It’s the first time in 14 years that Burning Man hasn’t sold out before the event, and tickets are still available with T-minus ten days until the gates open, after last year’s mucked-up nightmare where people couldn't leave.
It has been the custom for a number of years that Burning Man tickets sell out in, oh, about 29 minutes. The Labor Day week-and-weekend event in northern Nevada does limited additional sales in the summertime lead-up, but those always quickly sell out too. And while there was a sudden glut of thousands of people trying to unload their Burning Man tickets last year, those were still fully bought and paid for tickets, though the event ended up being drenched by Tropical Storm Hilary to the point that people weren’t allowed to leave on the final days of the event from Friday through Monday afternoon.
Those developments may be part of the (pardon the expression) perfect storm that has Burning Man tickets still available just ten days out before the 2024 event, as the New York Times reports today. Indeed, a look at the Burning Man tickets page shows normal-priced $575 tickets ($630.75 with service fees) still available as of Thursday afternoon.
And here's a sight we haven't seen in many years: This year, you could once again just walk right up to a retail shop and buy Burning Man tickets over the counter, and during the month of August at that. Granted, the sales described above were last weekend, and the Burning Man Project has not announced any similar walk-up sales since. But it’s certainly a sign of the times that they sold tickets outside their own online walled garden again, for the first time in more than a decade.
Burning Man tickets have sold out well before the event every year they’ve held it since 2011.
“Most of the feedback I get is: ‘I needed a year off,’” Burning Man Project CEO Marian Goodell told the Times. “The other feedback I get is the economy; being laid off; the cost to not just buy a ticket, but to get yourself there; the cost of fuel; the cost to be away from your job.”
Last year’s disastrous weather is likely playing a big part in the softened ticket demand. The ongoing tech industry layoffs may have a role too, as the event is known for drawing the tech set. But it may be a broader trend affecting large-scale arts and entertainment events — as the Times notes, Coachella tickets sales slumped this year too, and even last weekend’s perennially sold-out Outside Lands had some single-day tickets remaining at the last minute.
Still, the Burning Man Project claims they estimate more than 70,000 people will show up on the playa this year. Last year’s event drew just shy of 75,000 people.
Image: Bikes decorated with paper flowers at the annual Burning Man festival that takes place in the Nevada desert and is a 10 day festival of alternate art, culture and music. (Getty Images)
