1 week Ago By Sossy Dombourian
LOS ANGELES — Just months ago, a fan could expect to spend up to $800 for a presale ticket to the opening night of Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Tour in Los Angeles. But hours before the doors to SoFi Stadium were set to open Monday, tickets for night one of the tour had dipped to as low as $57.50 — and thousands of seats appeared to remain available in resale markets, including on Ticketmaster.
Some of Beyoncé’s upcoming shows haven’t had such dramatic price drops. But prices have fallen to varying degrees across all of her tour dates, with several stadiums still offering up significant chunks of their seats for the nights of her tour. The lower prices have generated a mix of surprise and resentment, with some concertgoers saying online that it’s the latest instance in which they felt frustration over the ticket-buying process.
As concert ticket prices have continued to increase in recent years , so, too, has consumer backlash at t icketing companies for what fans have described as high fees and unchecked scalping. Some hoped to take advantage of the lower prices, only to find efforts to trade up for better tickets thwarted by the companies from which they bought them. Several members of the Beyhive, the nickname for Beyoncé’s fervent fan base, shared tips on TikTok with fellow fans about how to successfully navigate the upgrade process.
But many others said they had no luck. Ticketmaster’s exchange policy stipulates that buyers can change or upgrade their tickets only for ones that are of “equal or greater price than your current tickets.” Ticketmaster didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Jada Rivera and Kira Chase, who drove to Los Angeles from Arizona, said they were upset about having paid over $1,200 for their presale tickets, only to later fork over an extra $300 to upgrade their seats, even though other tickets were available in the same section for half the price. “That first sale is normally the cheapest, so that’s why we kind of jumped on it, because we thought it was only going to get more expensive from there,” Chase said. “And then we just kind of watched those tickets drop.
We tried to talk to Ticketmaster about it. They weren’t much help.” And it’s not just Los Angeles concertgoers.
Nationwide, many fans online shared similar feelings of regret at having opted to buy tickets early. “It’s extremely frustrating, because Ticketmaster gave the illusion that the concert was selling out or sold out when I was in the presale,” said Paul Poulos Jr., who said he has stuck with his original $281 nosebleed seat for Beyoncé’s May 28 show at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium.
“They had little to no tickets available, so it made it seem like it was this seat or not be in attendance at all.” When he contacted Ticketmaster to upgrade to a better section, he said, he was refused because the tickets he wanted were $20 cheaper than what he had already paid. The only way to upgrade now, he said, is if he chooses more expensive tickets available in that section for $100 more.
He said he was surprised by the development, as Beyoncé’s last tour quickly sold out, with resale prices reaching up to double or triple those of the original tickets. Demand for her 2023 Renaissance Tour was so high that some American fans flew to Europe to secure cheaper tickets. Fans also flocked to theaters for her subsequent concert film of the tour, which sold so successfully that it significantly helped boost AMC’s revenue .
The momentum appeared to continue when Beyoncé released “Cowboy Carter” last year. The album quickly surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify, becoming its most-streamed album in a single day in 2024. In February, “Cowboy Carter” won album of the year at the Grammys .
But stalling ticket sales for her latest concert tour have stoked some questions about whether it indicates consumer exhaustion or whether the appeal of one of the biggest global superstars has somehow waned. A spokesperson for Beyoncé didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Still, some fans remained excited just to see Queen Bey perform live — even if it meant shelling out more than they necessarily needed to.
Kristy Larson, who was at SoFi Stadium on Monday, said she has come to terms with the price change, even though she paid $250 for her seats. She said that while some fans might benefit from buying last-minute cheap tickets, she prefers the comfort of knowing she has her seats secured. “If you want to make sure you have a row for you and your friends and you have the experience you want, then I think you have to throw down some money, make some choices,” Larson said.
“She [Beyoncé] is going to take all my money tonight, and it’s totally OK with me.”.
