A music fan said she spent over $3,000 buying extra concert tickets for strangers — and she won't stop until she's broke (2024)

• Sarah Curd went viral when she invited a stranger on TikTok to join her at a concert.
• She turned the concept into a series and now viewers audition to be her next plus one.
• She's spent over $3,000 going to five concerts with strangers so far and has no plans to stop.

On June 1, 28-year-old Sarah May Curd from Toronto, Canada, posted a TikTok alerting fans of the country musician Morgan Wallen that she had an extra ticket for his upcoming September show.

Curd said her sister was unable to go, which left her with the spare $450 ticket. Ideally she wanted to sell it, but her priority was making sure it didn't go to waste. She used the hashtags #morganwallen and #toronto alongside the video to hopefully get the attention of local fans. She didn't expect it to blow up in the way that it did.

The video received 234,000 views and over 1,280 comments, many of which nominated themselves or their loved ones for the chance to go to the concert. Responses poured in from people who wrote they loved the artist but couldn't find someone else to go with, or they couldn't afford the entry at that price range, which gave Curd the idea to purchase more tickets for future gigs and try to share those too.

"That was kind of where this whole thing started," she told Insider. "I'm just gonna start buying tickets and just see if somebody wants to go."

Now Curd makes frequent visits to shows with strangers she connects with online, and is inundated with videos and comments from TikTokers who explain why they should be her next gig guest.

Curd was pleasantly surprised that strangers wanted to go to concerts with her

Still waiting for the Wallen gig to come around, Curd uploaded a follow-up video on June 13, this time announcing she had an extra ticket to see the American country singer Luke Bryan. She encouraged viewers to stitch her TikTok with a video of themselves, explaining why they thought they should go with her.

Curd told Insider she was prepared for the video to flop and for no one to show any interest, but the applications started to flow in once again.

​​This time she received 117,000 views, over 300 comments, and multiple stitches from music fans who made their case, including a viewer called Keith Fleischmann who said, "all my friends are going and I'm not because they didn't tell me to book a ticket."

That was enough to bag him the spot, and just over a week later Curd posted a video that showed highlights of their time at the show together, which included them getting drinks, singing in the crowd, and featured Curd at the end thanking Fleischmann for joining her.

"It is so amazing and kind what you're doing. Cheers to you, girl! There should be more of this in the world," one viewer wrote beneath the video.

The TikTok stitch and duet feature helped Curd vet the viewers

In recent weeks, Curd has attended five gigs with viewers she met through TikTok, sharing their experience as they see artists including Brett Young, Sam Hunt, Ed Sheeran, and Fall Out Boy.

The reason she asks people to stitch her TikToks, as opposed to simply commenting or following which giveaways typically do, is so she can see them on video and check if they have a "good vibe." She said she's aware there are risks involved in meeting up with total strangers from the internet, so she'll also check out their TikTok or an Instagram account if they've linked to it, to help scope them out.

After she filters out the people who don't appear to be into the specific artist, or seem like they might want to meet her for a date, there aren't that many applicants left over sometimes. On average Curd said she gets between five and 10 video duets and stitches each time, and "there's no rhyme or reason" for who she picks, but a compelling motive definitely helps.

Curd's most viral moment occurred when she bought a spare ticket for Post Malone and once again offered this out to a stranger. A TikToker who goes by Joe Fornasier stitched the video and said he'd never seen the artist before, and never would, because he had just four percent of his vision, but he loved Post Malone and wanted to prove that just because he had a disability didn't mean he couldn't have fun.

"The reason I picked him was because I had gone to a concert by myself a few months ago and there was somebody in front of me that was completely blind and watching the show and living life to the fullest," Curd told Insider.

Her response video selecting Fornasier was viewed over 1.5 million times, and her TikTok montage of their time at the concert together received an additional 195,000 views, and 260 comments who applauded the series.

"This the coolest thing anyone on this app has ever done," one viewer wrote in a popular comment that received just under 600 likes.

The TikToker said she funds the tickets herself and will keep going until she runs out of cash

Part of the motivation for the series stemmed from an experience Curd had at a concert about a decade ago. She said she'd asked a worker for directions, and when he looked down at her ticket he pointed out her seats were terrible, so he let her stand on the floor instead, closer to the stage. Curd said this was one of "the happiest moments of my life" and she'd wanted to figure out a way to give others the same experience since.

Curd told Insider she works a couple of jobs, as a sometime movie extra and model, as well as a travel agent, which has helped pay for the project so far, as she fronts the cash for the concerts herself. She estimates she's spent over $3,000 on tickets so far for herself and strangers.

"I'm just gonna do this as long as I can afford to do it," she told Insider. "If it, you know, ends one day, it's because I'm broke."

Some comments have suggested she set up an online fundraiser, but Curd told Insider she's not sure how to do that, or even if she would do that. While she figures out the future of the series, she plans to keep paying her way in the meantime, as she's powered by her passion for live music.

"It's just fun when you're in a room with thousands of people all just screaming the same song," she said. "There's no other feeling like it."

For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.