Stuck in traffic, crushed in crowds: How logistic mess and venue chaos are killing the vibe of India’s concert economy

India’s concert economy is witnessing a massive surge, with more international and homegrown artists drawing tens of thousands of fans to stadiums and large venues. While the artists remain the main attraction, for most concertgoers, the experience begins long before they enter the venue and, in many cases, continues well after the performance ends.

From traffic snarls to long queues at the entrance and chaos at food and beverage stalls, the messy pre- and post-concert experience and logistics can leave a bitter aftertaste for concertgoers. Even if an artist manages to put on a spellbinding show that makes people forget the hassles of getting to the venue, the experience of leaving the venue can often bring those frustrations back.

Concert experience beyond stage

Concertgoers’ experience is also shaped by everything that happens around the performance.

Anmol Singh Ghai, an iOS app developer at Rstar, told LiveMint that event organisation, traffic, security and crowd management do affect the overall experience. Ghai, who attended Karan Aujla’s concert in Gurugram in December 2024 and Travis Scott’s event at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in October last year, said the pre- and post-concert experiences were very similar at both events. With traffic snarls and long queues at both locations, people had to wait for a long time. However, once inside, he described the experience as “smooth.”

Earlier in February, LiveMint spoke with Balraj Singh, a Delhi-based professor, who witnessed similar hassles while attending concerts by Diljit Dosanjh in 2024 and Satinder Sartaaj in 2026. According to Singh, parking and traffic management are areas where India has significant scope for improvement.

Experts highlight pain points in concert-going experience

Nikhil Soni, head of Brand and Marketing at HCL Group, pointed to several other pain points in the concert-going experience. “India’s concert infrastructure is evolving, but the pre- and post-event experience remains the most friction-filled part of the evening. Parking is an afterthought, last-mile connectivity is inconsistent, and food options are often overcrowded, overpriced, or poorly maintained.”

Expanding on the issue of last-mile connectivity, Vinod Kumar Sah, Co-Founder & CTO of COTRAV, said, “Transport planning must account for how attendees will get home after the event, particularly when concerts run late. Organisers need to coordinate with city authorities around metro timings, public buses and dedicated transport options so attendees can disperse more systematically. If a concert plans to run late, a couple of metro lines and public buses can run past their usual times for attendees to return.”

Sah added, “The fundamental issue is that while a concert is one connected experience for the attendee, it is not often managed as one at the backend. The organiser manages ticketing, entry and venue operations, traffic police manage road movement, civic authorities oversee permissions and public infrastructure, while cab operators, parking providers and public transport systems function independently. Each may plan its own piece well, but there is often no common data or operating layer connecting them. So, 30,000 people may exit together without cab operators or public transport being prepared for that surge.”

The numbers behind India’s concert boom

The growing scale of India’s concert economy is also reflected in the numbers. In 2025, EY released a report on singer Diljit Dosanjh’s Dil-Luminati India tour 2024, highlighting the socio-economic impact the event created across 13 cities. During the 2024 India tour, Dosanjh sold more than 3.2 lakh tickets and generated a total measurable economic impact of ₹943 crore. This comprised ₹276 crore in direct revenue, ₹553 crore in indirect revenue, and ₹114 crore in government revenue through GST and local permissions.

According to a different EY report published in April 2025, India’s concert economy expanded significantly in 2024, with 70 to 80 concert days drawing crowds of at least 10,000 people. The country’s organised live-events segment has also crossed the ₹12,000 crore mark and is expected to grow at an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 19 per cent over the following three years.

The report highlighted the economic impact of Coldplay’s concerts in Ahmedabad on 25 and 26 January 2025. The two shows drew 222,000 attendees and were estimated to have generated ₹641 crore in economic activity across several sectors. Of this, around ₹392 crore flowed into Ahmedabad’s local economy through spending on hotels and other accommodation, restaurants, local transport, and shopping. The concerts also contributed an estimated ₹72 crore to government revenue through GST.

Indian vs international concerts: What’s the difference?

While India’s concert economy is growing rapidly, concertgoers have also noted differences in the overall experience, including crowd behaviour and production scale.

According to Riddhima Redkar, a freelance PR/marketing professional based in Mumbai, concerts in India are not yet at the same level as those held abroad. Redkar observed that India is still getting there, with its concert economy still in the nascent stage.

Elaborating on the differences between the concerts of Prateek Kuhad and Boris Brejcha, she also noted differences in crowd behaviour. At Kuhad’s concert, attendees, according to her, looked uncomfortable and weren’t very safe, whereas at Brejcha’s event, she recalled the crowd being decent.

Some concertgoers have also highlighted differences in the scale of production between concerts by Indian artists such as Aujla and international artists such as Travis Scott or Coldplay in Ahmedabad. Ghai noted that while Aujla’s concert had an overall energetic vibe, Travis Scott’s concert felt larger in terms of overall production, making it a visually impressive experience as well.

Can technology ease the concert-day chaos?

The challenges around moving large numbers of concertgoers to and from venues also raise the question of whether technology can help organisers manage crowds more efficiently, rather than simply react to congestion as it builds.

According to Sah, “Organisers can effectively leverage AI to understand movement before the event actually begins. By capturing where attendees are coming from, how they plan to travel, and their expected arrival and departure times, organisers can plan movement much more intelligently.”

“In any concert, the data is already available to organisers but is not used effectively. For instance, the number of people attending, contact details, location of the attendees, and, based on the price paid, we can estimate whether the user will have a car or not,” he noted.

As the concert economy continues to grow at a rapid pace, organisers may increasingly need to focus not just on the performance, but also on how audiences arrive, move through and leave the venue.