By SCOTT KARA
Tempers flared yesterday as music fans queued for Big Day Out tickets in the heat of an Auckland summer's day.
Fans began gathering at dawn outside two downtown music stores for the last 2000 tickets to today's day-long festival at the Ericsson Stadium.
Hundreds missed out, and tempers rose among some in the crowd.
Scalpers worked the Queen St lines, with one punter selling 16 tickets for $150 each - three times their face value.
For the first time, 18 and 19-year-olds will be allowed in beer tents and publicist Nikki Tysall had some advice for Big Day Outers wanting to drink: "Pace yourself."
Drink lots of water, she added - and bring your ID.
"No one wants to be the person passing out at 2 o'clock in the afternoon and missing the show."
Ms Tysall said the big ticket sales reflected the strong line-up, which includes more dance acts than in previous years.
"We expanded the dance side of it so we're reaching a bigger audience and not just the people who want to see rock bands," she said.
More than 50 bands and DJs on five stages will rock an expected crowd of 45,000 at the stadium, 10,000 more than last year.
Around 13,000 of those bodies are expected to sweat it out in the Mt Smart Super Top, which has been transformed into The Boiler Room, a dance venue.
Dark industrial heavyweights Nine Inch Nails, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and ex-Clash man Joe Strummer will team up with dance floor groovers Basement Jaxx and Goldie, the gold-mouthed drum 'n' bass guru.
The line-up also includes the Chemical Brothers, local legends Shihad and the Foo Fighters.
The day's entertainment will be rounded off by women wrestlers, skateboarders and freestyle motocross demonstrations.
To compensate for the bigger ticket sales and extra drinkers - thanks to the new liquor laws - an extra beer tent has been added and the site expanded.
Stages three and four and a beer garden are now situated on the soccer field to the left of the main gates off Maurice Rd.
Heat goes on for last Big Day Out tickets
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