Tickets to Louisville’s October 24 show featuring Ludacris, T.I., Rick Ross, and BigXThaPlug remain largely unsold in a severe case of Blue Dot Fever.
Ludacris, T.I., Rick Ross, and BigXThaPlug are playing at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 24—but tickets remain embarrassingly available. That follows the news back in May that the rappers (sans BigX) were scheduled to perform in Jackson, Mississippi, but postponed the show due to slow ticket sales.
Fans pointed out that 95% of tickets to the Louisville show remained unsold over the summer, and that number hasn’t changed considerably since then.
“This might be the most empty seats I’ve ever seen for a stadium concert,” said one fan regarding the Louisville show. “47,000 unsold tickets. Only ~160 have sold in the last 30 days. Cheapest ticket is $110.45.”
“Is this a new record for most blue dots?” one fan asked. “This is horrific,” wrote another. “All the sections with the first few rows gray’d out are [definitely] holdback seats too. Ooof…” noted a third.
Others questioned why the rappers had booked stadiums to begin with, given that all of them—with the exception of BigXThaPlug—have a target demographic largely consisting of “40-year-old dads,” many of whom are unwilling to dish out serious cash to go see a legacy act.
“I’m in my late 40s,” one Redditor wrote. “I wouldn’t mind seeing a couple of these guys if they were on a festival bill or did a local fair or something, but definitely not going to a stadium and dropping over $100 for any one of these artists, and the combination doesn’t really enhance the event/value.”
“I think the venue was too big for such a concert,” another person agreed. “Yes, they’re classic artists, but I don’t see 60,000+ people coming to that show. It was set up to fail from the jump.”
“This humiliation ritual of booking obscenely massive venues and expecting 100+ prices is ridiculous,” another Redditor wrote. “Like why are these artists’ teams pushing them towards stadiums and arenas if not to publicly embarrass them?”
Besides the comparatively large venue for a group of aging rappers, fans pointed to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis contributing to a lack of ticket sales.
“People don’t have the money to spend on concerts right now, and they were never going to fill that venue,” wrote one fan, referring to the Jacksonville show in May that had to be postponed. “People don’t have jobs or food,” someone else vented. “How tf do they expect them to pay $110 for the cheapest seat?”
Others pointed out that a large swath of artists are going on tour this year while the average fan doesn’t have the money to go see all their favorite artists during the same quarter. People are more likely to choose music festivals over arena or stadium shows, even for artists they love.
