Olivia Rodrigo first announced on December 5th of 2021 that she will be going on tour with special guests Gracie Abhrams, Holly Humberstone, and Baby Queen. While doing a trend where creators make predictions on their future, she announced the surprise to her fans on TikTok – https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdDR89rE/. The tour is worldwide and has dates stretching from April to July. Tickets for the event went on sale on December 10th and sold out within minutes of their release creating controversy between fans.

Rodrigo’s Sour Tour, named after her chart-topping album, has caused her to gain massive amounts of popularity. Rodrigo’s debut song, “Driver’s License,” beat Spotify’s record for most listens in a single day and rapidly gained the recognition of having 80 million streams in seven days. Following the release of this enormous hit song, she created two additional pieces that went viral as well. Rodrigo became a seven-time Grammy nominee after her Sour album, making it one of the most successful albums of the decade.

Rodrigo chose venues for her concerts that had a significantly smaller capacity for her popularity, causing many not to be able to receive tickets. For example, tickets for her London concerts had over 40,000 fans in a queue to buy tickets. And the capacity of the amphitheater Rodrigo decided to host the show at – 3,500. Rodrigo responded to this backlash, saying, “I don’t think I should skip any steps.” Although she knows she could sell out large arenas very quickly, Rodrigo wants to work her way up to it throughout her career.

Her tickets initially sold for 50$, and because of her massive popularity and demand for her concert, resellers are taking advantage. By creating bots that get tickets in mass, companies buy venues out and resell them for massive profit. This is what makes Rodrigo’s small venues and high popularity a target for their companies. Most resellers for her Atlanta venue sell tickets anywhere from 500$ for the worst seats to 2000$ for the best seats. This 900% to 3900% increase in price is the cause of the uproar in fans.

Shreya V, a student at Wheeler, tried her best to get tickets for her concert. She says, “I’m one of Olivia’s biggest fans, and not being able to get a ticket because of companies over buying them is unfair.” She believes that Rodrigo should add more venues to her tour in response to being sold out. After finding out tickets are reselling for upwards of 500$, she was very shocked. She goes on to say, “She should be playing State Farm arena; companies are using the small venue as an opportunity to make money. I was honestly surprised that she is playing such small venues because she’s losing out on so much money she could be making from these tours. Personally, I love small concerts and prefer them over big ones, but in Olivia’s case, it’s just disappointing that so many people will have to miss out simply because she doesn’t want to ‘skip any steps.”

Rithu Hedge, a student at Wheeler, gave her insight into her experience of buying a ticket. She starts by saying, “I would’ve bought tickets had the venue been bigger and there been more opportunities to buy tickets.” She then talks about how companies buying and reselling tickets is inevitable and happens for any show, but it’s especially difficult since SOUR is a high-demand concert. Hedge planned to purchase tickets for the Atlanta show at Coca-Cola Roxy. The capacity: less than 4000. When asked what Rodrigo should do to respond to the backlash, she explains, “It’s her prerogative, but I feel like she owes it to her fans to hold concerts that everyone can go to. I feel like the backlash is justified. She can at least play multiple nights at the same location, right, or possibly add more dates?”