In less than two months, 2026 has already proved to be an epic year for concert enthusiasts and music lovers from various genres. From Bruno Mars going on his first tour since 2018 (excluding his Las Vegas residency), Zara Larson bringing Midnight Sun all over the world regardless of the season, to BTS and even Pitbull making an appearance, this year has a lot in store for everyone.
While 2026 is one of great excitement with artists touring and releasing new projects, a damper has been put on it with ticket sales and price gouging.
Just two weeks ago, Harry Styles announced his Together, Together tour for his fourth album Kiss All the Time. Disco Occasionally releasing on March 6. Fans were elated at the news, and geared up to face the Ticketmaster queues of over 200,000 people for just the presale tickets.
While some fans were able to successfully acquire tickets, many were unlucky as they ran into the longstanding problem of Ticketmaster’s pricing and egregious resale prices. While all of Styles’ Madison Square Gardens shows via Ticketmaster, resellers haven’t missed a beat, turning to resale sites such as SeatGeek and StubHub to list tickets for as high as $3,000 per ticket to be in the highest section of the nosebleeds and $13,000 to be in the 100 sections.
These high ticket prices have caused fans of Styles to go to great lengths to ensure they can even receive just one ticket. In an interview with Rolling Stone, college student Daniella Barone, a longtime fan of Styles and former Directioner, reveals that she has resorted to plasma donation, and intends to donate as many times as necessary for her to get her hands on a ticket.
Barone’s experience isn’t one that is exclusive to her, as other students and fans with limited income have also resorted to plasma donation, and those with steady incomes are picking up second jobs and preparing to go into credit card debt just for the chance of securing a ticket.
Some fans have accused Styles of being out of touch after seeing the ticket prices, which led to his Feb. 4 announcement of a one night only €20 (about $23) show at Manchester Coop Arena on the day of Kiss All the Time. Disco Occasionally’s release on March 6th.
While the prices and lengths fans are willing to go to see Styles’ live may seem preposterous, many Directioners are preparing for war again as Styles’ former One Direction bandmate, Zayn Malik, announced his second solo tour for his upcoming album Konnakol, with presale beginning on next Friday, Feb. 13, two months ahead of the album’s April 17 release.
Although this is an exciting time for Directioners, this experience is not new nor exclusive to them. Last August, Ariana Grande announced The Eternal Sunshine tour with twenty-seven initial dates and eleven stops with the North American presale that began Sept. 9 followed by the general sale the next day.
Excited fans soon turned disappointed and angry as tickets in the general sale were beyond their price range. Grande has spoken up for her fans numerous times, requesting for her ticket prices to be made affordable as the sky-rocketed prices were never what she intended for her fans. While prices for Grande’s tour remained bewilderingly high, it was mainly at $600 for most of the U.S. shows.
Ticket pricing has been an issue for decades, and finally seems to have come to a head in 2022 when their parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, faced scrutiny for monopolizing the concert ticket realm following the ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s The Eras tour.
With many rolling their coins and making sacrifices for the epic concert line up that 2026 has in store, and even rejoicing over scoring a ticket for hundreds of dollars, the question is raised: has concert ticket price gouging desensitized us to what is normal to pay for an experience, and is enjoying your favorite artist live now a new marker of class systems?