Billie Eilish Canceled Her Tour, Her Fans Got Very Angry

Billie Eilish: her fans got very angry

Like many other artists, Billie Eilish had to cancel her upcoming ‘When We All Fall Asleep’ tour, and yesterday, she announced on Twitter that fans would get their money back very soon. ‘We’ve tried as many different scenarios as possible for the tour but none are possible,’ she wrote, ‘although I know so many of you want to hold onto your tickets and VIP passes, the best thing we can do for everyone is to get the money back into your hands as soon as we can.’

But what is the big deal? I got the same email from several artists and got a refund as expected. ‘when we’re ready and it’s safe we’ll let you know when everyone will be able to purchase tickets again for the next tour,’ her message reads.

The problem – and there are actually several problems – is that fans got very angry after reading this tweet. One of the main reasons is that some of them had happily secured a dream seat (or just a ticket) and these people are now very worried they will not be able to accomplish the same prowess next time. ‘I know this isn’t directly Billie’s fault but I’m not gonna be able to get tickets the second time. Like I’ve waited years to see her and now I have to refund the one chance I had…? It’s just kinda disappointing,’ wrote a fan, echoing plenty of other ones.

I thought about that too, I had secured a ticket in the pit for Nick Cave, got a refund, but when he goes on tour again in, let’s say 2022 (?), will I be able to have the same chance? When all these fans will be so hungry for live music? And what is true for Nick Cave has to be 1 million times truer for Billie Eilish. If you thought that buying a ticket online in 2019 was crazy, brace yourself. Post-COVID-19, ticket shopping is gonna be hell on earth and a series of profound disappointments.

Big acts like Billie Eilish are not going to schedule any large tours before the pandemic is completely over, you cannot gather thousands of people if there is still a risk. This will lead us to 2022 at the very least. Now imagine the build-up, the anticipation, and appetite for live events after such a long withdrawal. Fans are right, it’s was very difficult to buy a ticket before, but it’s gonna be impossible.

Then, there are plenty of fans who could not secure a ticket via Ticketmaster and so bought tickets via one of the big resellers at some outrageous price. All these people will very probably be losing money: ‘Except if you purchased from StubHub who are no longer issuing refunds and only offering a credit. I’m out $638!’ a fan complained.

‘The fact that corona ruined the one thing that kept me going. and how hard it was to buy a ticket…fuck dude. gonna go cry brb’ another one wrote… ‘We should have the option to be able to hold onto our tickets. It was near enough impossible to get them when they were released and it’s only gonna get harder when you release tickets for your next tour.’

I wonder why it was not possible to reschedule some hypothetical dates and give the option to keep tickets until the shows can really happen. Forget about it. ‘Those who wanted refunds would have gotten them anyhow,’ a fan wrote while heavily criticizing this decision. ‘If it wasn’t an act of greed, then explain why every other tour has not done this to their fans. They charged prices too low, and now saw an opportunity to raise.’

Will they effectively charge more for the next tour? Probably, why wouldn’t they? The music industry will have a lot of catch-ups to do, money-wise, and even though fans got very angry, they will buy these tickets, at any price.

A note from Billie on the “WHERE DO WE GO?” World Tour. pic.twitter.com/y23giu5agi

— billie eilish (@billieeilish) December 4, 2020