Ticket sales for Stefanie Sun’s AUT NIHILO Kuala Lumpur concert were temporarily suspended after a technical issue on the ticketing platform left fans stuck in online queues for hours.
The Mandopop star is set to perform on April 25 and 26 at Axiata Arena, marking her return to Kuala Lumpur after 12 years. Ticket sales opened at 11am on Monday (Jan 26), but by noon, many fans found themselves unable to move past the queue page, which remained frozen on a spinning “green circle” for hours, sparking widespread frustration.
In a statement, ticketing platform etix.my said the issue was caused by a sudden surge in ticket purchase interest, which resulted in a heavy load of transactions in the backend system. This led to difficulties for fans attempting to access the website and complete their ticket purchases.
To safeguard the integrity of the ticketing process and prevent further inconvenience, etix.my said ticket sales had been temporarily suspended while its technical team works to stabilise and fully resolve the issue. The platform also apologised for the frustration caused and said all resources have been committed to restoring the system as soon as possible.
Checks by Shin Min Daily News on Tuesday morning (Jan 27) found that as of 11am, ticket sales had yet to resume, with the purchase button showing no response.
The disruption was especially disappointing for Malaysian fans, many of whom had waited years for Stefanie Sun’s return. Some netizens said they waited nearly half a day only to remain stuck in the “green vortex”. Others who managed to enter the waiting system reported encountering messages such as “The line is paused” and “system error” (transient failure), while some were repeatedly prompted to verify that they were human or were forcibly logged out.
Angry comments soon flooded social media. “Queued for hours, ended up with nothing,” one netizen wrote. Another joked, “Honnold already finished climbing 101, I’m still spinning in circles.” Others said, “Three hours and not a single successful case online, really breaking records.” Some called on the organiser to pause sales and conduct further testing, saying, “Don’t waste everyone’s time.” One sarcastic comment read, “Stefanie Sun really confirmed as a ‘niche singer’, five hours into KL ticket sales and zero tickets sold.”
The “niche singer Stefanie Sun” joke dates back several years ago, when a forum user mistakenly described the once Asia-dominating singer as a niche act. Stefanie Sun later leaned into the joke herself, humorously referring to herself as a “niche singer” on social media.
Following the backlash, concert organiser IMC Live Global also issued an apology, saying it was aware of the technical issues fans encountered during the ticketing process and is working closely with the platform to resolve the situation.
