Harry Styles: "We Belong Together" – At What Cost?
- smalltalksmag
- 17 hours ago
- 5 min read
Op-Ed by Joey Cahue
Recently, Harry Styles fans have spent hours participating in online discourse over whether or not it was worth putting themselves into credit card debt to attend one of his upcoming Madison Square Garden residency shows.
In January, after a nearly four year break, Styles announced his fourth studio album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. Shortly thereafter came the release of a brand new single, “Aperture”, and, of course, a tour announcement. Fans anxiously prepared for presale dates, opened AMEX cards, and were slapped in the face by tickets costing as much as their rent. For anyone who has avoided Ticketmaster for eons (rightfully so), tickets for his thirty show residency at Madison Square Garden were priced anywhere between $50 and $1,182.
Multiple presales, the rumors of $50 tickets, and thirty opportunities to secure tickets had fans hopeful, but the reality was bleaker. Many took to Twitter/X to vent their frustrations after seeing nosebleeds starting at $400, lower bowl and pit starting at $1,000, and VIP packages not having true VIP amenities other than early access to the venue and a $25 Uber voucher. An Uber voucher for $25 after a night at Madison Square Garden is like
spitting in the ocean.
As a 28-year-old woman who was brought up on the internet as a teenager in the days of One Direction, $400ish would’ve gotten you meet and greet, a photo opportunity, sound check, floor seats, and a Q&A session, all at a venue in a large city near you. For reference, my Take Me Home tour ticket, which was a floor seat at the end of the catwalk, was $150 from StubHub back in 2013. I was making $8 an hour working part-time at a local Chinese restaurant and sold some clothes to my local Plato’s Closet to afford that ticket, and that was still more reasonable than the prices we’re seeing now for only one member.
Very few fans reported somehow landing $200 tickets in the nosebleeds, but that doesn’t take into account the likely necessary travel expenses, as not every fan is on the East Coast. Some claimed they had gotten pit tickets from $400 to $500 before fees, which I’d still argue isn’t worth the money in the slightest. I’ve seen Styles twice with pit tickets, neither costing more than $250 at face value. In this economy, $400-500 could be better used for a bill, groceries, or just as funds to do anything else besides stand in a crowd for ninety minutes.
Given that this is a one city residency and Styles has fans all across the U.S., attendance for many would require airfare, gas money, lodging costs, food, and, if you’re really trying to get creative, an elaborate, disco-themed outfit you’ll probably only wear once. I didn’t attempt to get tickets, knowing it wouldn’t be financially responsible for me to travel to New York for a concert in the second half of the year, especially considering I have no idea of what I’ll be doing then or where I’ll be in my life, and with other costly obligations such as out-of-state weddings, moving, bills, and toying with the idea of starting grad school.
Styles does have a loyal following, with a popular slogan in his fandom being “Money is fake, Harry Styles is forever,” but in this case, fans are finally going against that narrative.
At what point do we stop putting the entire blame on Ticketmaster and turn to artists and their management? Dynamic pricing, platinum seats, and measly VIP packages are at the control of the artists and their teams. Olivia Dean demanded that Ticketmaster cap her resale prices and they granted her wishes, making her shows more accessible. She urged other artists to do the same.
Are people comfortable letting it slide for Styles so they can feel as if they’re a true fan, one who will do anything to see him, even if it means taking out a loan or putting themselves in a bit (or a lot) of debt? Or, has the cost of everything gone up so much that people are blindly convincing themselves that it’s okay to pay upwards of $1,000 just to get admission to a show?
This poses another question on the future of live music and its pricing. In 2025, I attended a handful of shows, most being small to mid-sized. These included Djo’s Lollapalooza after-show at The Salt Shed, which cost me $100 after resale (and had me feeling very much like I’d gotten my money’s worth), Post Animal at Thalia Hall for $40, and The Band CAMINO at Schubas, whom I saw for free thanks to a friend who works there.
Live music is a form of entertainment, art, and a passion shared by many. It’s a place to disconnect, unwind, and blow off some steam to songs you love around others who are there for the same reason. It unites people. It’s a place where you can feel connected with the strangers in the crowd around you just as much as you can with the music itself. It’s a safe space - a safe space that some musicians and their teams believe should cost an arm and a leg and require significant travel to get to.
Some defenders took to Twitter/X to make remarks such as “If you’re going to complain about the prices, then don’t go,” which, in my opinion, isn’t a fair statement. The fans who’ve helped build an artist up from the beginning, or who tapped in at any point in their career, who’ve spent money on tickets, albums, merch, or who streamed their music do have a right to feel angry and disappointed. It’s the fans who give artists the opportunity to do what they do at the scale at which they do it. They have every right to feel cheated and to express their frustrations.
It’s also okay for the fans to look twice at a musician who has prided themselves and built their brand on being for community, suddenly only being for the community that can afford to come. You can’t claim to be for the people when you’re only making yourself accessible to certain people.
With a fully formed frontal lobe or maybe just bigger priorities at this age, I can honestly say money is very much real, Harry Styles isn’t forever, and that the longtime fangirl of fifteen years is bummed to see a fandom become united by shared disappointment and frustration.