Golden Child Meet & Live Grand America Tour: Ticketing

I didn't think the time would come this soon...Golden Child is coming back to the US on tour! On October 5th, 2022, Studio PAV tweeted that Golden Child will hold a "Meet & Live Grand America Tour" in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil, From November 24th through December 11th.

This entire year has felt like such a dream. I honestly thought that all my best days as a Goldenness (and kpop fan in general) were behind me once quarantine life began, but 2022 proved me wrong with 2 video calls with Jaehyun and Golden Child's first US tour from June to July. And here we are again ending the year with Golden Child^^

I've been too drained to make a post for each stop, but I'll have this post containing the logistics of the tour, and I have my Twitter thread of my tour experience here. I blogged more about the ticketing process from the first tour here.

Timeline (all announcements are based on their Twitter unless otherwise stated):

• October 5th 1PM PT: Studio PAV announced Golden Child's Meet & Live Grand America Tour in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil from November 24th through December 11th
• October 13h 7:08AM PT: Studio PAV announced Golden Child's dates and cities (9 stops) and that Bomin won't be attending 
• October 19th 5:13PM PT: Studio PAV announced venues and that ticketing will begin on Friday the 21st at 2PM ET (literally under 2 days' notice)
• October 20th 4:16PM PT: This was a complete mess, with PAV tweeting and deleting the ticket tiers and prices three times, with no difference in information. This tweet also stated that only VVIP will be on sale tomorrow, and for early access members to check their emails, and that Snapshot Tickets are not going on sale tomorrow but to stay tuned for more info. The way they worded the early access and snapshots are so vague.
• October 20th 2:34PM, 2:37PM, 4:05PM PT: PAV sent 3 emails about early access; the first stating that ticket sales would be on the 21st at 2PM venue's local time, the second stating the corrected time of 12PM venue's local time, and the third stating the corrected time of 12PM ET
• October 21st: PAV clarified that 2PM ET is general VVIP sales, and 12PM ET is early access VVIP sales. Within 9 minutes Houston sold out during early access, but more were released during general sales
• October 22nd: PAV reposted on IG Stories stating Mexico ticket sales
• Oct: first 2 MX cities went on sale but with lack of promo from PAV or really KP Entertainment (Mexico promoter)
• October 25th: Added MX City links to kpoptickets.com 
• October 25th 7:52AM PT: PAV tweeted that remaining Canada and US tiers will be on sale on October 28th at 2PM ET
• October 27th 2:01PM PT: PAV tweeted that all other tiers go on sale tomorrow (October 28th) at 2PM ET for Jersey City, Toronto, Houston, and Orlando
• October 27th: Found PR ticketing page with ticket sales for October 28th 2PM ET
• October 28th at 7:49AM PT: PAV tweeted that all San Juan benefit packages and concert admission tickets go on sale today at 2PM ET
• October 28th at 11AM PT: PAV tweeted that all ticket tiers for all 9 stops are on sale
• November 3rd at 7:36AM PT: PAV tweeted snapshot info where sales will begin on the following day at 2PM ET, only standard size is available for $40 USD at all stops, and that tickets are limited to ticket holders where one person can buy at most 10 tickets per member per city, along with the snapshot poses available
• November 4th at 7:27AM PT: PAV tweeted that snapshot prices have dropped to $30 USD for Brazil, Mexico, and Puerto Rico (for LATAM Fan Appreciation Price), and that there is a limit of 60 tickets per member per city
• November 4th at 11AM PT: Snapshot ticketing opened. Houston sold out within minutes, followed by Jersey City, and later on Orlando. As of 12 hours later, Toronto has Donghyun left, and Puerto Rico and Mexico City have several members sold out. On November 8th, Toronto fully sold out. On November 11th, Puerto Rico fully sold out. Prices including fees per snapshot ticket are $42.99 USD for Continental US and Canada stops, $36.34 USD for Puerto Rico, and $32.99 USD for Brazil and Mexico.
• November 4th at 11:13AM PT: PAV tweeted that snapshot ticket sales are now live
• November 4th at 12:52PM PT: PAV tweeted that snapshot tickets have sold out in Houston, Jersey City, and Orlando, and that San Juan and Toronto are close to selling out, with a callout that no additional tickets will be added
• November 4th at 3:03PM PT: PAV tweeted that snapshot tickets can't be resold, and that tickets being picked up need ticket information to match their records, and those who do attempt resale will result in account closure and forfeited tickets. PAV also made a similar post on Facebook for concert ticket sales a few weeks back
• November 11th at 1:43PM PT: PAV tweeted concert schedules (after first posting and deleting incorrect schedules that listed group photo and hi touch benefits) and instructions for lining up for each concert

Early Access Concert Ticketing:

Surely many more people have early access after Golden Child's first tour, so I figured competition would be tougher. To make matters worse, ticketing for all stops dropped at the same exact time, rather than by local venue time. The Brazil, Puerto Rico, and 3 Mexico stops didn't offer the No Line rule, therefore it wasn't pressing to buy VVIP for those in a timely manner.

Together with my concert buddies, I was able to score the following queue numbers:

• Jersey City: 5
• Toronto: 11
• Houston: 12
• Orlando: 2

Snapshot Ticketing:

Snapshots were definitely much more competitive this time around, as more people wanted snapshots with all members and people have accepted the price (though with the fee, it is $1 more expensive than the last tour). This time PAV also stated a limit of 10 tickets per member per city for each ticketholder (ex. you can use at most 10 Jibeom tickets in Orlando). Houston sold out first, followed by Jersey City, and then Orlando, all within a day. Toronto sold out 4 days after sales opened, and Puerto Rico took a week. As for Mexico City, as of 1PM CT the day of the concert there were still 1 Jaehyun left, 11 Jibeom left, and 30 Donghyun left, but around 2PM they stated "sold out" on the site and sold the rest after the concert at the venue.

When purchasing online, if some tickets were already sold out in the middle of your purchase, your cart would update at the very last page (after you've already entered your credit card info).

Also oddly enough at the Toronto stop, they sold an additional 10 tickets per member after the concert, with a limit of 1 member per customer (so 1 person could buy 1 Y and 1 Tag).

Also while picking up snapshot tickets this time around, the volunteers would always ask if the tickets are for you or for someone else, and then they would number your tickets by member. So if you have 5 Seungmin, each ticket would say "1 of 5", "2 of 5", and so on, as PAV was really trying to enforce 

Final Thoughts:

I cannot process just how amazing this year has been...for Golcha to hold not just 1 extensive US tour but a follow-up in North America has been so surreal! It has been really unfortunate that Tag couldn't make the first tour and Bomin for the second tour due to health issues, but I'm glad that it hasn't stopped Golcha from promoting as a group.