Live Show Code of Conduct: What Should Fans and Artists Expect From Each Other?

Written by Eli Gillespie, Photo by Sebastian Ervi

In 2023, live music has become increasingly expensive and inaccessible for the average fan. For example, the cheapest tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour were sold on Ticketmaster in  the $300 range due to the site’s dynamic pricing tool, which raises ticket prices based on event demand. As a result, the resale market for the Era’s Tour became even more absurd, with prices reaching as high as $90,000 for one ticket. 

Swift recognizes and appreciates that fans are willing to pay exorbitant prices for her services and has designed a live show  to give fans value for their money. For example, Swift performs 44 songs over the span of three hours at each show, which is triple the length of the average headlining set. However, not all artists can deliver the same caliber of show that Swift can. 

In the age of exorbitant prices, it is natural for fans to have higher expectations when they purchase tickets for a show. Is it fair to expect artists to go above and beyond to provide a show that reflects the cost of admission, especially when they have little to no control over the ticket price? My answer to this question is no. 

Frank Ocean’s performance at this year’s Coachella is the most relevant example of my argument. This year, Ocean was announced as Coachella’s Sunday headliner, marking his first live performance since 2017. As a result, his inclusion in the lineup served as a significant selling point for fans to attend the festival. 

Once Ocean hit the stage for the first weekend at Coachella, fans were disappointed and underwhelmed by his performance. Ocean’s performance started close to an hour late and ended early due to the festival’s curfew. Ocean also did not sing for a portion of his set, as he played his own music off-tape as a DJ.  

Many critics argued that Ocean displayed a lack of effort in his performance, which is disappointing for the fans that spent considerable money to see him perform. For context, Coachella only sells tickets in three-day packages, starting at a price point of $499 plus fees, which also doesn’t include the high transportation and housing costs most festival goers pay. 

Ocean eventually canceled his second-weekend performance, claiming he suffered a leg injury before the first show. A statement from his publicist stated that “[Frank] was unable to perform the intended [first] show but was still intent on performing, and in 72 hours, the show was reworked out of necessity. On doctor’s advice, Frank Ocean is not able to perform weekend two due to two fractures and a sprain in his left leg.” 

Many fans were skeptical of Frank’s statement, believing the ankle injury was fabricated to excuse the artist’s subpar performance. Even if the ankle injury is not real, Frank does not owe anything to Coachella’s fans and promoters. Even though Frank’s set started late and was abbreviated, he did show up and perform for over an hour the first weekend. After canceling his second performance, Ocean returned the $4 million dollars that he was promised for that weekend. 

Overall, Frank did everything correctly and acted ethically. It is essential to understand that the music industry is a business in which performers and artists are frequently exploited to benefit the fans and corporations. Therefore, artists should be allowed to do the bare minimum to benefit themselves financially. 

The increase in concert ticket prices has also caused issues for artists, as it corresponds with an increase in entitled fan behavior. Since live music reopened after Covid, artists have had to deal with fans throwing things on stage, screaming while the artist is attempting to talk, and attempting to jump on stage themselves.

Some artists have expressed frustration over fan behavior. For example, Steve Lacy made headlines after he was recorded smashing a fan’s disposable camera thrown on stage at an October 2022 show in New Orleans, culminating in the R&B crooner abruptly storming off stage and ending his set. 

Lacy addressed the situation in an Instagram post the day later, in which he said “I don’t believe I owe anyone an apology – maybe I could’ve reacted better? Sure. Always. I’m a student of life. But I’m a real person with real feelings and real reactions.”

Fan entitlement is also leading to physical violence against performing artists. During a recent performance in New York, singer Bebe Rexha was struck in the face by a cell phone thrown by 27-year-old Nicholas Malvagna. The incident left a cut above Rexha’s left eye, requiring the artist to have stitches. 

In an interview with the NY Post, Malvagna explained his actions: "I was trying to see if I could hit her with the phone at the end of the show because it would be funny.” Malvagna would later be arrested and charged with assault, aggravated harassment, attempted assault, and harassment. 

Sadly, Rexha is not the only artist to suffer physical injury due to a fan; Ava Max was recently slapped by a fan who charged the stage at her show in Los Angeles. The assaults against Max and Rexha are examples of the entitled mentality that consumers have developed. Fans believe that because they are paying lots of money to see a show, they deserve to act however they want to. In the current climate, some fans dehumanize performers and view them as objects solely for entertainment, often disregarding that the people on stage also have feelings. 

While lowering ticket prices may relieve stress from artists and lower consumers' expectations, fans' entitlement at shows indicates a larger cultural issue in which fans take artists for granted. While there is no easy solution to this problem, I believe the industry’s biggest artists will eventually have to unite to raise awareness for this issue. If fans are unwilling to treat artists like humans, then artists shouldn’t perform until the typical fan’s mentality changes.