"Everything hidden will be revealed" --Luke 8:17
May 7, 2026
Is This The Great Hunker Down?
It seems to be an obvious adjustment to changing circumstances, but there are bigger questions.
- Is it temporary or permanent?
- Is it a momentary lull as Millennials and GenZies shift their priorities?
- Are tastes changing to the point where it's just not as cool as it was?
- Have the bean-counters and marketing guys finally priced themselves out of the game?
We'll see what we see down the road of course, but there's something going on that seems to fit with some kind of "general awakening" (?)
Artists blame logistics, timing and wellbeing for pulling shows, but empty seats on venue maps show demand is not keeping pace with price
A dangerous illness appears to be afflicting the music industry.
In recent weeks big-name artists including Meghan Trainor, Zayn Malik, Post Malone and the Pussycat Dolls have cancelled performances or entire tours.
Only the Pussycat Dolls referenced disappointing ticket sales as a reason for the cancellations, but fans believe they all represent a case of “blue dot fever”.
The phrase takes its name from the symbols for empty seats on the Ticketmaster website, signifying unsold tickets.
For years fans have grumbled about the rising price of concerts but paid anyway amid the post-Covid live music boom in which stars such as Taylor Swift mounted record-breaking tours. Now, amid economic and geopolitical uncertainty, there are signs that consumer tolerance for high prices is breaking and a correction is taking place.
Ticketmaster under investigation for dynamic pricing of Oasis gigs
“In 2021 and 2022 there was such pent-up demand that it was really easy to tour and everybody was making a lot of money,” said JR Lind, a senior writer at Pollstar, the live music industry trade publication.
“Now, there’s a little bit of coming back to earth. And that’s running into inflation and rising fuel costs that we’re seeing across the broader economy. Affordability is going to start affecting concerts.”
Trainor, the chart-topping pop star known for hits such as All About that Bass and Made You Look, cancelled her Get In Girl tour last month, saying she needed to be home for her family. Fans, however, noted that seating maps showed many tickets were unsold.
The rapper Post Malone cancelled six tour dates last week, claiming he needed more time to work on new music. For the opening night of his tour at the Bank of America Stadium in North Carolina on June 9, blue dots populate all sections of the venue.
Floor seats near the stage cost $682, while fans can still purchase a VIP package for $935. Cheaper tickets in the upper levels of the stadium cost about $70.
Ticketmaster seat map for a Post Malone concert at Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC, showing available seats in blue with a price of $68.95.
Blue blocks on the seat map for the Post Malone concert
on June 9 indicate sections with seats available
Malik, the former One Direction star, cited health reasons for cancelling his US tour but Variety noted that ticket sales had been “soft”.
The Pussycat Dolls announced the cancellation of the US leg of their comeback tour this week “after taking an honest look at the North American run”. Ticket prices were not particularly high, generally ranging from $50 to $120, suggesting that even relatively affordable tours are not immune when demand is overestimated.
Nevertheless, concert ticket prices have risen significantly in recent years.
Average primary-market ticket prices jumped 41.3 per cent between 2019 and 2024, from $96.17 to $135.92, according to Pollstar. Fans complain not only about the cost of getting through the door but travel, hotel and merchandise, which can raise the price of a concert significantly.
Lind believes the biggest artists who sell out stadiums will largely be immune to “blue dot fever” but acts who perform in arenas and amphitheatres are more vulnerable.
“People will complain about the high price of tickets, but what we generally see is that for the top acts they will still pay those prices,” he said. “Where the pressure is now is for those acts that are a little bit below that.”
Clayton Durant, an adjunct professor of music business at New York University’s Steinhardt school, said the fragile geopolitical situation was also a factor.
Modern tours for big artists are significant logistical efforts that involve fleets of trucks driving from city to city, ferrying equipment from one venue to another. The rise of fuel costs since the war in Iran began will have changed the financial picture of artists and their teams, Durant said.
Tours that once looked profitable on paper can quickly become marginal as costs rise. “You might be looking at a tour that started out with the national average gas price around $3 and now it’s $4.50,” he said. “That’s a big difference for these tours that have a bunch of trucks moving things on the road. And then some of these tours have to deal with jet fuel, which has also risen.”
Artists are facing a competitive market for live events this summer, Durant noted. As well as the A-list music stars hitting the road, the US and Canada are also hosting the football World Cup alongside Mexico, and Fifa has faced widespread criticism over its expensive ticket prices.
Consumers hoping to attend the football tournament may not be able to afford to also buy concert tickets, Durant said, squeezing out some performers. “The cancellation of these tours doesn’t necessarily mean these artists lack sellable capacity; it might just mean there’s a lot of competition in the marketplace,” he added.
Drudge
Everything Trump touches
turns to shit
Did Saudi Arabia force Trump to suspend operation in Hormuz?
Jet-Fuel Prices Spiking and White House Advisers Worried
Concerns Hang Over Europe as Summer Vacations Approach
WHIRLPOOL says war causing 'recession-level industry decline'
Jet-Fuel Prices Spiking and White House Advisers Worried
Concerns Hang Over Europe as Summer Vacations Approach
WHIRLPOOL says war causing 'recession-level industry decline'
Leo directly calls out The Don's lies
May 6, 2026
A Little History
The screachingly annoying habit of wealthy Americans constantly bitchin' about paying their taxes is baked in.
I'll take small issue with the assertion that Americans were "represented" by their governors. One of the gripes in the Declaration is that the governors were too cozy with the king.
But anyway,
Back To The Professional Left
On "authenticity" and how corporate media just never fucking gets it.
They get into the meat of the media problems starting at about 23:05.
Both Ways
- and -
The high price of gas, and groceries - and practically everything else - is painful, and may persist for a while, but it's a small price to pay for keeping Iran from getting the bomb.
Reminder: Keeping Iran from getting the bomb was an item in big bold red letters, at the top of the list when Obama hammered out the deal with Tehran 10 fucking years ago. You know - the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - the one that Trump flushed down the shitter just because it had Obama's signature on it.
But I digress. They're doing the same thing they always do. ie: talking out of both sides of their mouth.
There's no policy, there's no plan, there's just bullshit and lame excuses to get Trump from one stupid momentary decision to the next moronically impetuous decision - whatever he thinks buys him another 48 hours before somebody puts his lights out altogether.
- Iran agreed to limit its uranium enrichment to 3.67% (well below the 90% required for weapons) and reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium by 98%.
- Centrifuge Reduction: Iran reduced its installed centrifuges—the machines used to enrich uranium—by two-thirds and agreed to use only older models for a decade.
- Monitoring and Inspections: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was granted enhanced access to monitor nuclear facilities and ensure transparency.
- Sanctions Relief: The U.S. and European nations lifted nuclear-related sanctions on Iran’s banking, oil, and shipping industries.
- "Breakout Time": The agreement was designed to extend the "breakout time" (time needed to produce enough fissile material for one bomb) from a few months to at least one year.
- Implementation Day (January 16, 2016): The deal took effect after the IAEA verified that Iran had complied with its initial nuclear obligations.
- Cash Shipments: The Obama administration sent $1.7 billion in cash to Iran in 2016, settling a pre-1979 arms sale dispute, which was described by critics as a "ransom" in relation to the release of U.S. prisoners, a charge the administration denied.
- U.S. Withdrawal (2018): President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018, calling it one-sided and re-imposing, sanctions, which led to Iran exceeding the deal's limitations.
- Status in 2026: Despite efforts by the Biden administration to revive the deal, it has remained largely defunct. By early 2026, Iran had significantly advanced its nuclear enrichment activities, including producing high-purity uranium, following the formal termination of the 10-year agreement terms.
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