Oliver Anthony’s Knoxville Show Canceled After Disagreement Over Ticket Prices

Oliver Anthony is standing firm on affordable ticket prices.

The singer had a disagreement with a Knoxville, Tenn., music bar called Cotton Eyed Joe, where he was scheduled to perform later this month, leading to the show getting canceled and the the venue expressing some choice words on social media.

Ticket prices were listed at $99, and a meet and greet costed $199, which upset Anthony, who recorded a video posted to Instagram to deter fans from paying that price. “I had to pull off on the side of the road and make this video. My adrenaline’s pumping, man,” he says in the clip. He continued in the caption, “Don’t buy $90 Cotton Eyed Joe tickets or $200 for a meet and greet. That’s not acceptable. Just saw the Facebook post and lost my s—. Miscommunication with my friend booking shows and I. My shows should never cost more than $40, ideally no more than $25. Hell, out of the 4 shows we have currently done, 2 of them have been completely free. This will get straightened out tonight. Hold off on buying tickets for now.”

However, Cotton Eyed Joe took to Facebook to explain that Anthony had agreed to play a 60-minute set at the Knoxville bar for $120,000, which would allow the bar to “break even and bring our customers a show we thought would be fun.” The bar then added a bit of shade by referencing Anthony’s Hot 100 chart topper, concluding their message: “To our talent agency and promotor friends that follow us… be careful booking the North Man of Richmond.”

See the post here.

“I am not pointing fingers at Cotton Eyed Joe, I don’t know where the miscommunication took place. I’m just upset seeing those prices,” Anthony responded on Facebook, adding that he’ll be more involved in upcoming bookings.

The 31-year-old’s breakout viral hit “Rich Men North of Richmond” unexpectedly debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. Among other chart achievements for the singer-songwriter, he’s the first artist ever to launch atop the list with no prior chart history in any form. His success story began when a now-viral video of Anthony, posted by radiowv, began circulating around the Internet, showing the singer offering an acoustic performance of “Rich Men North of Richmond,” vocalizing the pain and angst of the working class at the hands of greedy rich men. The song takes on high taxes, abuse of welfare and selfish politicians.

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