Concert Culture is Dead, and its All Our Fault
With the fresh new start of 2026, artists we all know and love are announcing their comebacks to the music industry, preparing fans for an exciting year for pop culture.
Along with the release of new songs and albums, many popular musicians have announced their world tours, sparking excitement within fandoms.
While getting concert tickets can be fun and something to look forward to, many concertgoers wonder, “Should I even waste my money on something I might not even enjoy?”
Throughout the years, the stigma of attending concerts has switched drastically from “You need to go to a concert before you die,” in the early 2000s, to, “Is it really worth it?” in the 2020s.
Why is this?
For one, even before getting to the venue, buying tickets online is a nightmare for most fans.
This was the case for BTS’ incoming “ARIRANG” tour, where tickets were sold out in mere minutes after hundreds of thousands of fans waited in queue, according to News24.
BTS’ tour is not alone in experiencing this phenomenon.
For those not lucky enough to get tickets almost instantly, resale prices immediately go through the roof due to the many resellers charging thousands of dollars for seats in the nosebleeds.
Despite these high prices, desperate fans buy them as a last resort.
Even for the fans fortunate enough to get tickets before resale prices, costs at face value were already alarmingly high.
Fans complained that the prices for Harry Styles’ upcoming tour, “Together, Together” were insanely expensive. Many tickets reached up to a thousand dollars –all while being relatively far from the stage.
Aside from the issues regarding buying tickets, many attendees complain about not being able to enjoy the concert itself.
The leading issue according to most concertgoers is the presence of phones, causing audiences to focus less on the artists’ performances, and more on their screens.
Junior Kimberly Hernandez has experienced this firsthand, saying “[Barely anyone] was paying attention to the actual performer… [most] were filming the entire concert.”
Due to the presence of phones, concertgoers have increasingly become preoccupied with taking videos and pictures to post on social media.
This results in failure to pay attention to the performance itself, in hopes to get the “perfect post.”
The looming presence of filming has without a doubt, left the average concertgoer scared to show enthusiasm at concerts, fearing they’d become the next joke on social media.
“When I went to Wave to Earth’s [“0.03 World Tour”] I was scared to sing… [primarily because] no one was singing along with [the performers],” stated senior Jovianne Ramos.
Furthermore, many stray from taking pictures of the performer altogether, focusing on taking pictures of themselves while performances are ongoing.
This was commonly seen at The Weeknd’s “After Hours til Dawn” tour, where fans complained about people taking videos of themselves with flash on to take “thirst traps,” ruining the view of attendees around them.
Junior Kaitlyn Hernandez added onto this, saying that “Buying tickets is a struggle by itself, having to stay in a packed stadium with people around me [might] be a deal breaker.”
Most artists agree that phones are the issue, causing them to take preventative measures to make sure their concerts are still lively.
One way this issue was prevented was the usage of Yondr pouches, used by artists such as Bruno Mars during his Las Vegas residency shows at Dolby Live at Park MGM.
During a show, Mars stated that having phones around created a “wall between him and the audience,” causing him to ban them altogether.
Despite the fact that concerts let you see your favorite artists, a long list of cons accompanies the experience. After all the trouble of having to attend, is going to a concert still worth it?
