Sabrina Carpenter Fans Priced-Out of Tickets, Face Woes During Ticketmaster Sale

The rising “Espresso” popstar Sabrina Carpenter is heading out on her Short N’ Sweet Tour across the UK next year, but fans faced various woes during Ticketmaster’s presale on Thursday — leaving thousands empty-handed.

Following Carpenter’s tour across North America, she will head to the UK and Europe for a brief run in March 2025, stopping in Dublin, Birmingham, London, Glasgow, and Manchester before heading to European gigs in Paris, Berlin, Brussels, and Amsterdam.

The presale opened for fans at 10 a.m. Thursday morning, but as concertgoers flooded Ticketmaster, they were met with long wait times in the queue, as well as various error codes — sometimes even kicking fans out of their spot in line. Many never even made it through the queue.

Got onto ticketmaster just to see this, then get kicked out, tried live nation just for page not found an then the other message, just to go back on an be 13454 in the queue what a joke pic.twitter.com/3rGfPtBBFh

— Megan (@meganxlwt) July 25, 2024

Wtf Ticketmaster and Live Nation @TicketmasterUK @LiveNationUK
Can someone explain how i can fix this pic.twitter.com/7FHfDnEY9m

— Gracie (@Gracieexoxoxo) July 25, 2024

When I find you Ticketmaster….

Let me wait in a 40 min queue for nothing 😭 pic.twitter.com/YXEwqUg8Bm

— Ellie 🪩 (@reputatqion) July 25, 2024

Ticketmaster I am 19 in the fucking queue for Sabrina and you’re telling me to MOVE?? pic.twitter.com/ESOtgjiMV5

— jodie (@__jodie___) July 25, 2024

i have never lost the ticketmaster war how did i get tickets to coldplay and taylor swift but not sabrina carpenter?!

— cait (@WHENlMWITHU) July 25, 2024

what a joke. 2 hours of queuing for sabrina carpenter tickets for this.@Ticketmaster fix your site. pic.twitter.com/wNOxZ7NCQV

— sola 🍉 OSCAR WIN (@s0lallay) July 23, 2024

Ticketmaster are an absolute joke. Been trying to get Sabrina Carpenter tickets for my little sister since 10am, but as soon as I get to the front of the queue I get kicked to the back behind 17,000 other people 😡 pic.twitter.com/TaLPXbJ4Os

— Ashleigh 👑💕 (@Ashleighbea2000) July 23, 2024

Ticketmaster is bullshit I have been in the queue for Sabrina Carpenters artist presale since 11:50, the queue got all the way down to 127 then took me to this and won’t do anything else!!! I’m only trying to buy 1 standing ticket for my friend. Honestly the WORST ticket site. pic.twitter.com/QvL24Uhw2K

— lau🦋 (@laurenxcvi) July 23, 2024

Presales are literally pointless atp because I tried every single one since tuesday and am still ticketless. Today nothing even showed up and on tuesday anything in my basket would be gone immediately #sabrinacarpenter #sabrinatickets #ShortNSweetTour #ticketmaster pic.twitter.com/uagj2ibD7T

— Malz (Eras Tour N6 August 17th 🪩✨) (@Maliha27931) July 25, 2024

Fans who were lucky enough to make it to the checkout page were shocked at the exorbitant ticket prices. Two tickets for general admission at Scotland’s OVO Hydro equated €676.30. Fans complained that they felt priced-out, as these ticket prices are not attainable.

ticketmaster this is a fking joke pic.twitter.com/icbWPxv4lm

— kara ⎕ ⸆⸉ | NIALL IN 38 DAYS !! (@HealysGuggiQ) July 25, 2024

Ticketmaster is the biggest scam! Why are they trying to charge me nearly £300 for a Sabrina Carpenter ticket 🤢 I managed to get face value from ticket factory ✌🏼💋

— Steph 🪩💋⚡️🍒 (@stephcowiexo) July 23, 2024

sorry but who’s actually paying the price of those sabrina carpenter tickets? this is why they get away with charging ridiculous prices as they know people will buy them 🥱

— ashleigh (@ashleighk_x) July 25, 2024

It doesn’t personally matter to me because she’s not the type of music I listen to, but it’s laughable that there’s people on here who will still defend these ticket prices pic.twitter.com/jrKW8Gtyc0

— andy (@heyitsandy_) July 23, 2024

| READ: Sabrina Carpenter Fans Lash Out at Ticketmaster, Unable to Secure Tour Tickets | 

This situation is an exact replica to fans’ experience trying to purchase tickets to Carpenter’s North American tour dates. 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.

While Carpenter’s fans all over the globe are facing similar frustrations, this isn’t a new story; fans across all genres have been facing the same scenario over the past year. From Olivia Rodrigo and Bad Bunny to blink-182 and Sleep Token, fans are stuck struggling through Ticketmaster’s online queue, facing 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.

| READ: Average Concert Ticket Price Reaches $123 in 2024 | 

Carpenter is also among a handful of artists who embarked on their first large-scale headlining tour over the past year, following suite of 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.

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’s sale process has been criticized time and time again, and now, the Live Nation-owned company has been  targeted in an antitrust lawsuit by the Department of Justice and 29 states alongside its parent company over the pair’s alleged monopolistic business practices. The suit, which aims to break-up Live Nation and Ticketmaster, cites anti-competitive tactics.