Blue Dot Fever
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The Concert Industry Priced Too High — Now Tours Are Falling Apart
Reports around the cancellations quickly focused on the dreaded “blue dot fever” visible on Ticketmaster maps: vast patches of unsold seats sitting in plain sight.
https://www.ticketnews.com/2026/05/the-concert-industry-priced-high-tour...
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Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Subway Token
surprise, nobody can afford
surprise, nobody can afford shit.
apparently $100k adjusted for inflation has the buying power of $41k did 20 yrs ago....
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Mice elf
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GXE_n2q08Yw&list=RDGXE_n2q08Yw&start_radio...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Sun so hot, clouds so low
Tonight is the last of the 30
Tonight is the last of the 30$ ticket deal for summer/ spring shows.
Go crush a blue dot.
I'm going to
Santana
Weird Al
Willie Nelson Outlaw fest
And next week Oteil and friends.
GTTS
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: reverend
Thought for sure this was a
Thought for sure this was a Flashbacks thread.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Lance HTT Newberry
That article is mostly click
That article is mostly just click bait about a popular current topic. It is amazing, but even with prices at historic levels many if not most major tours continue to do very well overall, which allows the corporate promoters to easily absorb a clunker here or there.
As an example, like most shows coming up at the dump this summer, seats for Santana & the Doobie Brothers at Shoreline are sold out, where the standard non-scalper face price for the lower bowl sold at $425 - $575+ and the worst upper level seats went for over $200. That's crazy to me, but at least here in the BA and I believe in most major markets most everything is selling out at similar prices. There are exceptions to that, but that was true even before tix went crazy.
Modern concert prices have become ridiculous because current tour costs are astronomical and getting worse all the time (it doesn't help that most modern shows carry huge lighting & stage rigs which add multiple trucks and staff), because touring is the main source of income now for the artists who have to get it while they can, and mainly of course because people keep buying the tickets.
I never took any business classes, but I imagine that one of the earliest lessons is that you charge what the market will bear, and since the concert industry continues to be strong the promoters & artists keep pushing it, in big part to keep up with the scalpers, who play a major role in setting face value prices by setting the market value.
I imagine at some point a ceiling will be reached, but national tours will never go back to what most of us would consider reasonable prices. Fortunately concerts are discretionary, and at least us oldtimers have already seen just about anything worth seeing anyway.
Still, that money is going to be spent on something, so if it matters enough...
GO TO THE SHOW!!?!
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: JP (J Bomb)
For years, the battle axes of
For years, the battle axes of classic rock provided a deep pool for promoters to swim. Easy, reliable and guaranteed money. We're at the very tail end of that now.
That leaves reunion and nostalgia tours, pop music and country. Reunion and pop music tours can be very profitable but they have hard expiration dates. You can only pull the rabbit out the hat once or twice. Country has obviously been massive for Live Nation but like they killed the golden goose through saturation and ticket prices.
Sure even with shows that are 60% sold, Live Nation can still make money by selling Platinum tickets, $28 Tito's and Tonic, brand sponsorship etc. But it's all a bit unsavory and many people are turned off by the modern concert infrastructure/experience.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: El Nino
When I worked in radio ad
When I worked in radio ad sales we had to hit or exceed the sales number from the previous year and it was tracked week to week meaning we had to hit the same number we did the previous year in that week. Every exec took this mandate very seriously and it was the dumbest thing ever because the previous year could have been a fucking presidential election year and the next year with no election we were told we had to hit that number.
Now if you have to hit the number you have to forecast that you were going to hit the number and that led to making up all kinds of fanciful deals that were never going to close. I have a feeling that is what happened at Live Nation as they try to hit the number from the Taylor Swift and Beyonce stadium year.
So under immense pressure from all the bosses a bunch of people convinced themselves that the Pussy Cat Dolls and Post Malone could sell out stadium tours so that the CEO can tell investors that they will have the same revenue this year without the biggest tour in the history of touring happening.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: intentionally blank
What Joe said.
What Joe said.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: The Sound of Steam and Caffeine
Summer Camp Festival down
Summer Camp Festival down
https://thehumanintelligenceledger.substack.com/p/breaking-summer-camp-m...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: intentionally blank
In case anyone else was
In case anyone else was wondering.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Mice elf
dang
dang
That 2 Chainz / Greensky collab coulda been pretty sick.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: The Sound of Steam and Caffeine
Refunds not looking likely...
Refunds not looking likely...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: TommyGutt
THE FREAK FAIR seems to be ok
THE FREAK FAIR seems to be ok uhh and yeah 79 dollars pitts
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Ken D.
It's the "disappearing before
It's the "disappearing before your eyes blue dot fever" trying to get tickets for Billy Strings or other popular artists.
I have a friend who watches the blue dots in real time at a show to know which seats closer to the stage are unsold and he can move to without getting hassled by the actual purchaser when they show up.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: JP (J Bomb)
Live Nation is a client of
Live Nation is a client of mine. Their VP of Partnerships told me their average customer goes to about 1 show a year. 1 show? I always assumed people go to concerts all the time but I suppose not. We (the rabid concert-going audience) are a minor subset.
If someone is going to only 1 or say 2 shows a year, they are more likely to spend considerably more money and make it a special event...buying platinum seats, premium parking, loading up on merch etc.
Although Live Nation would like sell outs across the board, their revenue per attendee is probably quite high. They are fine with some blue dots.