When the Steve Miller Band abruptly scrapped its 31‑date U.S. tour on Wednesday, the official statement pointed to “extreme heat, unpredictable flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes and massive forest fires” as risks “unacceptable” for fans, crew and the 81‑year‑old front man. “You can blame it on the weather… the tour is cancelled,” the note concluded.
But many fans—and even some industry insiders—aren’t buying it.
Within minutes of the announcement, X (formerly Twitter) users began sharing Ticketmaster screenshots showing wide swaths of unsold blue dots for multiple dates and price drops on “platinum” seats.
Responses were quick, even in the very thread bringing the cancellation announcement and explaination:
Many others in the thread expressed anger at the band’s choice and the impact it would have on the support staff that just lost the work that the tour dates would have brought, and the disappointment that fans face when they’ve laid out their money for a show, only to see it called off.
Plenty of others expressed anger at the “woke” nature of the potential for extreme weather being blamed in the cancellation.
The questioning of the tour’s cancellation wasn’t limited to internet commentary. Music critic and blogger Bob Lefsetz blasted the tour cancellation, and was quick to point to the opacity of the ticketing ecosystem as a likely contributer.
“Sure, Miller gets some support [from his fans]… but most are angry and know this is a cover-up, an excuse for poor ticket sales,” Lefsetz wrote “And this hurts everybody.”
“I mean how much can you abuse your audience?” Lefzetz wrote later in the peice. “Give credit to the Black Keys, at least they admitted they couldn’t sell the tickets and canceled their tour and went out the next time in smaller buildings. Honesty is the best policy!”
Ticket Pricing Problems Causing Tour Crashes
If the speculation regarding Miller’s weather blame being nothing more than a smokescreen, it would be just the latest in an increasing trend of cancellations at least probably attributable to poor sales from pricing too high.
As Lefsetz referenced, the Black Keys drew headlines a year ago over the cancellation of their International Players Tour – which they admitted was due to poor sales and moved the dates to smaller venues.
FURTHER READING: The Black Keys Cancel Tour – Is “Slow Ticketing” Killing Tours
Jennifer Lopez also cancelled her tour in 2024, first trying to “re-brand” the dates to a greatest hits celebration rather than a tour on her new music, but then cancelling altogether – when sales were poor. Multiple festivals have been cancelled in the past two years, and many individual poor-selling dates have been cancelled or postponed of late.
Even Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Tour saw multiple dates postponed after sales were poor, though the health of The Boss was cited as the official reason.
The Pricing Problem Behind the Mess
The mess centers on the industry’s “slow ticketing” model—holding back large blocks of seats, using dynamic‑pricing algorithms and “platinum” tiers to chase whatever the market will bear. Analysts say the approach often produces sticker shock up front and fire‑sales later, eroding trust.
Dynamic pricing has drawn intense consumer ire, from Springsteen’s $5,000 seats to the Oasis reunion fiasco now under investigation in the U.K. Just this week Paul McCartney fans questioned the outrageously high ticket prices, which reportedly saw just one row of seats priced at the advertised “low” face value price.
Algorithms routinely hike prices early, then slash them when inventory lingers—leaving early buyers feeling burned and discouraging future pre‑sales.
When sales lag badly enough, promoters face a choice: eat the loss via deep discounts or pull the plug entirely. Fans argue Steve Miller Band chose the latter, cloaked in climate rhetoric.
The Risk for Performers
Pricing tickets too agressively alienates those who are often your biggest supporters – the fans who show up the minutes tickets go on sale, day one. That alone can cost an artist enormous amounts of goodwill among their audience.
“This so-called premium, algorithm-driven model violates an implicit contract between [the performer] and fans,” wrote Christopher Phillips in a Backstreets Magazine editorial critical of Bruce Springsteen’s use of the price-surging systems for his tour dates with the E-Street Band — triggering fan anger so great that the 40-plus year old fan magazine decided it would stop publication entirely.
Oasis angered their fans enough with the pricing mess over their tour that it drew the attention of the UK government.
Cancelling shows when tickets are selling poorly isn’t any better, as evidenced by the Steve Miller blowback, and even slashing prices holds massive PR risk – because the fans who bought early at the inflated price then watch others buy at the last minute for a fraction of the cost.
Springsteen’s tour saw just that – when one tanking date in Tulsa showed seats for as low as $7 on resale websites while price floors kept the same seats propped up closer to $100 at the official box office. In one notable instance, a floor seat was available the day of the show for $229 – directly next to seats that had been listed at a “platinum” price of over $3,400 during the initial sales period.
FURTHER READING: Tanking Tulsa date shows Springsteen using floor pricing on tour
Next Steps for Steve Miller Band Fans
Ticketmaster has begun issuing automatic refunds to original purchasers; fans who used third‑party marketplaces are being advised to follow up with their point of purchase. Promoters have not indicated any make‑up dates.
For Steve Miller Band devotees, the hope is that smaller, sensibly priced shows may surface “somewhere, someday.” For the broader live‑event industry, the episode is another warning that squeezing fans through dynamic pricing and artificial scarcity can leave everyone—artists included—out in the cold long before the weather turns.
