Kid Rock is taking an unusual step for a major touring artist: he’s partnering with Live Nation and Ticketmaster to help curb ticket scalping on his upcoming 2026 Freedom 250 — The Road to Nashville tour, announcing he will use Ticketmaster’s Face Value Exchange Policy to keep resale tickets at the original price.
The move comes only weeks after the rocker testified on Capitol Hill to Congress about rampant ticket price inflation and the role scalpers and secondary markets play in making concerts less accessible for fans.
In a social media video and a bullet-point announcement, Kid Rock explained his reasoning behind using Ticketmaster’s official resale system:
- No Markups: Tickets bought for his tour can only be resold on Ticketmaster at the original price paid, including fees and taxes — no profit allowed for resellers.
- Legit Resales Only: Only the Ticketmaster Face Value Exchange will be recognized — if fans buy elsewhere, they may be denied entry.
- Transfer Restrictions: In many markets, ticket transfers will be turned off to prevent flipping by third-party scalpers.
Kid Rock acknowledged the system has imperfections — “this isn’t perfect” — but said it’s a real step toward protecting fans from inflated ticket costs and preventing bots and bad actors from grabbing up seats and reselling them for profit.
He also warned that websites outside of Ticketmaster’s official resale platform, even if advertising tickets, don’t guarantee access to shows — essentially telling fans to “stay away” from unvetted secondary markets.
The announcement highlights an interesting shift: someone who has publicly criticized Live Nation/Ticketmaster in the past is now working with them — at least in this limited capacity — to protect his audience.
Just weeks earlier, Rock testified before the Senate Commerce Committee about rising ticket prices, calling the longtime Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger an “experiment” that has “failed miserably,” arguing independent venues were harmed and fans suffered from unfair pricing and resales benefiting scalpers, not artists.
He’s also been part of broader policy discussions around ticketing reform, including supporting measures like requiring clearer pricing and capping resale price markups — proposals in line with how some European markets handle secondary sales.
Kid Rock’s Freedom 250 — The Road to Nashville tour is a 10-date run across the U.S., blending country and rock influences and featuring support from artists including John Pardi, Parker McCollum, Brantley Gilbert, Big & Rich and Them Dirty Roses on select dates.
Confirmed tour dates:
- May 1 – Dallas, Texas @ Dos Equis Pavilion
- May 8 – Raleigh, N.C. @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park
- May 9 – Charlotte, N.C. @ Truliant Amphitheatre
- May 15 – St. Louis, Mo. @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
- May 16 – Tinley Park, Ill. @ Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
- May 30 – Tampa, Fla. @ MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre
- June 5 – Holmdel, N.J. @ PNC Bank Arts Center
- June 6 – Mansfield, Mass. @ Xfinity Center
- June 19 – Noblesville, Ind. @ Ruoff Music Center
- June 20 – Burgettstown, Pa. @ The Pavilion at Star Lake
Tickets went on sale Feb. 13, 2026, with the Face Value Exchange applying for resales.
Kid Rock’s embrace of the Face Value Exchange — even while admitting it’s not perfect — points to a growing awareness among artists that ticket resales and scalping are not merely fan complaints, but systemic problems in the live entertainment economy.
It also comes against a backdrop of regulatory pressure: the FTC and several states have sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster over alleged deceptive resale tactics, such as allowing brokers to harvest large volumes of tickets and profit through repeated markups.
Whether Kid Rock’s approach will meaningfully reduce scalping remains to be seen — scalpers and bots are notoriously adaptive — but it marks a rare instance of a major artist actively leveraging ticketing tools to try to keep pricing fair for fans.
