Prince Sells Out NZ Shows In Minutes

Disappointed fans say they're "crying pools of Purple Rain" after missing out on tickets to Prince's first New Zealand shows.

Prince tickets were in hot demand when they went on sale at midday today, with all 4000-odd tickets selling out within 10 minutes.

At 12.30pm, fan demand had caused Ticketmaster's website to crash, with users getting a '403 Forbidden' error message.

Disappointed fans shares their woes on social media, with one saying: "Can't get Prince tickets. Been in since noon on the dot. Nothing. I'm crying pools of Purple Rain."

Another said: "How does anyone manage to buy tickets from Ticketmaster? I just missed out on Prince and am considering leaping out my office window."

But camping overnight outside a Ticketmaster outlet outside Vector Arena paid off for two lucky fans, who arrived at 3pm Wednesday to wait in line.

"We got tickets to both 6.30pm and 10pm shows," said Jennifer Butcher, who spent the night outside the venue with her friend, Georgia Duder-Wood.

"Being first in queue physically definitely was the way to go."

Prince, 57, will play two shows at Auckland's ASB Theatre in the Aotea Centre on February 24, the first at 6.30pm, the second at 10pm.

While tickets in all price ranges were available when they went on sale through at midday, by 12.10pm the website was reporting all tickets had been sold.

Unlucky fans were greeted with the message, "Sorry, no tickets match your search" for all tickets in all price ranges.

Prices, revealed earlier this week, came in three tiers: $389.90, $219.90 and $99.90.

To avoid scalpers, promoters said tickets for the show would be limited to two per person and no tickets would be distributed.

Ticket buyers would have to produce photo ID when they pick up their tickets from the venue from noon on the day of the show.

Fans took to Twitter to tell their ticket-buying stories.

Well that was exciting. FTR, I decided $800 for two tickets in the bleachers was $600 to many. ILU Prince, but... #NoPrince4Me

— Jackson Perry (@CaptureNZ) February 10, 2016

@Chris_Blanchet same here - i've been conspiracy sister paranoid all day about it

— Anele (@Serentonin) February 11, 2016 

Success! I'll bring good vibes & leave phone behind @Prince3EG you bring 1x piano 1x microphone and 1x your bad self pic.twitter.com/RUB26CbNRb

— pkstowers (@pkstowers) February 10, 2016

Prince will also perform four shows at Melbourne State Theatre on February 16 and 17, two shows at the Sydney Opera House on February 20 and two shows at Sydney State Theatre on February 21.

Prince, known for hits such as Kiss, When Doves Cry and Let's Go Crazy is performing his Piano and a Microphone tour, a solo show he had planned to take around Europe late last year but cancelled after the Paris terror attacks

As the tour name suggests, Prince will perform alone on stage at the piano.

- nzherald.co.nz