Paul McCartney sells out in minutes during this banner day for Spokane

Paul McCartney’s Spokane debut sold out, as expected. Tickets for the Beatles legend’s April 28 concert at Spokane Arena went in minutes.

Approximately 12,500 tickets have been purchased for the initial date of McCartney’s 13-city Got Back tour. A third of those seats were sold Tuesday during fan club and American Express cardholder sales, and the remainder were quickly plucked from TicketsWest on Friday.

The tickets that were available for sale at 10 a.m. to the general public were gone in less than 30 minutes. McCartney’s shows in Seattle, May 2 and 3, also sold out Friday.

It’s not the best of times for McCartney fans on the outside looking in, but it’s “a massive achievement for Spokane,” said Matt Meyer, director of entertainment for Spokane Arena and First Interstate Center for the Arts.

“I’ve already had conversations with our booking partners from (Oak View Group) about how Paul McCartney tells the story that a big show can sell Spokane and still sell Seattle twice, thus allowing more potential routing in the future,” Meyer said.

There’s even been some positive impact from McCartney’s sold-out dates.

“I’ve already received a phone call and cleared a date for another event due to the fact that we booked Paul McCartney,” Meyer said. “That promoter is also promoting a couple of Paul McCartney dates and now wants to bring this mystery act to Spokane. So, the national marketing from being a part of something so big is already having an effect on our potential short-term future.”

Speaking of the future, there still is hope for those looking for McCartney tickets.

“For those unable to get tickets, there could be more opening up,” Meyer said. “There could be more opening up closer to the date of the show once the production is hung.”

Tickets are available on the secondary market. A seat in the rafters on Stubhub goes for $309 plus a service charge of $86.71, for a total of $395.71 .