RAYE says bots swamped the sign-up for her Royal Albert Hall show, and her team picked fans by hand

RAYE has said the sign-up for her one-night show at London's Royal Albert Hall was "overwhelmed by scalpers", with bots creating what she described as hundreds of thousands of fake registrations. The count stood at about 1.8 million sign-ups for a hall that holds around 5,000.

The show, called This Symphony May Contain Hope, is on Friday 23 October 2026. It reimagines her album This Music May Contain Hope with an orchestra, and it is a one-off, which is why demand ran so far past supply. RAYE is the south London singer-songwriter who won a record six BRIT Awards in 2024, and a night like this is the kind of room her fans have waited years for.

What she did about it

In a post on X on 13 October, RAYE said she had never seen bots on this scale and that it matters to her that fans can buy at face value. Rather than send codes to everyone who registered, her team went through the list by hand and built a shortlist of people they believe are genuine fans.

Those chosen were due to get a presale link and code by email on Tuesday 13 October, with the presale going live at midday UK time. If you did not get a code, the remaining tickets go to general sale on Thursday 15 October at 10am. RAYE added that she is going to think hard about how her team handles ticketing in future.

A wider problem for small rooms

Independent shops that sell tickets for bigger shows report the same pressure. London's Banquet Records has said bots are increasingly hitting its larger events, and it is urging fans to register as users on its website so real customers can be told apart from automated ones.

That is the uncomfortable maths of any intimate show by a major star. A 5,000 seat room is tiny next to an arena audience, and the people who want to be inside it number in the millions. Every automated registration pushes a real fan further down the queue.

What to do if you want a seat

• Check your email for a presale code if you registered through RAYE's site.
• If nothing arrives, wait for the general sale on 15 October at 10am UK time.
• Buy only from the official Royal Albert Hall listing at royalalberthall.com, and avoid resale listings that ask for more than face value.

We will update this story if the on-sale details change.