What to know
- Cardi B previously said the Hamilton stop on her Little Miss Drama Tour was only about 80% sold, sparking fan reactions online.
- Fans pointed to high ticket prices, a nearby Toronto show at Scotiabank Arena, and the Tuesday timing as reasons for slower sales.
- By showtime on March 31, the concert was sold out, with Cardi B later calling Hamilton the “winner of Canada’s crowds.”
Cardi B had yet another night of rapping her most famous hits in the Little Miss Drama tour, and while performing in Hamilton, said she even preferred the Southern Ontario city over Toronto.
The Bronx rapper took on the TD Coliseum on Tuesday night, praising the crowd for their electric energy.
“I’m about to tell y’all a secret. I think I like this city [Hamilton] better than Toronto. Don’t tell them! Don’t tell them!” she told the audience.
She doubled down later in the night, addressing the headlines around ticket sales directly.
“Let me tell you something about you m******. This was the only city that was moving kinda slow with the tickets, and I was like what n***** don’t got no money out there? They ain’t got no money out there in Canada? But guess what? It was raining like a m****** and by the way, thank you for coming out with this m***** raining storm that was going on today, and y’all sold this b**** out!”
By the end of the night, Cardi declared a clear winner.
“I went to 3 cities in Canada: Vancouver, Toronto and Hamilton. And Hamilton is the winner of Canada’s crowds!”
From “slow sales” to sold out
The Hamilton stop had drawn attention weeks earlier after Cardi called out fans online for lagging ticket sales, saying the show was only about 80 per cent sold while other tour dates were nearing or at full capacity.
At the time, fans pointed to a mix of factors: high ticket prices, the proximity of her nearly sold-out Scotiabank Arena show the night before, and the fact that the Hamilton date landed on a Tuesday.
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The venue itself, with a capacity of 18,000, still had visible availability, fueling speculation that Toronto audiences were opting to stay local for the bigger arena show.
But by showtime, those concerns were largely erased. Despite heavy rain and earlier doubts, the Hamilton crowd showed up in full force, something Cardi made a point to emphasize onstage.
A crowd that changed the narrative
The turnaround highlights a familiar pattern in touring: online chatter doesn’t always translate to real-world turnout. Industry reporting from various media reports has shown that midweek tour stops and secondary markets often see slower early sales, but can still sell out closer to showtime, especially when driven by last-minute buyers and local demand.
In Hamilton’s case, the smaller venue may have also worked in its favour. Compared to Toronto’s slightly bigger (19,800 capacity) production, the more compact setting at TD Coliseum likely created a louder, more concentrated crowd, something artists frequently cite when ranking tour stops.
For Cardi, that energy was undeniable.
