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    Concert Tours

    Check the stage layout first · sign up for every presale

    On a modern tour, the stage layout decides which seat is good. Learn the layout, then learn how the presales, legs and pricing work.

    Tours and touring artists

    Abstract event ticket illustration representing Cowboy Carter Tour
    Concert Tour

    Cowboy Carter Tour

    A look back at Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter Tour: the seats that suited its B-stage, all nine cities, the record gross and its price swings.

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

    Music of the Spheres World Tour

    Coldplay's paused stadium tour as a seating guide: the B- and C-stages, upper-deck value, Infinity Tickets, routing and the attendance record.

    Abstract event ticket illustration representing The Eras Tour
    Concert Tour

    The Eras Tour

    Taylor Swift's finished Eras Tour, read as a seating lesson: the T-shaped stage, five legs, record grosses and the presale that broke Ticketmaster.

    Artist

    Bad Bunny

    Which seats work for Bad Bunny's two-stage stadium and arena shows, his tours and San Juan residency, and how his on-sales unfold.

    Artist

    Beyoncé

    Choosing seats for a Beyoncé stadium show, what Renaissance and Cowboy Carter looked like, her touring record and how presales shape the market.

    Artist

    Bruce Springsteen

    The Springsteen pit lottery explained, where to sit for an E Street Band arena or stadium night, his record tours and how his tickets are priced.

    Artist

    Coldplay

    Picking Coldplay seats for a three-stage stadium layout, why the upper deck is no penalty, the band's touring record and on-sale patterns.

    Artist

    Metallica

    How a center stage changes your Metallica seat, Snake Pit and floor trade-offs, the Sphere residency and how Fifth Member presales work.

    Abstract event ticket illustration representing Morgan Wallen
    Artist

    Morgan Wallen

    Floor GA vs. reserved seats at a Morgan Wallen stadium concert, the seats to question, his headline tours and how presales shape demand.

    Artist

    Oasis

    Choosing field standing or seats for an Oasis stadium show, the Live '25 and Live '27 runs, and how ballots, presales and resale shape access.

    Abstract event ticket illustration representing Taylor Swift
    Artist

    Taylor Swift

    Floor, midfield or upper deck for Taylor Swift's stadium shows, what the Eras Tour taught about seating, and how presales and resale work.

    Artist

    The Weeknd

    Seat picks for The Weeknd's catwalk stadium show, what the ruined-city set looks like, each year of the tour and how stadium demand moves.

    By the Reserved Seat editorial teamUpdated How we research

    Read the stage layout, then pick the seat

    Before you compare sections for a big tour, find out what the stage looks like. Today's stadium productions rarely stay at one end of the field. Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour ran a long T-shaped ramp out to a center platform. Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter Tour added a triangular B-stage (a second, smaller stage out in the crowd) reached by three ramps. Coldplay's Music of the Spheres World Tour linked three round stages with runways, and Metallica's M72 World Tour put the band in the middle of the field, in the round, with fans standing inside the stage itself.

    • Floor close to a ramp or B-stage: you get the artist up close for part of the night. The floor has no rake, though, so from far back you mostly watch the screens.
    • Lower-level sideline seats facing the runway: the most dependable view of all the stages at once, and the safest pick when you are unsure of the layout.
    • End sections facing the main stage: a head-on view of the whole production, ideal for shows built around video.
    • Sharp side angles close to the main stage: the seats to be wary of, because rigging and screens can block the view.

    The Best Seats at a Concert and Floor Seats vs. Lower Bowl go deeper on both choices.

    Stadium run, arena run or residency

    The kind of building changes the seat math. A stadium show uses an open-air or domed football or soccer stadium that holds roughly 50,000 to 80,000 or more for a concert, typically on weekends from late spring to early fall, and it leans on giant screens and floor runways to reach the upper rows. An arena show plays an indoor NBA or NHL building of about 15,000 to 20,000, so it can run any month and on weeknights, and even the far seats sit nearer the stage. Amphitheater tours fill summer evenings with covered pavilion seats and a lawn behind them.

    Acts move up as their audience grows. Bad Bunny's World's Hottest Tour in 2022 was his first in stadiums, playing 43 shows to more than 1.8 million people, and Morgan Wallen made the jump to stadiums in 2023. A residency flips the idea: one building, many nights, and the fans do the traveling, as with Metallica's stand at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Arena vs. Stadium compares the two main room types in detail.

    Legs, routing and multi-night stands

    A tour is a planned series of concerts, usually built around a new album, and it is routed in legs. A leg is one unbroken stretch of dates in a single region, followed by a pause before the next. A worldwide tour might cover North America in the spring, Europe over the summer and Latin America in the fall, then come back to North America a year later. The Eras Tour played five legs from March 2023 to December 2024; the Music of the Spheres World Tour crossed five continents across three and a half years. A return leg often picks up cities the first routing skipped, which is a real reason for distant fans to wait.

    Big acts also stack nights in one stadium, anywhere from two to six. The Cowboy Carter Tour visited just nine cities in 2025, yet it booked five nights at SoFi Stadium and five more at MetLife Stadium. Each extra night adds a full stadium of seats for the same local fan base, and that extra supply is what eventually softens prices.

    The presale ladder and the general sale

    For a major tour, most of the prime seats are gone before the public on-sale begins. The order usually runs like this:

    • Artist or fan-club presale: you sign up on the artist's site, often several days ahead.
    • Verified Fan: Ticketmaster's registration system. You register for one tour with your account and phone number, the entries are screened for bots, and on high-demand tours a random draw sorts registrants into those who get a code and those who are waitlisted. Codes come by text the night before. A code gives you a turn in the queue, not a seat.
    • Partner presales: early access for holders of a sponsor's credit card or a phone carrier's plan.
    • General on-sale: whatever is left.

    A 2018 review by the Government Accountability Office found that presales and holds often take a large share of the tickets for popular concerts. The system can break. In November 2022, The Eras Tour logged a record 3.5 million Verified Fan sign-ups, the presales buckled under the load, and the general sale was canceled a day before it was due to start; the Senate Judiciary Committee examined live-event ticketing at a hearing on January 24, 2023.

    Pricing models and when resale moves

    Under dynamic pricing, the original seller moves face value up or down with demand, much as airlines do. Ticketmaster's version made headlines in 2022, when some Bruce Springsteen tickets rose steeply, and in 2024 the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority said Ticketmaster may have misled buyers over pricing for the Oasis reunion. Some artists, Taylor Swift and Coldplay among them, have said no to it; on those tours face value stays put and the price swings show up on resale instead.

    After the on-sale, resale follows supply and demand. The first hours are often the most expensive, as fans shut out of the presale rush to buy, and prices can ease once new dates are added and held seats are released. The Cowboy Carter Tour showed this clearly: in the week of its April 2025 opener, thousands of seats were still available and some upper-level prices had dropped well under presale levels. One-night cities, tour finales and farewell runs usually hold up longer. A Federal Trade Commission rule in force since May 12, 2025, requires sellers, resale sites included, to show the full price with mandatory fees from the start; Ticket Fees Explained and When Do Ticket Prices Drop? cover both subjects. Every Reserved Seat order is backed by a 100% guarantee.

    Getting ready before a tour comes to town

    • Register the moment you can for every presale you qualify for, the artist list and Verified Fan included. Preparation beats speed on sale day.
    • Look at the full leg. The second or third night in a nearby city is often easier to land than your own city's single date.
    • Expect added shows. Heavy presale demand frequently produces extra dates; the Cowboy Carter Tour added ten.
    • Learn how the artist prices. On fixed-price tours the movement is on resale; on dynamic-priced tours it happens at the original sale.
    • Follow the artist pages. Metallica, The Weeknd, Coldplay, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift each have a page that carries live event listings while a tour is on sale.

    Past tours are a useful guide to the next one. The Eras Tour holds the record for gross, the Music of the Spheres World Tour holds the record for attendance, and the Cowboy Carter Tour became the top-grossing country tour, and each record hints at how that artist's next tour will sell.

    Frequently asked questions

    Are floor tickets the best seats at a stadium concert?

    Only near the front or close to a runway or B-stage. The floor is flat, so from the back you mostly watch the screens, and a lower-level sideline seat often gives a better view of the whole show.

    Does a Verified Fan code guarantee tickets?

    No. A code lets you join the sale, but seats can sell out before your turn. On high-demand tours, a random draw also decides who receives a code at all.

    Why do some tours add more dates after the presale?

    Strong presale demand shows promoters that a market can fill more nights. The Cowboy Carter Tour, for example, added ten shows.

    Do resale prices for a tour ever go down?

    Often. Prices tend to peak in the first hours after the on-sale and can ease as added dates and released holds reach the market, though one-night cities and final shows usually hold their value.

    Which tour has grossed the most money?

    Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour, listed by Guinness World Records at 2,077,618,725 US dollars across 149 shows from March 2023 to 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.