2024 was supposed to be a great summer for live music. It’s not turning out that way

Fewer people are running out to buy concert tickets, and fewer artists are taking their shows on the road. Some, like U2, stayed in one place and let fans come to them.

The last couple of years have been great for the live music industry. After being locked up with the pandemic for a couple of years, fans splurged on concerts and festivals in an orgy of “funflation,” that sense that life’s too short and you might as well enjoy it while you can, no matter what it costs.

There were a couple of excellent years as revenues exploded, quickly returning to pre-pandemic levels. It’s now a $40 billion a year business with the top 100 tours grossing US$9.2 billion in 2023, which is nearly twice as much the US$5.5 billion grossed in 2019.

However, things are getting a little cloudy. We might have reached some kind of breaking point.

I first wrote about this problem back in April when it appeared there was a lack of enthusiasm for this year’s crop of music festivals. For the first time in years, Coachella struggled to sell out. A worrying number of Australian music festivals were cancelled. Word in the U.K. was that festival-happy Brits were sitting on their wallets, endangering many festivals. Since then, things have only become worse.

At last count, at least 40 British festivals have been called off with many others on both sides of the Atlantic either teetering or announcing that they’re done after 2024. Jennifer Lopez cancelled her entire tour. The Black Keys’ arena tour was postponed so it could be scaled down to more intimate (read: smaller) venues. Busta Rhymes called off his Blockbusta tour. After scoping out a European tour, 311 has decided to call off everything, citing “rising costs of touring overseas.” Pink and Justin Timberlake have cancelled a couple of shows each. The Jonas Brothers were going to Europe, but not anymore. Guitarist Robin Trower announced he’s staying home. I’ve heard from other mid-range acts — artists you would think could reliably draw good crowds — say that the economics of touring just don’t make any sense.

While it’s still early in the summer touring season, promoters continue to worry if punters will show up for gigs they’ve got scheduled down the line. What’s going on?

The short version is that people have run out of money. They’re having to make hard choices about which shows they’ll attend and which ones they’ll have to miss.

Acts like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Madonna have drained bank accounts as people not only attended local shows but travelled to out-of-market gigs. U2’s 40-night stand at The Sphere in Las Vegas — which was worth the price of a ticket, by the way — grossed US$240 million.