Concerts and inverse relationships

This past week I had the opportunity to see more concerts in a week than ever before. And inevitably, some were better than others. Over the past few years, some of the best shows that I’ve seen have been the smaller ones. Mahalia’s show at Le Studio TD in Montreal last year was one of the best concerts I’d ever seen. It was an intimate venue with what felt like only about 300 or so people, but they were all huge fans. The vibes? Immaculate.

Larger shows like stadium shows are the venue of choice for the biggest names in entertainment. And for good reason! Anyone who’s sat in front of their computer for hours on end refreshing the Ticketmaster site can tell you that the demand to see these mega-stars far exceed the supply that they can create even in the largest stadiums that humans have ever built multiplied over hundreds of shows around the world.

How much money do you think a sold out stadium for one of the megastars earns in a night?

Some quick back of the napkin math might tell us about $10,000,000 or more (50,000 seats * $200 conservatively a ticket) That doesn’t include merchandise at all which might be another 25%-50%. Play a hundred shows and that’s a billion dollars.

I’m sure the latest and greatest stadium tour is going to be fantastic, but with a high ticket price and thousands of people travelling specifically for a concert at that scale, expectations are also sky high.

What can we learn?

Cherish the process, seek out experiences geared to fewer people, when you really get introspective you just might find that the mass marketed item shouldn’t make up your whole diet. If you let it, you just might wake up and find that what you’ve been looking for has been here the whole time. 💀

…but sometimes they really are that good.