Why "Blue Dot Fever" is Making Tours Cancel as Artists Struggle to Fill Seats
Economic strains, high costs, and a crowded touring landscape are causing "Blue Dot Fever," making it difficult for even major artists to sell out shows and leading to tour cancellations.
On May 1st, Post Malone announced that he was canceling six tour dates and pushing back the start of “The BIG ASS Stadium Tour Part 2” with Jelly Roll . Post said the decision came because he needed more time to finish his upcoming double album, The Eternal Buzz . “Truth is, I promised y’all beautiful people new music, and I don’t have the time to finish it before tour starts,” he shared on social media.
The tour was set to kick off on May 13th in El Paso, Texas. Local ABC station KVIA covered Malone’s axed Sun Bowl show, stating, “Ticketmaster showed a majority of tickets not sold.” During the news segment, the station displayed a seating chart of the approximately 50,000-seat venue dominated by a sea of blue dots, indicating, “the blue ones are empty seats.”
“Seems that Post Malone came down with a serious case of Blue Dot Fever,” a music insider told Page Six on May 4th. “And it’s contagious.”
It appears Blue Dot Fever is the new preferred term for any face-saving excuse or illness that is actually caused by not selling enough tickets. Also suffering from the affliction: Meghan Trainor, who canceled her entire “Get in Girl” tour, citing work-life balance after welcoming her third child in January. “Balancing the release of a new album, preparing for a nationwide tour, and welcoming our new baby girl to our growing family of five has just been more than I can take on right now, and I need to be home and present for each and all of them at this time,” Trainor said on her Instagram story in mid-April. A lovely narrative, but how true is it?
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“Some people online suspected that low ticket sales may partly be to blame for the cancellation, as seating maps from last month showed that most seats at some venues had not been purchased,” Variety wrote in an April 16th post about Trainor’s canceled tour.
The Pussycat Dolls are the latest artists to fall ill with Blue Dot Fever. Unlike Post and Trainor, the Dolls are upfront about their weak ticket sales . “After taking an honest look at the North American run, we’ve made the difficult and heartbreaking decision to cancel all but one of the North America dates,” the group wrote in an Instagram statement on May 4th.
While there wasn’t exactly an appetite for a one-half-of The Pussycat Dolls amphitheater tour, Post Malone hit the road in support of his country album, F-1 Trillion , in the fall of 2024 — and the entire stadium tour sold out. What could have changed in the span of less than two years?
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Ticket Prices
Going to a concert now feels less like a casual night out and more like financing a luxury purchase. Far gone are the days when you could snag a ticket for a top-act for less than a car payment, with ticket prices having skyrocketed to eye-watering heights. According to Rolling Stone , industry veterans point to three key factors that contribute to stratospheric ticket prices: supply and demand (see: dynamic pricing), rampant scalping, and Live Nation’s dominance of the entertainment space, from beer to food to parking to Ticketmaster service fees. Together, these elements drive ticket prices to exorbitant costs, which is repelling music lovers from the scenes they adore most.
According to Pollstar , the 2025 average ticket price was $132.62, a 2.4% drop from 2024’s peak of $135.92. Last year’s price is still more than either 2022 or 2023, however. The average increased from $96.17 in 2019 to $106.07 in 2022, marking the first time it had crossed the $100 threshold. Music promotion entity AMW shared in a statistics report that the average concert ticket price in 2026 has reached $144.
Even repeat concert attendees are having to re-think their ability to see their favorite artists. “The prices are insane,” Courtney Manthey, University of Montana graduate student and Post Malone fan, told the school’s student paper in February. “I love Post Malone, don’t get me wrong, but I ain’t paying $400 to have to squint to see him.” Regular seats ranged from $231.50 on the far side of the stadium to $346.50 for stage-adjacent seating. We’re not even talking fees, parking, food, or gas.
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While it would be easy to say concert demand has dipped, the closer truth is fans are becoming far more selective about which shows are actually worth the price of admission.
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_Originally reported by [Consequence](https://consequence.net/2026/05/blue-dot-fever-tour-cancellations/)._
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