...as he adds seven extra Manchester dates

Peter Kay has added more dates to his forthcoming tour after demand for advance tickets crashed the O2 Priority website.

Subscribers to the network or sister company Three were given access to tickets for the comic’s first tour in 12 years 48 hours before they go on general sale at 10am on Saturday.

But they overwhelmed the company’s booking service, locking out thousands of frustrated fans.

They tweeted this morning: ‘We’re seeing unprecedented demand for Peter Kay tickets & we know a lot of you can’t access Priority. Sorry, we’re working on it. Please be patient; this is by far the highest demand we’ve ever seen for Priority Tickets in 15 years. The presale lasts for 48h so keep checking.’

One fan tweeted: 'Would have better luck breaking into Peter Kay’s house, holding him hostage and demanding a private stand up gig than getting tickets through o2 this morning.'

Another said: 'You should do the decent thing @o2  and suspend the sale of presale tickets until you’ve got the site working. Save everybody the headache, anxiety and stress of sitting here wasting our time refreshing, and tell us a new time that we can book them later.'

Kay has added seven extra dates at Manchester's AO Arena this morning, which will go on sale with the others at 10am on Saturday.

Yesterday he added a monthly residency at London’s O2 – the first performer ever to do so - for his gigs.

It kicks off in Manchester on December 2 and 3 this year, and he has now added extra dates there on September 22-23, October 19-20, November 5-6 and December 1.

Tickets are set to go in record time on Saturday, but he is also expected to announce even more extra dates to meet demand.

These are his first major stand-up dates since pulling out of his 2017 tour just days after announcing it, citing family reasons.

» Peter Kay tour dates 

Published: 10 Nov 2022