Sabrina Carpenter has become the latest artist to enrage fans with egregiously high ticket prices for the stadium’s worst seats.
The 25-year-old singer opened the presale for her London O2 show earlier today – alongside shows in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow – with eager fans hoping to score a coveted ticket to her 2025 UK tour.
Sabrina has skyrocketed to fame over the past few months after dropping consecutive hit singles: Espresso and Please Please Please.
Both songs, which will form part of her upcoming album Short ‘N Sweet, have topped the charts in the UK and the US and gone viral on social media, making her one of the most talked about singers this year.
But as tens of thousands joined the queue on the controversial ticket-selling site, Ticketmaster, many were shocked not only at the fierce competition but also at the astonishing cost of even the cheapest tickets found in the nosebleed section of the arena.
The section is aptly for being so high and far back, that the altitude could theoretically cause a nosebleeed.
People took to social media to share screenshots of the inflated prices with some tickets totalling almost £240 – far beyond what fans expected.
‘£240 for Sabrina Carpenter nosebleeds is insane lol. She’s great but she’s had two hit singles. I paid about half that for Taylor Swift nosebleeds and felt it was still a bit too much but at least that’s a three hour show with 18 years of smash hits to cover,’ @blame_suarez posted on X.
‘£200+ for seats for Sabrina tickets is actually insane like there’s just no excuse concert tickets should never be this expensive,’ @racheIaIi echoed.
‘£240 to sit in the nosebleeds to see Sabrina Carpenter at the o2 – an artist with two hit singles and two other moderate hits. Absolutely APPALLING,’ @harrisonjbrock added.
Sabrina is far from the first artist to be harshly criticised for the growing cost of concert tickets.
Just last week Oscar-winning artist Billie Eilishfaced similar backlash when tickets went on sale for her upcoming batch of UK shows. Many tickets remain unpurchased after fans were forced to pay up to £250 for standing tickets at London’s O2.
The highest prices reach over £400.
Fans have pointed out how legacy artists, with acclaimed discographies and years of live show experience, are even charging cheaper tickets.
Beyonce’s 2023 Renaissance tour offered fans standing tickets for around £106.80 although VIP packages ran up to £2,000. Meanwhile, Taylor’s Eras Tour had tickets between £58.65 and £194.75 with a standard £175 charge for standing tickets.
In May the US government confirmed it was trying to split up Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, after accusing it of an illegal monopoly in the live entertainment industry.
In particular, the company faced a wave of criticism after the chaotic Eras Tour sale with many fans sharing their frustration over ticket-scalping and overpriced tickets.
The general sale for Sabrina Carpenter’s upcoming UK tour takes place on July 25.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Sabrina Carpenter’s representatives and Live Nation for comment.