{"id":652748,"date":"2026-05-07T01:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T01:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/652748\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T01:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T01:45:11","slug":"why-are-top-artists-scrapping-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/652748\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are top artists scrapping shows?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Music commentator Eric Alper explains the phenomenon behind this year&#8217;s concert and tour cancellations. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Recent concert and tour cancellations have sparked <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/search?q=%22blue%20dot%20fever%22&amp;src=typed_query\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/x.com\/search?q=%22blue%20dot%20fever%22&amp;src=typed_query\">social media chatter<\/a>, with some calling the trend \u201cblue dot fever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">While high-profile artists have cited reasons such as health and family issues, music industry expert Eric Alper said the \u201cblue dot fever\u201d may be behind the decision to scrap shows. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cBlue dot fever\u201d refers to the blue dots showing unsold seats on Ticketmaster\u2019s venue map, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cIt seems to be a trend of weaker ticket sales or cancellations and general industry concerns,\u201d Alper said in a Zoom interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. \u201cWe\u2019re just seeing quite high-profile artists that were usually guaranteed to sell out suddenly cancel their shows for various reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The Pussycat Dolls, Meghan Trainor, Zayn Malik, Post Malone and Jelly Roll <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ctvnews.ca\/entertainment\/article\/pussycat-dolls-cancel-canadian-tour-dates-and-all-but-one-us-show-after-honest-look\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">have all cancelled multiple shows recently<\/a>, though none of them explicitly said poor ticket sales were behind the cancellations.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s behind \u2018blue dot fever\u2019?<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Alper said rising ticket prices, which have jumped over the past few years, coupled with a high cost of living, are factors. Tickets can cost between $100 and $500 on average, with some even selling for more than $1,000, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cEverything is more expensive when you want to put on an event,\u201d he said, citing higher rents for venues and spiking gas prices. He said concertgoers also have to consider costs for food, insurance and travel including hotels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWith the high ticket prices, I think fans are budgeting a lot more,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re being a lot more selective about live shows.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Artists booking large venues may also be behind the cancellations, Alper added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThe gap between the ambition of selling out that venue and the affordability of the fan base is leaving seats unsold,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Still, Alper said \u201cblue dot fever\u201d doesn\u2019t signal trouble for the live music business. As artists scale back or nix big tours, he said smaller and independent artists have gained opportunities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThey\u2019ve got a lot more fair pricing, they\u2019ve got a lot more fan connection, and they\u2019re finding new momentum and space to grow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Alper said he believes \u201cblue dot fever\u201d has been hyped up by haters online.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI think it is a loud but small group of \u2026 people who aren\u2019t fans of certain artists who want to knock these artists down a peg,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Music commentator Eric Alper explains the phenomenon behind this year&#8217;s concert and tour cancellations. Recent concert and tour&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[712,49,48,75],"class_list":["post-652748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}