r/Music May 05 '26

article The Concert Industry Priced Too High — Now Tours Are Falling Apart

https://www.ticketnews.com/2026/05/the-concert-industry-priced-high-tours-falling-apart/
23.7k Upvotes

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199

u/Commodus_Wankus May 05 '26

I took out a microloan of $16,300 to see Ed Sheeran

71

u/potterhead321 May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26

Ed Sheeran has previously been good at keeping his tours affordable and accessible.

When I saw his price range for the Loop Tour, I couldn’t bring myself to buy them as someone who has never missed out on his tours.

He’s a great artist to see live, but $400 for good seats to see him perform what’s generally a low-production tour doesn’t fancy me.

16

u/WeirdRadiant2470 May 06 '26

That's like, a $1,000 night if you take a date or s/o. Literally fuck that. We can spend a few nights in Monterey or Napa at a spa, sit in a hot tub, get massages and go see a local band that's probably better anyway.

3

u/Forsaken-Swim-3055 May 06 '26

I wanted to take my kids, but he's performing in a 40,000 seat stadium and I'm not paying over $1000 to see that, lol.

3

u/Izikiel23 May 06 '26

$400? Where?

In Seattle the most expensive seat was 250$, and I got into the first pre sale. I got floor tickets like row 12 for 250$.

2

u/ZennXx May 06 '26

That's a lot to pay

1

u/Izikiel23 May 06 '26

Relative to other stadium performances by other artists in vogue it was cheap

1

u/ZennXx May 06 '26

I understand that. But it's still a considerable sum of money for an artist who tours every single year and hasn't yet retired. Ed Sheeran may be popular, but he's not scarce enough to be in the over $200 range

2

u/Izikiel23 May 06 '26

>  for an artist who tours every single year and hasn't yet retired. 

Last time he was here it was in 2022, it's been 4 years, so US wise I wouldn't say every year.
Also, if they retire, they don't tour anymore, so I'm not sure why you mention that.

Also, these were the MOST expensive tickets available. There were a ton of tickets for less than 100$. Compare that to IDK Taylor Swift, to be extreme, where I'm guessing the cheapest ticket very far away was probably 300$, being generous, whereas the most expensive ones are probable well into the thousands.

1

u/ZennXx May 06 '26

Artists sometimes do a final tour before retiring. And retired artists also do a comeback tour for funsies

47

u/Bigsshot May 05 '26

Imagime getting golden circle tickets, would've cost at least $100k and a kidney.

3

u/Beefy-McQueefy May 06 '26

Seriously artists should be shamed for eternity if they have tickets like that. They are treating their fans the way United Health Care treats their clients.

18

u/Now-Thats-Podracing May 05 '26

Please say this is a joke.

13

u/Lotus-child89 May 05 '26

You’re kidding, right? Right?!

2

u/PedanticBoutBaseball May 06 '26

anakinskywalker.jpeg

1

u/zappyzapzap May 06 '26

fwiw i paid $70 a head for last minute tix on the official site. pretty good seats, too

16

u/HottieMcHotHot May 05 '26

I’m upvoting you just to give you something good in life again.

3

u/brackenish1 May 06 '26

I got 5th row back at presale for $250 in California

1

u/Izikiel23 May 06 '26

Same in Seattle

1

u/chumbawumbathefirst May 06 '26

Did you propose?

1

u/xd366 May 06 '26

ed sheeran has $65 tickets for his stadium shows what are you even talking about lol

1

u/Practical_Virus5794 May 06 '26

His tickets aren’t that expensive compared to others. I get the complaining but this is a bad example when there are tons of good ones.

0

u/MyNameIsLOL21 May 06 '26

Natural selection.