Major artists from BTS, Bruno Mars, and Harry Styles, just to name a few, have announced they are embarking on their first 2026 tours and everyone, even students at Washington, are excited and eager to get tickets. From signing up for exclusive presales to buying memberships, dedicated fans will do almost anything to ensure they have the best chances possible to score tickets. However, school is just as important, or more important, than making sure they get a chance to see their favorite artists on tour. This is especially hard on juniors working on their TED Talks, and seniors with their mandatory lengthy papers they need to complete to graduate later this year. How do we balance our exciting fan life from our important and serious student life?
With so many details you have to remember about presales, general sales, and everything else that comes with the stress of ticketing, it can be difficult to balance school and fandom. Johanna Laquain, a senior, says that being a fan while being in school is something she has gotten used to. “Seeing people at our school have the same interests, is a great bridge between school and fan life,” she says. “Because I always come back to it, I can always look forward to something. Maybe it’s a hint of nostalgia and good memories that I take comfort in, but even new concepts from my favorite artists continue to keep me engaged.” Stella Gabel, another senior, says it’s all about self control: “Balancing school and fan life is pretty simple because most of it is on social media which I already have limits for myself on! Though sometimes I ignore these limits and end up staying up late.”
Another struggle with being a fan while also being a high school student is the spotty Wi-Fi at school. This really affects the possibilities of being able to get tickets. Johanna says, “I’ve never bought tickets at school. To be honest, I don’t trust the school’s Wi-Fi and would rather purchase tickets at home like I have in the past.” Stella responded similarly saying, “I haven’t bought tickets at school but I know a few people who have for the Bruno Mars concert and they were glued to their screens for like two periods straight and ended up getting in a queue of over 60,000 people.” When asked where she ended up buying her tickets, Stella said, “My friend and I ended up going home for better internet and less distractions because the presale took place around a passing period.”
The last struggle, and in many students’ opinion the worst one, is attending a concert during the week or on a Sunday and still having to go to school the next day. While in the moment you are having fun at the concert and not caring about anything else, you’re going to dread going to school the following day. I asked Johanna if she’s ever attended a concert on a school day or Sunday. “Yes I have,” she said. “2-3 days before freshman year I was able to go to SEVENTEEN’s Be The Sun tour on a Sunday. The following morning was extremely tiring, and did not help, considering I was trying to fix my sleep schedule for the school year. It was definitely worth it and a memorable experience!”
Both of them recently got tickets for the BTS concert that will be happening in mid-May. I asked them how it went and how stressful it was with the high demand for these tickets.
Johanna responded: “I underestimated the stress and preparation I had going into this. I think concert culture for any K-pop act is drastic from western culture. There’s a whole process for presale, and ordering membership, which doesn’t fully guarantee ability to secure tickets, and the intimidation of prices for resale. From my experience, it’s so much more scary considering the anticipation for the BTS comeback (on March 20). Presale was an absolute bloodbath as dramatic as that sounds and general sale was no better. I was shocked when I was queued for 100,000s in general sale. Thankfully they added another day for the Bay Area and I was able to secure tickets!”
Stella had a similar experience: “It was definitely stressful knowing how many people were going after these tickets but with multiple screens and my friend and some family to help we ended up getting good seats!”