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Kid Rock slams event ticketing system as a 'complete fiasco' for concert fans
By Madison Colombo
Published January 28, 2026
Musician Kid Rock testified before the Senate, arguing that ticket price gouging forces fans into expensive resale markets and that legislation falls short, telling Fox News pricing is "out of control."
Rock, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, has been a critic of unfair ticketing issues. He spoke at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday, which also included an executive from Ticketmaster's parent company, Live Nation.
"We want to fix ticket pricing — ticket pricing that's been out of control for well over 30 years now," Rock said Wednesday on "America Reports."
Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, arrives to testify during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee hearing Jan. 28. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
He appeared alongside Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who chaired the hearing. Rock largely pinned the blame on Ticketmaster and Live Nation, saying their merger "only made things worse" for fans.
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"You just ask anybody these days about buying a ticket to a popular sporting event or concert, and they’ll tell you that it's a complete fiasco," he said, later adding that the merger "frickin’ failed."
Fox News Digital reached out to Ticketmaster for comment and did not receive a response.
Rock has previously worked with the Trump administration on efforts aimed at curbing ticket scalping. In March 2025, he appeared alongside President Donald Trump in the Oval Office when the president signed an order against ticket scalping.
President Donald Trump, with singer Kid Rock by his side, speaks to reporters and signs an executive order related to enforcement in the concert and entertainment industry in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., March 31, 2025. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The order directed the attorney general and Treasury secretary to enforce competition laws, improve price transparency and ensure ticket scalpers comply with existing regulations.
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Rock has also pushed for stronger enforcement of the federal BOTS Act, which was designed to stop automated ticket-buying software.
Kid Rock smiles during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., March 31, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In August 2025, the Federal Trade Commission sued ticket reseller Key Investment Group for allegedly getting around purchasing limits to buy thousands of tickets to live events, then selling them at a markup.
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Rock said Trump’s executive order got the ball rolling on the issue, but it’s not at the finish line.
"We’re also trying to get to the root of the problem and hopefully legislation can get drafted where, as an artist, we can get the ticket prices that we set into the hands of the fans for those prices and stop them from being gouged by these bad actors," he added.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/kid-rock-slams-event-ticketing-system-complete-fiasco-concert-fans