Latest news with #ticket sales
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Hugh Jackman suffers over Sutton Foster as insider lifts the lid on what's really happening behind the scenes
Sutton Foster raised eyebrows when her romance with Hugh Jackman was made public, but the controversy hasn't proved destructive, with the actress close to selling out her solo tour. Her successful ticket sales are in stark contrast to Jackman, 56, who suffered a humiliating blow to his solo Radio City Music Hall show - with ticket prices dropping to as little as $20. The Younger alum's first show for her 'Sutton in Concert' tour (with Kelli O'Hara in select dates) took place in Chicago on Sunday as part of the outdoor music festival, Ravinia. The tour continues on July 18 in Lenox, Massachusetts, and then Westhampton Beach, New York, on July 19. But, it's already sold out. And, there are also only a handful of tickets left for her upcoming shows in Park City, Utah; York, Pennsylvania and Germantown, Tennessee. Safe to say, fans of Foster should get their tickets soon - even for shows that are four months from now - before they sell out altogether. Jackman, for his part, returns to Radio City Music Hall on July 18 and 19 - and then again a month later - with tickets on resale sites like StubHub still selling for as low as $20 to $32, depending on the section in the theatre. But the pair are ignoring any negative talk about their romance - which some fans believed started as an affair while he was still married to Deborra-Lee Furness - and are 'looking to move forward' with their relationship. A source previously claimed to Daily Mail that while Jackman 'didn't physically cheat' on his ex-wife, the 69-year-old believes they were having 'an emotional affair' and 'feels he betrayed her.' The Australian actress finally filed for divorce in May, two years after they announced their shock separation. It was finalized on June 23. Although Foster and Jackman haven't been spotted together in public since May - when they were seen holding hands in New York City - a source told Daily Mail that they are 'very happy right now.' 'They are looking to move forward while everyone else focuses on going backward and rehashing the past,' the source said. 'Sutton is very much in love with Hugh and is very happy to be together with him, even with people chirping about her divorce and his divorce and how they got together and any other so-called "controversy". 'Her life has led her to Hugh, and she couldn't be happier, and he is equally in love.' Foster has yet to finalize her divorce from estranged husband Ted Griffin. The couple had been married for nearly 10 years when she filed for divorce in October 2024. Daily Mail can reveal that there have been no new updates since Foster and her lawyer filed a response in December. The response was to Griffin's answer to her divorce complaint, in which he also filed a counterclaim - a lawsuit against her. The source told Daily Mail that Foster and Jackman are staying 'far away from the noise as possible' and choosing to 'only deal with drama in their art.' They explained: 'It is easy to get caught up with it all as emotions are high, but they are such a solid unit that they have been able to be a team and not worry about it... because they just don't want to welcome any unwanted or needed drama.' 'They want to be happy, and that is what they are, very happy right now,' the source added. 'No more tears. They are chasing smiles and happiness.' Daily Mail has reached out to Foster and Jackman's reps for comment. Foster's close friend Michael Urie, previously opened up about her new romance, insisting she is 'happy' with the Wolverine actor. 'They seem great. I love him. He's cool. He's very cool. He came around and saw the show,' Michael revealed, when speaking about his 2024 Broadway play with Foster at the Drama Desk Awards. Jackman and Foster's relationship was confirmed in January, with reports at the time claiming the Music Man co-stars had been dating for months, although the timeline has never been confirmed. Furness, who has remained silent for the most part, shocked fans when she released a statement about her 'traumatic journey' and hinted at 'betrayal' in her marriage to Jackman. 'My heart and compassion goes out to everyone who has traversed the traumatic journey of betrayal,' she wrote. She continued, 'This belief has helped me navigate the breakdown of an almost three-decade marriage. I have gained much knowledge and wisdom through this experience. Even when we are presented with apparent adversity, it is leading us to our greatest good, our true purpose.' While Furness splits her time between her native country Australia and New York City, it is rumored that Foster has moved into her marital home - a $21 million penthouse in New York's Chelsea district. Furness was seen in good spirits in Italy last month as she attended the lavish wedding of Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos. According to photos obtained by Daily Mail, the film producer appeared to be having a lovely time as she boarded a water taxi to head to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, wearing a conservative black gown with sheer shoulder panels. A source previously revealed to Daily Mail that Furness 'has gotten offers to go out [on dates] and honestly, she is just not interested in this right now.' Despite the offers and her friends trying to set her up, the insider said dating 'is just not for her' at the moment. She 'never thought in a million years' she would be 'at this stage in her life'...single and no longer with her 'life-long companion.'
Fast Company
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Fast Company
Why music festival tickets cost so much—and why smaller events are suffering the most
In early June, Dave Margulies, owner and producer of High Sierra Music Festival, was working on a printed pocket guide with a show schedule, which organizers will hand out to attendees of the more than 30-year-old Quincy, California, event. That there even would be a festival to navigate this year wasn't a foregone conclusion. Margulies says the festival used to sell about 7,000 tickets annually; in 2023 and 2024, it sold about 4,500 each year. 'It almost sent us into bankruptcy,' he says. Independent festivals like High Sierra have been hit particularly hard, but their main challenge—slumping ticket sales—is shared by big-name events. Coachella—which the past few years has welcomed more than 200,000 attendees over its two weekends—used to sell out in just hours. This year, resellers like StubHub had tickets available for less than face value shortly ahead of the event's first weekend in mid-April. Recent attendance is also less than half of the number who attended the event in 2014. For 2025, Margulies significantly changed how he curated the lineup to curb costs. He did not book high-dollar headliners like Robert Plant, Jason Isbell, and Sturgill Simpson, who all have played the festival in the past, and instead focused on smaller acts like Molly Tuttle, a Grammy-nominated bluegrass guitarist, and the up-and-coming jam band Dogs in a Pile. The extended deadline for Fast Company's Next Big Things in Tech Awards is this Friday, June 27, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.
CNN
01-06-2025
- Business
- CNN
Music festivals were once on the cutting edge. Now, they may be in crisis
Music festivals are facing a crisis. On the brink of what should be another exciting summer festival season, dozens of music festivals are shutting down. The trend has been simmering for years — the longstanding Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago isn't returning this summer, following similar announcements last year from Atlanta's Music Midtown and Kickoff Jam in Florida. Meanwhile, festivals like Jay-Z's Made in America festival and Delaware's Firefly Music Festival haven't returned since 2022. This year, more than 40 festivals have already been canceled, according to one count. These cancellations aren't the only signs that something is awry in the festival scene. For the second year in a row, tickets to Coachella — the preeminent festival in the California desert that once sold out within hours — remained available for months. Electric Forest, Michigan's notable electronic and jam band festival, has also seen a slowdown in sales, igniting more concern over the landscape overall. Some blame the spate of cancellations on changing tastes; others point to the lack of curiosity from younger generations (why pay to see a bunch of acts you haven't heard of?). And, of course, there's a general belt tightening overall. Either way, the result is the same. Music festivals were once on the cutting edge, events where the music and vibe felt fresh and unique. But taken together, the declining ticket sales and cancellations paint a struggling picture of the festival industry, even as other areas of live music thrive. These days, music festivals have become synonymous with summer, with almost every major city boasting their own sweaty sonic assembly. That wasn't always the case. In 1969, when Woodstock brought almost half a million people to see live music at a dairy farm in upstate New York, the event continued to resonate even years afterward, said Tiffany Naiman, director of Music Industry Programs at University of California, Los Angeles. 'It lived in the cultural memory of America,' she said, 'in this idea of a wonderful musical experience that changed people's lives.' Afterward, the desire for similar experiences lingered. Most of the festivals people might be familiar with now — Coachella, Lollapalooza, even Warped Tour — began in the 1990s. Lollapalooza, which began in 1991, notably became the Woodstock for Gen X-ers, Naiman said, a place for community and a diverse set of music. 'It was a great experience for people, because you got to see so many acts and things like that, for so little money,' Naiman said. 'Right now, that has obviously changed.' Blake Atchison, who lives in Nashville, still remembers sneaking into the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival back in 2002, the very first year it was held. Now, he takes his son with him every summer. The whole festival experience, said Atchison — who co-founded Nashville's Deep Tropics festival in 2017 — is magical. There's a sense of discovery in festivals, he said, with all the different stages with different types of music. You can stumble upon an amazing band or DJ that you end up loving, absent of a streaming algorithm feeding you similar sounds over and over again. At a festival, if you're open, Atchison said, you could discover something totally new. 'There's just nothing like it,' he said. 'I love music, I love experiencing music with people, and I don't think there's any purer form to do that than a well put together festival.' But over the years, that festival experience has changed. At Bonnaroo, for example, some longtime attendees have complained that the event has become swarmed with big, corporate sponsors. There's a tension between the two camps: Some mourn the days when the festival felt more bohemian, while others appreciate the increased investment, reflected in better toilets and more popular acts. That divide illustrates just how far festivals have come, but also underlines a challenge: Once integrated into the mainstream, how do these festivals stay distinct? While music festivals have long retained a grip on American identity, their hold might be slipping. Though the number of festivals has ballooned since the late '90s and early aughts, it's not clear that the demand has kept up, said Will Page, former chief economist of Spotify. Inflation and tightening budgets have people spending less in nearly every part of American life, including nightlife, fashion and dining out. While you could once see your favorite act play a major stadium and still attend a festival that same summer, music enthusiasts today are having to choose between the two. 'Roll forward to 2024, you go all in to see Taylor Swift, and you don't bother with the festival,' Page said. 'We're seeing an element of displacement, of cannibalization, of the stadium acts eating the festivals' lunch.' In other words, we've become more risk-averse. Why would you want to travel and pay hundreds of dollars for a weekend pass (not including costs for camping, drinks, food, etc.) to see artists you're not sure you'll enjoy? Especially when you could spend it on Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter tour instead? People want their echo chambers, Page said, and gambling on a festival might not seem worth it. Running a festival has become more challenging for organizers, too. As ticket pricing structures have changed, more artists are foregoing festivals for their own worldwide arena tours, where they can make more money, Page said. That's made it harder for festivals to attract top talent. Operation costs are also rising, Page said, but there's a limit to how much festivals can charge for tickets. 'You have a credit crunch facing festivals across the board,' he said. 'But particularly the smaller festivals are less able to hedge, less able to negotiate those terms, to manage that cost inflation.' The vulnerability of these smaller events can cause issues for prospective buyers. Midwest Dreams, a new EDM festival in St. Louis, was meant to kick off at the end of May, but organizers postponed the event to November about a week before the scheduled start. While a press release points to the damage caused by a recent tornado, onlookers noted that other events at the venue are still proceeding as scheduled. Refunds for the event were also reportedly only offered for 24 hours, after which tickets would roll over to the new date — although in an email to CNN, festival organizers noted the time limit was a ticket vendor policy and anyone who wants a refund will get it. Some fans understood the move; others claimed the festival was covering for low ticket sales. Midwest Dreams denied those claims. Then there's the increasing frequency of severe weather events. Acts can't perform if there's lightning, Naiman said, and insurance can also be a headache. Temperatures are also getting much hotter. The unpredictability of a music festival is part of the experience — but it can also make potential festival-goers wary. Last year, Electric Forest — where single-day passes are going for $175 in 2025 — was plagued with so much rain and severe thunderstorms that the festival was forced to end early and nix performances from headliners. A year later, some fans are still irate over not receiving a refund or voucher. (Electric Forest did not respond to CNN's request for comment.) Either way, for both organizers and attendees, festivals are simply becoming harder bets. And it's not just in the US. Festivals in Canada, in the United Kingdom, and across Europe have seen similar struggles, creating a picture of a worldwide music festival slump. The problems facing music festivals are the same problems facing almost every aspect of society. Money's tight, and the way people discover and experience music today is changing. But people still want to see live music, Naiman said. Indeed, even as the cost of concert tickets has soared, consumers have kept splurging. But among larger festivals, there's been little change or growth over the years, Naiman said. Instead, there's been a flattening, with the same artists playing and the same styles of music. (Case in point: Luke Combs, Tyler, the Creator, and Olivia Rodrigo are all headlining both Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza this year.) 'The larger ones are plateauing because they haven't changed for the better,' Naiman said. 'I don't think that Coachella is doing anything unique or radical anymore.' That unique, grassroots vibe for which many longstanding music festivals became popular has somewhat faded in recent years, particularly as behemoths Live Nation and AEG have gathered ownership over major music festivals, leaning toward a more mainstream EDM and pop-centric lineup. For some longtime fans, that change is hard to swallow. Lollapalooza, for example, which began as a farewell tour before evolving into an underground alternative rock festival, was acquired by Live Nation in 2014. In 2016, bemoaning the influx of EDM into the lineup, Lollapalooza founder and Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell told the Chicago Tribune: 'I sometimes cringe at my own festival.' And music fans seem to be gravitating toward other spaces to experience something new. Currently, The All-American Rejects are embarking on a nationwide house party tour, eschewing traditional venues for backyards, college campuses and, in one instance, a bowling alley. Though the pop-rock band is still playing some summer festivals (Warped Tour, Shaky Knees and Aftershock), while opening for the Jonas Brothers in stadiums, these unconventional shows and the ensuing social media hype have revived the band's early aughts buzz. To set themselves apart, smaller festivals have had to move beyond music as a way to entice audiences, Atchison said. Deep Tropics, which he said has seen an average of 43% growth year over year since its founding in 2017, has focused on sustainability, and integrated more speakers, workshops, and even yoga and breathwork into the festival. 'There's other elements that fans are searching for,' Atchison said. Part of the solution may also lie in reframing what a music festival actually means. Naiman used the Sundance Film Festival as an example, where film buffs gather not to see their favorite movies, but to be the first to uncover the coolest up-and-coming directors and actors. 'Though we like being in our echo chamber, I think there's a hunger for new things,' Naiman said. 'I think it's really about framing it, and how festivals frame this idea of discovery and experience versus seeing whoever again.' That hunger for new things is vital. For music festivals, their survival may very well depend on it.
