Travis Scott Ticket Frenzy Signals a New Era for Hip-Hop Shows in India

On Mar. 25, 2025, Travis Scott announced his debut India show, slated to take place on Oct. 18 at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium as part of his Circus Maximus stadium tour around the world.

Tickets went on sale on Apr. 5 and soon after, a second show was announced to take place on Oct. 19, 2025 at the same venue. The show allows anyone from the age of 10 years and upwards to attend and new stats from BookMyShow Live—the promoters of the “Fe!n” hitmaker’s hotly-anticipated India debut—say tickets for both dates sold out within three hours.

While BookMyShow is using the stats to hail hip-hop as a “legitimate, fan-powered movement in India,” it’s also a reflection of the rising demand for international rappers to perform in India over the last few years. The likes of Atlanta rap star Offset played at the SteppinOut Music Festival in Bengaluru, and fellow Atlanta-bred artist Russ did a two-city tour in 2022. 50 Cent also played a stadium show in Navi Mumbai in 2023, though such shows have arguably been a hit or miss in terms of drawing larger crowds.

At festivals like Lollapalooza India in 2024, however, the visceral rap of JPEGMAFIA drew a massive crowd. A veteran name like Big Boi (from OutKast) was expected at the 2025 edition of the festival in Mumbai, but it was the Indian rappers who truly made their mark, with standout sets from Hanumankind, Raftaar and KR$NA.

Travis Scott’s sold-out India debut will likely become a key moment for live hip-hop in the country, and it’ll be followed by the inaugural edition of globe-trotting festival Rolling Loud in Mumbai, which has been headlined by the likes of Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky and more at previous editions. While dates are yet to be announced for Rolling Loud India, these are likely landmark events that would arguably draw more international spotlight to India from hip-hop artists.

We’ve had no dearth of fans showing up for homegrown hip-hop heroes, though. The likes of Seedhe Maut–who are currently in the U.K. on tour and slated to perform at Glastonbury Festival–have sold out big stage venues in India, as have the likes of Divine, King and Punjabi stars like Karan Aujla. Even Spotify’s free annual event, Rap 91 Live held in Mumbai, has been a celebration of their flagship playlist for desi hip-hop, packing big rooms like Mehboob Studios and Jio World Convention Centre over the last three years. It’s a clear (and often successful) bid to indicate how the numbers on the streaming platform convert into fans offline.

As for the “Sicko Mode” rapper, a total of over 500 cities in India booked tickets for both Travis Scott shows, and in a true reflection of hip-hop fandom in the country, Gen-Z dominated the fanbase of ticket-buyers—2/3rds of ticket browsers were under the age of 25.

Tickets ranged from ₹4,000 to ₹18,000 in the gold zone and ₹30,000 for lounge access to the show. BookMyShow reports that over 150 cities bought into the premium lounge experience, with top contributors coming from Delhi NCR (27 percent) and Mumbai (24 percent). A press release adds, “Audiences from metros and non-metros alike are tuning in—top hip-hop ticket buyers in 2024 included those from cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Shillong, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Raipur, Thrissur and Nashik.”

With a capacity of 60,000 at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the two sold-out shows meant that BookMyShow had sold more hip-hop show tickets in India in 2025 (from January to May) than they had in all of 2024. For context, the entertainment company said they ticketed over 250 hip-hop events last year.

Demand for tickets to Scott’s upcoming shows in Delhi NCR reached almost four times the total number of tickets available across both shows, according to BookMyShow. That tracks, considering the lakhs who were in the queue when tickets went live. Now, all that’s left is for the rapper to take the stage, complete with grandiose tour production that includes pyrotechnics, massive LEDs and more.