Red Rocks Fights Scalpers With AXS Flash Seats

Only original ticket purchasers will be able to access the first four rows at Morrison, Colo.’s Red Rocks Amphitheater under new procedures expected to stymie scalpers and improve access for fans with disabilities beginning next season.

Officials say tickets in those prime rows are currently most likely to be purchased by ticket bots and resold on the secondary market, according to KUNC-FM.

Don Peitzman for Denver Arts & Venues – Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Beginning in 2018, tickets in those rows will be available only through AXS Ticketing’s Flash Seats app. All tickets will be paperless, so ticketholders who use the app will have to show a registered Flash Seats ID or Red Rocks mobile app.

Fans buying tickets in Row 1, accessible seats for those with disabilities, will be required to show photo ID that matches the original purchaser. If the purchase is for multiple tickets, all members of the party must arrive together to enter the venue and again to be seated, when they will get wristbands.

In addition, print-at-home tickets will no longer be accepted for any of the 9,525 seats at Red Rocks, owing to their ease of duplication.

The first and last rows at the venue have access points for wheelchairs and are set aside for people with disabilities. The new procedure may alleviate issues that fans have had over the years that resulted in a lawsuit filed in December.

The suit did not seek monetary damages, but asked that changes be made so wheelchair users have sufficient access to the front reserved section, including the prevention of able-bodied persons from purchasing ADA-access tickets on the secondary market.

Red Rocks  Amphitheatre is operated by the City of Denver. Brian Kitts, the head of its Arts & Venues division, wasn’t immediately available to comment. – Deborah Speer