Ticketmaster issued a warning about the overwhelming demand for Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS World Tour ahead of time. But even for the lucky fans who managed to get codes for the presale — or get off the waitlist in time — some were left disappointed and blindsided by the expensive costs.
Ticketmaster held two presales for the GUTS Tour: The American Express Early Access on September 20 and the Verified Fan presale, the following day, on September 21. Only fans who received codes for these sales were able to enter the queue to buy tickets and VIP packages.
The site said that GUTS World Tour tickets would range from $49.50 – $199.50 plus taxes and fees in the U.S. A limited number of Charity Platinum and VIP packages were also available for purchase (which are typically more expensive).
“To create a better shopping experience, a limited number of fans will get access to the sale based on ticket availability and most fans will be placed on the waitlist,” Ticketmaster posted on X ahead of time.
Pamela Krasny, 27, and a group of her friends signed up for the Verified Presale for New York City, Philadelphia, North Carolina, and Washington D.C. While Krasny said the actual queue “was not as bad as it has been for other artists,” she and her friends were “shocked” by the cost of tickets.
“The only tickets that were available and anywhere near our budget were nosebleeds or seats in the nosebleeds behind the stage,” she explained. “A lot of us would be traveling far, and I couldn’t ask my friends to arrange flights or drive and pay for a hotel for an overpriced seat where we would barely be able to see the show.”
Krasny and her friends decided not to purchase tickets in the end. “At one point, we almost decided to just go for it, but ultimately, none of us felt comfortable spending the amount of money they were listed for.”
Overall, she felt like it was “borderline predatory” to ask Rodrigo’s fanbase (which skews young) to “shell out hundreds of dollars” to see her perform on tour.
“There were a lot of obstacles to even gain access to this sale, and Ticketmaster plays a huge part in making it a convoluted and stressful process with their randomized Verified Fan process and obscene fees,” Krasny stressed. “This was Olivia’s second tour and I expected a raise in price for sure, but not to this level.”
Some fans took to TikTok to share how much they spent on GUTS World Tour tickets, including 23-year-old Claudine Ronquillo. Ronquillo shared a video about how she spent over $900 on tickets after Ticketmaster originally said “the prices would range from $49-199.”
“After it [the TikTok] went viral, people were questioning why I still bought it, saying that the prices will go down as it gets closer to the concert date,” Ronquillo said, noting that some people who saw her video assumed she was “upset” about the price she paid.
“I was just shocked because who wouldn’t be? I paid $65 after fees to go to the Sour Tour (Olivia’s first tour) and now I’m paying $970 after fees per ticket to go to the Guts Tour,” she clarified.
Ronquillo was initially waitlisted for the American Express presale but got a code at 3:13 p.m. on September 20 — 13 minutes after the sale started. “I hurried onto Ticketmaster and saw that there were seats left in the pit for around $450 before fees. The rest of the tickets that were available were in the lower bowl on both sides of the stage and on the floor for $842 before fees. I’m going to the concert with my friend and we discussed prior that we didn’t want pit tickets because we get anxiety in crowds.”
Ultimately, Ronquillo paid $1,970 for two tickets after fees in the lower bowl. “I was extremely shocked by Ticketmaster’s prices for this tour. In Ticketmaster’s FAQ, they said tickets would range from $49-$199… All the tickets I saw were labeled as “Charity Platinum”, and platinum tickets are notoriously known to be sold for 3 to 4 times more than face value,” she added.
After the costly purchase, Ronquillo admitted that she felt “a mixture of a lot of things.” “It sucked and it wasn’t ideal to pay as much as I did, but I didn’t want to risk not going at all.”
At a later date, a limited amount of $20 tickets (plus taxes and fees) will be sold as part of the “Silver Star” program. These tickets must be bought in pairs with a two-ticket maximum per purchase, and fans can retrieve the tickets (with their seat numbers) at the box office on the day of the show. It’s unknown when these tickets will hit the market and how many will be available.
To help combat the “scalping” problem — or the buying and reselling event tickets at astronomical prices — Ticketmaster said that purchased GUTS World Tour tickets will only be issued 72 hours before the concert takes place, regardless of when they were purchased. Also, they will only be available electronically.
“Delivery delays are commonly used by artists to allow for a thorough review of the sale and to ensure all ticket purchasers have adhered to ticket limits and terms,” Ticketmaster said in a statement to Good Morning America on September 22.
The policy comes after the Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Ticketmaster debacle last fall, where servers malfunctioned and fans waited online for hours with some or no success. When the tickets hit the secondary market, they skyrocketed up to five figures. Swift released a statement at the time where she tried to comprehend the massive failure.
“There are a multitude of reasons why people had such a hard time trying to get tickets and I’m trying to figure out how this situation can be improved moving forward,” Swift penned on her Instagram story on November 18, 2022. “It’s really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse.”
The Justice Department even opened an antitrust investigation into the owner of Ticketmaster in November 2022, focused on “whether Live Nation Entertainment has abused its power over the multibillion-dollar live music industry,” according to The New York Times. In January 2023, senators in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee questioned ticketing execs about whether Live Nation Entertainment had a monopoly in the industry.
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