Why Harry Styles’ Presale Left Fans Frustrated

On Monday, the infamous artist presale for Harry Styles’ Together, Together Tour 2026 kicked off - and within minutes, fans were already furious.

I’ll be honest: I was one of them.

And as a professional fangirl and experienced concert-goer, I feel like I need to share my take. Yes, the prices were high, but for me, an equally big issue was how this presale was handled. It genuinely felt like it was organised by someone who has never actually tried to buy concert tickets themselves. So let’s talk about why this presale turned into such a mess.

The Prices

Let’s start with the obvious.

As of this update, ticket prices for Harry Styles’ Together, Together Tour at Wembley Stadium ranged from £56.10 to £466.25, clearly sitting on the higher end. The cheapest standing ticket in London was around £144, which already feels steep. Normally, general admission is closer to £100, with Golden Circle tickets pushing into the £150 range.

I’ve seen comparisons to Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, but let’s be honest - those aren’t the most realistic benchmarks. Harry isn’t bringing a massive dance crew or multiple costume changes. Not that those things are necessary, but comparisons should still make sense.

The one thing that makes me slightly justify the London pricing is Shania Twain as a special guest. I’ve been a fan of hers for over 20 years, and finally getting the chance to see her live made the £140 rear standing ticket feel a bit more justified - at least for me personally.

Still, when you remember that this is a residency, where logistics are far simpler than a full European tour, the pricing starts to feel… strange. When lower bowl seats are sitting in the £200–£400 range, it feels fair to ask for an official explanation of the pricing strategy behind this tour.

And I’m not even touching New York residency prices, which reportedly go up to $1,000 for lower bowl seats. Ridiculous.

The Residency Question

Which brings me to the next point: why a residency in the first place? On top of already high ticket prices, most fans now have to travel to very specific cities. Flights and accommodation become unavoidable - and of course, prices skyrocket the moment dates are announced. For Amsterdam, hotel prices were already inflated while the presale was still happening.

And you know who doesn’t need to travel? Yes, you’re right. Harry.

I’m lucky enough to have my sister living in London, but without that, attending a single Harry Styles concert could easily cost more than a one-week holiday. And that’s before we even get into the presale chaos itself.

The Harry Styles Presale Experience

This is where things really fell apart.

For London alone, six dates were announced initially, spread across three presale times: two on Monday and one on Tuesday. Like most fans, I joined every queue I could. In total, I spent more than half a day across eight different presales - four for Amsterdam and four for London - at four different times. Just to end up... with no tickets. Cause when I did manage to enter the sale, only very expensive options were left. I’m glad I didn’t panic-buy, but I know many fans did.

Finally on Tuesday my sister was more lucky with the queus and managed to get the tickets for 26th June.

The Never-Ending New Date Drops

Instead of announcing all dates upfront, new ones kept dropping with new presale times attached. For London alone, six more shows were added - announced two at a time, meaning three additional presale drops.

And here’s the problem with that.

First: panic buying. I know many fans who bought whatever they could get their hands on, not the tickets they actually wanted. I’ve already seen people trying to resell overpriced, bad seats they initially bought, simply because better tickets were later easy to get.

Second: no ability to plan. Fans couldn’t choose dates that fit their schedule because they didn’t know all the dates yet. And considering there were already strong rumours that Wembley would get at least ten shows, it’s hard not to feel like this chaos was avoidable.

The most absurd part? By Wednesday, when four more dates were released, there were barely any queues. I entered one presale almost immediately and could choose from a wide range of tickets. So what exactly was the point of all that panic before?

And another thing - some fans really care about attending the closing night of a residency. In London’s case, you had to try for tickets three different times just to figure out which show was actually the final one. Ridiculous.

Ticketmaster, as Expected

On top of everything else, there were the usual Ticketmaster issues: people getting kicked out of queues, errors during payment, and tickets disappearing mid-checkout. None of this is new - but it definitely didn’t help the situation.

The Adele Munich Flashback

This whole situation reminded me strongly of Adele’s Munich residency in 2024.

Ticket prices were outrageous, with standing tickets starting at around €360. Yes, the production, screens, and Adele’s world were impressive - but paying €270 (which I did hahha) to mostly watch a screen still feels overpriced to me, and I will absolutely die on that hill.

Many fans panic-bought out of fear, only for several shows to remain unsold. Eventually, organisers introduced Adele Lucky Dip tickets - €35 seats randomly assigned anywhere in the venue. You can imagine how that felt for fans who had paid full price.

Having attended one of those shows myself, I can honestly say that in a venue that big - mostly flat, with only a few raised sections - seat location barely mattered. You were watching the screens anyway. If I’d known, I would’ve waited.

I wrote more about that experience here:

https://www.concertsenthusiast.com/post/adele-in-munich-2024

Final Thoughts

Disclaimer - this isn’t an attack on Harry Styles or Adele as artists.

But as someone who attends a lot of concerts, I think it’s more than fair to call out systems that prioritise everything except the fan experience. Loving live music shouldn’t mean days of stress, panic-buying, and feeling taken advantage of just to get through a presale.

P.S. As of the time I’m writing this, there are still quite a few tickets available for most of the new London and Amsterdam dates - proof that all that presale panic maybe wasn’t necessary after all.

Waiting for Harry Styles during Love On Tour at Wembley Stadium, 2023

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