Sabrina Carpenter is taking the world by storm amid No. 1 hits “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” and now, she’s heading out on a headlining tour this fall. During the presale, however, thousands of fans trying to obtain presale tickets were left empty handed.
The “Short n’ Sweet Tour” is set to kick-off this November in Columbus, making stops in cities like Montreal, Nashville, Austin, Denver, and San Diego. A “Team Sabrina” presale began June 25 at 10 a.m. During the sale, fans complained of error codes, long queue lines, and exorbitant ticket prices on Ticketmaster.
| READ: Olivia Rodrigo Fans Furious Over Ticketmaster Prices, Face 100K in Queue for LA Shows |
Thousands of fans were attempting to purchase tickets across North America at the same time; in New York City, over 80,000 people were queued for the 19,000-capacity Madison Square Garden sale and 50,000 people were awaiting tickets for Chicago’s United Center, which holds 23,500 guests.
Fans took to social media to share their frustrations:
I had tickets for the Sabrina carpenter show in Raleigh in my cart but the checkout page wouldn’t load all the way and it wouldn’t let me order them until it did and then the timer ran out and all the tickets sold. I literally hate Ticketmaster so much pic.twitter.com/yJyswWEAn3
— Allie (@ageese35) June 25, 2024
someone needs to genuinely do something about ticketmaster & ticket prices bc there is really no good reason for upper bowl tickets to sabrina carpenter in HARTFORD, CT to be $300+ that’s just nasty work
— kay (@kjardim01) June 25, 2024
I waited 53 minutes in a queue just for there to be no tickets… 🙃 #sabrinacarpenter #shortnsweettour @Ticketmaster pic.twitter.com/AoXwN1SoTm
— steph (@ayestephx) June 25, 2024
“You are now in the queue for Sabrina Carpenter tickets”
Me, 25654th in line: pic.twitter.com/soOViNPG5y— bb 💋 (@LaBeeuhtriixx) June 25, 2024
being an old sabrina carpenter fan who has never gotten the chance to see her the 5 times she’s been to toronto is hell. i can’t even get tickets that ARE available like why are u letting me click next if someone’s already got them. the fuck ticketmaster train continues pic.twitter.com/d8o4YhrCtl
— eden ✡︎ (@sparksflysos) June 25, 2024
Looks like I won’t be getting tickets to Sabrina carpenter this year either… pic.twitter.com/G2ZsZHQhUG
— ✨ Kristen ✨ Tortured Poets Department Intern (@KKingsVersion13) June 25, 2024
Ticketmaster is evil. I’m sick of these companies ruining the concert ticket buying experience with their greed. There’s no reason I couldn’t have found a $100-200 pair of nosebleed tickets for Sabrina Carpenter. Yet people give in because FOMO and payment plans. We are screwed.
— Molly (@ValentinesTay) June 25, 2024
incredibly upset that i’ve been a fan of sabrina carpenter for over a decade but there are 24,000 people in front of me in the queue for tampa tickets … literally willing to bet that 75% of y’all hadn’t even heard of her before she blew up on tiktok. bye
— gillian flannery (@gilliangracee) June 25, 2024
hey @Ticketmaster receiving this error every time i tried to buy tickets for a sabrina carpenter concert and then got booted out after authenticating my account. maybe invest all that money you make into a better cyber infrastructure for your customers. just a thought! pic.twitter.com/CbM0KMu5QY
— Cheyenne (@cheypreston) June 25, 2024
40,000 people in front of me,…..waited an HOUR for sabrina carpenters tour tickets to be sold out. pic.twitter.com/AwjHv3cVKt
— miss suly baby (@sulysolano11) June 25, 2024
This is a typical scenario for fans trying to purchase tickets over the past year; they’re stuck struggling through Ticketmaster’s online queue, face error codes and long-wait times, and when they finally reach checkout (if they ever do) those tickets are gone — or priced so high that fans just give up.
We’ve seen this across the industry; a handful of artists went on their first large-scale headlining tour over the past year, including Olivia Rodrigo and Noah Kahan. While these acts are just emerging in the industry, their prices are mirroring legacy musicians — and fans are thinking twice as ticket prices have reached greater heights than ever before.
| READ: Average Concert Ticket Price Reaches $123 in 2024 |
Slow ticketing may be to blame; in this system, prices are set at what the tour organizers (and its partners at companies like Ticketmaster) believe is the highest level that the artist’s fans might be willing to pay, for each level of seating (even down to individual rows, with premiums for things like aisle seats). Initially, tickets are priced high for the must-see superfans, and over time, the prices are expected to drop. Now, we’ve seen that the practice may have run its course, as fans seem tired of the exorbitant prices.
Ticketmaster has been under fire over the past few months, particularly after being targeted in an antitrust lawsuit by the Department of Justice and 29 states alongside its parent company Live Nation over alleged monopolistic business practices.
