The vibration of deep bass, flashing light effects and bursts of pyrotechnics transform concerts into high-energy spaces filled with singing and dancing fans. For students, live concerts offer opportunities to connect with friends and share experiences centered around music, creating lasting memories. Before reaching the venue, students must navigate the challenges of an increasingly confusing ticket purchasing process.
Creating memories with friends and family is one of the highlights of attending concerts. Students can experiment with fun outfits based on the tour’s theme and spend hours singing and dancing alongside hundreds or thousands of other fans. Sharing the same enthusiasm can create a sense of community.
The concert experience has evolved significantly over time. English teacher Zack Lowe is an avid concert-goer who has been to more shows than he can remember, seeing bands 30 to 50 times repeatedly. The ticket-buying process once looked very different as fans would stand outside and wait in lines. “Other fans [were] hanging out in line, getting to know each other, just enjoying a shared love for live music,” Lowe said.
Today, ticket sales are largely handled online through platforms such as Ticketmaster, SeatGeek, or Stubhub. Instead of waiting outside a box office, buyers join virtual queues, often competing with thousands of others to buy tickets at the same time. The process requires quick thinking and split-second decisions as seats can disappear within a matter of seconds.
These digital queues can last for hours due to a high concentration of buyers on the same platform. Junior Ashu Khetan, who has previously been to four concerts, said that she waited in a queue for over an hour with approximately 100,000 people in front of her to purchase tickets for Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour.”
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Ticketmaster (™) and Live Nation are currently facing a 2025 FTC lawsuit for using deceptive pricing strategies and earning hundreds of millions of dollars by selling tickets obtained illegally by brokers. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Justice, as stated in their website, is suing ™ for monopolistic practices in the venue industry, thereby hurting fans, artists, and venue operators. Because the company manages ticket sales for hundreds of major venues, a large portion of consumers, including students, use its platform when buying tickets. Online resale markets can contribute to higher prices, as tickets are often resold above their original value. Moreover, Ticketmaster frequently charges service fees to cover technology, venue support and operations.
For students who must buy tickets with their own earnings or rely on parental support, these rising costs can affect whether or not a concert is financially reasonable. Comparing prices over time, Lowe said even for the biggest touring acts, the highest prices were at most $200-300, whereas today, tickets can cost thousands of dollars.
Some artists have publicly addressed ticketing concerns. In 2023, Robert Smith from The Cure demanded that Ticketmaster lower service fees, resulting in partial refunds for fans. This situation contributed to broader discussions about the role artists, ticketing companies and venues play in ticket pricing decisions. Lowe said, “If Taylor Swift wanted to let fans see her for less money – she could not only do it, but she could also actually put a ton of public pressure on TM to be better.”
High prices have not stopped students from purchasing tickets. Student interest in concerts remains high with their love for their favorite music. Sophomore Grace Rosenbaum, who plans to attend “The Romantic Tour” by Bruno Mars in May, said that although prices ranged from $150 to $500, the concert would be a rare opportunity. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and you don’t always get to see Bruno Mars,” Rosenbaum said.
Beyond the performance, students look forward to the culture surrounding tours. Outfits inspired by album aesthetics and trending social media dances have become an exciting part of the experience. Swedish artist Zara Larsson has been gaining attention recently for her “Midnight Sun” tour, which features sparkly and colorful 2000s-inspired fashion. Khetan said she is especially looking forward to making an outfit for Larsson’s concert in late March.
As concerts continue to grow in popularity among younger audiences, demand for tickets has increased with online or social media promotion. Tour announcements, presale codes and resale listings circulate quickly through social media, often drawing large numbers of buyers to ticketing platforms within minutes of sales opening. This heightened demand has made securing tickets a central part of the concert-going experience itself.
While the process to buy tickets has shifted from physical lines to digital queues, the appeal of live music remains the same. For students, concerts offer a space for social connection with friends and like-minded fans. At the same time, the complexities of the modern ticketing system have become a part of the experience that students must navigate through.
