Zayn Malik just made a very pointed joke about ticket prices on the same week that Harry Styles fans have been spiralling over his tour costs and it’s absolutely sending me.
At his Stairway to the Sky show in Las Vegas on 28 January, Zayn took a moment mid-set to thank the crowd for rocking up. He told fans, “I just want to say a big, big thank you to each and every single one of you for being here with me tonight. You could have been anywhere, but you decided to spend your night with me.”
The former One Directioner then added, with a smile, “Hopefully, the ticket prices weren’t too high. Just saying.” That’s it. One quick line, and suddenly the internet is in full conspiracy-mode.
The reason it hit such a nerve is because Harry’s upcoming Together, Together global residency has already been dragged for its prices.
For his London dates, tickets have reportedly ranged from around £44 (about $85) up to roughly £466 (around $900), and some fans have shared screenshots of even higher totals once fees and “premium” options are added in. People have been posting that they “cannot justify spending an entire paycheque on two concert tickets” and that prices feel “asinine” and “disgusting”, especially when they’re totalling to the cost of multiple pay cycles for one night out.
Harry is heading out to promote his new album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, and he has said he’ll donate £1 from every ticket sold on his stadium dates to LIVE Trust, which supports grassroots venues in the UK. It’s a good move, and very on-brand for “nice guy pop star”, but it doesn’t magically make four-figure ticket totals feel reasonable if you’re already stretched.
Zayn, for his part, isn’t exactly doing cheap pricing either. His Las Vegas residency tickets have also ranged from more affordable seats into the hundreds, with VIP options sitting well above that. Some fans have pointed out that, in that context, the joke could come off a bit rich, and have called it “hypocritical”.
But in the clip, his delivery reads more like a wink than a full-on dragging. No names, no direct Harry reference, just a sly little nudge at something everyone’s been talking about anyway.
Honestly, as someone who never recovered from their band’s breakup and is still holding out for a reunion, I just like that they seem to be in each other’s orbit.
As one fellow Directioner (I’m sure) commented, “This means they are aware of each other. Win is a win.”
So yeah, maybe it’s shade, maybe it’s just Zayn acknowledging what every fan is screaming into their bank account right now: concerts are starting to feel like luxury goods, even when the artists at the centre of it are the people you grew up with on your bedroom wall.
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