There are fears that the iconic Burning Man festival is reaching its final stages, with demand for tickets at an all-time low just a week before the event kicks off.
Last year, fed-up revelers fled Nevada’s Black Rock Desert after torrential rains turned the event into a muddy mess – and now it seems the magic has been lost.
Tickets for Burning Man are usually in high demand, but in an unprecedented move, the festival has released last-minute tickets.
As organisers of the week-long festival, known for drug use and huge orgies, make desperate attempts to sell tickets, a Facebook group is full of people trying to sell them.
Prices start at $575 before taxes and fees, and vehicle passes cost an additional $150. This time, people are willing to sell them below face value or at “best offer” for the Aug. 25 festival.
Last year around this time, tickets were selling like wildfire, with people hoping to get a last-minute pass, but this time it’s a different story. (Pictured: Karlie Kloss poses at Burning Man)
Last year, a mass exodus consumed the festival as fed-up revelers fled Nevada’s Black Rock Desert after torrential rains turned the drug- and orgy-filled experience into a muddy mess. (pictured: a massive traffic jam as people tried to leave the festival)
People like Graham Chapman were given an extra ticket after his partner was unable to attend the festival, but he had no idea someone would offer him just $300 for the ticket he paid full price for.
“It’s a shame, because I don’t have that disposable income to spend,” Chapman said. The San Francisco Standard.
“It’s literally a scam, just on the buyer’s side. I just got the offer and I thought, ‘Yuck, this is disgusting, sleazy and opportunistic,'” he added.
Burning Man has a reputation as an anti-capitalist festival, but many of its regular attendees are now complaining that they were scammed out of money for tickets they bought at full price.
One person even offered him $200 for the ticket, to which he replied in frustration: “Decommodification goes both ways.”
According to the ’10 principles of Burning Man’, or the Principles of the festivalDecommodification ‘protects Burning Man culture from being used to promote, support, or market a person, product, company, or any type of commercial endeavor.’
Like Chapman, a mother and 20-year Burning Man veteran, she also lost about $800 after turning to the Facebook group Burning Man Tickets and Vehicle Pass Exchange to sell them.
The festival gets its name from its culminating event, the burning of a large 40-foot wooden sculpture called the Man (pictured) on the penultimate night.
A Facebook group ‘Burning Man Tickets and Vehicle Pass Exchange’ is packed with people trying to get rid of their expensive tickets at lower prices.
Attendees were initially ordered not to leave after exit routes were rendered impassable by half an inch of rain. (pictured: a reveller wading through thick mud at the festival last year)
“Burning Man tickets always suck,” Tess C. said of her mother’s ticket sales experience.
“Normally it’s stressful to make sure you have tickets. This year it was stressful to get rid of them,” he added.
An anonymous user posted in the online group about selling a general admission ticket for $575 and was immediately criticized by another member.
“You’re going to eat that bill if you sell it for twice the price of everyone else,” they replied.
Martin Rauchbauer said he would be happy to sell his extra ticket for $300, as long as someone else gets to enjoy the festival.
“Of course it’s a shame to lose money,” Rauchbauer said. But Burning Man has been criticized for being elitist and expensive.
“Whatever the reason for the lower demand this year, I think it’s good that people who otherwise wouldn’t come have the opportunity to go for the first time.”
Tens of thousands of people travel to this remote area of northwestern Nevada every year to gather in this temporary city to create art, dance and enjoy community. (Pictured: Molly from Salt Lake City poses for a photo at Burning Man)
Dominique Debucquoy-Dodley, a spokesperson for the Burning Man Project, told The San Francisco Standard that the organization was “adjusting 2024 ticket sales to reflect recent trends around the world showing last-minute ticket purchases.”
DailyMail.com has contacted the Burning Man Project for comment.
During last year’s festival, partygoers attacked each other after organisers pleaded with those trying to leave the filthy camp to be patient amid panic over food and water shortages.
Attendees were initially ordered not to leave after exit roads were rendered impassable by a half-inch of rain.
Those who chose to leave before the “burning,” in which the effigy that gives the festival its name is set alight, waited in queues for five hours to reach the open road.
People were urged not to attempt to walk away from the festival, while celebrity attendees including Chris Rock, actor Austin Butler and DJ Diplo attempted to escape.
The festival also made headlines last year after the death of festival-goer Leon Reece, 32, who was found unconscious at the event.
People It was reported in October last year that his death was an accident after taking cocaine and ecstasy.
People were urged not to try to walk from the festival, and famous attendees including Chris Rock, actor Austin Butler and DJ Diplo managed to escape. (pictured: a long line of attendees waiting for a bus to leave Burning Man)
Burning Man aims to be an indefinable event, halfway between a celebration of counterculture and a spiritual retreat.
Due to heavy rain and muddy conditions, crews were delayed in responding to a distress call for Reece, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
The festival had to deal with an intense heatwave and strong winds in 2022, making the experience difficult for “burners,” as festival-goers are known.
While a dust storm forced organizers to temporarily close entrances in 2018, the event was canceled altogether during the pandemic.
Tens of thousands of people travel to this remote area of northwestern Nevada each year to gather in the temporary city to make art, dance and enjoy community.
Burning Man aims to be an indefinable event, halfway between a celebration of counterculture and a spiritual retreat.
The festival gets its name from its culminating event, the burning of a large 40-foot wooden sculpture called the Man on the penultimate night.
The gathering, which originated as a small function in 1986 on a San Francisco beach, has a budget of $45 million and is attended by celebrities and social media influencers.
There are no financial transactions and guests are encouraged to barter to get what they need. Burning Man regulars complained that the festival had become gentrified and bankrupt in recent years, ahead of a drop in demand in 2024.