Blue Dot Fever: Cost of Living Crisis or Do We Have Better Things To Do?

when I was young I went to a gig every weekend , maybe more. I love music but haven't gone to live music in awhile. it is outrageous the cost of tickets. They have gone up much more than inflation.

As a general rule. I have stopped going to original artist concerts in lieu for tribute acts instead

It may sound stingy but I honestly am really enjoying it

I started doing it just without any real MOTIVE behind it but it has just taken over now

The cost of living is appalling now and so this is a genuine goo cost saver that let’s you ENJOY a night out but not at the cost of going without essential stuff

The original artist gig prices today are just fxking obscene but what is even WORSE in my view, is how the concept of “face value” seems to have been erased from history?

It literally doesn’t exist anymore because tickets are not physical so therefore, there is no FACE to HAVE a value

I am not one for going back in time. Nostalgia bombing doesn’t work on me.

I wasn’t at all interested in seeing an OLD Oasis last year despite being a fan back in the day

But that dynamic pricing was GROTESQUE and I will forever look at the brothers Gallagher through COMPLETELY different eyes since they pulled that move

But yeah. Long story short

Original artist ticket price 2026 = £80-180

Tribute artist ticket price 2026 = £15-35

Now….I also find the LATTER to be grossly over priced but…it’s just a compromise at the end of the day

Tribute acts in the 90’s sold tickets for like 3 quid up to say a TENNER

Seen the Darkness many many times. One of THE if not THE best live band I have ever witnessed. Just fantastic. Not sure of their prices this tour but I don’t want to check and curse them like so many others😂

After getting in trouble more than once.. I’d rather watch the show in my room on my tv in my recliner high as a damn kite. I like YouTube and the Qello music app it’s basically the Netflix of rock and roll. I don’t want to have to drive to pay to pay to pay to stand and have some freakishly tall guy blocking my view and spilling his beer on my boots

No "Blue Dot Fever" for the bands I want/wanted to see… Missed out on A Perfect Circle and Primus (both sold out immediately) and they rarely come to the UK 😥

I think this is more about how overpriced everything is for this is happening in everything from sports to movies to theaters…anything that requires a live audience….

I have been to every The Darkness show that has passed through Toronto for well over a decade, and usually splurge for VIP with my daughter. I complain the prices keep going up, but I really can’t complain at all. I was fortunate enough to see the big stadium-filling bands when I was younger without having to take out a loan! Luckily I’ve seen pretty much all the bands from the era that I wanted to when they were in their prime. I would like to see Harry Styles, but you know who I LOVE to see? The Lemon Twigs, and I this year I was able to see the first 3 dates of their shows in Montreal, Toronto & Ann Arbor, and my combined ticket cost was less than what I probably would have paid for merch at the Styles show. Do these mega acts need to keep doing multiple nights at huge prices? Don’t they have enough? Isn’t their cup full? I don’t can’t even comprehend the money my kids now pay to see big acts. I am unwilling to part with that kind of money.

I have not seen a band live in years, just can't justify the cost sadly.

1) Millennials and X's are middle aged and have become home-bodies.
2) Younger people are noticeable less interested in going to gigs than previous generations.

People listen to music differently in 2026. Artists like Taylor Swift, Oasis, Ed Sheeran, and Metallica have sold out tours because it’s an event driven spectacle. Audiences prioritize how they spend money on entertainment and there are so many other things to attract their attention. Plus there’s less appeal to spend hours in traffic to get to and from a venue and less time in the day to do it.

I think alot of artists have been overinflated and the numbers on Spotify and YouTube are misleading the booking agents. Buying a ticket and travelling to a venue takes more commitment than clicking on a button on an app.

It's basically becoming not worth the hassle. Even a gig at the underworld is 35 quid now. It's all adding up.

Not paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to see a concert. No way. Not even before I retired, when I was making good money. There are other things to do and see.

Inflation is a b!tch. A couple of thousand seater 30 years ago was £30 a ticket give or take, now that £30 is around £70, which is about (looks up Manics and Suede at an arena…) what they go for now tbf.

Rush’s like: hold my beer (or bass)

I like it when you roll your R's. That's how I know you are really putting effort into it.
Blue dot fever is a thing. Same number of acts on tour, less money to spend on higher ticket prices. People have to chose more carefully who they will go and see. I used to go to three to five big name shows a year. This year I am only going to two due to my budget verses ticket prices. I love live music, but not at any price.

Whenever I hear the words ‘blue dot fever’ I sing it like the ‘cat scratch fever’ song

Heritage Bands are cashing in with what could very well be their last go round . Catch them while you can .

I thought when I retire I would go to lots of concerts. Even that's been taken away from me. On the plus side my streaming music is cheap . Who killed Cock Robin. Was it greedy Live Nation ? Ticketmaster , Bands who have no alternative to make money than tour in their dotage ?

Has Justin still not tuned his guitar? 😂 Well, one of these days! As for live music I certainly can't afford the high ticket prices. I honestly think that is why fewer people are going to shows. The average person can't afford it. Especially not along side of steep grocery costs, high gas prices and extremely high rent/mortgage. People can barely afford food and rent, much less overpriced concert tickets. And I have medical conditions so I must also pay for doctor visits and medication. My husband and I do enjoy watching local bands and musicians. We'll go to a bar, restaurant or small music venue and listen to a band. We can listen to the vast majority of bands for free or for a small cover charge. But we can't afford to attend any of the big shows or tours. At least not until the ticket prices go down.

The cost of touring going up in 2020 was due to money printer going brrr, the inconvenience was just one of many of its negative externalities, the cost of which was passed on to you.

The current trend we are in, is for price gouging to get worse and worse, and it won't stop until the price gougers stop making money. They do it with life saving medicine, so of course they will jack up ticket prices as far as possible too. Everything. Food, gas, whatever. We are in the extreme greed era. Hang on everybody.

I support local music. I have zero interest in watching a corporate product pretend to sing in a stadium.

Had tickets to see Stevie Nicks in Antwerp (flying from Munich) about a year ago. During the run up I checked the site and noted only about 60% of the tickets were sold (lots of them blue dots). Was canx 3 days before the show due to “technical issues”. Wasn’t a huge fan but knew the Mrs. would enjoy. Ended up enjoying a nice meal in Antwerp. Developed a distinct distaste for all things Stevie however.

Not much about audience experience: Tiny seats, rude drunks going back and forth every few minutes to buy drinks, rude people having a loud conversation right behind you, tall people in front of you, crappy expensive food, a twenty mile walk to the parking lot, an hour-long wait to get out of the parking lot. The whole concert was just a backing track with auto-tuned vocals. Had to watch the entire thing on the video screen because $500 seats were so far away from the stage.

Neil Young sounds so horrible these days, and his cranky old man routine with the whole Spotify debacle lost him a lot of respect. I'd imagine people just didn't want to see him, if he was playing across the road from me, I'd close the curtains…