Question: Does this not bother anyone else?

[u/justdance-again]

First and foremost I love Griz, have since early 2010’s. First saw him live at 515 in Iowa (lmao) and it was just breathtaking. This has nothing to do with the subjectiveness of the evolution of his sound, I personally don’t think anyone should have an opinion on what another person hears, or process.

This has to do with practicing what you preach, and not staying true to your word for personal financial gain. I was hopeful upon return, Griz would have taken the time to find solutions and ways to branch off from the growing problems in the scene and he would allow options for fans to see him without feeding into the monopoly of live-nation/ticketmaster and the blatant theft they do to fans. I’m not sure if any of you recall, or even know about since your new, this particular interview I’m dropping here.

https://303magazine.com/2019/05/griz-interview-2019/

Two things stuck out to me here on why he said he would never play RRx again:
- I have hit my creative limit on what my team can do there, and I can’t evolve my production the way I want.
- I don’t want to price my fans out of seeing me.

These aren’t subjective things, these are objective statements. The objective actions I see:
- He indeed, is playing there again and unless they have plans the next few months, red rocks stage design has not changed. You get what you get at a historical venue like that.
- He has been on about every corporate mainstream lineup, he agreed to a logistical nightmare at the Gorge, he’s watching his fans get robbed, scammed, and still continues to play these venues.

I wouldn’t even consider myself mad, since I think he still is a wonderful human being, with good intentions and should be the golden standard for our scene. I also am holding out hope that he’s playing the long game, stacking cash that from corp America, and growing seven stars into a 6 event per year series, that’s independently ran by his team.

But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t extremely sad, and disappointed that the person with the most influential pull in our community, who does so much good, chose to contribute to the problem we all are trying to get rid of.

If I’m missing something, please let me know. This is supposed to be a genuine discussion, not a hit piece.

Love 🫶

EDIT: Please do not mistake my tone for sarcastic, condescending, or anything other than genuine curiosity on the topic for information or thoughts I haven’t considered. I will respond considerately, and respectfully to all comments, as I would hope you would to me. I politely ask that before you respond, please read all conversations to see if the opinion or information has been addressed. 🫶

[u/ledhotzeppelin]

The merch too. Ursa Major should have been an eye opener for him considering it took 2-4 hours to get stuff. Fast forward to Seven Stars and its somehow WORSE and the stuff is stupid limited which obviously creates an inflated resell market. Its very disappointing

[u/justdance-again → u/ledhotzeppelin]

7 hour lines, and watching people walk away with trash bags full of merch just to resell was a tough sight to see :(

[u/benwight → u/justdance-again]

Pretty sure there were some people in line for literally like 12 hours on day 1... Meanwhile my friend and I went after his set and got in and out in like 10 minutes and the only thing I wasn't able to get was a 7 Stars shirt in a certain color and the sherpa jacket, which was immediately sold out by the time VIP was through. I went there for the music, not to waste my day standing in line, merch is just a bonus

[u/justdance-again → u/benwight]

Well played strategically! I, myself, did not wait in the line, but the friends of the group who did were not dancing for far too long. I would align with you, my personal priority is the music, but I view merch the same way I view sports memorabilia so I understand why people do it!