“It’s Not A Rave”

The Burning Man Organization appear to have well and truly jumped the shark…perhaps for the last time. In their desperation for ticket sales, they have specifically requested sound camps to publish their lineups early.

This is ironic because doof doof electronic music has been a staple of Burning Man since its earliest days in the desert, as DJ Terbo Ted outlined for us in his epic guest post The Techno Ghetto – The History of Dance Music at Burning Man. And yet the Org have always fought hard against it – an exemplary example would be the Battle of Dancetronauts as told in Too Loud For Burning Man Parts 1, 2 and 3.

Hat tip to #NOTaDJ Itai, a star of the Tulum scene, for sharing this in true Burner spirit:

Source: Itai Music, Instagram

The missing part of the Org’s email:

We can tell this is legit because Carl Cox’s camp Playground would not do anything without the Org’s blessing, and they just posted their (dope) lineup:

It’s all about the Insta these days, Burners. Tag your friends and the Org. Burning Man have 1.5 million followers on Instagram and 157,000 on Twitter – where they haven’t posted for a year, despite Billionaire Burner Elon Musk being one of their most loyal and ardent supporters, famously saying “Burning Man IS Silicon Valley”.

My how times have changed. Here we have a checkmarked Burning Man account using DJ Tiesto’s name to promote walk-in sales in Reno:

Is it just me, or does it seem like they are really trying very, very hard to move these tickets?

Is this related to the rumblings we’ve been hearing of regime change on the horizon?

Spanky’s, a staple of Burning Man over man decades, are looking to unload 14 tickets below face value. Usually a couple of weeks away from the Burn, everyone would be scrambling to get tickets. I can’t think of a precedent for this.

Has There Ever Been This Many Burning Man Tickets Available So Close To The Burn?

Tickets! Get yer Burning Man tickets!

I’m old enough to remember when Burning Man used to sell out in minutes. When they had to invent all kinds of waiting room shenanigans to torment those desperate to get dusty.

Well, now we’re 2 weeks out from the Burn, you can still buy tickets from the Burning Man web site at your choice of either $630.75 $652.83 or $1639 $1696.37 and a Vehicle Pass for $154 $159.39. Or, if you like saving your money, you can buy 566 of the same tickets for half price on Stubhub starting from around $300.

We’re hearing that RV rentals available for Labor Day weekend are already at regular rates in Los Angeles, rather than special Burning Man prices. Will the Bay Area be forced to follow?

Is this a sign that Burning Man is over? Or that the population limit is not being as strictly enforced as it has been in prior years?