Recently concert going fans have raised a lot of uproar over the price of concert tickets but fans continue to pay the high prices (some as high as $5,000 for Taylor Swift tickets).

A few artists have taken some steps to curtail the exorbitant prices but one artist has gone so far as to cancel the concert outright over the ticket prices.

Country music artist Oliver Anthony has announced that he has cancelled the September 27 show Cotton Eyed Joe in Knoxville, Tennessee over the price of the concert tickets that include a meet and greet with the artist.

Anthony is best known for his number one hit song “Rich Men North of Richmond”.

Anthony posted on social media telling fans not to pay the $90 to $200 ticket prices for the meet and greet; saying, “Cotton Eyed Joe has been cancelled. Ultimately, it’s my fault for not being more directly involved with the venues who have reached out. My plate has been full and I delegated the responsibility to someone else to help me book.  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 added, “we will find another place in Knoxville area that can do $25 ticket and free meet and greet. I will work to get your tickets refunded from my own budget if they can’t. This will never happen again. Thanks for your patience. I am still learning how all of this works.”

Anthony noted, “my shows should never cost more than $40, ideally no more than $25. Hell, out of the four shows we have currently done, two of them have been completely free.”  He added, “these are supposed to be affordable shows. Please don’t pay $90 for a ticket. I’m going to work out the details with him and if we have to reschedule this event somewhere else we will.”

In response, Cotton Eyed Joe noted that they sell tickets to break even saying, “most times we say a show has been cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control…well we are cancelling the Oliver Anthony show under our full control.  All refunds will be made in the next few business days to your original form of payment.”

CYJ explained that Anthony “contracted to play the Cotton Eyed Joe for $120,000 for 60 minutes…. after doing the math and knowing we can only hold approximately 1,500 people, paying the ticket website their fee to sell the tickets, paying the tax man, opening the JOE on a closed night… we set the ticket price to break even and bring our customers a show we thought would be fun.”

If the venue only has a capacity of 1,500 people; a $120,000 payout to the artists equals out to $80 per person before any fees.  A $200 ticket price is far above breaking even.