when tickets go on sale tomorrow. The club is only selling hospitality packages. General tickets are on sale from different outlets."

Mr Bebbington said the club could host further concerts if Sir Elton's gig went well.

He said: "We have spoken to the local residents association, so that they were briefed and we've worked closely with the local authority. We want to make sure we can pull it off successfully.

"If we can get people in and away without any hassle then of course, we'll think about doing similar things.

"There are huge economic benefits to the county as a whole.

"Sir Elton is a truly international star and we've had inquiries from people around the UK and from as far away as Germany."

Tickets are priced from £35 to £75 and are available from tomorrow at 9am on 0844 209 7366; 0844 581 1302; 0844 847 2450 or at www.seetickets.com www.theticketfactory.com www.ticketmaster.co.uk www.ticketline.co.uk and www.gigantic.com