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U2 to Play Second NZ Concert

U2 are to play a second concert in Auckland next year after tickets to their St Patrick's Day concert sold out in record time on Monday morning.

All 38,000 tickets to the Irish rockers March 17 show at Auckland's Ericsson Stadium sold out in just an hour and a half.

The second concert will be on March 18 at Ericsson and tickets will go on sale on Monday December 12.

Tickets to the first concert went on sale at 9am on Monday and while the ticketmaster website dealt with heavy overloading hundreds of fans tried for their tickets the traditional way, lining the streets in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Real Groovy manager Steve Richards - a ticketing agent for the concert - was amazed by the response.

"It's been crazy with a huge queue around the block of Real Groovy...it's pretty amazing," says Richards.

Tickets with a face value ranging from $99 to $199 sold are already being sold on auction site Trade Me for $3000 and climbing. That has angered many fans.

"The tickets have all sold already and i've only just got here - whatever the time is - and they're gone," said one of the unlucky fans to miss out.

But things turned out better for some fans who lined up all night to get their hands on the priceless tickets.

"Ecstatic barely describes it...it was definitely worth the wait," said one fan.

U2 haven't played in New Zealand for 12 years and last month's announcement that they would play dates both here and in Australia on the Vertigo world tour had been rumoured for some time.

--One News/RNZ

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