One thing’s for sure: there’s a lot of money going towards Hurricane Helene relief efforts because of this concert.
Yesterday, tickets went on sale for the Concert for Carolina benefit show aiding Hurricane Helene relief efforts, which has been organized by Luke Combs and Eric Church, and is slated for Saturday, October 26th at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Billy Strings and James Taylor are also listed as headliners, and Keith Urban, Bailey Zimmerman and Sheryl Crow were also added to the bill this week, and more artists (and a few surprises) are still to be announced and revealed.
Obviously, demand for this show was extremely high, and the tickets sold out in hours at the most, but honestly, it could have been faster than that… we’re still waiting on official numbers.
But as it goes with anything that has to do with Ticketmaster these days, things didn’t exactly go smoothly. Many fans noticed in the process of buying tickets that the price they selected on the online chart didn’t match by the time they made it to the cart to check out.
Local reporter Alex Giles shared a seating chart of the stadium ahead of the on sale, which showed the highest price for lower level seating right by the stage to be maxed out at $500. For the caliber of artists and state of the economy these days, that seems pretty reasonable to me.
Hey @lukecombs and @ericchurch – just curious if you guys have heard about some of the alleged @Ticketmaster surge pricing that happened with “Concert for Carolina” tickets this AM? https://t.co/LK7QpqDNIk
— Alex Giles WBTV (@AlexGilesNews) October 10, 2024
But many fans were upset to find out that “dynamic pricing” had been enabled, meaning the ticket prices would change depending on demand on the site at the time you’re buying. Like I said, demand was incredibly high, so you can imagine where this is going.
According to local Charlotte news station WBTV, reps for Church and Combs say that “as a matter of process, dynamic pricing was implemented during on sale,” and all proceeds from it, regardless of how much you ended up paying, is going to the charities they previously noted (I listed them further down at the end of the article):
“As a matter of process, dynamic pricing was implemented during on sale. It’s important to remember that this allowed us to maximize the charitable contributions to this important cause. We are thrilled with the response and the heart of our music community to help those who need our support.
100% of proceeds will go to the charities identified by Luke Combs and Eric Church. Additionally, Ticketmaster waived its fees leaving the only incremental cost of taxes and credit card fees.”
WBTV also reached out to Ticketmaster directly to ask why so many tickets were over $500 when the box office capped it at $500 (I saw some listed for over $1000 and even $2000, though it’s unclear if that was a resale ticket).
A spokesperson for Ticketmaster said that the company “does not set prices and does not have algorithms that change prices.” Okay… sure. Isn’t “Dynamic Pricing” literally an algorithm that changes prices? Usually it’s only used for a smaller percentage of the total tickets available.
On the one hand, I get that Luke and Eric want to raise as much money for hurricane victims as possible – I do too. But at the same time, there’s something a little weird to me about using dynamic pricing for something like this, especially when they had “set prices” ahead of the on sale that people were aware of and prepared for.
It’s a known fact that artists have the choice of opting out of dynamic pricing with Ticketmaster, so there’s really no arguing that part. Personally, I was okay to spend a little more knowing it’s going to charities that I support and would (and have) given my own money to otherwise, but I completely understand why people are upset by what sort of feels like a bait and switch.
Plus, I know many of the people attending have been personally affected in some way by the storm, and certainly can’t afford to pay an astronomical amount to go to the show. Seems like it’s a double-edged sword.
There were a few comments about this on Luke’s Instagram:
“Are you aware how Ticketmaster is handling tickets for this? They are advertising tickets at $65 then when you add to cart, they are saying ‘oops, looks like the price of the ticket you chose have changed’ and they are like $195 or more per ticket.”
“@lukecombs $260 for the top row.? $2000 for good seats? Is that really what you intended?”
@TICKETMASTER – Price gouging again! $400 and up. Hopefully this will be fully audited to see where every dime goes!!”
Here’s a look at some of the tweets in response to Alex’s initial post about the prices:
Following this thread!! After waiting in the queue for an hour all the prices we saw for 2 tickets were astronomically higher than what’s indicated on that sheet!!
— Sara Grace Davis (@saragracetodd) October 10, 2024
I thought I was going crazy, I put $125 tickets in my cart and didn’t notice that they’d jumped to $275 each until after I’d placed my order. According to this map they should’ve been $95 in the first place 😡
— John (@jcpack17) October 10, 2024
Hopefully the surcharge money goes to the relief fund as well….looks like I was surcharged for sec 501 – $200/seat…after @Ticketmaster fees (that were suppose to be waived?) 215/seat. Doesn’t add up for what’s on that seating chart.
— Fan Guy Dave (@FanGuyDave) October 10, 2024
I suddenly feel very blessed that I got in early and was able to get the tickets for the price I selected throughout the entire purchasing process.
— Jill Freeman (@jillfreeman374) October 10, 2024
It was frustrating and disingenuous for customers. If I click ‘add to cart’ the price shouldn’t change after that.. and it did multiple times as I tried to buy tickets. Most other industries consider that fraudulent sales tactics.
— Jared Everett (@LifebyJared) October 11, 2024
My husband and I both were in the que to get tkts for our fam and by the time we were able to purchase tkts, the only available priced ticket was $2k each! Yes-$2,000.00 a tkt! That is nowhere near the prices listed in that pic above!
— Jill Thomas (@Jillthomas95) October 11, 2024
My husband and I both were in the que to get tkts for our fam and by the time we were able to purchase tkts, the only available priced ticket was $2k each! Yes-$2,000.00 a tkt! That is nowhere near the prices listed in that pic above!
— Jill Thomas (@Jillthomas95) October 11, 2024
“In demand” pricing. They should make this pay-per-view to raise more attention and stop Ticketmaster from doing this. pic.twitter.com/CDPBTdmOGo
— Natasha (@heelsandracing) October 10, 2024
My tickets were $85 when I put in my cart and $155 each when I checked out.
— Heather 🇺🇦🌻 (@heatherdyeh) October 10, 2024
Definitely crazy watching the tickets go from $65 to $135 when I put them in my cart – with only $3.16 in fees! I wasn’t even able to get tickets at all because when I went back to the map I got kicked out and put back at the end of the queue.
— Logan Watts (@loganwatts5) October 10, 2024
OMG 😳😳😳 I definitely paid $245 each for 5 tickets in what was supposed to be the $75 section of the upper deck! @Ticketmaster is ripping people off! 🤦🏻♀️ What do you want to bet the difference goes in Ticketmasters pocket & not to people in Western Carolina that really need it.
— Allison McKinney (@AliMac1924) October 11, 2024
All my homies hate Ticketmaster pic.twitter.com/d0AlznInla
— Mitchell Parker (@m_parker10) October 10, 2024
Waited two hours in the queue and 500 section tickets were $800+
— Matt (@mattisdrunkxing) October 10, 2024
If it all goes to charity and not TM, then okay.
But do they realize that some of those attending are the very ones affected by Helene?— Jen S. (@jensrainey) October 11, 2024
Making sure I wasn’t crazy . I was in queue early my tickets early – 2 tickets $105 each it was $300. Went a few times to keep trying , prices got higher , I didn’t pay for it , the fees are ridiculous. From WNC too- I honestly thought they would be cheaper as it is a disaster…
— Samantha Willis (@swillis_89) October 11, 2024
Unfortunately, there’s really nothing that can be done about it now, because the concert is already sold out.
Hopefully, most people that wanted tickets were able to get them at a decent price, and to be fair, I personally know some people who did pay pretty much exactly what the box office listed…. so there’s that.
Again, they have reiterated that all proceeds from the event, including sponsorships, will be split 50/50 between Combs and Church’s Chief Cares Foundation to administer to organizations of their choosing in support of relief efforts across the Carolinas and the Southeast.
Combs’ portion will be distributed between Samaritan’s Purse, Manna Food Bank and Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC (all very legit, and great places to donate if you’re wanting to make a personal donation as well). Church’s Chief Cares is focused on helping established charities and organizations that are well managed, organized and can expedite aid directly to the families affected by Hurricane Helene.
Eric also released a song this past Friday called “Darkest Hour,” with all proceeds from it, forever, going to the people of North Carolina.
The two Carolina boys have yet to speak out on the ticket situation, and probably won’t, but I am really looking forward to the show and am so thankful that they have stepped up like this to support their fellow North Carolinians during this dire time of need.
“Darkest Hour”
