The touring situation is a fucking mess right now, for acts big and small. Brexit and Covid have made things so much worse. Couriers, airlines, hotels, etc. have all knocked their prices way up, forcing artists to put their prices up just to cover costs (never mind turn a profit) and it always hits the consumer hardest in the end. I was gonna go see Kendrick Lamar again, up in Scotland, but fuck paying £150-200 for a ticket. I've seen him twice already. Paid £30 to see him at a half-empty Apollo in 2013 when barely anyone in the UK knew who he was. Paid £80 in 2022 to see him at the Arena. I'll keep my memories, thanks.
But for smaller bands who can't charge £100 a ticket and still hope to fill out even the tiniest venues, things are even worse.
Take Charly Bliss. For those who don't know, Charly Bliss are a moderately popular pop rock band who've been around for about 10 years or so. Their albums have never charted on the main charts in the UK, but their last two albums have both done well on the physical sales/independent labels charts. They get a lot of music press coverage in America and you'll always find them on alternative radio stations there, but they're never gonna be a chart concern on either side of the Atlantic really. When they come to England they tend to play at places like the Deaf Institute, the Garage in London, etc. Venues with a capacity of about 250-500 people.
Anyway, they played one UK show in 2024 in support of their latest album, which was at the Garage. I've seen them a few times and interviewed them once or twice for work, so we have a solid fan/band relationship. I went down to London to see them (£22 tickets) and got chatting to them after the gig. Asked them why they were only doing one show and asked if it was just because touring was too expensive now. And yep, that was the answer. They said they really wanted to add a Glasgow show to the European tour so they could at least cover Scotland but were told in pretty plain terms that it would cost each of them an extra $1k.
They tend to make about $15-20k a year from the band and all work second jobs to make up the rest. Their lead singer got stuck in Australia during the pandemic and now lives out there with her husband, meanwhile the drummer has two kids and spends more time at home than before. Costs are mounting up and up and up for absolutely everything and the only way smaller bands can make any cash back is by charging more than they'd want to. But bands like Charly Bliss won't sell out if they charge £30 for a UK show so they have to drop prices to about £20-25 and cut a whole show instead, and just hope that their fans come from Scotland to London.
And Charly Bliss aren't exactly profit-driven people. When you consider artists like Kendrick Lamar, and Neil Young like OP mentioned, who are gonna be doing massive stage shows with hundreds of staff members, dancers, roadies, technicians, venue managers, etc. the costs must spiral out of control. And the only way they're gonna be able to make a profit from the tour and justify the decision is by charging £100+ per ticket, and in some cases £200+ per ticket, to get it all back. Demand is far outweighing supply at the moment in the live music industry and nobody can afford it. They're all just charging massive prices to stay afloat.
