All American Rejects are Bringing Back Accessible Concerts

In 2023, it was nearly impossible to find tickets to the Eras Tour under $1,000 from re-sellers on StubHub, Seat Geek, or god forbid, Vivid Seats. While I ended up attending the concert with strangers online who let me purchase their extra ticket at face value, I still shelled out $330 for one lower-bowl seat, and $550 for another on the opposite side of the stadium.

This past month, I was hoping to see Beyoncé at Metlife Stadium—yet even nose-bleed seats were $100+ dollars. At that point, I’d be paying for a listening party with a view of rainclouds and Hoboken, New Jersey, as opposed to actually experiencing Cowboy Carter live. 

I asked myself, if this is the standard for two of the biggest artists in the world, how much are tickets for popular, but less famous artists? Ethel Cain—whom I love dearly—is playing Radio City Music Hall this upcoming Fall. Nose bleed seats start at $95...Even Governors Ball, a popular music festival in New York, was $140 before taxes for a singular GA day-pass. Are we not exhausted? 

The average cost to attend a concert in 2024 is $135.92 (Pollstar), compared to $25.81 in 1996. It’s disappointing to watch live music become increasingly inaccessible. It also presents a new challenge: people attend concerts because they can afford to—not because they necessarily want to be there.

Across TikTok, I’ve seen endless videos of dry, underwhelming crowds where the audience isn't sure how to interact with the artist on stage. These shows simply become grounds for virality, and don’t even get me started on the lack of concert etiquette. A few weeks ago, as I was doom-scrolling, the late 90s/early 2000s band, All American Rejects, entered my feed. 

To make music more accessible and also get back to basics, the band is going viral for trekking across the country to perform in people’s backyards. Tyson Ritter, the lead-singer, told CNN, “30 feet up on an ivory tower, it’s hard to connect with an audience…let’s go have fun and get back to the way we started.”

While the band, like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, is still playing Metlife Stadium this Fall, their dedication to stripped-back venues stretches beyond a love for music or concerts: it’s about the accessibility of music. 

As the band leader said during a house party show, “we’re not trying to sell you finance tickets to Coachella. We’re not trying to sell you Ticketmaster fucking penalty fees…we’re just trying to sell you some songs you’ve grown up with.”  Like most bold decisions, hopefully, other artists will follow suit by placing their music and live experiences in the hands of fans and not exclusively those who have the cash to spare. Time will tell. 

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