Raye’s Royal Albert Hall concert ticketing overwhelmed by AI bots with 1.8 million entries for 5000 seats

Raye’s upcoming Royal Albert Hall concert has encountered ticketing difficulties after 1.8 million entries were submitted for just 5,000 available seats, with the singer’s team blaming scalpers using AI bots to create fake registrations.

The concert, titled ‘This Symphony May Contain Hope’, is scheduled for October 23, 2026 and will feature an orchestral reworking of her album This Music May Contain Hope. 

The ticket sign-up process was reportedly overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of registrations believed to have been generated by automated systems.

“It is a new world we are living in now,” Raye wrote. “I have never witnessed bots on this scale.”

Selected applicants are due to receive presale links and codes by email on Tuesday at 11:45am BST, with sales opening at midday.

Fans who do not receive a code will have another opportunity during the general sale, subject to remaining availability.

“It is so important to me that fans can buy tickets at the face value price,” Raye said. She added that the scale of the activity had “really opened my eyes” and prompted her team to reconsider its approach to ticketing.

“I’m not sure what the future holds for ticketing,” she wrote, signing off, “Lots of love, Raye.”

The demand reflects the appeal of the singer’s orchestral performances.

Raye has previously presented the symphonic format twice at the same venue, with an earlier performance leading to a Grammy-nominated broadcast on BBC and PBS.