Ticketmaster and Moody Center officials canceled and refunded tickets that were mistakenly released early for Ariana Grande’s Austin dates and reopened the request-only sales process through Feb. 12.
The error affected tickets for Grande’s Eternal Sunshine Tour shows scheduled for June 24, June 26 and June 27 at the Moody Center, 2001 Robert Dedman Drive, with the June 27 date added after the first two shows were announced. In a notice posted Feb. 10, venue officials said the premature on-sale occurred the day before the request window was supposed to open and that purchases made during that period would be reversed. "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.
Officials said the mistakenly sold inventory would not be honored and that the only path to tickets for the Austin run is Ticketmaster’s request-based system, in which fans submit a request during a set window and are later notified whether they are selected to buy. The reopened request period was set to run through Thursday, Feb. 12, at 11 a.m., and Ticketmaster and the venue emphasized that requesting does not guarantee a ticket. "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 reset added a new layer of uncertainty for Austin fans who believed they had secured seats during the early release and for others who feared they had missed their chance. The latest disruption came after an earlier ticketing correction tied to resale violations, when tickets purchased through resellers were repossessed under platform rules; in an Instagram post, Ticketmaster said affected fans would receive priority in the new process. "Fans whose resale tickets were due to a seller’s violation of our terms will be prioritized." In online replies to the Feb. 10 notice, some commenters also voiced concern that highly visible public updates could create openings for impostor listings and fake confirmations aimed at people scrambling for seats.
Ticketmaster’s request-only approach for the Austin dates comes as the company continues to face scrutiny over how it manages high-demand sales and the secondary market, including complaints that systems can fail under traffic and that buyers are left without clear explanations when transactions are reversed. A separate 2025 Federal Trade Commission lawsuit targeted Key Investment Group, alleging the reseller inflated prices for major tours by buying inventory using fake Ticketmaster accounts, an example of the bot-and-account abuse that ticketing companies say they try to prevent. “We thought demand overloaded the system,” said Michael Rapino, CEO of Live Nation. “It turned out not to be true.”
The company’s reputation has also been shaped by broader legal and policy fights over fees and competition, including claims that ticketing practices can contribute to higher prices and confusion over limits and availability. A U.S. trade body has alleged that Ticketmaster and Live Nation used tactics such as deceptive pricing and misleading ticket limits to push buyers toward higher-priced secondary options, framing the dispute as a consumer-protection challenge focused on affordability and fairness in live entertainment, according to MusicRadar. Grande has previously addressed ticketing backlash around resale problems, telling fans she was working to move tickets away from resellers and back to concertgoers. “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 reopened request window was expected to close at 11 a.m. on Feb. 12, after which Ticketmaster would notify requesters whether they were selected for a chance to purchase, with refunds for the early-release orders processed back to the original payment method. In Austin’s broader live-music ecosystem—where access and affordability have become recurring themes from stadium-scale tours to community shows—ticketing disruptions have continued to shape how fans plan, budget and guard against scams while waiting for final confirmations.
