In a publication on Facebook, Marie-Annick Lépine asked the public not to purchase resale tickets for the national tribute ceremony to Karl Tremblay.
“Out of respect for Karl, I would like no one to buy the tickets which are currently selling for $500. We are working to find possible solutions around the Bell Centre. »
To admirers who are wondering how to view the ceremony, Marie-Annick replied that the ceremony will be broadcast on social networks.
Tickets for the ceremony were notably seen in the morning on the resale site StubHub. Mathieu Monette, from Repentigny, took a screenshot because he was so shocked by the nerve of the resellers. He himself tried to book tickets for the ceremony, to no avail. “These people abuse and take advantage of national mourning to make money,” laments the Repentigny resident, a big fan of the Cowboys Fringants.
At noon on Thursday, no tickets were offered on the site, a sign that Marie-Annick Lépine’s message may have been heard. No tickets were available on Marketplace either.
On Facebook, ICI musique host Olivier Robillard Laveaux deplored this resale of tickets – which, remember, were distributed free of charge. ” It’s a shame ! But it was written in the sky… Despite various measures, the entertainment industry seems incapable of countering the problem of resellers which has worsened since the pandemic. »
Tickets for the national tribute ceremony to singer Karl Tremblay, made available at 10 a.m. Thursday, were sold out in 15 minutes, making thousands happy and many disappointed.
By 10 a.m., thousands of people were already waiting in a virtual queue on the evenko website, and each of them could purchase a maximum of 4 tickets. And at 10:15 a.m., it was no longer possible to reserve tickets, noted La Presse. The capacity of the Bell Center for a concert is approximately 15,000 seats.
Isabelle Laroche, from Laval, managed to obtain penalty and misery tickets. When his turn came, there were only a few tickets left. She was able to book two, side by side, in section 400 – so at the very top of the room. She will go with her sister, who has been grieving a lot since the death of Karl Tremblay last week. “I know how lucky I am,” says Isabelle.
Mitsou Chartrand, from Beloeil, was able to get her hands on four tickets, also with difficulty. “I lost the places I was trying to reserve four times, but at one point I lost,” she explains. She’s the only one in her group of friends who managed to get some, and she plans to go with her two children, ages 13 and 9, who also love the group. She will probably give the last ticket to a friend with whom she went to see the first Cowboys Fringants show at the Bell Center in 2003.
Nicole Larivée, from Montreal-North, was not so lucky. When she logged on to the evenko site at 10 a.m., she was in position 5,690 in the waiting list. She waited in line for 20 minutes, but when her turn came, the tickets were sold out. “It broke my heart, but hey, Karl was loved very much; it was predictable that the tickets would fly away like a shooting star,” agrees Nicole Larivée.
Mathieu Tremblay, from Farnham, must suffer a great disappointment. When finalizing the reservation of three tickets – one for him, one for his mother and one for his stepfather, the page, he says, reset. No more trace of the reservation. “I had tears in my eyes,” says Mathieu. I had to get back in line, but when it was my turn, there was no room left. » On his Facebook page, he offers jewelry in exchange for three tickets. “I know Marie-Annick wouldn’t be proud, but I wouldn’t miss the ceremony for her son for anything in the world,” says the admirer of the group, who will go to the Bell Center during the ceremony if he can’t find of tickets.
According to evenko, however, no technical failure was noted when booking the tickets.
It will be a secular “national tribute”, and not a national funeral, as Prime Minister François Legault suggested last week, the day after the singer’s death. On the program: the screening of the film America is crying on a giant screen, a few songs accompanied by musicians from the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and a speech by Jean-François Pauzé, songwriter and guitarist of the Cowboys Fringants.
“In agreement with his wife Marie-Annick and all his loved ones, the Quebec nation will pay a national tribute to this artist so beloved by Quebecers and to the immense legacy he leaves in our culture,” declared the Premier of Quebec , François Legault, in a press release released on Wednesday.
The Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, indicated Wednesday that the family of Karl Tremblay has expressed the wish for a secular ceremony, but that the event will have the same importance as a traditional national funeral.
“It’s a death that affected so many Quebecers […] I think it’s been a long time since we’ve experienced this and I think that Quebecers want to experience this together, to come together around this. The current situation is not easy at the moment, Quebecers do not always have it easy and so, being able to experience this together, to put some good things around it, it will do good for everyone », added the minister.
The Quebec flag will fly at half-mast above the Parliament Building on the day of the ceremony in tribute to the deceased, who died of cancer at the age of 47.
A condolence register has also been posted online to allow those who wish to offer their condolences to the family of Karl Tremblay.
