At the end of 2024, Lexi Toon started saving money for tickets to see Harry Styles with her mom. Over time, she put aside a little more than $1,000. Then the former One Direction singer announced performances in just seven cities. Toon, 34, lives outside Cincinnati; the closest place to see Styles was in New York, more than 600 miles away. Still, “it was like, we’ll do the trip, we’ll make it fun,” she said. Except tickets were in high demand—more than $500 each by the time she made it to the front of the online queue—and the cost of…

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