From Justin Timberlake's lackluster performance to Coldplay's 'kiss cam' scandal, concerts are making headlines this summer — but not for the music
Each year, millions of people purchase tickets to see their favorite artists live in concert — and that number is only growing. And while Taylor Swift may not currently be performing, following the end of her nearly two-year Eras Tour, other stars, such as Beyoncé and Coldplay, are filling in the gap, attracting massive crowds and making headlines.
But several recent concerts have made waves this summer for reasons unrelated to the music.
In fact, some of the biggest pop culture moments of the season so far have taken place at concerts, from a major 'kiss cam' scandal to a pop star who doesn't appear to be singing much.
Justin Timberlake gets called out for not singing
Justin Timberlake has been known for his vocal range since his NSync days, which is why many fans were surprised to find that, during his recent world tour, he didn't seem to be singing all that much. Multiple videos posted on social media this month from different shows across the tour show the 'SexyBack' artist singing a few bars before holding out the mic for the audience to take the rest of a verse.
During a July 17 performance at Transylvania's Electric Castle festival, fans who waited in the rain for JT later accused him of giving a middling performance. In an Instagram post, Timberlake thanked fans for attending the 'wild show' and 'rockin' with me in the rain,' but many fans expressed their disappointment in the comments.
'Not THAT wild of a show … and I'm a huge fan,' one wrote. 'The delay I got, I accepted it, but the part with you not singing even your most famous verses.. nope, I did not. Us in the crowd wanted to hear you sing the songs we played at home over and over again and danced on so many times, but unfortunately you did not deliver this time.'
Another commenter wrote that they bought tickets to the festival just for Timberlake and 'waited patiently' for the show to start even after a 'big delay.' However, they wrote, 'something happened.'
'You did not click with the crowd, the show felt soulless and bored, ended abruptly and earlier,' the commenter continued. 'It was disrespectful towards the many thousands of people waiting for you. Too bad, could have been a nice evening.'
Still, others defended Timberlake, arguing that it seemed clear — at least at the Electric Castle festival performance — that the Social Network actor was under the weather.
Katy Perry almost falls out of the air midsong
Katy Perry's Lifetimes Tour has been endlessly memed on social media, with fans both delighted and baffled by the futuristic-themed spectacle. Some have called it 'messy, while others have found the show emblematic of the campy charm Perry is known for.
But Perry's performance of 'Roar' during her July 18 concert in San Francisco inspired genuine fear from the audience when the mechanical butterfly she was hanging on to dropped unexpectedly.
Perry handled the situation like a pro (and fortunately she held tight to the butterfly!), but the reactions made clear that aerial stunts are not for the faint of heart — whether you're a performer or just below one in the audience.
Coldplay sparks a 'kiss cam' scandal
During Coldplay's July 16 show at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, the band's frontman, Chris Martin, had some fun with the crowd while performing 'The Jumbotron Song.' When a couple showed up on the "kiss cam" and then ducked out of view immediately, Martin joked that they were either 'having an affair' or 'just very shy.'
Turns out, Martin was correct. The internet did its thing and quickly discovered the identities of the people at the concert, the CEO of tech firm Astronomer, Andy Byron, and his chief people officer, Kristin Cabot. Both are married to other people. The awkward moment sparked endless memes as well as conversations about privacy in today's digital age.
Beyoncé is left hanging after a concert malfunction
Perry isn't the only pop star who was left dangling onstage due to a faulty prop. Beyoncé's July 28 concert in her hometown of Houston ended abruptly after the flying car prop she was seated in while singing '16 Carriages' malfunctioned, leaving her suspended and tilted in midair.
After stopping the song, Beyoncé was eventually lowered and able to get out of the car safely. She even returned to finish performing the hit track from her Cowboy Carter album after a brief pause backstage.
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It points to an America—and a broader Western Hemisphere—built on the backs of Black labor, inspired by Black innovation, and powered by Black ingenuity. When Beyoncé rolled into Houston's NRG Stadium on June 28 and 29, her hometown got more than it bargained and budgeted for. According to Axios, hotels near the stadium hit 79 percent occupancy -- a sharp increase from 61 percent the prior year, OpenTable reported a 43 percent increase in Houston-area reservations over that three-day period compared to the same stretch last year. Beyoncé's economic impact extended well beyond Texas. During her stop in the nation's capital over Fourth of July weekend, restaurants surrounding Northwest Stadium (formerly Fedex Field) in Landover, Maryland saw nightly profit spikes of $15,000 to $20,000. All gains that Tom Smith described as beneficial for local economics. 'You gotta have the boots, you gotta have the shirt, you gotta have the hat,' said Smith, an economist at Emory University. 'You gotta have all the things. It's not even worth—it's not even worth going if you don't have all the things making the concert an economic driver for local business in the region.' Beyond uplifting local business, Smith, a bass guitar player himself, also emphasized the broader importance of the tour economy as a catalyst for the industries that power live entertainment. That includes stagecrafters, electrical engineers, lighting designers, dancers, musicians, publicists, costume designers, and the full teams that support them. 'A lot of those jobs were decimated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when no one was going on tour,' Smith said. 'And now, these big, mammoth tours, these big stadium tours are spending millions of dollars every night on the people that make sure that the sound and the lights and the ancillary element are working.' SYDNEY COLEMAN (L) and JESSICA HANNAH (R) traveled from Houston, TX. Fans of Beyonce queue to enter ... More SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on April 28, 2025 to watch her first concert of her newTour named "Cowboy Carter." (Photo by Bexx Francois/For The Washington Post via Getty Images) Cowboy Carter is Beyoncé's second U.S. tour since the pandemic. And while it's most definitely different in tone, the financial punch for America's big cities remains the same. It couldn't come at a more convenient time, either, as cities across the country are seeing a decrease in crime and are searching for new sources of revenue amid a cavalcade of budget cuts from Washington, D.C. As Beyoncé's golden horse, floating horseshoe, and many of her now-iconic Cowboy Carter costumes make their way to the storage units, it's likely her economic impact — not just her spectacle — that cities and states will remember. Beyoncé's name was never on the ballot. She never passed a bill or rage-tweeted on X. And yet, her version of disruption has managed to move both culture and the economy. In her song 'American Requiem,' Knowles-Carter asks listeners to confront the complex and often painful history of race and culture in America. It's a counter narrative to today's political moment, one that treats historical truth as a liability. Through it all, Beyoncé may be proving something radically different: that reckoning with the past isn't just necessary, it might also be profitable.
