According to NME.com, The All-American Rejects have taken an hit at soaring ticket prices by saying the battle to get tickets makes seeing live music “District 1 Hunger Games luxury”. While speaking to the Metro following the release of Sandbox, their first full-length LP in 14 years, guitarist Nick Wheeler and vocalist Tyson Ritter said they were glad to be considered a “band of the people” and touched on how the industry commodifies live music.
While talking about sticking to a “blue-collar rock” sound throughout their career, Ritter said he did not feel the band had ever “succumbed to any of the pressures or expectations of the ‘market’. We’re talking about art here. The fact you can commodify your fans, that’s the game now.” Last year, the embarked on a tour that included stops at house parties, a bowling alley and a barn in an attempt to create a more financially accessible live music experience for fans.
“We started doing house parties because we wanted to get back at eye level with our audience in the spaces that we started playing. We had very little capital to make any noise within the avenues and current landscape of marketing for music. We’re self-funded, we’re self-produced. It turned into something we didn’t expect,” said Ritter. And that surprise empowered another thought which was, ‘Oh, why is this happening?’ This realisation that people need intimacy again, people are tired of having their bank accounts run dry.”
In response to growing frustration about ticket prices, the UK government announced in early 2025 that it would impose a price cap on how much touts can resell tickets for and also launched an official consultation into the industry and controversial ‘dynamic pricing’ practices.
Photo Credit: Boston Lynn Schultz
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