Taylor Swift and Beyoncé fans have lashed out on social media at tickets available for ‘obstructed view’ offered on their respective tours.
Both pop stars are about to begin tours around the US – with Beyoncé playing her remaining shows on the ‘Renaissance’ world tour and Swift wrapping up the North American stage of her ‘Eras’ tour.
Both tours are already set to become some of the highest-grossing of all time. According to a report by Forbes earlier this year, Renaissance could bag Beyoncé between $275million and $2.4billion from tickets alone by the time it ends in September. Eras is expected to Fetch Taylor Swift $1.9billion.
Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour is set to make the singer $1.9billion
But some fans have been flabbergasted with the offering of ‘listen only’ and ‘obstructed view’ tickets currently on sale. These are marked as having partially obstructed views of the stage, due to the location of the venue, and are offered at a lower price than others.
READ MORE: ★★★★☆ Renaissance review | R&B’s newly self-assured goddess reaches apotheosis
Nevertheless, fans have been quick to argue they are still being charged too much for those seats, mostly because they can’t see the stage at all in some cases.
As per The Independent, some fans told how they spent $50 (£38) on the ‘obstructed view’ seats at Taylor Swift’s recent shows, only to discover the seats were located directly behind the main stage, meaning they could only see the singer when she walked out onto the walkway.
Beyoncé could make $2.4billion from her tour ‘Renaissance’
“You could only get last minute obstructed view tickets but it’s worth it to see the cleaning cart and to say bye to Taylor,” one wrote, and observed by NME, sharing the view she had at one of Swift’s recent shows. Another commented: “I was so close to buying tickets until my sister shot them down because they were literally behind the screen.”
@annanallick There are no bad seats at The Eras Tour! Had more fun here than on the floor at Glendale night 1. #taylorswift #erastour #taylornation #swifttok #minneapoliststheerastour
Another took to Twitter (X), to share their view of Beyoncé’s concert, saying that they were “so disappointed” after getting that view of the stage after paying for floor tickets. They also claimed that they were not told that the view would be obstructed when they bought the tickets.
“Not me getting floor tickets to Beyoncé and this monstrous thing is in my way… TF so disappointed. It did not say obstructed view.”
One also highlighted how some of the obstructed tickets were being made available on resale sites, and re-priced at over $700 (£552) each.
Not me getting floor tickets to Beyonce and this monstrous thing is in my way…🥴 TF so disappointed. It did not say obstructed view pic.twitter.com/FuJZWLdwYq
— Sachelle Reed (@SachelleOnAir) July 18, 2023
Taylor swifts playing here in the bay tonight and tomorrow and StubHub has tickets at $700 for an obstructed view lmfao pic.twitter.com/YJOer4X0do
— kat✨ (@katlin177) July 28, 2023
"Disappointed to encounter the same issue at the Beyonce concert. Their website clearly promises marked tickets for restricted views, but ours weren't! 😡 #TicketingTroubles @TMFanSupport pic.twitter.com/f8nLRUgJwq
— Indyss1 (@indysandhu_indy) July 11, 2023
Earlier this year, Ticketmaster’s website crashed when Taylor Swift announced a slate of new international tour dates, including nine in the UK and two in Ireland.
