7 reasons why Gen Z is drinking less at concerts

12:09Why are younger concert-goers drinking less at venues?

During the height of the pandemic, many beleaguered music venues were kept alive by grassroots support in the form of GoFundMe pages, merchandise sales and tax-break lobbying efforts to help offset lockdown losses. The overwhelming sentiment at the time was that music venues are crucial to the lifeblood of our communities and that we must do everything in our power to save them. But now that the live concert business is more or less back to its pre-pandemic normal, venues are facing another existential threat: the fact that a significant number of patrons in the 19-to-25 demographic (a.k.a. Gen Z) aren't buying drinks at the bar.

Study after study has revealed that Gen Z is drinking less than their elders, and a recent investigation by Billboard showed how that downward trend is starting to impact the bottom line at smaller music venues who are still trying to recover from the pandemic. Commotion's Elamin Abdelmahmoud spoke with Pitchfork associate editor/Gen Z trendspotter Cat Zhang and veteran venue manager Shawn Thomas Creamer (formerly of Toronto's Dakota Tavern and Prince Edward County's Hayloft Dancehall, currently with 888Yonge) about why this is happening, and what venues can do to survive this latest challenge to their business. 

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast, on your favourite podcast player.

Reason #1: The TikTok Effect  

Zhang: "I think culturally there's just a larger conversation about being quote-unquote, 'sober-curious' and practicing moderation. Another phrase that comes up is 'damp lifestyle.' So that language kind of appeals to people who even want to drink alcohol; it's not an all-or-nothing thing. But the gist of it is: 'Look, let's not binge-drink; let's try to figure out ways to incorporate a seltzer or a mocktail, instead of just having a bunch of alcohol.' Sometimes there's a wellness component to the conversation. Influencers will be like, 'Why don't you drink my beverage with adaptogens instead of alcohol?' You can see a lot of these videos on Tiktok, and that is influencing the conversation."

Reason #2: The Pandemic Effect  

Zhang: "At the beginning of the pandemic, there are a lot of people who were drinking pretty heavily just as a way of coping with an anxious situation and then probably quickly realized that excess was not amazing for them — so maybe that's where some of the conversation about having a damp lifestyle came in. TikTok usage certainly increased during the pandemic, and so the trends and the language spread faster. You'd see a lot of people talking about having anxiety the night after a party where they don't feel great about what they said because of the alcohol."

Reason #3: The Legal-Weed Effect  

Creamer: "I owned the Hayloft Dancehall out in Prince Edward County the year before the pandemic started, and that was the year that they legalized cannabis. My Saturday night business was geared towards 20-to-25 year olds, and my sales went down 30 per cent that day. I noticed the change immediately. People were taking edibles and stuff on their way there, and it was challenging for the bar as well because we don't know what you've consumed before you got there, whereas bartenders generally know how much they've served you. It became a bit of an issue, and our sales definitely dropped and they never came back."

Reason #4: Drinking at music venues is expensive

Zhang: "I went to a club the other day and it was like $18 for a gin and tonic — and to even buy a drink at the club, you had to first connect your credit card to a wristband, and go through this whole process. So it's much easier for me to just be like, 'I'm not even going to connect my credit card to anything; I'm going to just drink at home beforehand.' Also, sometimes at concert venues, the range of drinks can be limited to beer, wine and a tequila soda, or something like that. So maybe if you're hanging out with your friends, you would go somewhere beforehand with more options, and then you would go to the concert venue, listen to the hour-long set and then go home."

Reason #5: Ticket prices are more expensive, which means less money left for drinking

Zhang: "I think ticket pricing in general factors into this conversation. There's been a lot of talk about Ticketmaster and their additional fees. It certainly feels to me that the price of tickets has gone up significantly, so if the tickets seem expensive, and then the drinks seem expensive, the whole night becomes expensive." 

Reason #6: There's so much more to drink now than just booze

Zhang: "A lot of beverage-makers have put out more non-alcoholic or low-ABV options onto the market. So if you go to any bars these days, you can get a ton of stuff like a Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher or a Phony Negroni or a Liquid Death. And there's more kombucha options than ever."

Reason #7: Getting drunk just seems really uncool now

Zhang: "I do think drinking is on the out. It doesn't seem as cool to be intoxicated anymore, partly because of people talking about all the anxiety they have after drinking, and because of the popularity of sober-curiousness. And there's now different substances and different kinds of feelings that people want to chase."

So what can venues do to survive?

Creamer: "I think the challenge has been for both small and larger venues alike to come up with alternatives. The traditional rock 'n' roll experience is you go to a concert and you've got a can of beer, and I think having the water option in a branded can [like Liquid Death] is a way of pivoting toward making extra money and finding new revenue streams that fit the choices those [Gen Z] people are making. I think [bar managers] really need to get in touch with the people that are coming into their venues and ask them what they could provide for them that can really help them increase their bottom line, so they can keep providing live music to these people for years to come.

"The profit margin for a small venue is so small and lean as it is. If people aren't buying their products and helping them make their bottom line, those venues are not going to exist anymore, and you're not going to be able to see those bands in those places anymore. We're going to lose a lot of venues if this trend continues."

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Stuart Berman.