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.

Some artists have reacted by switching up their sets in small ways each night to make sure fans coming to later dates still see something unexpected.

Taylor Swift had bespoke outfits and surprise songs during her mammoth Eras tour, Sabrina Carpenter performed unique positions during her song Juno and switched up her Nonsense outro, and Jay-Z has been changing up his set list on his current run.

But the Guardian’s deputy music editor Laura Snapes says it’s not just fans who can benefit from these twists.

“One way that they can make sure they’re staying in the press is by having something different happen in their show every night,” Snapes says. “Obviously, it’ll be all over TikTok.”

Figures shared by TikTok with Newsbeat show posts using #CharliXCX have increased by more than 40% since the singer launched her Music, Fashion, Film tour last month.

If you want to avoid spoilers, there’s only one thing you can do, according to Snapes: “You have to not look at TikTok.

“If you want to be surprised, you have to protect yourself from absorbing any of that culture.”

Phoebe Bridgers is taking things one step further to make sure fans are surprised at her shows – she’s banning phones altogether.

Those attending are required to lock their phones and any recording devices in a special pouch when they enter the venue to see the US singer. Anyone found breaking the rules will be escorted out.

McAdam wouldn’t support a ban on phones, saying recording at gigs is “part of the experience” for a lot of fans.

But Collins says she’s “not totally against it”.

What she’d prefer is to see more spoiler warnings on videos so fans have the option to be surprised if they want.

But even if you know the set list, the staging and the outfits, “you’re still probably going to get to see moments of humanity and stuff that’s unplanned,” Snapes adds.

“I went to the Edinburgh Eras show where Taylor Swift was really snotty and she had to blow her nose. That’s not part of the script.

“You’re always going to be surprised.”

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