Another day, another concert tour that fans are saying is ruined by Live Nation Entertainment.
Tickets just went on sale for Lady Gaga’s highly anticipated The MAYHEM Ball tour, and the prices (and price gouging) are sending Little Monsters everywhere into meltdown mode.
Fans are assuming the high prices are because of what is referred to as dynamic pricing, a system that allows companies to raise prices in real-time based on demand. In addition to dynamic pricing, bots, fraudsters, and resellers can contribute to the astronomical ticket prices, costing fans more than just a pretty penny.
In 2023, Taylor Swift’s Eras tour tickets could reach anywhere from $11,000 to $22,500. The BeyHive didn’t fare much better, with Beyoncé‘s Renaissance tour tickets costing fans tens of thousands of dollars as well. And that’s not even including the hundreds of dollars of fees ticketing companies put on top of the already shockingly expensive price for their seats.
Ticketmaster told The Daily Beast in a statement: “Ticketmaster does not have surge pricing or dynamic algorithms to adjust ticket prices. Tickets were priced in advance of the sale and set at the individual seat level.”
On Monday, the Citi presale tickets for Gaga’s tour went live, so now it’s time for Little Monsters to empty out their wallets and fork over thousands of dollars to see their beloved pop diva perform all their favorite songs from her new album, Mayhem.
And let’s just say they aren’t happy about it, going so far as to, in jest, riff on Luigi Mangione with their memes.
“Who is the C*O of Ticketmaster?” one outraged Little Monster asked on X, posting an image of Gaga from her “Abracadabra” shoot, where she is holding a gun out to the camera.
One fan posted a picture of the ticket prices for Gaga’s Aug. 23 Madison Square Garden performance in New York, and they were already up to $1,770 dollars without fees.
And the tidal wave of anger from Little Monsters continued.
On Reddit, one person posted a picture of tickets for second row seats at the Seattle tour stop costing $500 more than the premium VIP package with seats right next to the other tickets. In their statement, Ticketmaster said it does not use dynamic pricing.
The sky-high prices are now even forcing some to walk away altogether, unable to justify the cost of the tickets, even if it means missing out on the chance to see their beloved icons perform.
In Beyoncé’s case, her Cowboy Carter tour is experiencing this in real-time, with the tour’s ticket sales much lower than projected. According to NewsNation, Beyoncé has yet to sell out most of her shows, albeit her venues are huge, but still.
Due to her tour’s smaller venues, Gaga seems to be escaping the same fate as Beyoncé in terms of ticket sales, but that doesn’t mean fans aren’t annoyed.
Clearly, concert pricing is overdue for reform. Who knows when that will happen. Until then, Little Monsters must choose between seeing Gaga live or paying rent.
Editor’s Note: This piece has been updated following a statement from Ticketmaster saying the company “does not have surge pricing or dynamic algorithms” to determine prices.
