A dedicated concertgoer paid $180 for a front-row seat to see their favourite band last week. By the time they arrived at the venue, they had already seen seventeen TikToks of the opening song, four Instagram Reels of the surprise guest appearance, and a Reddit thread ranking every song in order of how hard the bassist was sweating.
The setlist was posted by someone in the parking lot who hadn’t even entered the building yet. Another user live-tweeted the soundcheck. A third person uploaded a thirty-second clip of the drummer tuning that somehow went viral and got 400,000 views before the actual show began.
Why do fans keep doing this to themselves? Because the social media algorithm has decided that experiencing a live concert in real-time is less important than being the first person to document it for strangers who will never see it.
One fan reported feeling “genuinely devastated” when the band played their most anticipated song at minute forty-three, exactly as predicted by a TikTok posted at minute twelve. Another paid $250 for a VIP package specifically to avoid spoilers, only to have the setlist leaked by the VIP meet-and-greet photographer who got bored waiting in the green room.
The band’s official account posted a plea asking fans to stay off their phones. It received 12,000 retweets and was immediately drowned out by live footage of the exact moment the plea was made.
Concert tickets now come with a disclaimer: “Experience may vary depending on how many strangers with better camera angles than you are currently uploading it to the internet.”