Your favorite band just announced they’re opening for AC/DC’s stadium tour. Cue the celebration posts, the “we made it” energy, and visions of playing to 50,000 screaming fans. But here’s the plot twist nobody talks about in those triumphant Instagram stories—your heroes might be heading home broke.
That harsh reality hit even harder after the Gillette Stadium incident, where an AC/DC fan’s outburst turned a massive live show into a chaotic crime scene.
Chris Jericho recently pulled back the curtain on Rock’s worst-kept secret during a brutally honest interview with Detroit’s WRIF. The Fozzy frontman, who’s opened for everyone from Iron Maiden to Metallica, delivered a reality check that hit harder than Angus Young‘s opening riff.
Consider the math that makes booking agents wince: that $5,000 nightly fee disappears fast when you’re splitting it among five band members, paying crew wages, covering gas for multiple vehicles, and booking hotels in cities where a decent room costs $200 per night.
The Economics of Rock Stardom
AC/DC can allegedly offer opening acts as little as $5,000 per night. That might sound like decent money until you factor in the mathematics of touring hell—transport, crew, equipment, hotels, and the fact that you’re probably not selling a single t-shirt because merchandise restrictions are tighter than Brian Johnson’s jeans.
Despite the tight margins, anticipation builds for AC/DC’s stadium tour comeback, with North American leg details fueling buzz around the band’s first full-scale return in nearly a decade.
“You’re not negotiating to open for AC/DC,” Jericho explained with the weary wisdom of someone who’s lived through this particular brand of industry exploitation. “Here’s what you get. Take it or leave it, ’cause if you don’t want it, any other band in the world will take it.”
Industry veterans echo this sentiment. Booking agents privately acknowledge that major acts like Kiss and Aerosmith have operated similar “take it or leave it” models for decades, knowing the prestige factor overrides financial logic for most bands.
Some savvy actors are finding workarounds. Bands like Ghost have negotiated separate merchandise deals and VIP meet-and-greet packages during their opening slots, creating additional revenue streams that bypass traditional restrictions.
The Exposure Trap
This isn’t unique to AC/DC. Metallica, Iron Maiden, and other stadium-filling legends operate from the same playbook because they can. When you’re guaranteed to sell out regardless of who opens, why pay premium rates for support acts?
The cruel irony is that many bands would probably make more money headlining a 2,000-capacity venue where they control ticketing, merchandise, and VIP packages. But try explaining that logic when AC/DC’s management calls with an offer to play Madison Square Garden.
Your Instagram followers won’t understand why you turned down the “opportunity of a lifetime” to play a half-empty club in Cleveland.
The Real Cost of Dreams
What makes this particularly brutal is how the industry has weaponized aspiration itself. These legendary acts have created a system where exposure is treated as currency, and desperation is mistaken for gratitude.
The Pretty Reckless, confirmed as AC/DC’s 2025 tour opener, will undoubtedly gain massive exposure. But they’ll also face the financial reality that Jericho described—limited income potential from what should be career-defining performances.
This isn’t AC/DC being uniquely villainous. This is the industry working exactly as designed, where legacy acts leverage their cultural power to maintain economic control while newer artists subsidize their career advancement.
The system persists because it works—for the headliners, anyway. Until bands start collectively refusing these financially destructive “opportunities,” nothing changes.
Here’s what you can do: buy opening acts’ merchandise directly from their websites before the show, follow them on streaming platforms, and most importantly, catch their headlining gigs where your ticket purchase genuinely supports their bottom line. Your concert choices aren’t just entertainment decisions—they’re economic votes that determine which artists can afford to keep making music.
The industry might not change overnight, but your wallet can start rewarding the right people today.
