A group of British fans have raised more than £90,000 in a bid to fund a private Foo Fighters concert. Modelling the venture on a successful US campaign, organisers hope to “stop the touts” by “putting the power of ticket sales back into the hands of the fans”.

The project was launched on Kickstarter on 19 September. Five days later, the fans are more than halfway to their £150,000 goal; around 800 people have pledged at least £50, corresponding to one ticket, in the hope that the Foo Fighters will accept their invitation to play a 2015 show in Birmingham.

“Are you sick of losing out on … [concert] tickets?” organisers asked. “Setting the alarm to find [tickets] sold out in three minutes? Ticket companies reselling tickets minutes after ticket launch at [10 times] the price? … We are here to prove to the industry that rock will never die, but we hope that the ticket touting industry does!”

This project wouldn’t be happening if it weren’t for a group of Foo Fighters fans in Richmond, Virginia, who staged a similar crowdfunding campaign earlier this year. Supporters raised $70,000 through $50 ticket pledges, and the Foo Fighters agreed to play in Richmond on 17 September. “It sort of changes the game,” Foos frontman Dave Grohl said at the time. “For the past 20 years we always decided who we’re going to play with and where we’re going to play. But now, if we hear that people want us to come somewhere, maybe we’ll come there.”

The campaign’s supporters hope they can entice the American rock band into playing Birmingham as part of their 2015 tour. “The venue could change depending on capacity restrictions,” they said, but “every penny of this will be going into the project … Every member of the team running the project will be doing so FREE of charge.”

The Foo Fighters recently played a handful of English gigs, performing three “secret” club shows before headlining at London’s Invictus Games. They have yet to respond to the Birmingham crowdfunding campaign.