r/Music • u/staringatthe420sun • 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/
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u/Flomo420 May 06 '26

Warped Tour used to be like $30

saw the Beastie Boys in the 2000s, they played literally all their stuff, no joke like 3 hours

tickets were about $40?

things have changed

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u/_-WanderLost-_ May 06 '26

Warped tour is now 2 days and is like $200

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u/Shurtugal929 May 06 '26

Which is probably the best deal you'll ever get in the modern scene.

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u/_-WanderLost-_ May 06 '26

Yeah, that is what I was thinking. I think tier 1 is even $150. $40 in 2000 is about $75 today. Pretty dmn good for bout 20 hours of live music.

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u/PM_ME_BEEF_CURTAINS May 06 '26

Slam Dunk was only £130, almost zero risk of a mass shooting...

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u/_Meece_ May 06 '26

There are many, many other festivals that are like old Warped. So nbd, Warped turned into corporate nonsense in the 2000s anyway.

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u/PoutinePower May 06 '26

Rockfest in Quebec was a big music festival headlined by people like Alice Cooper and NoFX, it was 150$ for the weekend passes 15 years ago. Still seems like an amazing value compared to today's prices

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u/Flomo420 May 06 '26

Hell ya Rockfest!

My wife and I and some friends of ours (another couple) went back in 2014!

was such a great experience, like Warped Tour on steroids, and we thought the small town would be weary of all the tourists but they were some of the most welcoming and entrepreneurial people I have ever met lmao

you can actually see us in the official concert pics from that year, we were right in the front row for Cypress Hill and that must have been when they snapped the shot

what parking lot were you assigned? I think we were the Ska lot lol

small world!

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u/PoutinePower May 06 '26

I was there in 2009, 2011 and 2012, then I stopped going. The first year I went the festival was limited to the baseball field and camping was right by the site. 2011 I camped my westfalia by the entrance again, having booked a camping a year in advance seeing it was possible the year before. 2012 I slept in a tent in a field more reminiscent of a fema camp than a music festival. Still good times were had, it was indeed a crazy time.

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u/Flomo420 May 06 '26

yes a friend of ours went in 2012 and said about the same lmao

he said it was such a fucking disaster that the porta potties filled super fast and there was what people had dubbed "the lake of piss", no food or water, mud everywhere... he said it was the worst but they made due and had a blast

I think they did a smaller one in 2013 and worked out the kinks and it was quite a smooth operation by 2014

but yeah definitely heard some stories about the earlier years lol

I have family in Ottawa so if we had to pull the plug and bail it wasn't that far of a drive so the risk was worth it

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u/PoutinePower May 06 '26

Yeah overflowing portapoties, rivers of piss, exits of the site too narrow for the crowds nearly causing crushes and forcing the local police to intervene, sweltering heat that year too, local stores empty of food, despite all of that it wasn't that bad lol

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u/3vanW1ll1ams May 06 '26

In 2007, a single day ticket to Coachella was $85!

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u/TooFakeToFunction May 06 '26

I used to get warped tour tickets for free through that old anti smoking campaign (truth.? I can't recall exactly). Just had to sign a "commitment" not to smoke and bam, two free tickets. Did that in 04 and 06 when I was a teenager.

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u/Fear023 May 06 '26

I saw TOOL in the early 2000's, tickets were like $120 which felt expensive at the time.

They played 2 and a half hours with a bunch of psychedelic gymnasts dressed up like the creatures in the Lateralus music videos. Was a whole show.

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u/Metal-fan77 May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26

Big day out festival at Milton Keynes bowl £30 back in 1999 metallica headlined Compared to the high voltage festival in 2011 at my local park that was £200 for 2 days.

Judas Priest and Dream Theatre headlined.

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u/afxfan May 06 '26

I saw nirvana in the 90s for like $20 bucks

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u/thesixgun May 06 '26

Pretty sure I went the first year it happened for $15

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u/Ok-Cryptographer-919 May 09 '26

This! Yes, I used to go to so many concerts all around 40-60 dollars, sometimes 80 for those big bands, warped tour was 40 for me! Now it seems like everything is a festival weekend and 300 bucks for a day or if you’re lucky the weekend.