The Curious Case Of The Underselling Arena Tours
It's not just the Black Keys. Why are so many big tours selling poorly?
www.stereogum.com
Why are so many big tours selling poorly? Please read this…
- Thread starter Sad Bunny
- Start date
www.stereogum.com
Simple.
These tours want you sell your arm, leg, house and car for a nose bleed seat.
Edit: Makes me glad I'm more into independent (Non popular) artist. Price for a "Front Row" seat at Shenseea concert here in Atlanta is $32. Typical price for a Front row seat at Atlanta City Winery is $65
These tours want you sell your arm, leg, house and car for a nose bleed seat.
Edit: Makes me glad I'm more into independent (Non popular) artist. Price for a "Front Row" seat at Shenseea concert here in Atlanta is $32. Typical price for a Front row seat at Atlanta City Winery is $65
Knockout_LR_Freshmart
All Star
Tickets are just way too expensive.
An older dude at my work told me he saw Aerosmith (in their prime) for $15.
Tickets to see an 80 year old version (from an awful view BEHIND THE STAGE) is $200.
How do you justify that?
An older dude at my work told me he saw Aerosmith (in their prime) for $15.
Tickets to see an 80 year old version (from an awful view BEHIND THE STAGE) is $200.
How do you justify that?
the cac mamba
Veteran
thinking about going to Future in vegas on labor day, but i'm definitely not overpaying for it 
i'll see how these prices go
i'll see how these prices go
dora_da_destroyer
Master Baker
Tickets are stupid high. I went to see great tours, mid sections for $60 bucks, I don’t expect those same prices but I’ve seen so many tours with $200-400 nosebleed tickets - FOH
People also need to tour smaller theaters, not everyone needs an arena. I went to see Lauryn Hill and OutKast on the miseducation/aquemini tour - two of the biggest albums that year. That tour was a 4000 seat theater, way better than watching them in a 16,000 seat arena
People also need to tour smaller theaters, not everyone needs an arena. I went to see Lauryn Hill and OutKast on the miseducation/aquemini tour - two of the biggest albums that year. That tour was a 4000 seat theater, way better than watching them in a 16,000 seat arena
Last edited:
With the economy so bad that fast food costs regularly what a concert ticket used to be, yeah it will kill you that much
nikkas on average are going to need 2 jobs at this rate
Piff Perkins
Veteran
These articles are lying to you and assuming you aren't familiar with multiple genres of music. The Black Keys are NOT an arena band in 2024. They got fukked by a system that incentivizes booking agents, managers, Live Nation, and venues to conspire to book arenas regardless of whether the data suggests an artist is capable of selling it out or not. While the Black Keys had success a decade ago they are not a traditional big rock band nor are they the successor to the "great American/UK rock band" lineage. Think...Foo Fighters, Muse, Coldplay, Radiohead, etc. Rock is largely dead today. If you aren't a massive legacy band like Foo Fighters you're not selling out arenas anymore. That ship has sailed because the young white male audience shifted to rap and electronic music. You'd think a MANAGER would know this before signing off on this tour but once again, collusion and fukkery is going on...
This is not an economic issue, it's not about a "post-Covid" shift, none of that. It's about greed, private equity, and managers who no longer have their artists' best interest in mind. Most of the artists mentioned in these articles simply are not big enough for arena tours, yet their ego won't let them do smaller venues. It's also harder to recoup if you have a 360 deal but are stuck doing 2-5k capacity venues.
This is not an economic issue, it's not about a "post-Covid" shift, none of that. It's about greed, private equity, and managers who no longer have their artists' best interest in mind. Most of the artists mentioned in these articles simply are not big enough for arena tours, yet their ego won't let them do smaller venues. It's also harder to recoup if you have a 360 deal but are stuck doing 2-5k capacity venues.
Piff Perkins
Veteran
So you’re saying exactly what the article said about the black keys
Yea I agree with that part. But have you noticed all these articles keep bringing up J Lo? Anyone with a brain knows she has no real fans outside of three cities. There was a Yahoo article about Justin Timberlake struggling and it's like yo....these artists are finished. The amount of legacy acts who can effortlessly do arena tours isn't long for pop. If you aren't Madonna or Janet Jackson you're probably gonna be in trouble, whether we look at 2024 or 2014.
The most recent show I went to was Paul McCartney in Dodger Stadium in 2019 my seats were behind the only booze bag brawlers in the whole stadium that night, literal last row ... the perk of this was that nobody was sitting behind me spilling drinks on me and my then-girlfriend. Only tickets I could get, the face value was much less than I paid for them
So let me guess ... the shows would immediately sell out, but then mysteriously get canceled because the show selling out was actually the second hand sellers which are an arm's reach away from the tour, when they realize they aren't selling tickets despite the show having sold out status they then cancel the show
when the reseller thing stopped working they had be straight up about low ticket sales
you really think this concert format of old where Snoop Dogg 2.0 shows up to the venue and comes out 3 hours past scheduled show time is going to work with a generation that is basically conditioned to scroll through all of the content of their day in 5 to 15 second intervals between each swipe ... you think this demographic of socially dysfunctional people who live either digitally or via an identity crisis they adopted as their character straight out of the DSM handbook?
You think they are going to sit around buying $8 red Bull while slowly waiting for a performer to come to the stage .... a performer whose whole connection to audience is based on engagement of 15 to 30 second clip that their "fan" scrolled by
Need fans. Fans = Fanatic
Not just someone within a certain demographic that responded to a sponsored post
So let me guess ... the shows would immediately sell out, but then mysteriously get canceled because the show selling out was actually the second hand sellers which are an arm's reach away from the tour, when they realize they aren't selling tickets despite the show having sold out status they then cancel the show
when the reseller thing stopped working they had be straight up about low ticket sales
you really think this concert format of old where Snoop Dogg 2.0 shows up to the venue and comes out 3 hours past scheduled show time is going to work with a generation that is basically conditioned to scroll through all of the content of their day in 5 to 15 second intervals between each swipe ... you think this demographic of socially dysfunctional people who live either digitally or via an identity crisis they adopted as their character straight out of the DSM handbook?
You think they are going to sit around buying $8 red Bull while slowly waiting for a performer to come to the stage .... a performer whose whole connection to audience is based on engagement of 15 to 30 second clip that their "fan" scrolled by
Need fans. Fans = Fanatic
Not just someone within a certain demographic that responded to a sponsored post
I have a story: A few weeks ago Norah Jones tickets went on sale for the Ravinia in Highland Park. I wanted to go because she is an international artist and doesn't tour like that. You see her now or you risk not seeing her period.
I stayed home because tickets were going on sale at 8am and they started at like $35. I'm literally in line from 7-something when the queue began until 8 am. What happened?
-Website lagged.
-I see whole rows of decent seats when it finally comes up, grab two seat, checkout.
-Wait 6 minutes
-"Tickets are no longer available in that section."
-Go through this two more times
-All tickets sold.
Go to work an hour later and see $35 tickets being sold for $200+. Front row seats with $1000+. I badly want to go see her, and I wanted to take my girl, but that would be almost $600 for two tickets. We are going to get the Chicago city pass to do 5 events (museum, boat, etc) for 135. The ticket sellers and bots have completely ruined the experience for me. Same happened with two other shows I wanted to see where the door prices vs resellers were waaaaay off. If I can buy at the door, I will go, but no more of this seatgeek type of bullshyt. I see tickets listed for one price and literally have to pay 8x that to actually get one.
I stayed home because tickets were going on sale at 8am and they started at like $35. I'm literally in line from 7-something when the queue began until 8 am. What happened?
-Website lagged.
-I see whole rows of decent seats when it finally comes up, grab two seat, checkout.
-Wait 6 minutes
-"Tickets are no longer available in that section."
-Go through this two more times
-All tickets sold.
Go to work an hour later and see $35 tickets being sold for $200+. Front row seats with $1000+. I badly want to go see her, and I wanted to take my girl, but that would be almost $600 for two tickets. We are going to get the Chicago city pass to do 5 events (museum, boat, etc) for 135. The ticket sellers and bots have completely ruined the experience for me. Same happened with two other shows I wanted to see where the door prices vs resellers were waaaaay off. If I can buy at the door, I will go, but no more of this seatgeek type of bullshyt. I see tickets listed for one price and literally have to pay 8x that to actually get one.
International Playa
Playa with a Passport
You get more for your money at music festivals. 10+ music acts for the same price.
Only Usher, Chris Brown, Drake etc are only worth the expensive ticket prices.
Only Usher, Chris Brown, Drake etc are only worth the expensive ticket prices.