Ed Sheeran Fan Shocked To Discover Her Four-Month Old Breastfeeding Baby Needed A Concert Ticket Too

A mum in Brisbane was surprised to find out that she needed to purchase an extra ticket for her four-month-old baby if she wanted to attend one of Ed Sheeran’s sold-out concerts.

Kirsty McDonald was so excited to see her music idol live on stage this week. As reported by the ABC, her baby son Leni is exclusively breastfed and refuses a bottle due to a lip tie so she was all ready to bring him along in a carrier, with earmuffs for protection.

She didn’t even consider that she would need an additional ticket for her baby, who hadn’t even been born when tickets went on sale last year.

Ms McDonald contacted Ticketek, who are selling tickets for Sheeran’s two Brisbane shows at Lang Park this week, to confirm that it would be OK to bring her son.

Babies Also Need Tickets

The response she received stated that “There is no free on the knee for this event — all patrons must have a ticket.”

Mrs McDonald told ABC that she “thought it was absolutely ridiculous. I’m quite angry”. “They might have their reasons, but they didn’t give me any reasons. It was short and sharp.”

“I understand not many people would take a four-month-old to a concert, but just the fact I can take him to so many events without a ticket … I just really assumed it’d be fine. He’s not taking up much room.”

A spokesman for Lang Park said Frontier Touring, who were the event promoters had set the conditions for entry.

Promoters Defend Controversial Decision

Frontier Touring said it was standard practice for all patrons to hold a ticket regardless of age.

“Part of the reason that we require people to have a ticket is knowing exactly how many people are in the venue, which is primarily for a safety reason,” a spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman said the company “would always discourage bringing a child of such a young age to a concert”.

The spokeswoman said given the circumstances, the company would be happy to refund the ticket so Ms McDonald could stay at home with her child.

Ms McDonald would still love to see the concert but the only option is to buy an additional ticket – which is proving to be difficult as the shows are sold out.

“I can’t get a ticket now unless I buy one at an exorbitant price,” Ms McDonald said.

“I want to see Ed Sheeran, I don’t want to miss it.

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12 Comments

- - meedee said
  - 14 Jun 2022
    10:58 am
That is the most duh thing I have heard of late. wow….who thought up that rule?

- - ella12 said
  - 24 Apr 2018
    3:55 pm
That is ridiculous that bub needed to be charged also.

- - tessie said
  - 28 Mar 2018
    7:17 pm
This is a stupid idea. I took my son to see Jimmy Barnes when he was 2 and there was no extra charge for him. He was given headphones to wear to protect his hearing. It’s not like her son was going to be taking up a seat.

- - rovermum said
  - 21 Mar 2018
    9:20 am
That’s ridiculous. I thought babies (under a certain age) were free in most things. I would also wonder how much fun you could have at a concert with a 4 month old baby, but anyway, cue the outrage. Was there nobody that could look after her baby while she attended the concert? Nobody?

- - sars_angelchik said
  - 20 Mar 2018
    2:41 pm
Seriously? She probably wouldn’t have even known she was pregnant when the tickets went on sale(if they went on sale early enough last year). This is just extortion and bureaucracy gone mad! Sure I get that they want to know how many people are there so offer her the ability to buy a ticket at $0. The child is on her knee and it’s not like it’s Metallica or something, and she has ear muffs. How many opportunities is she going to have to see Ed Sheeran?

- - rachel1970 said
  - 20 Mar 2018
    7:22 am
Well I guess she should have checked before purchasing the ticket. Although it does sound silly.

- - Ellen said
  - 20 Mar 2018
    4:12 am
Always wise not to just assume babies go for free, but to find out prior the event. She didn’t have her son yet when she purchased her tickets, but she must have known she was pregnant and would have a child at the time of the event.

- - mom196906 said
  - 19 Mar 2018
    11:16 pm
Rules are rules. It was clearly stated everywhere that every person must have a ticket and that included infants. This is why people need to Read the fine print and not Judy by pass it.

- - mom19782016 said
  - 19 Mar 2018
    8:36 pm
I guess rules are rules if they are using the tickets to do head counts for safety reasons. A bit disappointing for her but, get used to it mum – bub gets prioritised over most things now.

- - mom81879 said
  - 19 Mar 2018
    7:36 pm
Why there’s no free tickets for babies makes sense to me. Who would want to take a 4 month old to a concert anyway? And the baby can’t be bottle fed…….if she fed bub and then headed out, surely she could be home before the next feed? Even if she had to miss sone of the concert, at least she saw some of it too

- - BellaB said
  - 19 Mar 2018
    7:24 pm
That’s a fairly good reason for the rule… But surely there’s a compromise too.

- - mom90758 said
  - 19 Mar 2018
    1:07 pm
This is quite problematic indeed if the child is exclusively breastfed.
Something similar happened in the past. I remember talking about it.
We don’t make the rules so, if everybody needs a ticket, or she buys the ticket spending a lot more money than she spent for herself, or she will have to send someone else to the concert.