Kid Rock has pushed back against “fake liberal media” reports about $5,000 tickets being offered at his upcoming ‘Freedom 250 Tour‘. The conservative rap-rock/country star has fashioned himself as a champion against inflated ticket prices and scalping in recent years, partnering with the Trump administration in their legal efforts to curb the practice. A subsequent lawsuit filed against Ticketmaster/Live Nation this past September drew support from Rock, who this past October shared:
“What [Trump] did was he ordered the FTC & the Department of Justice to go investigate and see what the hell is going on with ticketing. Well, guess what? They investigated and what happened? They filed a f*cking lawsuit against Ticketmaster, because clearly they found out that those motherf*ckers are crooks, and they’ve been crooks for decades. F*cking over the public. F*cking over artists.”
The FTC For their part alleged that Ticketmaster & Live Nation had been engaging in, ‘deceptive pricing tactics and earned hundreds of millions selling tickets acquired illegally by brokers, costing consumers billions of dollars in inflated prices and additional fees.’
While Rock went on to deliver testimony in front of a Senate Commerce Committee regarding the matter earlier this year, he has since partnered with Ticketmaster for this upcoming trek. Spelling out the new arrangement he reached with that business for this trek, he offered the following bullet points:
- Kid Rock‘s Freedom 250 Tour is using Ticketmaster‘s Face Value Exchange to keep tickets in the hands of real fans — not scalpers.
- Tickets can only be resold for the original price paid, including fees and taxes. No markups.
- If you cant make the show, the only place to resell is on Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster does not charge any fees to resell or to purchase resold tickets.
- Ticket transfer is turned off in most places — that’s how we stop tickets from being flipped on other sites for profit.
- If you’re bringing friends, you’ll enter the show together with your group.
- Face Value Exchange makes sure every resale ticket is 100% legit and gets fans through the door.
- If you buy on any other site, there is no guarantee you’ll get in the door – and most likely you won’t.
- Some states, like Illinois, don’t allow artists like me to restrict resale, so transfer has to stay on — but Ticketmaster will still keep prices at face value on its site.
- This isn’t perfect, but it’s a real step to shut down scalpers and protect fans. No extra cost to fans — same tickets, same prices, just fairer access.
- Bottom line: buy tickets, go to the show, and if plans change, sell them the right way so another fan gets in.
However, upon the reveal of ticket prices for this trek, Rock faced criticism from the media and on social media over his decision to make multiple ticket price options available for thousands of dollars a pop. Among them, are limited $5,000 ‘first class’ seating options in front row, $4,000 seating options in the second row and more.
A glimpse at that pricing model as seen via Ticketmaster for his May 08th stop at the Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek in Raleigh, NC can be found below:
Taking to social media yesterday, February 21st, Rock fired back at his detractors, stating:
“Here we go again.
The fake liberal media says I’m charging $5,000 for front-row tickets.
They know damn well that’s not the full story.
Those are extremely limited First Class seats like I explained — FOUR tickets per row, first five rows only (5k per seat row 1, 4k row 2, 3k row 3, 2k row 4, 1k row 5) — Again ONLY 4 seats in rows 1 through 5 (20 “first class” seats in venues that hold 15k to 25k people)
But instead of reporting facts or that lawn seats are only 50 bucks or how we are cutting out the scalpers, they twist it for headlines / clicks and to attack me – nothing new here.
I WILL pray for them but I know that sooner or later God will cut ‘em down.”
The itinerary for Kid Rock‘s aforementioned ‘Freedom 250 Tour‘, which aims to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, include:
05/01 Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion (feat. Brantley Gilbert & Them Dirty Roses)
05/08 Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek (feat. Brantley Gilbert & Them Dirty Roses)
05/09 Charlotte, NC – Truliant Amphitheater (feat. Brantley Gilbert & Them Dirty Roses)
05/15 St. Louis, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre (feat. Parker McCollum)
05/16 Tinley Park, IL – Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre (feat. Parker McCollum)
05/30 Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre (feat. Big & Rich & Them Dirty Roses)
