Leonard Cohen fans cry foul over Calgary concert tickets

The Ticketmaster controversy shifted to Calgary this week where Leonard Cohen concert tickets went on sale Monday.

Cohen is performing at the city's Jack Singer Concert Hall in April as part of his North American tour.

Tickets for the Calgary concert sold out almost instantly Monday — both online and at Ticketmaster venues.

Disgruntled Cohen fans allege Ticketmaster put some of the tickets up for sale on its subsidiary ticket auction website, TicketsNow, before Monday, but a company official denies the charge.

Joe Freeman, senior vice-president of Ticketmaster, said the company constantly monitors the TicketsNow website to make sure concert and event tickets are not made available before the general sale begins.

He blamed the small Calgary venue chosen for the Cohen concert for quick ticket sales.

"The specific number of tickets we had here, I can tell you, was a small fraction of the 1,800 seats that the facility seats, so those primary seats were going to be gone in an instant," said Freeman.

"I don't know why the event promoters chose such a small facility in Calgary."

Tickets for the Cohen concert are now selling on TicketsNow for more than $850.

The Alberta government said it is watching Ticketmaster and the way other jurisdictions are dealing with it.