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If there’s one thing music fans of all stripes can agree on, it’s this: Ticketmaster is the worst.
The online retailer gives fans a reason to despise them on a near-weekly basis, and recently, their ticket prices triggered an uproar among one fandom in particular. On Friday, tickets for Gracie Abrams’ upcoming North American tour went on sale, inciting pandemonium online.
Not only were tickets nearly impossible to purchase and expensive to begin with, but resale prices immediately shot up to hundreds of dollars.
Fans were not happy with this development. On X, users noted that it doesn’t make sense that Abrams’ ticket prices were suddenly so high when they were affordable just last year. “GRACIE ABRAMS tickets for $700 is completely unjustifiable that girl is not famous enough to be making her prices that high i’m sorry gracie ily but what,” wrote one user.
Many blamed Abrams’ appearance at Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour for the high ticket prices. “the eras tour you’re my biggest enemy. look what you’ve done to gracie,” one fan wrote. “gracie opening for eras ruined her fandom,” wrote another. Some noted that it was more difficult and more expensive for them to get tickets to see Abrams than it was to get tickets to the Eras Tour, indicating that something had gone awry.
Gracie Abrams fans want to bring back gatekeeping
A common sentiment among fans was the idea that we need to bring back gatekeeping. Some felt angry that new fans who used to dunk on her bought tickets at the expense of “OG” fans. “if you can’t name more than 5 gracie abrams songs, get OUT OF THAT QUEUE,” one fan wrote. “what do any of you know about gracie abram,” wrote another fan, posting an image of the 32,000 people in front of them in the online queue.
Others reminisced about when they saw Abrams open for Taylor Swift and the audience wasn’t paying any attention, while some were downright pissed. “and to everyone getting tickets who once made fun of others for listening to gracie or who said “that girl can’t sing,” GO FUCK YOURSELF!” one fan wrote.
This ticket kerfuffle produced a general sense of frustration and disappointment among the fandom. Fans weren’t willing to let Abrams off the hook for her role in the ticket prices and the use of verified resale, which hikes up the cost even further. Some joked that she would be performing to a crowd of bots because no one else could afford tickets.
Many think ticket prices are unfair to fans
A number of fans took issue with the ticket prices because of how misaligned they seem with Abrams’ fan base. “gracie deciding on putting verified resale on while her main target are young teenage girls is absolutely disgusting and i’m not scared of calling her out. if she really wanted to see her own fans at shows she should’ve made it way more accessible,” one fan wrote.
Some noted that it makes no sense for Abrams to charge this much considering she’s not a struggling artist—her father is filmmaker J.J. Abrams—suggesting that her wealth has made her out of touch with reality.
A few fans went so far as to say she’s exploiting her listeners with these ticket prices, while one fan noted that it’s a problem that people are still buying these exorbitantly priced tickets and thus “enabling” this behavior.
Though many fans reiterated their love for Abrams despite these criticisms, the mood online was largely pessimistic. Oddly, the Ticketmaster drama generated a sense of unity within the fandom that rarely occurs. “This is the most united Gracie twitter has been in years wow things are bad,” one fan noted.
Being a music fan is more expensive than ever these days, and much of this anger around concert tickets is justified, as is the urge to gatekeep your favorite artists. While gatekeeping used to be hipster behavior based on the desire to keep the music you like to yourself, now there’s a significant economic factor. Though fans usually want their favorite artists to achieve critical and commercial acclaim, success has become a double-edged sword.
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