Eric Church’s Double Down Tour is the Right Way to Do It

One of the reasons scalpers and resellers have secured the upper hand when it comes to purchasing tickets for your favorite live act is because demand is outpacing supply. Artists love to show up to one market and play a massive sold out show, with some floor tickets exceeding $600 or more on the secondary market since there are way more fans than there are seats, buzzing the press about how popular an artist is. One way to solve the problem of ridiculous resale prices is by ramping up supply.

The way Garth Brooks officiated his comeback tour by adding shows until demand was satiated should be the model of the future. Eric Church doesn’t go quite that far, but with the dates of his recently-announced “Double Down” tour, he plans on playing consecutive days in all of the stops he makes, creating more supply without having to book bigger venues. The announced dates so far have Church hitting 19 different cities for a total of 37 shows. More dates and cities could be added in the future.

Along with creating more supply for fans, this also creates less stress on the artist and road crews. Instead of playing one night in a given market, then having to tear down and set up in another 24 hours later, they set up in a given venue, play a couple of shows, and have the whole week to get to the next stop. Also it allows artists to keep venue size under control and deliver a better show.

One drawback from the new Eric Church tour dates is once again he’s rolling without any opening acts. Where for years Church was one of the few mainstream acts willing to book cool openers like Marty Stuart, Dwight Yoakam and others, now going solo seems to be The Chief’s preference. Though this may make for a better presentation for Church, it takes away a precious slots for folks that may otherwise not receive that exposure.

Eric Church will also be selling tickets through his fan club first, and using Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program to also mitigate scalping. But in light of recent revelations on Ticketmaster’s gaming of their own reseller programs, who knows how much effect that will have.

Eric Church Double Down Tour Dates:

January 18, 2019 Omaha, NE CHI Health Center+
January 19, 2019 Omaha, NE CHI Health Center+
January 25, 2019 St. Louis, MO Enterprise Center+
January 26, 2019 St. Louis, MO Enterprise Center+
February 1, 2019 Boston, MA TD Garden+
February 2, 2019 Boston, MA TD Garden+
February 8, 2019 Minneapolis, MN Target Center+
February 9, 2019 Minneapolis, MN Target Center+
February 15, 2019 Detroit, MI Little Caesars Arena+
February 16, 2019 Detroit, MI Little Caesars Arena+
February 22, 2019 Cincinnati, OH U.S. Bank Arena*
February 23, 2019 Cincinnati, OH U.S. Bank Arena*
March 1, 2019 Kansas City, MO Sprint Center+
March 2, 2019 Kansas City, MO Sprint Center+
March 8, 2019 Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena+
March 9, 2019 Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena+
March 15, 2019 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum+
March 16, 2019 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum+
March 22, 2019 Chicago, IL Allstate Arena*
March 23, 2019 Chicago, IL Allstate Arena*
March 29, 2019 Milwaukee, WI Fiserv Forum+
March 30, 2019 Milwaukee, WI Fiserv Forum+
April 12, 2019 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center*
April 13, 2019 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center*
April 19, 2019 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena*
April 20, 2019 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena*
April 26, 2019 Greenville, SC Bon Secours Wellness Arena*
April 27, 2019 Greenville, SC Bon Secours Wellness Arena*
May 3, 2019 Pittsburgh, PA PPG Paints Arena+
May 4, 2019 Pittsburgh, PA PPG Paints Arena+
May 10, 2019 Denver, CO Pepsi Center*
May 11, 2019 Denver, CO Pepsi Center*
May 17, 2019 Los Angeles, CA STAPLES Center*
May 18, 2019 Los Angeles, CA STAPLES Center*
May 25, 2019 Nashville, TN Nissan Stadium#
June 28, 2019 George, WA The Gorge Amphitheatre#
June 29, 2019 George, WA The Gorge Amphitheatre#

+on sale October 5 at 10 a.m. local time
*on sale October 12 at 10 a.m. local time
#on sale October 19 at 10 a.m. local time

 

 

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