Tickets for this year’s Burning Man are selling at steep discounts, as longtime fans of the desert festival express frustration for a number of reasons.

Burning Man is set to run from August 27 to September 4 in the temporary Black Rock City erected in the desert near Gerlach, Nevada, and tickets normally cost $575, on top of the $150 parking pass.

But as of Friday, resellers were offering tickets as cheap as $139, with parking passes marked down to $105, as an apparent glut of unwanted tickets hit the market.

According to SFGate, its not unusual to see a flurry of tickets appear on resale channels in the days leading up to Burning Man — but the steep discounts on offer this year appear unusual.

Longtime ‘Burners,’ as participants are known, told the outlet that a number of factors are discouraging attendance this year, including weather concerns, recent tech layoffs, and an influx of influencers and ‘annoying’ electronic music at the festival. 

Last year a dust storm hit the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, where Burning Man has been held since the early 1990s

A huge line of cars is seen following last year’s festival, when some Burners said they had to wait up to 12 hours to exit the event

As well, last year was the first Burning Man after a two-year pandemic hiatus, and attendance surged to a record high as fans flocked back to the event.

Since many Burners like to take years off between attending, the pandemic pause may have reset the cycle and teed up 2023 as an off-year.

Several Burners also cited weather concerns, after last year’s event suffered through temperatures as high as 103F, and strong winds blasted the festival, piling up dunes that made travel by bike difficult. 

‘Last year’s Burn was hot and difficult, which is part of the trendline the Earth is on,’ longtime Burner Linda Williamson told SFGate.

Williamson first attended Burning Man in 1997 but won’t be going back this year, citing a logistical nightmare last year that resulted in a 10-hour traffic jam to return to civilization after the event. 

‘You have to devote an entire day just to the process of getting to the pavement,’ Williamson said. ‘I would love to be able to go, but I would also love to be able to leave.’

Last year, some Burners reported that they waited as long as 12 hours to get away from the camp, and photos from the event show monster traffic jams stretching across the desert. 

Last year was the first Burning Man after a two-year pandemic hiatus, and attendance surged to a record high as fans flocked back to the event

Paris Hilton is seen at Burning Man last year. Since many Burners like to take years off between attending, the pandemic pause may have reset the cycle and teed up 2023 as an off-year

Burners who are selling their tickets also cited financial concerns as a reason for backing out this year, following widespread layoffs in the tech sector

According to the San Francisco Standard, Burners who are selling their tickets also cited financial concerns as a reason for backing out this year. 

Burning Man has longstanding ties to the Bay Area and its tech industry — in fact, the event was first held on a San Francisco beach in the 1980s, when it originated as a small bonfire ceremony for the summer solstice. 

The tech industry has been hard-hit by layoffs in recent months, with more than 227,000 technology sector workers laid off globally this year, according to tracking site Layoffs.fyi.

Other Burner complaints include an influx of social media influencers at the event, which some might argue goes against Burning Man’s ‘no spectators’ mandate, which requires all who attend to participate and contribute in some way.

As well, some are annoyed with the proliferation of loud, pulsating electronic music at Burning Man, turning the experiential art encounter into something more like a rave.

Still, Burners have lamented for decades that the festival has lost its soul and isn’t what it used to be.

At the 2011 iteration of the event, longtime attendee Brian Doherty noted in an AP interview that the literal lawlessness that had marked Burning Man’s early years in the Nevada desert has tamed.

He noted, for example, that Burning Man no longer offered ‘drive-by shooting ranges.’