The Pop Corporation

Or: Longevity doesn’t automatically get you the big gigs.

Without looking at inflation, it does seem that arena shows are disproportionately expensive these days. There’s been a spike in ticket prices in the post pandemic period that leaves a number of fans thinking that they’re priced out of shows. Now, anyone with any cop-on will note that this might be your cue to go catch someone playing in a theatre or a small venue instead, who need your support much more and you can catch someone on an upswing.

However, there’s something still really fun about a huge spectacle where you watch a group or an artist with thousands of other people, all bells and whistles on stage and a candy for the eyes to boot. If you think of a band like Queen or Van Halen, you almost don’t want to see them in a small room in your mind’s eye – they’re supposed to be playing before a sea of arms and backed by explosions and lasers.

Of course, in the modern era, someone like Taylor Swift has no problem filling out enormous outdoor spaces, stadiums and arenas. However, not everyone is Taylor Swift. Not that long ago, there were long-serving, massive acts who didn’t play arenas and preferred to play in theatres. Sometimes, the music they make suits the space. Sometimes, a band’s music can get swallowed up by a cavernous space. Just because you’re selling stadium’s worth of records doesn’t always mean that’s where your fans want to see you.

Looking at the Black Keys recent tour cancellation, you wonder if they’re truly a stadium sized band like, say, the Foo Fighters are. Not to say that haven’t earned a crack at it and filled them before – but they’re a two-piece garage band melding fuzz pedals with hillbilly music – it’s not Eddie Van Halen playing solos at the speed of light backed by dry ice and David Lee Roth leaping through the air in spandex, is it? To us, the Black Keys is theatre music, not the Jumbo Dome sponsored by Andrex Top Weave. And is the Black Keys back catalogue a hundred quid’s worth of music? For most stadium acts, there’s at least half a dozen certifiable hits for the casual listener to chance their arm and part with their money. Money that’s usually doubled, because for acts with any kind of longevity, you’re probably having a date night with your partner once you’ve got the babysitter sorted.

They’re not the only ones who have suffered lately. Jennifer Lopez packed away her tour amid a slew of rumours, Charli XCX struggled with sales for a number of shows too, as well as Justin Timberlake. It does seem, in the current climate, that some artists don’t feel like they’re able to take a step backwards, like bands in the past may have done. The idea of watching Timberlake in an art deco theatre is much more appealing to his family friendly sexy boy routine, than some nondescript concrete arena. There’s a host of shows and gossip columns looking at the artists using seat-filling companies to flesh out these shows, because broadly, there just doesn’t seem to be an appetite for them. It feels like the top end of shows is too bloated, and some acts are being sold as prestige headliners, when in fact, they’re not.

Also, there’s a change on the wind. There’s no doubt that arena tours are an exercise in greed. Why play 50 shows in smaller venues in Europe when you can book out 10 arenas or outdoor spaces, and get even more money in the process? It also is apparent that promoters at a certain level have deals with those who own these large venues, and will book bands in whether they’re likely to sell them out or not.

And is there a need for an in-between space for bands like the Black Keys? No longer arena sized, but bigger than clubs. What do they do? As a fan, we’d rather see them in one of the two nights they do in a more ‘intimate’ venue, but that means twice the work for a band like that. Spread that across a whole tour and it is double the amount of shows.

Unique to this period in pop music, streams do not equal the amount of listeners. Once, if you sold a million vinyl records, you knew there were roughly a million people out there willing to spend money on you again. Streams does not equal people, and the data has now become confusing. Now, there’s acts with a few thousand listens and they can play to more people than listen to them on Spotify, and for larger acts, the reverse could be true thanks to passive listens.

With people being more cautious with their money in the cost of living crisis that is blighting all corners of the globe, can anyone be sure that thousands upon thousands of people will be willing to part ways with their cash? Look at the recent Blink 182 shows – they were always going to do well as it was something of a reunion of the classic line-up. The Eagles are currently selling out big shows because they’re bidding everyone farewell, and members won’t be around much longer so it’s something of a victory lap, and guaranteed a number of million selling songs that have stood the test of time.

Of course, they’re incredibly expensive for bands too, who have to hire hundreds of staff, tour buses, wagons to cart their gear, the gear itself, the lights… the list is dizzying. Big ticket shows aren’t the same animal they once were and fans too, are unwilling to take a step back and everyone wants to see the big screens and costume changes.

It’s the cost that is the main problem for fans. With artists like blue-collar everyman Bruce Springsteen charging frightening amounts for a slot at his shows, and sophisticated scalpers nabbing them with bots before the humans have got through the queueing systems, and then resale sites charging eye-watering amounts for those desperate to see, it all stacks against a good time for all. Fact is, while once you may have gone to a handful of big shows in a year, you fear that most fans will be pinning their hopes on fewer now, thanks to the expense.

Gigs, at the moment, are broken top to bottom. This is the year that live music could break as we know it.