Elon Musk: "It's just sort of like a crazy 'Mad Max' meets Vegas meets 'Alice in Wonderland,'"

At the Nevada desert gathering Burning Man, attendance patterns have shifted markedly: the share of festivalgoers in their 20s fell from nearly a third in 2014 to about 10 percent in 2025, while people in their 40s and 50s now outnumber twentysomethings, according to volunteer-collected data. Overall numbers remain below the 2019 peak of roughly 80,000. The current edition, running through Monday in Black Rock City, arrives amid criticism from early co-founder John Law that the event has lost its rebellious ethos and become a high-priced spectacle. Organizers call it an intergenerational community and note many first-timers. Elon Musk, a past attendee, offered admiration in a 2013 conversation with Rainn Wilson, likening it to a bizarre fusion of post-apocalyptic desert culture, brash urban glitter, and surreal fantasy. Attendees now skew wealthier, with ticket prices up to $3,000.