Ticketmaster and the Moody Center canceled and began refunding tickets after an inadvertent early release for Ariana Grande’s Austin shows, then reopened sales through a request-only process with no guarantee that fans will be able to buy seats.
The problem surfaced ahead of the scheduled request window for Grande’s Eternal Sunshine Tour stop at Moody Center, 2001 Robert Dedman Drive, where she is set to perform June 24, June 26 and June 27, with the third date added after the first two were announced. In a statement posted Feb. 10, the venue said tickets briefly went on sale early because of a technical error and that purchases made during that period would be reversed. “We thought demand overloaded the system,” said Michael Rapino, CEO of Live Nation.
The venue’s Feb. 10 post outlined the reset: “Due to a technical error, there was an inadvertent early release of Ariana Grande tickets yesterday ahead of the scheduled request window opening,” wrote the Moody Center in a February 10 announcement on X. “All tickets purchased during this period are being cancelled and fully refunded. These tickets are only available through Ticketmaster Request. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.” The revised request period remains open through Thursday, Feb. 12, at 11 a.m., and fans must submit their request through Ticketmaster; the venue emphasized that a request is not a guarantee of tickets.
The early release followed a separate correction tied to resale activity, further complicating the buying process for some fans. Ticketmaster previously said it would prioritize buyers whose resale tickets were affected after tickets were repossessed because they had been purchased through resellers in violation of platform rules. On Instagram, Ticketmaster explained that “Fans whose resale tickets were due to a seller’s violation of our terms will be prioritized.” With tickets now routed back into a request system, some fans said online they were uncertain which purchases would stand and when to trust availability.
In public replies to the Feb. 10 announcement, some commenters raised fears that the renewed request window could be exploited by fraudsters seeking to mimic official links and communications. Some commenters worried that Ticketmaster's public announcements in response to the early release would simply alert scammers that tickets are available again. The reset also required affected buyers to wait for refunds to process while re-entering the request queue, adding another step for fans who believed they had successfully purchased seats during the brief early on-sale.
Grande has previously addressed fan frustration about resale and access as her tour ticketing has drawn complaints in multiple markets. “i've been on the phone every second of my free time fighting for a solution. i hear you and hopefully, we will be able to get more of these tickets into your hands instead of theirs,” said Ariana Grande, singer. “Of course, I am incredibly bothered by it,” said Ariana Grande, singer.
The Austin mishap arrives amid broader scrutiny of Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation, including allegations in consumer-protection actions that ticketing practices can steer buyers into higher-priced secondary markets through misleading limits and pricing tactics, according to MusicRadar. Separately, internal communications revealed in court proceedings have been cited in reporting about a Ticketmaster regional director using disparaging language about customers, a backdrop that has made trust fragile during high-demand onsales, according to AS.com. In Austin, where access and affordability have been recurring concerns across the live-music ecosystem—as previously reported in “Blankets, basslines, and belonging: Rock the Park returns to Mueller for a 17th season celebration of Austin music”—fans seeking Grande tickets were told to submit requests by Feb. 12 at 11 a.m. and await allocation decisions, with canceled early purchases refunded back to original payment methods.
