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Spoiler alert! Is social media ruining big gig surprises?

Spoiler alert! Is social media ruining big gig surprises?

bbc.co.uk 03.10.2026 04:26 3 views
Big moments from headline acts are shared online long before many fans see their favourite artists.

Months before you have a chance to see your favourite artist, chances are you already know some of the big moments they have planned. You'll also probably know the set list, the stage design, and - if you've really been paying attention - where to stand to get the best view. When it comes to films and TV series, spoilers tend to be guarded against with warnings.

But for many major gigs, there's no escaping a stream of fan videos from the shows if you're online, whether you like it or not. Last week, US pop star Olivia Rodrigo kicked off her Unraveled tour, and surprises from the show, which scores of fans have paid a lot of money to see, have already been dissected online. Tours by Harry Styles, Charli XCX and Ariana Grande have also been filmed from every angle and shared over the past few months.

While some fans lap up the opportunity to see what's coming, others are taking extreme measures to preserve the element of surprise. Aurélia Collins is one of them, spending weeks trying to trick her algorithm into not serving her content about her favourite artists and tapping "not interested" when videos come up, even though she says "it hurts my soul". It can mean her social media feed is a bit bland, but she tells BBC Newsbeat "it's worth it for the surprise".

The 20-year-old criminology student is a huge One Direction fan and says she just about managed to avoid spoilers for Styles' Together, Together tour over summer. But when one slipped through the net about Niall Horan before she was able to see his show in London on Saturday - her first time seeing him live after being a fan for 16 years - she was "gutted". "When I was younger, we couldn't afford to go to events like this and hear live music and because it's such a moment, I really want to take it in," she says.

"I want the full experience, and that includes the element of surprise that people that go to the opening night of the tour can get." Not all fans think spoilers are a bad thing, though. In fact, Georgia McAdam claims she loves them. "I'm the type of person that loves to be prepared," the 22-year-old says.

"I love to know what the stage is looking like, what the set list consists of and where to stand." McAdam's a huge Olivia Rodrigo fan and sees online spoilers more as "teasers". She feels no amount of online videos can ever really take away from the excitement of the real thing. "Sometimes you get different surprise songs to what's online or you never know what an artist might do," she adds.

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