Travis Scott moved his Eden Park show by a day. Fans are pissed.

Changing flights and accommodation is costing fans thousands of dollars. So why are Live Nation and Ticketmaster being so quiet about it?

The drama began almost immediately. The complaints followed soon after. “Been scrambling all afternoon … $180 to change flights from Wellington,” said one. “I paid $600 today for new flights,” said another. “We booked flights for Thursday morning,” said a third. “That’s $650 down the drain.”

Early today, fans began noticing that Travis Scott, the controversial American rapper playing at the time of the Astroworld tragedy, had quietly changed the date of his Eden Park performance next week, moving it forward one day to October 30.

This huge change for a major – and increasingly rare – stadium show was not announced in news stories, a press release or via social media alerts.

As I write, there is nothing posted on the New Zealand social media sites of Live Nation and Ticketmaster to confirm this change, to keep fans on top of the situation.

Instead, someone noticed the date change when looking at ticket prices on Ticketmaster. They took their concerns to social media, and fans were left to figure it out for themselves.

That, quite rightly, left many of them furious.

They took to Facebook and Reddit in their droves, asking what was happening, and why. As the silence from Live Nation and Ticketmaster continued, the complaints got more heated, the vitriol more aggressive.

At one point, someone posted this completely bonkers interaction with Ticketmaster.

Then news editors began showing an interest. Stuff posted this story that included comments from a Christchurch woman who spent $5000 changing her flights, accommodation and childcare bookings.

Here’s what she had to say:

“We have two children, we’ve had to get two extra nights childcare. My partner’s like, I just don't even want to go, like, the vibes are just off and now we're worried that the whole concert might be cancelled altogether.”

Then NZ Herald followed suit, posting this story that revealed fans were only told about the date change via an email sent out around 3.30pm today, many hours after the date change was first spotted on Ticketmaster by fans.

That story included this timely quote:

“How did I only find this out through this group and not through Ticketmaster?”

Here’s a telling fact: there’s not one comment from a Ticketmaster or Live Nation spokesperson in those news stories.

So I approached Live Nation.

A spokesperson responded, blaming the change on “logistical” issues:

“Due to logistical issues, the show has been brought forward a day to October 30. All tickets to the original date remain valid for the new show with no need to exchange. Those who can no longer attend the new date can obtain a refund from Ticketmaster. Refund requests are to be submitted prior to 5pm, Tuesday 29 October 2024. If your details have changed, or you have any refund enquiries please contact your original point of purchase.”

When asked if Live Nation considered the information had been accurately communicated to ticketholders, they replied:

“All ticket holders have been notified so yes, the information has been accurately communicated to them.”

When I asked if Live Nation had anything to say to fans who were being forced to spend thousands of dollars on changing flights and accommodation bookings, they stopped talking to me.

Just a quick reminder: Live Nation owns Ticketmaster. Together, they are a corporate behemoth, one responsible for touring the majority of the world’s biggest acts in the world’s biggest venues, so big a major antitrust lawsuit is underway in America to try and break them up.

I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a company that big, one making so much money, to do the bare minimum of a touring and ticketing company, to keep fans informed in a timely manner about a major stadium concert change, to say more than simply blaming a change like this on logistics.

(This comes at a time when Live Nation is dealing with major allegations uncovered by a TV investigation documentary crew in Australia; I covered those findings, and Live Nation’s response, late last week.)

What doesn’t help the situation is that Travis Scott has a troubled history in Aotearoa, angering fans by cancelling his lone 2016 Auckland performance at The Powerstation just one day before he was due to perform.

Here’s the headline from 2016:

And here’s today’s headline:

Notice the similarities?

Update: Eden Park appears to be the best place to go for updates on this developing situation, posting details on how to claim a refund if you can’t make the new date. Here’s an idea: say you can’t make it, sell Ticketmaster back the expensive tickets you purchased when the show first went on sale, and go buy some of the super cheap $65.90 tickets that are available right now instead. After today’s clusterfuck, you deserve a win.

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