How Gen Z is powering India’s concert boom

As ticket prices climb and job anxiety looms, India’s Gen Z is budgeting, travelling and cutting back elsewhere

At 3 pm, between sets on the second day of Lollapalooza India, 27-year-old Shivang Verma sat under a large tent, dressed in a grey Linkin Park T-shirt, waiting for the band’s first-ever performance in Mumbai. The software engineer from Lucknow had come for the closing act of the global festival’s fourth Indian edition. Like many others, he was drawn in the moment rumours of Linkin Park headlining the festival were confirmed.

“When I heard the rumours, I started saving up,” says Shivang, who also supports his parents. Attending the festival solo, he spent around ₹10,000 on flights, ₹15,000 on his ticket and another ₹15,000 on accommodation. “I had to be here, no matter what,” he says, adding that like many fans, he misses Chester Bennington but was excited to see the band reunite and release a new album in 2024.

Lollapalooza Day 2, | Photo Credit: Abdulkader

In just a year, India has hosted live performances by global heavyweights such as Coldplay, Guns N’ Roses, Tom Morello and Travis Scott. Lollapalooza’s previous edition featured punk-rock icons Green Day alongside Shawn Mendes and Glass Animals. With Indian artists touring frequently as well, the surge in sold-out concerts, especially those curated for under-35 audiences, largely Gen Z, is unmistakable. Ticket prices, often justified as ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experiences for die-hard fans, have risen in tandem.

“I don’t spend recklessly on concerts or live experiences,” says Shivang. Many Gen Z attendees I spoke to at Lollapalooza echoed this sentiment, acknowledging the steep ticket prices and exercising restraint on discretionary spending, both at the venue and in everyday life. Yet most also admitted to having felt left out in the past — social-media-driven FOMO, they said, is very real.

“There were concerts I skipped, but after seeing how they played out on social media, I did feel like I missed something,” says 23-year-old Mumbai-based graphic designer Siddharth Dhevar.