Beyoncé is one of the biggest pop stars in the world, with millions of fans across the globe eager to see her perform live. When she goes on tour or has a residency, tickets are always in high demand. Her concerts routinely sell out quickly, even in smaller markets not known as major entertainment hubs.
Kentucky, located in the southeastern United States, is one such market that is not usually on the itinerary for A-list musicians. However, Beyoncé has performed in the state a few times over the course of her career. Most recently, she brought her acclaimed Formation World Tour to Louisville’s Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium in the summer of 2016.
For Kentucky fans, getting to see Queen Bey live in their home state was a dream come true. But how much did it cost them to make that dream a reality? What were Beyoncé ticket prices like in Kentucky compared to other stops on the Formation Tour? And how did they compare to ticket prices for other big-name artists performing in the state?
Beyoncé’s History of Performances in Kentucky
While the Formation World Tour date was her first solo show in Kentucky, Beyoncé has made several previous tour stops in the state with Destiny’s Child in the early 2000s. Some key performances include:
– May 2001 – Destiny’s Child performed at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium in Louisville on the opening leg of the Survivor Tour.
– August 2005 – The group returned to Louisville on their Destiny Fulfilled…And Lovin’ It Tour, playing at Freedom Hall.
– April 2009 – Beyoncé kicked off her debut solo tour, the I Am… World Tour, with a show at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
So although Kentucky hasn’t been a regular tour stop for Beyoncé over the years, she clearly has an established fanbase in the Louisville and Lexington areas that she has tapped into during her Destiny’s Child days and early solo career. However, the Formation Tour marked her first Kentucky performance in over seven years when she took the stage in Louisville in June 2016.
Ticket Prices for the Formation World Tour: Louisville
According to various media reports, ticket prices for Beyoncé’s Louisville stop on the Formation Tour ranged from the following:
– $35 – $99 for general admission seating
– $99 – $199 for reserved lower and upper level seating
– $550 – $995 for floor seats near the stage
The average ticket price for the show came out to $146. While the floor tickets offered fans the chance to get up close to Beyoncé during the concert, the huge majority of seats were priced affordably between $35 and $199. Even the pricier $550 floor seats were a relative bargain compared to other stadium shows on the itinerary.
How Kentucky Prices Compared to Other Formation Tour Stops
To understand if Kentucky fans got a good deal or if Beyoncé tickets were higher than normal, it helps to look at prices in other cities on the Formation Tour:
City | Venue | Ticket Price Range |
Miami | Marlins Park | $20 – $325 |
New York City | Citi Field | $54 – $434 |
Minneapolis | TCF Bank Stadium | $27 – $434 |
Detroit | Ford Field | $27 – $199 |
Houston | NRG Stadium | $26 – $434 |
Seattle | CenturyLink Field | $27 – $434 |
Los Angeles | Rose Bowl | $40 – $434 |
Comparing the price range for Louisville to these other dates shows that Kentucky actually got one of the better deals on the tour. Aside from the hometown show in Miami, Louisville offered some of the cheapest entry points with $35 general admission seats. Even the high-end $995 floor tickets were lower than comparable front row seats in NYC, Seattle, Los Angeles, and other markets, some over $400 more expensive.
The average $146 ticket also put Louisville on the affordable end for the tour. The huge stadium venues enabled Beyoncé to offer more price diversity, balancing the high demand while still making tickets attainable for fans in markets like Kentucky.
How Kentucky Prices Stack Up to Other Major Concert Acts
Beyond just Beyoncé’s own tour, it is also useful to see how her Louisville ticket prices compared to other big concert events held in Kentucky. Looking at some other recent shows at major venues in the state, Beyoncé offered relative affordability:
Artist | Year | Venue | Ticket Price Range |
---|---|---|---|
Guns N’ Roses | 2016 | Commonwealth Stadium (Lexington) | $29 – $250 |
Luke Bryan | 2017 | Commonwealth Stadium (Lexington) | $25 – $99 |
Taylor Swift | 2018 | Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium (Louisville) | $49 – $449 |
Ed Sheeran | 2018 | Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium (Louisville) | $35 – $119 |
Paul McCartney | 2019 | Rupp Arena (Lexington) | $70 – $329 |
Looking at this sample, Beyoncé offered her Kentucky fans relatively affordable entry points compared to other artists. Her cheapest $35 seats were in line with, if not cheaper than, the lowest prices by Ed Sheeran, Luke Bryan and Guns N’ Roses in the state recently. And the $146 average for Beyoncé was on par or below the typical ticket costs for shows by Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift, and Guns N’ Roses.
So while pricing always varies by demand and venue size, Beyoncé does not appear to have priced tickets significantly higher than other artists also filling stadiums and arenas in the state. Her team appeared to take Kentucky’s smaller market status into account when pricing the show.
Were Tickets Readily Available or Quickly Sold Out?
Given Beyoncé’s mega-star status, it is not surprising that tickets to see her live are in high demand wherever she performs. But in smaller markets like Kentucky, does lower demand lead to more availability and unsold seats?
When tickets for the Louisville Formation show first went on sale on February 17, 2016, media reports indicated that tickets on Ticketmaster sold out quickly, some as fast as 30 minutes after the on-sale time. However, as often happens with major concerts, more tickets were released over the coming weeks and months leading up to the show.
From spring through early summer of 2016, various media outlets shared tips on obtaining newly released seats to Beyoncé in Louisville. The Louisville Courier-Journal reported in April that around 1,500 Side Stage floor tickets had been added and then quickly sold out soon after. Just one month before show time, WHAS11 News in Louisville reported that another block of lower level and floor seats had been released.
So while the initial on-sale did sell through quickly back in February, fans who wanted tickets likely had numerous opportunities to get seats through the additional releases up until June. It does not appear that a lack of demand left the Kentucky show under-attended or struggling to sell out. While some isolated seats were likely available, most signs point to a packed house full of Kentucky’s enthusiastic Beyhive fanbase.
How Did Resale Prices Compare to Face Value?
As with any hot concert ticket, StubHub and other resale sites lit up with sellers offering Beyoncé Louisville seats at marked-up prices. For fans who waited and couldn’t obtain seats at face value through normal on-sales, paying a premium was their only option to get in the door.
Here is a sample of some of the resale ticket prices on StubHub leading up to Beyoncé’s Kentucky show:
– $175 – $700+ for lower level seating (vs. $99 – $199 face value)
– $130 – $245 for upper levels (vs. $35 – $99 face value)
– $925 – $1,725 for floor seats near stage (vs $550 – $995 face value)
Not surprisingly, floor tickets saw some of the highest markups over face value. Given their huge proximity to the star, floor seats are always in high demand from fans no matter the market. Sellers capitalized on that demand for Louisville, nearly doubling prices.
Upper deck and lower level seats saw smaller bumps of $30-$100 over face, which is fairly typical. The key is that even with markups, resale prices remained in line with what you would expect to pay for top acts in major cities. For value-focused fans, decent seats were obtainable in the $150-$250 range in both primary and secondary markets.
Conclusion
In evaluating the ticket data, Beyoncé does not appear to have exploited her Kentucky fans with abnormally high prices for the Louisville Formation Tour stop. On the contrary, she seems to have acknowledged the smaller market by keeping prices relatively affordable compared to other dates on the tour. This allowed her the opportunity to reach fans in a state she doesn’t perform in often while still generating strong revenue from the show.
Between multiple rounds of ticket releases and a strong resale market, most fans who made seeing Beyoncé a priority likely secured seats without too much overpaying. Of course, the Beyhive’s passion knows no geographic bounds. There’s no doubt Kentucky fans would have shown up in droves for their queen no matter what the ticket cost!