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    Concert Tours

    Register for presales early · read the stage plan before you buy

    A major tour is announced months ahead, sold in waves and routed in legs. Knowing how that machine works decides which seat you get and when.

    Tours and touring artists

    Abstract event ticket illustration representing Cowboy Carter Tour
    Concert Tour

    Cowboy Carter Tour

    The record of Beyoncé's 2025 Cowboy Carter Tour: every city, the Billboard gross, the nine-act show and the lessons of its ticket sale.

    Abstract event ticket illustration representing Music of the Spheres World Tour
    Concert Tour

    Music of the Spheres World Tour

    Coldplay's record-attendance stadium tour, 2022 to 2025: legs, verified grosses, the three-stage show, Infinity Tickets and the planned 2027 return.

    Abstract event ticket illustration representing The Eras Tour
    Concert Tour

    The Eras Tour

    The record of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour: dates, legs, verified grosses, the three-stage show and the ticket sale that reached the U.S. Senate.

    Artist

    Bad Bunny

    Where to sit for a Bad Bunny stadium or arena show, his tour and residency history, and how presales and demand for his dates work.

    Artist

    Beyoncé

    Where to sit for a Beyoncé stadium show, the Renaissance and Cowboy Carter tours, and how presales and limited dates drive demand for tickets.

    Artist

    Bruce Springsteen

    Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band live: the 2023–2025 world tour, the 2026 US arena run, the GA pit, seating advice and how tickets sell.

    Artist

    Coldplay

    How Coldplay's stadium shows are staged, where to sit for the main stage, B-stage and C-stage, and how ticket demand for their tours works.

    Artist

    Metallica

    Where to sit for Metallica's in-the-round stadium shows and Sphere residency, their touring history, and how fan club presales work.

    Abstract event ticket illustration representing Morgan Wallen
    Artist

    Morgan Wallen

    Where to sit at a Morgan Wallen stadium show, his tours since 2022, and how presales and resale demand for his dates behave.

    Artist

    Oasis

    Where to sit for an Oasis stadium show, the 2025 reunion and 2027 tours in brief, and how the ballot, presale and resale market work for their dates.

    Abstract event ticket illustration representing Taylor Swift
    Artist

    Taylor Swift

    Where to sit for a Taylor Swift stadium show, her tours from 2009 to the Eras Tour, and how registration presales and resale work for her dates.

    Artist

    The Weeknd

    Where to sit for The Weeknd's After Hours til Dawn stadium show, how the catwalk and second stage change the field, and how his ticket demand works.

    By the Good Seats editorial teamUpdated How we research

    How a Major Tour Is Built

    A concert tour is a planned run of shows that an artist takes from city to city, usually to support a new album. The big ones are announced months in advance and sold in waves, and the way they are routed decides how hard your ticket will be to get. If you know how a tour is structured, you can usually predict where demand will be heaviest and where the openings are.

    Tours are divided into legs (a continuous run of dates in one region, separated from the next by a break). A global tour might play North America in spring, Europe in summer and Latin America in the fall, then return to North America a year later. Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour ran five legs between March 2023 and December 2024; Coldplay's Music of the Spheres World Tour moved through five continents over three and a half years. A second North American leg often adds cities that were skipped the first time, which is why waiting can pay off for fans far from the first routing.

    Within a leg, the biggest acts now play multi-night stands: two to six shows in the same stadium. Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter Tour played only nine cities in 2025 but stacked five nights at SoFi Stadium and five at MetLife Stadium. Every added night puts another full building of seats on sale for the same local demand.

    Stadium Tours, Arena Tours and Residencies

    The venue type shapes everything else. Stadium tours play open-air or domed football and soccer stadiums holding roughly 50,000 to 80,000 or more for concerts, usually on weekends between late spring and early fall. They depend on large screens and floor runways to reach the back rows. Arena tours play indoor buildings of roughly 15,000 to 20,000 that host NBA and NHL teams, so they run year-round, often on weeknights, and every seat is closer to the stage. Amphitheater tours fill the summer with reserved pavilions and lawn seating.

    Artists step up as demand grows. Bad Bunny's World's Hottest Tour in 2022 was his first stadium tour, 43 shows to more than 1.8 million people, and Morgan Wallen moved to stadiums in 2023. Residencies reverse the model: the audience travels to one building, as with Metallica's run at Sphere in Las Vegas. For a side-by-side look at the two main room types, see Arena vs. Stadium.

    Presales, Verified Fan and the On-Sale

    Most seats for a major tour are sold before the general public ever sees them. A typical sequence runs like this:

    • Fan-club or artist presale: registration on the artist's site, often days before the sale.
    • Verified Fan: Ticketmaster's registration system. You sign up for a specific tour with your account and phone number, registrations are screened for bots, and for high-demand tours a random draw decides who receives an access code and who is waitlisted. Codes arrive by text the night before, and a code is a chance to buy, not a guarantee.
    • Card, carrier and sponsor presales: access for holders of a partner credit card or phone plan.
    • General on-sale: whatever remains.

    A federal Government Accountability Office review in 2018 found that presales and holds commonly account for a large share of tickets to popular concerts. The system has failures on record. In November 2022, The Eras Tour drew a record 3.5 million Verified Fan registrations, Ticketmaster's presales were overwhelmed, and the general sale was canceled the day before it was due to open. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on live-event ticketing on January 24, 2023.

    Dynamic Pricing and the Resale Market

    Dynamic pricing means the primary seller raises or lowers face values as demand changes, the way airlines price seats. Ticketmaster's use of it drew wide attention in 2022, when prices for some Bruce Springsteen shows climbed sharply. In 2024, the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority concluded Ticketmaster may have misled fans over pricing for the Oasis reunion shows. Some artists, including Taylor Swift and Coldplay, have publicly refused it, so their face values stay fixed and the price movement happens on resale instead.

    Resale prices follow supply and demand after the on-sale. Prices often run highest in the first hours, when fans who missed the presale buy in a hurry, and can soften once added dates and released holds reach the market. The Cowboy Carter Tour is a clear example: by the week of its April 2025 opener, thousands of seats remained and some upper-level prices had fallen well below presale levels. Single-night cities, final shows and farewell tours tend to hold their prices longer. Since May 12, 2025, a Federal Trade Commission rule requires ticket sellers, including resale platforms, to show the total price with mandatory fees up front; Ticket Fees Explained and When Do Ticket Prices Drop? cover both topics in detail.

    Where to Sit on a Tour Built for Stadiums

    Read the stage plan before you pick a seat. Modern stadium productions rarely sit only at one end of the field. The Eras Tour used a T-shaped ramp to a middle stage, the Cowboy Carter Tour added a triangular B-stage connected by three ramps, and the Music of the Spheres World Tour ran three round stages linked by runways. Metallica's M72 World Tour went fully in the round, with the band in the middle of the field and standing room inside the stage.

    • Floor near a runway or B-stage: the closest you will get to the artist for part of the show, but the floor is flat, so a spot far back sees mostly screens.
    • Lower-level sideline facing the runway: usually the most reliable view of every stage at once.
    • End sections opposite the main stage: a straight-on view of the full production; best for screen-heavy shows.
    • Extreme side angles near the main stage: the seats to question, since stage structure and screens can block the view.

    For more detail, see The Best Seats at a Concert and Floor Seats vs. Lower Bowl.

    How to Follow a Tour Before It Reaches You

    Tours are announced in a predictable rhythm, and preparation counts more than speed on sale day.

    • Sign up early: register for every presale you qualify for, including the artist's list and Verified Fan, as soon as registration opens.
    • Check the whole leg: a nearby city's second or third night can be easier to buy than your hometown's only show.
    • Watch for added dates: strong presale demand often adds shows, as the Cowboy Carter Tour added ten.
    • Know the artist's pricing model: fixed-price tours move on resale; dynamic-priced tours move at the box office.
    • Use the artist pages: pages such as Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Coldplay, The Weeknd and Metallica carry the live event list when a tour is on sale.

    Finished tours leave useful records. The Eras Tour holds the gross record, the Music of the Spheres World Tour holds the attendance record, and the Cowboy Carter Tour became the highest-grossing country tour, each a guide to how that artist's next tour is likely to sell.

    Frequently asked questions

    What is a leg of a concert tour?

    A leg is a continuous run of dates in one region, such as North America or Europe, separated from the next run by a break. Large tours often return to a region for a second leg with new cities.

    How does Ticketmaster Verified Fan work?

    You register for a specific tour before the sale. Registrations are screened for bots, and for high-demand tours a random draw decides who gets an access code. The code is texted before the sale and lets you try to buy, but it does not guarantee tickets.

    What is dynamic pricing for concert tickets?

    It is a system in which the primary seller adjusts face values up or down with demand. Some artists use it and others, including Taylor Swift and Coldplay, have refused it.

    Is it better to buy tour tickets at the on-sale or wait?

    It depends on the show. Prices often peak in the first hours and can soften as added dates and held seats reach the market, while single-night cities and final shows tend to hold their value.

    What is the highest-grossing concert tour ever?

    Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour, which Guinness World Records lists at 2,077,618,725 US dollars from 149 shows between March 2023 and December 2024.

    Sources

    Card and header photos come from Wikimedia Commons contributors under Creative Commons or public-domain terms. Artist and license for each one are listed on the photo credits page.