Hayley Williams Wants Her Fans, Not Bots, at Her First Solo Tour

Hayley Williams has always seemed like a woman of the people, and as she gears up for her long-awaited solo tour, she’s doubling down on that reputation.

Williams officially announced her first solo tour, supporting her newest album, Ego Death at the Bachelorette Party. The run of shows includes 20 North American, UK, and European dates from late March through June, with Water From Your Eyes and Snuggle set as openers. Williams is fresh off four new Grammy nominations, but what she really wants is to make sure her fans can actually attend the party.

To do that, she’s turning to Openstage, a platform that uses verified presale registration to keep bots and scalpers at bay. For this tour, fans must verify both their email addresses and phone numbers to access the presale. Some potential ticket transfers will be disabled in cities including New York and Chicago, and all resales must be done through a face-value exchange. Basically, Hayley is trying to make it so people don’t pay $900 for nosebleeds on StubHub.

Registration for the presale closes on Nov. 11 at 10 a.m. EST, time and the presale begins on Nov. 14. Not everyone will get a ticket, but at least you’ll be competing with other human beings instead of the bots.

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In a lengthy Instagram Story statement, Williams explained her thinking.

“I want to get tickets into the hands of my fans, at a price that is as reasonable as I could get it," she explained. "There’s just no way to guarantee that zero tickets get scalped. But we’re doing our best.”

She said her team spent “countless hours” looking for the fairest solution and emphasized that Openstage's verification system “helps verify human fans and reduce bots and scalpers.”

While she acknowledged the system isn’t perfect, “You shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to buy tickets… it’s a broken and convoluted system," she said.

“I am hopeful that the processes we’ve put into place will get as many tickets into the hands of my fans (at face value) as possible," she said.

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