“Blue dot fever”: Lily Allen dresses up as Ticketmaster unsold seat map for Halloween

Lily Allen has turned the criticism over ticket sales for her North American tour into a Halloween joke, dressing as a Ticketmaster seating map covered in blue dots for unsold seats. The costume references “blue dot fever”, a phrase used for artists struggling to fill shows, and draws attention to the gap between tour plans and actual demand.

Allen moved several US concerts to smaller venues earlier this year and cancelled a planned Montreal show. Her Chicago concert shifted from the 23,500-capacity United Center to the 3,500-capacity Chicago Theatre; she later said ticket sales were insufficient and that promoters’ expectations had shaped the original bookings. She also cited the work of a roughly 50-person crew as a reason she did not want to cancel outright, and criticised a ticketing system she said artists do not understand.