When Chante Whyte saw Harry Styles announce his fourth studio album Kiss All The Time, Disco Occasionally, her first thought was blinding joy at the return of her favorite artist. But once the dates were announced for its accompanying tour, there was another feeling that threatened to overtake it: worry.
“I promise you, I had heart palpitations every single night thinking about what the Ticketmaster war was going to be like,” she tells Rolling Stone.
While the Together, Together tour doesn’t start until May 16, tickets sales have already started for almost every date. But fans who signed up for artist and Amex presale were shocked to discover many tickets going for upwards of $1,000. Part of this is because he is Harry Styles — an international pop star who’s had all of his studio projects debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — but also a former member of the boy band One Direction. Styles hasn’t toured for several years, and has a reputation for virtually disappearing after finishing a round of shows, meaning many audience members fear that missing out on a ticket could mean waiting another three years — at least — to see him again. There’s also the fact that Together, Together is significantly smaller than past Styles tours, with just 67 dates in 11 cities, including a 30-night run at Madison Square Garden. And the demand is astronomical — more than 11 million people queued up for 500,000 tickets for shows in the New York City area.
And while all these components drive demand, Styles fans also have to contend with the music industry’s longtime battle with ticket sellers. High ticket prices have been a problem for decades — fans complained about how much it cost to see the Rolling Stones in these very pages back in 1969 — but in the past few years, artists and fans have become increasingly vocal about it. In September, the Federal Trade Commission sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster, alleging the ticket platforms hide fees from consumers and encourage bots to purchase large swaths of tickets and drive up the resale price. Ticketmaster denied the allegations, but announced several changes to the platform, including banning of multiple accounts and shutting down price tracking tool TradeDesk. But while the lawsuits and ongoing controversy continue, Styles’ fans are still eager to find tickets — and they’re going to extraordinary lengths to see their favorite artist live.
For Daniella Barone, 24, getting tickets is about more than having a good time on a night out. It’s her second chance to experience a fandom she loves. The illustration student goes to college in Florida but is originally from Venezuela. She planned to be at a Miami show in 2020, but had to leave the country to receive her green card. Then Covid-19 hit, closing the embassy and leaving her stuck in Venezuela for several months. By the time she was able to come back to the U.S., the concert had been cancelled.
“I’ve been listening to One Direction since I was 11 and I’m 24 now,” she says. “I’ve always loved Harry’s music but I also love the fandom. It’s like a little family. That’s always something that has really appealed to me; having that community.”
She tells Rolling Stone that the minute she saw the tour announcement, she knew she had to get cash fast. But as a student, she needed a job that didn’t interfere with her heavy class schedule. Her answer? Plasma donation. She’s donated twice and plans to keep the donations up until she can afford two tickets and plane fare to New York. Everything else? Well, she’s not as sure. “I can only eat once a day, but I’ve done it before!” she says, laughing. (The practice is generally considered safe for those 17 and over who fit certain medical requirements, according to Mayo Clinic and the American Red Cross Association, but it’s important to wait at least 28 days between donations.)
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Ava Engle, 18, had a similar idea. The San Diego State University student describes herself as an avid concert goer. “I’ve fought a lot of Ticketmaster wars,” she says. But as a college student, she tells Rolling Stone her schedule has severely limited the type of work she can do to get money and keep up with classwork. She’s deathly afraid of needles, but after failing to find a Styles ticket under $1,000 during the official Ticketmaster sale, she signed up for plasma donation.
Each session nets her around $90, which she says adds up when she also takes on tutoring gigs. During school breaks, she also makes minimum wage working at the front desk of a swim club, so between the three, she’s hopeful she’ll have enough. But having to put so much work into the same tickets some people paid $200 for at the last tour still makes her frustrated.
“I’m terrified of needles, and I was so scared,” she says. “Being in the chair, I was having second thoughts. Like, ‘What am I doing?’ I just want to see one of my favorite artists. We shouldn’t have to be doing all of this just to afford tickets for one night.”
Since the tour went on sale, fans have maintained their outrage over ticket prices. Even Styles’ former bandmate Zayn Malik appeared to reference the controversy at his Jan. 28 show. “I just want to say a big, big thank you to every single one of you for being here tonight,” he said on stage. “Hopefully the ticket prices weren’t too high. Just saying.” As ticket prices have skyrocketed, fan behavior around concerts has also changed. For major stars like Styles, Billie Eilish, or Olivia Rodrigo, who have a younger fanbase, many concert goers offset ticket costs by buying cheaper floor tickets without seats and then camping overnight in front of the stadium in order to be as close as possible to the stage. (Even those tickets can cost $400 to $900 or more.) But there’s also a lack of transparency about how many low-cost tickets are actually available in the first place, which fans say makes purchasing feel less like a first-come-first-serve system and more like a lottery. (Representatives for Styles cold not be reached for comment on ticket prices.) On Wednesday, Styles announced that he was playing “one night only” in Manchester, England, where all tickets would cost £20. Fans are invited to “request” tickets starting this Friday. So far, more than 1.4 million people have liked that post on Instagram.
“I do everything right. I’m not a bot. So the fact that I’m still [100,000th] in line and then when I get in, I see the ticket prices, and there’s barely anything available, and it’s all over $1,000 or like, $700 and they’re not even amazing seats. It’s so frustrating,” Engle says. “It’s like, ‘Harry, what are we doing?’”
Aaron Fern, 28, wasn’t a huge One Direction fan. But when he heard Styles’ first solo album, he fell immediately in love. Styles has been one of his top artists every year since 2019. When he and his friends saw the tour announcement, he immediately rushed to their group chat. “It was like, ‘We need to get tickets,” he says. “It felt like, ‘We need to go now,’ or else it’s going to be another five years until we see him.”
Fern signed up for dozens of presale opportunities for the shows at Madison Square Garden — but he’s still planning to go into more credit card debt to buy tickets. His expected budget was around $1,000 for two tickets, but after failing at several pre-sales, he says he’s going all in and just looking for second jobs. “I’m really surprised. I don’t blame [Harry] because it’s like blaming the weather man for the weather. But it is crazy,” he says. “I’m looking for bartending gigs, restaurant work, record stores. Anything that I feel like I have experience in but could also make me money the quickest.”
When Whyte, 25, thinks about her dozens of times attending Styles concerts, she calls them “life altering” experiences full of friendship and community. “Last time Harry went on tour, I went to almost 30 shows. It’s actually kind of insane,” she says, laughing. “I tell my mom all the time, there’s a brain cell that’s short circuited when it comes to that man.”
Because ticket prices are so high, Whyte, a law-school graduate who is currently studying for the Bar Exam, says she’ll have to make a significant dip into her savings in order to see Styles play live. It’s a sacrifice she’s prepared to make — especially since she plans on going to as many shows as she can possibly get tickets for. But Whyte tells Rolling Stone the high cost of tickets is more than upsetting — it feels antithetical to the themes Styles promotes.
“There’s an allure of being at Harry Styles. Yes, it’s Harry. But it’s also about the community you join, being in the pit, dancing together, camping out. It’s that feeling of belonging that keeps me coming back,” she says. “I find it ironic that the whole tour is called Together, Together and it’s this idea that we belong together, when the ticket prices clearly are saying something else.”
From Rolling Stone US
