The All American Rejects: Rocking Against the Increasingly Inaccessible Concert Economy
By Iko Lee ‘26
In September 2024, Ticketmaster fell under fresh scrutiny after Oasis fans were greeted with exorbitant prices during the initial ticket sale for the band’s reunion tour. Fans had waited in long online queues with the expectation that, once let in, they would be able to purchase tickets for the price they’d been shown. Instead, they found that many tickets were now selling for twice the original price. Ticketmaster had not informed fans that seat prices would adjust as more were sold, with prices of high-demand seats increasing as cheaper seats were sold. There was also seemingly no difference between the pricier “platinum” seats and regular seats with regards to location and viewing experience. This past September, Ticketmaster signed an agreement to be upfront with fans about ticket prices before entering the queue. The agreement did not, however, make any changes regarding the original high prices in the first place.
Ever since the start of Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” in 2022, there’s been consistent controversy surrounding the cost of seeing live music. A study from Pollstar found that the average cost of concert tickets rose from $91 in 2020 to $135 in 2024. The rising prices of tickets is contrasted against an increasingly While many solo artists such as Kid Rock, Robert Smith of The Cure, and Jack Antonoff of Bleachers have publicly criticized Ticketmaster’s predatory sale tactics, 2000’s pop punk band The All American Rejects have gone a step further and restructured their approach to touring in protest of what lead singer Marcus Ingram referred to as the “complete inaccessibility of the concert experience in 2025.” Since the beginning of summer, the band has been playing small pop up shows in backyards, college campuses, parks, and “any building that will host [them] as part of the aptly named “House Party Tour.”
On the official tour website, the band invites fans to share their phone number and city, with the promise that they will “text you when [they] come your way!” The tour gained a lot of traction when the word got out that they would be playing at the Memory Lanes Bowling Alley in Minneapolis. Despite the band only giving notice a couple of hours before the performance, lines allegedly wrapped around the block and packed the bowling alley. The Rejects have also been partnering with local organizations for many of their performances. Their bowling alley show, for example, was free, with a suggested $5-$10 donation at the door to the Twin Cities United Performers, a local organization of musicians advocating for labor rights. For another show, the band partnered with the University of Missouri’s radio station, KCOU, to hold the “School’s Out” pop-up show on a local’s front porch. General manager of KCOU, John Sansone, commented how, “it was incredible to see a band that normally fills out full arenas to come back to their roots and play a DIY house show for a few hundred people.” Having gotten his start in music in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, lead singer Matt Ingram stressed the importance of having performance spaces like basements and porches. “Music shouldn’t have to be born in a social-media environment. It should be fostered in hometowns with local followings,” he said.
The tour is not financially viable for the band whatsoever; they’ve been financing their travels completely out of pocket and giving almost all the money they make at the doors to the local orgs and promoters they’ve worked with. It’s really exciting to see such a big band like The Rejects embracing this DIY spirit, and I hope to see more bigname artists doing pop-up shows in the future.