Michael Jackson fans crash O2 site

O2 has apologised to customers that were unable to order Michael Jackson tickets through its Priority Ticketing service after millions of fans flooded the website. Some customers were left frustrated after O2's Blueroom priority tickets website suffered server problems following the pre-sale launch at 7am. O2's priority booking site promises customers "tickets to music events across the country before anyone else". 8,000 Michael Jackson tickets were on offer via O2 in the pre-sale. However, some O2 customers that wanted to purchase tickets before general sale this Friday were unable to access the Blueroom, which provided customers with a link to buy tickets from Ticketmaster, the official ticket seller. All O2 pre-sale tickets have since been sold. A spokeswoman for O2 said: "Tickets for the Michael Jackson concert at The O2 went on pre-sale this morning via the Ticketmaster website. "The O2 Blueroom site had 1.5 million concurrent users this morning, leading to intermittent service and some customers had difficulty ordering tickets owing to the very high demand. O2 apologises to those customers who were unable to order tickets through the O2 Priority Ticketing service. Michael Jackson is returning to the stage for 10 shows at The O2 arena performing in London for the last time from 8 July. Tickets are priced at £75 / £65 / £50 + booking fees. Martin Stern of Keynote Systems, a company which helps companies improve website performance, described this morning's performance as "worrying." Keynote found that the sites www.theO2.co.uk, and www.O2priority.co.uk/jackson were completely unavailable from 7.20am this morning, just 20 minutes after the pre-sale began,and remained unavailable for two hours. Stern said that if there is a repeat performance on Friday when tickets go on sale its likely that "O2 should be prepared for a backlash from disappointed music lovers." Frustrated fans wishing to purchase tickets vented their anger on Twitter. "Trying to get tickets for Michael Jackson. Wife has been given incorrect password by O2 for priority... shambles. Ticketmaster crashing," wrote on aggrieved customer. "@O2UKOfficial I see the 'priority' Michael Jackson sales is jammed pack and your site is crashing. Get an on-demand data centre or something, " another customer wrote on Twitter. "O2's "priority list" is hardly endearing...surely, surely O2 didn't want their beloved customers to feel this frustration!" a third added. Another customer complained that the priority password had expired by the time it was entered on the Ticketmaster website. There is no information on whether pre-sale tickets using the official www.michaeljacksonlive.com website are still available. Today the "King of Pop" announced 14 extra dates to his London residency at the 02. Jackson will now perform right through the summer into September. Did you get a ticket in the pre-sale or were you left frustrated? Let us know at www.webuser.co.uk/forums or via webuser@ipcmedia.com /www.michaeljackson.com www.keynote.com