Beyoncé performs at the Oscars in March 2022. The “Renaissance” world tour later this year will mark her first solo tour since 2016.
Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
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Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
Beyoncé performs at the Oscars in March 2022. The “Renaissance” world tour later this year will mark her first solo tour since 2016.
Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
The news of Beyoncé’s first solo tour in more than six years has many of her fans celebratory — and nervous about whether they’ll actually get tickets.
Singer announced on Wednesday that she will bring her Album Nominated for Grammy Award Renaissance to cities across Europe and North America from May to September, starting in Stockholm and ending in New Orleans.
Fans have been eagerly awaiting her comeback ever since Renaissance fell last summerif not sooner.
Beyoncé’s last solo tour was “Lemonade,” although she performed with husband Jay-Z on his “On the Run Tour II” in 2018. She took the stage for the first time to tell. since late January, when she led a private show at the opening of a Luxury hotels in Dubai.
The first round of ticket sales will open to members of Beyoncé’s official fan club on Monday through Ticketmaster, which has already faced intense scrutiny as a pre-sale of Taylor Swift failed. in November.
Fans as well as legislators says that Ticketmaster’s problems go far deeper than a single concern, accusing it of monopolies (which its executives have denied) and calling for changes in the ticketing industry.
The company apologized for the chaos during the Swift pre-sale, which it blamed on over-demand and bot attacks. Live Nation President and CFO Joe Berchtold told lawmakers at a hearing last month that “we need to do better and we will do better.”
Many are wondering (and in some cases doubting) whether sales will go more smoothly this time around. BeyHiveAs Beyoncé fans know, are bracing for what could be another frenzy.
Fans are flooding social media with simultaneous excitement and anxiety about the possibility of winning tickets to the much-anticipated tour. Some are mock Beyoncé to discourage potential buyers, others are make fun of pressure Ticketmaster is facing devotees like themselves.
The stakes are high: Senators slammed Ticketmaster’s market power at the hearing and expressed interest in pursuing antitrust law, while the US Department of Justice reported as investigate its parent company, Live Nation – company Swift fans are suing on allegations of fraud and antitrust violations.
“Do ticket sellers know who runs the world? Girls. Beyoncé. Taylor Swift. Fans. We’re all watching,” tweeted Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a vocal advocate of antitrust reform and critical of corporate behavior (and no stranger to refer to the lyrics).
Ticketmaster doesn’t expect to meet demand
Ticketmaster and Beyoncé also seem to be bracing for overwhelming demand, trying to prioritize her biggest fans and warning that some are sure to be disappointed.
The North American leg of the Renaissance tour is using Ticketmaster’s Verified fan system and begins with an exclusive sale to BeyHive members.
It’s probably anyone who signed up for Beyoncé’s mailing list through her official website (although some tweeted that the registration page disappeared from the site after the tour announcement).
The Verified Fan System aims to provide tickets to real people and keep them away from bots and professional resellers, by letting fans pre-register for their favorite shows and check out each one individually. People.
But just because you’re verified doesn’t mean you’ll get a ticket. When demand is high, the company uses a lottery system to determine who should receive an access code for sales and who should be put on a waiting list.
“We expect more demand than available tickets, and a lottery-style process will determine which Registered Verified Fans receive a unique access code and be placed on a waitlist. ,” The ticket seller said during Beyoncé’s tour.
Taylor Swift’s Era Tour Isn’t Ticketmaster’s First Controversy
Ticketmaster’s Renaissance travel warning resonates in public apology its executives issued after Swift’s Eras Tour pre-sale.
At the time, it said more than 3.5 million people had signed up as verified fans, with 1.5 million selected to purchase tickets and 2 million remaining on a waiting list. . It sold a record 2 million tickets on its first day of pre-sale, but ended up experiencing more technical problems on the second day before canceling the general sale altogether.
Swift said in a statement of her own that she was repeatedly assured that the company was prepared for demand.
“It’s hard for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and allegiances, and it breaks my heart to just watch mistakes happen without recourse,” Swift wrote. who has been silent on the matter (while her fans have been extremely vocal). ).
While company executives blame bots, critics of Ticketmaster say their problems with the company go far beyond what happened in November. Artists like Bad Bunny, BTS, Bruce Springsteen and Harry Styles also had problems with ticket sales, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told Morning version prior to the hearing last month.
At the hearing, legislators on both sides, executives from smaller entertainment companies and a musician spoke about how the lack of competition in the ticketing industry has harmed artists as well. Like fans. They fear that will happen as long as Live Nation remains the dominant concert promotion and ticketing platform in the US.
Daniel Avital, chief strategy officer of CHEQ, a cybersecurity company focused on protecting businesses from bots, said Beyoncé fans “have reason to be concerned”.
“If an attack scaling at this rate happens once on Ticketmaster, it is likely to happen again,” he told NPR via email, unless stronger security measures are put in place. .
Things to know if you’re looking for tickets
Ticketmaster this time seems to be operating things a little differently.
It splits registration into three city groups (although it says people can sign up for more than one group). Each person has their own pre-sale ticket registration deadline, which begins Thursday night and ends February 16.
There are other steps fans can take to try to increase their odds. Citi cardholders can access pre-sale tickets by signing up with their credit or debit card number, and members of the Verizon Up rewards program can participate. through its website.
The guy who scored advice for anyone trying to grab a pre-sale ticket, including: adding a qualifying pass to your Ticketmaster account ahead of time, logging in early and from a strong Wi-Fi network if possible, and only refreshing the page during some very limited cases.
If you feel exhausted at the thought of strategizing, you’re not alone. Music composer Corbin Reiff put it this way in a tweet:
“Hey, remember when tour announcements were exciting news instead of harbingers of an incredibly expensive and complicated buying process that ruined the whole experience before it even started? ?” he wrote, sarcastically thanking Ticketmaster.
Dates and prices are subject to change
It’s not yet clear how much a ticket to North America will cost, and it’s worth remembering that Ticketmaster has been controversial.”dynamic pricing model adjust fares based on consumer demand.
The first tickets for Beyoncé’s five UK shows went on sale on Thursday and BBC report that the standard price is roughly the same as the 2018 tour.
It said telecom provider O2 customers were the first to gain access, and some have reported issues with their app and website. Those who purchased tickets reported paying the equivalent of $68 to $245 for the standard ticket and up to almost $2,940 for the “on stage” VIP seats.
Followed by the US and Canada. Be sure to double check the dates and locations of the sightseeing stops, as America today report some have changed (and fans are speculating — and hoping — on Twitter that more could be added).
