After five years, Beyoncé is going on tour again – and she’s selling her tickets on Ticketmaster.
On an Instagram after on Wednesday, the entertainer formally announced a tour for her most recent album, Renaissancewhich came out in July 2022.
The tour uses the Verified Fan on Ticketmaster, which along with parent company Live Nation Entertainment has been criticized for selling tickets to Taylor Swift’s The eras Tour. And the internet has some concerns – and jokes.
Related: Ticketmaster apologizes to Taylor Swift over sales disaster
“Swifties, I need you to explain Ticketmaster to me QUICKLY,” one user wrote on Twitter. Ticketmaster was also trending on the social media platform at one point.
swifties I want your ticketmaster to explain to me QUICKLY pic.twitter.com/YX6erY9fRt
— doreidt (@thereidfeed) February 1, 2023
Ticketmaster, which merged with Live Nation in 2010 to create Live Nation Entertainment, has been criticized for years because of its prevalence in the ticketing industry and faced regulatory review.
But concerns came to a head following record ticket sales for Swift’s first tour since 2018 in November.
People hoping to buy tickets signed up for the Verified Fan program, which was designed to separate bots from real people and offer presale tickets. But the system struggled mightily under the weight of what the company said was record-breaking interest. Fans complained about long wait times, crashing sites, and other glitches.
The fiasco led to Live Nation drawn in late January before the Senate for the Judiciary Committee.
Beyoncé’s tour runs on a similar system involving Verified Fan, with multiple presale registrations and installments, at least for the North American part of the tour. According to dates currently on Ticketmaster, it starts in Philadelphia and ends in New Orleans.
Ticketmaster explained in one long blog post how fans could get Beyoncé tour tickets in various Verified Fan registration processes. One difference is that the registration windows seem to vary by city.
Still, using Ticketmaster generated animated conversations online about how the company could meet the demand. The company pointed out blog post following a request for comment.
Ticketmaster knows the Beyhive is on the rise. pic.twitter.com/E6YyEWFYKT
— roxane homo (@rgay) February 1, 2023
ticketmaster looks at the beyoncé fans coming after she just dealt with taylor fans pic.twitter.com/Nt8QvJeSwu
— Alex (@alexxmalloy) February 1, 2023
Emailing Congress ahead of time in case Ticketmaster tries to get licked. pic.twitter.com/Z38VvvkQR8
— Old spice cabinet (@KirkWrites79) February 1, 2023
Ticketmaster ops team sees beyonce tour announcedpic.twitter.com/vDqCGZ5epy
— Kushaan (@kushaanshah) February 1, 2023
