The Lengths We’ll Travel for Beyoncé's 'Renaissance' Tour

14.08.2023 - 23:17 / cntraveler.com

A week after Beyoncé announced the Renaissance World Tour, I sat hunched over my laptop, with less than two minutes to make a two-thousand-dollar decision.

We’re talking $2388.77 for 2 tickets to a Houston show in September. I warred with myself, mentally making a pro/con list titled “Do I Deserve This?”

On the “yes” side: It was just my birthday, and I’ve never seen Beyoncé perform live. On the “no” side: I’d just traded a full-time job for the life of a freelance writer, and since I lived in Georgia, I could see her perform in Atlanta for a similar price, without adding the cost of a plane ticket.

But, I countered, wouldn’t it be more special to see Queen Bey for the first time in her home city? What if she brings out Megan Thee Stallion for “Savage”? More importantly, had I come this far, through the chaos of TicketMaster’s Verified Fan presale codes and waitlists, to change my mind now?

As Yoncé says in “America Has a Problem,” NO. I hit purchase.

Beyoncé performing at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 29.

I wouldn’t be the only one traveling for Renaissance, Beyoncé’s first solo tour since 2016. When tickets went on sale in February, some US fans found it cheaper to get tickets to the European leg of the tour, which kicked off first. Ticket prices in Sweden, for instance, sold for no more than $200, leaving plenty of funds for travel and other expenses. Stateside, tickets ranged from $55 nosebleeds to $4,000 to sit in Club Renaissance. But even since her tour has made its way to the US, fans have zig-zagged across the country—sometimes, traveling to another city for access to the show, or for a better deal, but often spending more to have the experience just the way they want. 

In the weeks after I bought tickets to the Houston show, I found myself having to defend my decision to family and friends. Everyone wanted to know how much I’d spent on the tickets; people asked why I needed to go to Houston when Atlanta was so much closer; everyone was shamelessly asking, eyebrows raised, how much the entire trip would cost me.

But I was one of many women doing these calculations, wondering just how far—financially, and literally—we would go for Beyoncé.

“I think women should be more unapologetic about spending their time and money on experiences that make them happy."

On July 12, Beyoncé kicked off the long-awaited U.S. leg of the tour at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Center. New mom Mindy Sullivan was only 10 feet away.

“It was unbelievable,” Sullivan says a few days after the show. “I am still physically recovering from standing the whole time. I wouldn't have it any other way.”

The Renaissance World Tour is the fifth time Sullivan has seen the star perform live. However, she