Summer Megaconcerts Start To Feel Like Too Much

The stadium-tour era is making concerts bigger and richer than ever, but many concertgoers aren’t loving how it’s also making it harder than ever to see their favorite artists.

The Big Picture: Post-pandemic, the live-music industry is doing incredibly well, with market leader Live Nation posting record revenues. That growth is driven by stadium tours, which are nearly doubling in grosses and now represent the top-five biggest acts on the road. With stadium shows increasing by 60% last year, selling out stadiums is quickly becoming the Holy Grail of touring for superstars.

Behind the Curtain: How many of you are excited to see your favorite artist with 80,000 of your closest friends?

• Unlike the usual concert, stadium tours are insanely expensive, sometimes costing just as much as going to a festival for a weekend… not to mention dealing with blink-and-you’ll-miss-it ticketing options and confusing presales.
• Additionally, stadiums are built for sports, not concerts, so watching and listening to a show can be difficult or even cumbersome… as evidenced by complaints coming out of Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Tour, per Vox.
• But concertgoers, especially Gen Z, are more than willing to pony up for these experiences despite all the inconveniences. Why? Stadium shows have become can’t-miss communal, cultural events that are few and far between these days.
• In fact, according to a 2024 study by insights firm MERGE, the typically frugal Gen Zer both overspends and spends impulsively on live events — that’s catnip for tour organizers.

Encore: None of this is to say that there are no benefits to stadium tours. Artists get to play on the biggest stage possible (except for free beach concerts), which allows them to execute a blockbuster vision of their show. That theatricality may validate the ticket price more than anything else. And, again, the money doesn’t hurt — all those seats mean a lot of butts willing to pay top dollar for a performance.

Prediction: With artists like Post Malone, Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar and SZA, Billie Eilish, and others having just kicked off or about to kick off stadium tours, aggregate ticket sales could spell whether people are getting a little exhausted from seeing concerts as big as possible. If they lag, expect a return to smaller venues that cater to either the very rich or very lucky.