The excitement surrounding the long-awaited Rush reunion has quickly turned into frustration and heartbreak for thousands of fans who say they were “priced out” and “played” by Ticketmaster’s presale system.
Fans frustrated with Rush tour tickets presale
As tickets for the band’s newly announced tour went on sale, fans across North America flooded online queues hoping to secure seats for what many see as a once-in-a-lifetime reunion. But for countless fans, the experience quickly soured.
“I was only 2,000 people in line for August 3rd at MSG,” one fan wrote on Reddit. “And the only options left were platinum seats way out of my price range. All the $132–$214 tickets went straight to scalpers.”
Another fan trying for Toronto shared that the cheapest pair of tickets they could find was $841.
“I’m so upset about this, bruh,” they said. “I had resigned myself to never seeing them live — I’m 26, so I never got a chance before now. When they announced this, I was more excited than I’ve ever been for an artist. And now I can’t even get the concert tickets? I hate it here.”
The frustration isn’t limited to ticket prices. Fans also took issue with Ticketmaster’s “virtual queue” system, which left many waiting in digital lines for over an hour, only to find that all standard-priced tickets were gone.
One fan described the experience bluntly: “There were 20,758 people ahead of me. Twenty minutes later, I’m out. What is the reason for a queue anyway? Buying movie theater tickets doesn’t require a queue. It just feels like gamification — like Ticketmaster creating fake scarcity to justify inflated prices.”
Even those who arrived early didn’t fare better. “I was in line at 10 till 12 and they said I was early,” one user explained.
“Then once the queue went through, there were no tickets under $700. I’m just so friggin sad about this. I’m not a wealthy person who can drop $800 per ticket. It makes me sick to my stomach that I can’t go.”
Across social media, the sentiment is the same: fans feel betrayed. Many accuse Ticketmaster of allowing “dynamic pricing” and “platinum” listings to flood the presale, effectively locking out everyday fans in favor of bots and resellers.
For a band like Rush, whose legacy is built on a loyal fanbase and decades of integrity, this is painful. What should have been a celebratory moment marking their long-awaited return has instead become a case study in how modern ticketing systems continue to alienate the very fans they’re meant to serve.
As one disillusioned fan summed it up:
“I finally got in, and the only prices left were over $600 each. I can’t do that. I’ve waited my whole life for this, and now it feels like I never had a chance.”
