THE Michael Jackson tribute concert has failed to sell out as ticket sales opened for the first day yesterday.

Tickets for Michael Forever – The Tribute Concert went on sale yesterday morning at 9am after the registration period closed to fans on Sunday night.

Despite the build-up, there was no morning rush to buy the tickets but sales were said to be “steady” throughout the day for the concert at the Millennium Stadium on October 8.

Show organisers Global Live Events said sales were at the level they were predicted to be at this stage and believed that they would see an increase in sales as more artists are announced to join the line-up. Director Paul King said: “The registration process saw around 26,000 tickets taken up.

“Ticket sales have only been open for a short time, but we know that the system did crash at one point. We hope to have sold around 50% of the tickets by the weekend, which is exactly how we had it planned. We then expect to be sold out by the end of the month.

“With an event like this it is hard to get so many headliners to confirm, but once a few have confirmed it is like a domino effect.

“We will be announcing three more big acts in the next few days and once they have been named, ticket sales will speed up even more. We know that fans are taking a bit of a gamble buying tickets now but I encourage people to get their tickets now rather than wait so they can get the best seats.”

The Ticketline UK shop in Westgate Street, Cardiff, said tickets had been selling steadily but there had been no surge in demand.