Bruno Mars - The Romantic Tour (2026)

I... I just woke up from a dream... 🎶

And just like that, we're starting off 2026 with a bang, with two major Rogers Stadium announcements: Bruno Mars and Chris Stapleton. Stay tuned for the latter, but for now, we're blasting off with Mars on his first international tour since the 24K Magic World Tour in 2017-18. Touring behind his upcoming album, The Romantic, he'll be bringing a stacked roster of supporting artists and closing out the first North American leg with a pair of Toronto dates. There's a lot to unpack here, so let's jump right in.

The facts

• Who: Bruno Mars | Support: DJ Pee .Wee, Leon Thomas
• When: Saturday + Sunday, May 23 + 24 | 7:00PM
• Where: Rogers Stadium | 50,547 Capacity
• Why: Touring behind his new album, The Romantic
• Last Toronto show: Scotiabank Arena (09/23/18)
• Nearest stop: Detroit (05/09)

Presale Dates

• Artist: Jan 14 @ 12PM (Sign Up before Jan 12)
• General Public: Jan 15 @ 12PM

Community Chatter

Curious how fans are feeling about the tour? Here are the best places to gauge sentiment:

• /r/popheads Announcement Thread
• Instagram Announcement
• Facebook Announcement

Seating Map

💡How I rate shows

• Various factors are considered, including community sentiment, time since last show, pricing, proximity to nearby dates, and more
• Each factor is given a positive or negative score. Positive scores swing in the direction of Buy, and negative scores swing towards Wait
• Factors sum up to one score, which becomes the FaceValue Verdict: Buy or Wait

The factors

Here's everything pushing this presale up or down the FaceValue scale.

First tour in 8 years ++

Finally unshackled from his Las Vegas residency, this will be most fans' first opportunity to see him live since 2018. The Scotiabank Arena (then Air Canada Centre) shows were smashing successes, though they were plagued by controversy as fans were subjected to misleading pricing tactics. It remains to be seen whether ticketing will be similarly controversial, and if so, to what degree. I recommend reading the CBC News piece to get a sense of how the last Toronto stop went.

Wide net for additional shows -

Toronto's dates are in the fortunate spot of being dead last on the first NA leg, with nearly a month gap before he kicks off the EU dates in Paris. With a 3-day buffer before the previous stop in Columbus, we're looking at a substantial window for Mars to add more dates in Toronto, depending on presale demand. Looking at the dates in full, it looks like the routing already factors in added dates for almost every city, but especially the biggest markets on the itinerary:

• Las Vegas at the start of the tour, a massive revenue stop with an established affinity for Mars after performing there 131 times in 15 years
• Toronto last, with a month gap afterwards
• London ending the EU/UK leg with a month gap afterwards
• East Rutherford (representing the NY/NJ market) to start off the second NA leg
• Inglewood (representing the LA market) with a cozy week before and afterwards

Added dates completely change the dynamic for ticket pricing, and this is one of the most telegraphed itineraries I've seen for dates to be added. Of course, more dates means more tickets. While that does mean tickets will be easier to get, it doesn't necessarily mean it will be easy. That brings me to probably the most detrimental factor for Bruno's success in Toronto. We need to talk about Rogers Stadium.

Everybody hates Rogers Stadium --

I know, boooo Rogers Stadium. It's a massive, airstrip-sized zit on an otherwise spotless complexion of Toronto venues. People are sick of shows being booked there. But can I present to you an alternative way to look at it?

That 15... call it 25-minute walk, and the gripes about sound and sightlines, and everything wrong with the venue: those inconveniences may be your best chance at getting these tickets for a good price. They very well may prevent enough people from buying tickets for you to secure the win. Not just during presale, but in May when enough people realize they'd rather just... not go and sell their tickets at a discount. It happens more than you'd think. Sucks for them, but fantastic news for you.

The late May dates also suggests that Mars could be the first show to kick off the Stadium's season (Stray Kids opened up 2025's on June 29th). If the venue manages to make some massive PR wins and sways favour, that's unlikely to take effect until later concerts. Many will be especially skeptical of the first shows and wait for reviews or a well-executed marketing campaign.

Rogers Stadium shows are not selling well --

So far, of the four artists on sale for the upcoming season, only one of two shows from one artist is looking to be a big success: Luke Combs' Saturday show. I say "looking" with italics because System of a Down's two shows in September 2025 also looked the same, only for hundreds of standard-priced tickets to be available for both dates closer to September, obliterating the resale market and leading to floor tickets being sold in the single digits.

Every other show (Foo Fighters, Guns N' Roses, AC/DC,) looks even worse.

Bruno Mars is likely to sell more tickets than these groups, but it's sobering to see just how much of an effect the venue choice can have on sales. I think this will particularly have an effect floor seats closer to the back, and North Stands tickets. Nobody liked being that far away from the action, and resellers struggled across 2025 to unload tickets in these sections. If you just care about getting into the venue, these will be the tickets to look out for.

The verdict

Here are the two most likely scenarios I can see playing out:

#1 Tickets are decently priced ($150 for an average ticket) and most tickets instantly sell out. 1-3 more dates are added. Platinum tickets are dangled in front of fans for months. They go for a full tour fast sellout, and we're left playing a game of chicken with scalpers.

#2 Tickets are priced outrageously ($300+ average floor ticket) and Toronto pumps the brakes. New dates aren't added. They go for a slow-sell approach, and the map stays bluer than most would expect.

In Scenario #1, buying only makes sense if you secure a standard-priced ticket that you're satisfied with. Dynamically priced Platinum and panic purchases should be avoided entirely. Trust that more dates will be added.

In Scenario #2, the right move is to wait. The elevated pricing combined with venue fatigue points towards a prolonged on-sale period and eventual price softening.

As a general recommendation, including and beyond just these two scenarios, my verdict is: Wait. Stay calm and exercise caution. If tickets are well-priced, try to secure them. If not, it's okay. Do not FOMO into the Platinum and dynamically priced tickets that will pop up. More dates will be added, and you will have more opportunities to get tickets for cheaper.