Happy Monday! 

Consider this issue a recap of the week in live music. We have my depressing journey trying to buy Lady Gaga tickets, Joey Valence and Brae’s free concert in Central Park, and Kevin Jonas singing SOLO (!) at the JoBros’ Boston show.

Plus, some predictions about tonight’s Love Island USA reunion, Tronner in 2025, and 10 years of Emotion.

In June, I asked: Are there best practices for buying concert tickets and beating scalpers? I’m still looking for the answer. 

As the summer has gone on, the ticket buying experience has continued to be a nightmare. From dynamic pricing to scalpers to scammers, it is seemingly impossible to get a face value ticket. I’ve curbed my own concertgoing habits this year because it has gotten too expensive. Even nosebleeds and obstructed view seats are going for upwards of $400 for some shows in New York. 

Still, I’ve held out hope for last minute miracles with some major tours, including Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball. My wishes have not come true, but my attempts to secure the tickets made me think about how many hoops fans have to jump through to get a reasonably priced ticket. In fact, it’s unclear what exactly is the face value price of a ticket these days.

For Gaga, I’ve been monitoring prices for tickets for her six-show run at Madison Square Garden in New York. To my surprise, some last minute standard tickets dropped on Ticketmaster, meaning they were being sold by the event organizers instead of resellers. 

One would hope that they would be face value tickets, but no. They were even more expensive than some of the resale tickets, costing up to $828 for 100 level seats. I tried to find out if anyone had any luck with box office tickets, which are typically set at the true face value costs. Unfortunately, some fans online shared that they were told at the venue that any remaining tickets were only going to be available online.

Ticketmaster says that all prices are set by event organizers. However, those prices change throughout the leadup to the concert, as many fans bought tickets in the same sections for less.  This system is opaque, expensive, and a major disservice to consumers.

Casual music fans are not always aware of the costs or practices set forth by event organizers and Ticketmaster. I have found this in my reporting on Ticketmaster’s “platinum tickets,” which many consumers don’t know are standard tickets that have been priced higher but do not include any additional benefits. It has also been made evident by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)’s probe into Ticketmaster. The authority found that the insufficient labeling of platinum tickets is potentially giving a “misleading impression that platinum tickets were better.”

Ticketmaster denies using dynamic pricing, despite fans continually reporting changes in ticket costs as demand increases. Instead, in response to an investigation by the UK’s Business and Trade Committee (BTC) earlier this year, Ticketmaster said that all ticket prices are set in advance and that any real-time fluctuations are an “illusion.”

From what Ticketmaster described in its statements to the BTC, it appears that tickets are released in batches, with cheaper tickets being released first. The costs increase as the batches are released. Nowhere is this clear when buying tickets, which is why ticket buying is frustrating and confusing. It is difficult to make informed purchasing decisions when this is the case. 

This uncertainty trickles down to the resale market. There are scalpers charging exorbitant prices to make a profit and there are others who try to offload extra tickets at the already-inflated prices they bought them for. It’s hard to know which is which at times. But I’ll say this, at 8:30 p.m. the night of Gaga’s first MSG show on Friday, scalpers held firm in their inflated prices (some up to $1,500) and took the loss when sales closed at 9:00 p.m. This is so wild to me.

Desperate fans may even resort to unofficial channels like Twitter, Facebook, or Reddit to find more reasonable prices. It’s hard to tell what’s too good to be true and what is normal. There are fan-led resale groups that help others buy and sell verified tickets for reasonable prices. But there are also scammers who are willing to take your money and block you. 

Gen Z has made it known that they are eager and willing to spend money on live events and concerts. A CashApp survey from May, conducted by the Harris Poll, found that young people have an average budget of $1,900 for the buzziest shows. However, 19% spend beyond their means for these experiences and 31% use buy now, pay later options to fund their concert tickets.

This behavior is obviously unsustainable. We can’t keep taking on debt for every artist’s tour. It’s simply not possible to pay the prices that are presented to us. At a certain point, fans will be priced out of concerts, to the detriment of both them and the artists. 

Every Monday letter gets a playlist. The 2010s are back in ways we can’t imagine. From Calvin Harris’s Funk Wav Bounce Vol 1. to the Black Eyed Peas’ The E.N.D., EDM-influenced pop from the decade have influenced pop artists like the ones below.

In this week’s playlist:

• Fast - Demi Lovato

• in plain sight - Khalid

• all of that - BAYLI

• BEAT UP CHANEL$ - Slayyyter

• HYPERYOUTH - Joey Valence and Brae

• Play Me - Fcukers

• Plastic Box - JADE

• iPod Touch - Ninajirachi

Other things I want to share with you.

• Last Wednesday, I saw Joey Valence and Brae at Central Park SummerStage (for free!) in the pouring rain. They played songs off their new club record HYPERYOUTH. It was some of the most fun dancing I had all summer. Despite the downpour, there were a decent amount of people there, all of them dancing their asses off. I have a feeling that these guys are about to develop a real cult following. 

• Kevin Jonas performed his first ever solo song “Changing” at last night’s Jonas Brothers concert at Fenway Park in Boston. Jojo was a special guest and performed “Leave (Get Out).” Nick Jonas said it was one of his favorite Jonas Brothers shows ever. Also, Glen Powell was in the audience! 

• Carly Rae Jepsen is celebrating 10 years of her cult classic album Emotion, the definitive catalyst for the turn toward poptimism. She’s rereleasing the album with six new tracks on Oct. 17.

• Tonight is the Love Island USA reunion, aka the official end of season 7. We are almost free. It was confirmed that the full Heart Rate Challenge will be aired, answering the question: What did Huda do with Ace? This will surely bring some drama. I think we’ll also see Huda, Chelley, and Olandria talk through the “mean girl” accusations lobbed at each other. Plus, it seems like there was an argument between Jeremiah and Ace, which is sure to be entertaining. 

• Speaking of Love Island USA, Pepe and Iris are rumored to have broken up since the reunion was taped weeks ago. 

• If you can believe it, Connor Franta discussed his relationship with Troye Sivan and Troye’s song “The Good Side” in a 2025 YouTube video. Huge day for people who lived on YouTube in 2014.

• Online moderators report that their AI replacements are doing a terrible job at catching the horrible, problematic things that are posted everyday.