Burning Man Didn’t Sell Out, For The First Time

The Burning Man Festival usually sells out months in advance, within minutes after tickets go on sale. It’s sold out every year since 2011. But in 2024, with only days before the festival is set to kick off, there are still plenty of tickets available.

The festival began in San Francisco in 1986 before moving to the Nevada desert, where everyone could let their freak flag fly more freely. Last year, over 75,000 people attended. This year’s projections look like that number will drop to around 70,000.

There are several factors at play. Global post-pandemic inflation has everyone tightening their belts, even those who cosplay as Mad Max characters for a weekend. Everything is more expensive, from the travel expenses to the pair of old-timey motorcycle goggles that match your spiked leather military officer’s cap. 

The weather is also playing a big role. 2022’s event was spoiled by heatwave. 2023’s Burning Man featured torrential downpours that turned the desert into mud, stranding attendees well beyond their allotted PTO. People probably don’t want to find out if the third time’s the charm.

Burning Man’s predicament isn’t entirely unique. Festivals and concerts of all types have been seeing record-low attendance in 2024. Ticket sales at this year’s Coachella festival were way down, and several musical artists hoping to tour the US this year had to either drastically reduce ticket prices or cancel their tours altogether due to low ticket sales. 

Years ago, Burning Man felt like a groundbreaking experiment, combining radical self-expression, fringe art, and anti-consumerism. As it grew in size and popularity, it increasingly faced criticism for its perceived commercialization, negative environmental impact, and elitism. It’s also possible, culturally speaking, that we’ve just outlived Burning Man’s usefulness. 

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