Tyler Childers Should’ve Booked Arenas. He’s An Arena-Level Artist
The pre-sale for Tyler Childers’ first full tour in over three years commenced on Wednesday, November 16th, and folks are already incensed that they missed out on tickets that seemed to sell out immediately, while tickets simultaneously appeared on resale markets for prices at insane multipliers. And this is all before the general sale starts on Friday, November 18th, which is likely to see the same issues.
Some of this has to do with the same dynamics that plague all of live music at the moment. With the Ticketmaster/LiveNation monopoly, and the way that bots and scalpers can game the system no matter the safeguards in place, these situations are inevitable, especially when demand surpasses supply. Just ask Taylor Swift fans. The debacle with her tour going on sale was so catastrophic, there is talk of congressional investigations into the matter.
But I’ll be frank: I was stupefied whenever they announced that Tyler Childers would be playing theaters and amphitheaters on his Send In The Hounds Tour as opposed to full-blown arenas. Right now Tyler Childers could sell out arenas in every market in the United States Coast to Coast, full stop.
This was the case before the pandemic, and it is most definitely the case after the pandemic, especially after Tyler Childers spent 2022 playing select festivals as opposed to going on a national tour of which there was an egregious amount of appetite for. In 2019 when Tyler Childers announced arena tour dates with Sturgill Simpson, many of the dates sold out, and some locations had to double up on dates due to demand. Many of the dates never got played due to Covid, which kept the demand high. With all due respect to Sturgill Simpson who played 2nd on the tour, it was Tyler Childers who was far and away the biggest draw of that ticket.
I understand there is a rule in live music that you must sell out the venue tier below before you can graduate to the tier above. But if you didn’t think that Tyler Childers had no other choice but to book arenas at this point, you don’t have your nose in the numbers, or you need to get out and touch some grass and see what happened when Childers selectively played events like Delfest or the Telluride Bluegrass Festival earlier this year. There is no discussion about this matter. Tyler Childers is an arena level artist. Booking him in any other scenario means demand will so far outpace supply, chaos will ensue like we saw on Wednesday.
When the Turnpike Troubadours reunited and they were crashing servers and selling mid-sized venues out immediately, it was a shock to the system. The Turnpike Troubadours had a long touring history of barely filling theater-sized venues to capacity. The fact that they could sell out venues immediately was completely unexpected, and fans were left extremely frustrated as bots and resellers scarfed up tickets. But once they saw how high demand was, the Turnpike Troubadours began booking much bigger venues and this issue wrinkled itself out.
On November 12th, the Turnpike Troubadours headlined their first arena, selling out the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. Though independent music fans love to grouse about the lack of intimacy at the arena level, reviews from fans about the experience were mostly positive, and most importantly, most everyone who wanted to attend the show could because of the increased capacity. The Turnpike Troubadours have now announced an arena date in Arkansas in February 2023, and will likely be playing arenas in certain markets henceforth, and larger venues in other markets.
Earlier this month, Billy Strings announced his first round of 2023 tour dates, and they are almost all exclusively in arenas, including playing two nights at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville—a feat even many mainstream country artists can’t achieve. When tickets went on sale on November 4th, there were a few folks that missed out, but not nearly the amount that missed out on Tyler Childers tickets. Strings has also booked a handful of more intimate venues such as the Ryman Auditorium and the Georgia Theatre in Athens so fans still have opportunities to see him in smaller spaces.
This is 2022, and artists like Tyler Childers, Billy Strings, Zach Bryan, and the Turnpike Troubadours are exploding in popularity. Add on top of that then pent up demand due to the pandemic, and we’re living in an era when your favorite independent artists are arena stars. This is what saving country music looks like. This is the success we’re experiencing across the board. And even though it can be frustrating that you can no longer see some of your favorite artists in 250-500 capacity clubs, or walk up and buy tickets the day of a performance, this is a good problem to have.
This is also the reason it can’t be stressed enough to see your favorite artists in smaller venues while you still can. Charley Crockett and Sierra Ferrell both have recently graduated to bigger theaters, and off the club circuit. Whiskey Myers is already playing some arenas themselves. Shane Smith and the Saints might be blowing up soon after being featured on Yellowstone, and a rising tide in independent country/roots appears to be raising all boats.
Yes, the concert ticket system in the United States is beyond broken, and LiveNation has been running the risk for years of government intervention as they seem unwilling and/or unable to address the issue themselves. But the same issue that Tyler Childers fans are facing is the same one Taylor Swift fans are facing. Since Swift also skipped out on touring both before and after the pandemic, demand rose to a fevered pitch. Even when she’s booking massive arenas, there’s still more demand than supply.
The way Garth Brooks dealt with this problem when he came out of retirement was to scale the amount of performances in a given market to whatever demand was. If tickets were selling out fast, he’d add a second date, or even a matinee performance on a weekend, sometimes playing the same arena four or five times, and cutting into the resale market by selling non-transferrable tickets. Of course the ticket system in America is broken and needs to be fixed. But if you scale supply to the amount of demand, the issue tends to solve itself, ticket prices remain reasonable, and secondary markets get squeezed.
Tyler Childers is unquestionably an arena artist. Saving Country Music has been saying this in print for years. It’s self-evident, and his agency booked places like The Fillmore in New Orleans (cap. 2000), The Met in Philadelphia (cap. 3,500), and the Arizona Financial Theatre in Phoenix (cap. 5,000). Childers is booked some bigger venues as well, but the lack of some dates in certain major markets means fans are also planning to travel to other markets to see him, spiking demand even more for the dates that have been announced. Whether Tyler Childers wants to be an arena artist or not, he’s an arena artist. And even then, demand for tickets may be so high, 2nd dates may be called for in certain markets.
This is the success independent country music is enjoying. This is the new paradigm. Enjoy seeing these artists in smaller venues when you can. But the days of the biggest non radio-supported artists only being able to play theaters is clearly over.
And as Zach Bryan says, screw Ticketmaster.
November 17, 2022 @ 12:14 pm
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-the-department-of-justice-to-investigate-ticketmaster/
Tyler’s tour aside.
I average probably 4 shows a month. I am so sick of Ticketmaster, Live Nation, Stub Hub, etc.
Sick of bending over and taking it.
November 17, 2022 @ 12:17 pm
It’s gotten worse. I remember paying a 5-10$ fee on a $80 ticket, 10 years ago. Now for a $50 concert I’m paying $20 in fees
November 20, 2022 @ 5:19 pm
I paid $85 in fees for two Springsteen tickets for a show in Milwaukee next March. That is officially out of control.
November 25, 2022 @ 2:20 pm
Bigfoot and the Gregs for your opener…Austin ,Texas rocks
November 17, 2022 @ 1:49 pm
To me, it’s so obvious that Ticketmaster and resellers are the underlying issue, it’s almost not even worth mentioning it in situations like this. I have zero hope in the government stepping into solve anything here. I remember Pearl Jam testifying in front of Congress in the 90s about this very issue. TicketMaster will lobby the hell out of Congress, maybe some meaningless regulation will get passed, and 20 years from now, people will still be dealing with this issue because there are too many people getting rich from it.
The one thing you can do is increase supply. If there are as many tickets as there are fans that want to go to a concert, ticket prices stabilize, scalpers get frozen out, and the system works (mostly) as it should. I know folks don’t like going to arenas or bigger venues. I certainly don’t. But you can’t just continue to book smaller venues and assume this problem will miraculously solve itself, either through government action or something else. You want to play smaller venues? Okay, then book five shows in the same market. Play matinees like Garth Brooks did, or book smaller venues along with the arenas like Billy Strings is doing. There are models out there that are working for both the artists and their fans.
December 22, 2022 @ 2:15 pm
It is not the government’s job to regulate commerce.
November 17, 2022 @ 12:15 pm
Maybe artists should go back to an old-school method of how venues sell tickets. Make it to where a sizeable portion of the tickets have to be purchased in-person or physical tickets have to be mailed to an address. Most likely not a perfect solution but what else is there?
I saw a post from a friend on Facebook trying to sell seats to a Jelly Roll concert at Bridgestone arena for $1000 a piece. I wouldnt spend that for tickets to Led Zeppelin with Tom Waits opening.
November 17, 2022 @ 12:40 pm
This is what the Turnpike Troubadours did for their show in Houston after they had so many issues with bots and scalpers for their return shows. They even had another band play for folks who showed up to purchase tickets:
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/turnpike-troubadours-announce-new-shows-unique-houston-presale/
Ultimately though, you solve this problem by ramping up supply. As soon as Turnpike started booking much bigger venues and more dates, demand leveled off and everything worked much more smoothly for fans. They are still selling out shows, but now most everyone that wants a ticket can get a ticket.
November 17, 2022 @ 1:00 pm
Supply is one thing.
Sky high fees and pricing is another, especially when done by questionable practices.
And I am sick of the stupid people, including myself, that put up with it and pay it.
Although, I have been much better at saying no.
I also have taken advantage of extremely low purchase prices offered on Stub Hub for shows where there are still lots of available tix.
November 17, 2022 @ 1:56 pm
In Vegas, Adele tickets are in the 5 figure range. Whether people are actually buying them for $27.5 is another thing.
I’d pay $250 max per ticket (includibg fees) for Jelly Roll, and I absolutely love him .
November 17, 2022 @ 12:17 pm
“This is 2022, and artists like Tyler Childers, Billy Strings, Zach Bryan, and the Turnpike Troubadours are exploding in popularity. Add on top of that then pent up demand due to the pandemic, and we’re living in an era when you’re favorite independent artists are arena stars. This is what saving country music looks like. This is the success we’re experiencing across the board.”
God damn light a roman candle under my ass and fire me up! What a time to be alive. Jealous of anyone who got tickets to the childers tour.
Middle of a heart by adeem is an instant song of the year candidate, call me crazy
Jeremy pinnell rips super fuckin hard
November 17, 2022 @ 12:45 pm
I tried to get tickets to see him in St Louis or Kansas City. Logged in for the St Louis show 2 minutes after presale started, entered code, was number 2000 in the queue. Then the website crashed, when it reloaded I was number 3,000. Logged in for the Kansas City show 3 minutes after presale started, waited in the queue until the site announced that tickets were gone. Finally got access for the St Louis show only to find that tickets were $180 plus fees for crappy seats. It might be that I am old fashioned, but I just can’t shell out over $200 per ticket for bad seats.
November 19, 2022 @ 8:01 am
I got in on the Saint Louis presale, was number 2010 and managed to get through after about 5-10 minutes, and just grabbed some lawn seats, but there were still a lot to choose from. I have to admit that after what happened with trying to get Turnpike tickets I was concerned I wouldn’t get anything though.
November 17, 2022 @ 12:49 pm
As someone who runs a venue, I hear every day about the frustrations of fans who waited a little too long or didn’t even have a chance because the bots beat everyone to the punch.
That said, agencies and venue operators rarely look at any other source other than pollstar for how artists are tracking. As of now, TC’s 3 year average for tickets per show is about 3500, when you adjust it for Covid, it’s about 2900.
It could very well be the case that arenas, which are usually arms of big pencil pushing conglomerates just looked at the numbers and said “no, TC is not anywhere near the Taylor Swifts, Harry Styleses, and Billy Joel’s of the world.” The bigger the arena, the more averse to risk, and going by what I call “the something in the air” principle for making bookings, where the numbers may not being saying something but the demand and word of mouth is.
November 17, 2022 @ 1:47 pm
If you adjust for COVID, wouldn’t that number go up, not down?
November 17, 2022 @ 2:03 pm
I have no doubt that LiveNation or whomever told the Tyler Childers camp, “Sell out these theaters and amphitheaters, and then let’s talk.” But they read the room completely wrong when it came to the Tyler Childers/Sturgill Simpson tour in 2019. Many of those dates sold out, and by the end of the concert, 1/3rd of the crowd had left during Sturgill’s set. That was Tyler’s draw, and if you have your nose in the data and were listening to the public, you would know that.
Pollstar can be useful for certain artists and venues. But at other times, it gives an incomplete picture. Many artists only tour as openers, and so they don’t have clean Pollstar data. Sometimes they do this to hide the fact that they can’t draw. Margo Price is a good example. This summer she was booked on some massive festivals as a later afternoon headliner, and nobody was there to see her. It’s because she’s create this facade that she’s a massive artist. Since she only tours as an opener for Willie Nelson and others, Pollstar does not have good data. Then when she commands $25,000 for a midday slot at a festival and draws nobody, the promoter takes a bath.
You’ve got to get out there in the field, talk to people, look at streaming and sales numbers to paint a more accurate picture. If you thought 3000-5000 capacity venues would fly on this tour, you’re just not paying attention. Tyler Childers is one of the biggest artists in all of country music at the moment.
November 17, 2022 @ 7:22 pm
Exactly. That example of Margo Price is spot on and often the fallacy of Pollstar. I always call up venues of similar size to mine where a potential artist has performed and ask how it went, as well as just go out into the world and see how the vibe is. Muscadine Bloodline is a good example of a band that doesn’t play huge rooms, but everyone who goes to their shows just raves about them and I am sure that will help propel them to that next level soon enough.
November 17, 2022 @ 9:05 pm
How many tours have you booked, Triggered? 🙄 I’m sure all the big acts and management companies are rushing to your site to get your ‘read’ on it. 😂
November 17, 2022 @ 12:50 pm
1. Pre-sale tickets are a limited, reserved quantity and everyone shares those presale codes on social media making the demand even greater than the quantity.
2. I believe re-sellers are posting tickets they don’t have in their possession hoping to obtain those tickets. They will post tickets available days before the tickets go on pre-sale. They are probably working in cahoots with Ticketmaster and giving them a cut of the absurd price some people will pay to obtain those tickets.
3. Tyler is an arena artist and should be playing arenas.
4. Why anyone wold put themselves through hours of online Ticketmaster hell is beyond me. I’ve never done it. We (usually) buy tickets to concerts day of the event (sometimes after the gates open). Let the re-sellers gobble up all the inventory, They will get antsy closer to the date and unload the tickets (sometimes below face value). Also the eliminates the stress of weather issues, cancellations, or life challenges. Occasionally, doing this you will have to pay out the ass, but over time it evens out.
November 17, 2022 @ 12:54 pm
Billy Strings two weeks ago (which we didn’t attend), Ticketmaster themselves released $25 tickets day of the show. There is always tickets available. Always.
November 17, 2022 @ 2:44 pm
Exactly this. Either the venue, or TM, or resellers will have tickets available a few minutes before shows. With almost entirely mobile ticketing, you can go hang out before the show and wait until the last minute to snag some. I hate TM with everyone else, but the price of tickets between the pre-sale and public sale is not the best indicator of what people should be paying.
November 18, 2022 @ 10:57 am
If you don’t have kids and don’t have to arrange for a babysitter, if you don’t have to travel, if you don’t have to ask off from work, you can pull something like this off. This is not the majority of concert goers, especially for a fan base like Tyler Childers’ who are mostly people in their 30s and 40s. Yes, this is a good bit to pull for the adventurous. But many people want to know their plans months in advance and plan accordingly.
November 18, 2022 @ 2:19 pm
We don’t have kids, but we are in our 30’s and 40’s and travel 85% of our concerts and work and pull this off. 100 miles from our destination or tailgating we are checking the Vivid, Stubhub, TickPick, Ticketmaster apps looking for seats. There are always seats available. It’s not that difficult. Maybe it needs a change of mindset. I probably had a head start with this kind of thinking because I worked in the business for years and vendors never came through with comp tickets or confirmed our names were on “the list” until the day of the show.
November 18, 2022 @ 2:06 pm
Tyler could be playing arenas but so far chooses not to. Fixed it for ya.
November 18, 2022 @ 3:57 pm
…except he played the Rupp Arena a month ago, booked an entire arena tour with Sturgill Simpson in 2019, and has some arena/large venues on this tour, including the Merriweather Post Pavilion, which has a capacity of 19,000+, and is less intimate than some arenas.
We all agree that arenas are less than ideal, and if Tyler Childers wants to avoid them or still offer intimate experiences to fans, there are ways of booking a tour to facilitate that. I tried to highlight some of them in this article. But that’s not what they did here.
The real issue is that booking agents are leery of booking artists in larger venues without what they consider precedence. Since the industry falsely attributed the nearly sold out arena tour in 2019 to Sturgill since he was the headliner, they have a false impression that Tyler cannot sell out large rooms in certain markets. But if you look at his sales/streaming numbers, what happened whenever he was announced at a festival this year, etc., you would know he is a massive artist, and booking him in smaller rooms would create the logistical snafu fans have been experiencing for the last three days.
November 18, 2022 @ 10:49 pm
That show at Rupp was a benefit and that tour with Sturgill that I, like many others missed when they postponed and then cancelled it had some very bad reviews of the sound plus Tyler was an opening act on both. Yeah I know many were there just to see Tyler but he was the opening act on the Sturgill tour. I saw him twice this year and could not imaging him playing an arena. The only way I’d go is if I were right up front or no thanks. I’m excited that he playing The Fillmore here in New Orleans, a venue that is very easy to get right up to the stage. If he played the arena here the only way it would sell out is if people flew in for the show. I do get your point though, most artists don’t make the jump from big clubs and small theaters to arenas although I have seen some do it over the years. Who knows, maybe that wil be his next tour or a nother leg in the Fall or Winter. I just could not imagine seeing him at an arena as he just does not seem like a dynamic enough performer to be good at it and that is not a bad thing. I’d hate to see him say corny stuff like “How’s everyone doin’ up there” etc…Haha.
November 19, 2022 @ 10:10 am
He could’ve played UNO like Billy Strings is.
November 19, 2022 @ 12:27 pm
I’m so glad he’s not playing UNO. The Fillmore is much smaller and much easier to get to and to get up front. That being said I am going to see Billy at UNO.
November 17, 2022 @ 1:29 pm
I will just say I saw Tyler Childers and sturgill Simpson at the Charlotte coliseum on what may have been the last performance before they canceled the tour (in retrospect it was probably a bad idea to go that given what we could have already known about covid) and I thought it was pretty bad. The arena was just too big for him. Maybe he had similar thoughts idk.
November 17, 2022 @ 1:54 pm
You can’t put an theater-level show in an arena, and hope it flies. Same with a club show in a theater. You have to tool the tour and the presentation to the capacity level. That is why we’ve seen a lot of people raving about the Turnpike Troubadours show at Paycom. They knew their fan base would be picky if it went off poorly. They want to be an arena act, so they’re taking it slow, making sure they get it right, booking solid openers to also help draw, and making sure the arena is a step up in experience, not a step down.
November 17, 2022 @ 6:00 pm
All good points, Trigger. But I think there’s one very large disadvantage to doing large venues like stadiums and arenas, and that is the sound quality in these places, which is oftentimes quite bad. These venues are built for sporting events, they never were and still aren’t built for concerts. Yes, you can fit in large crowds by the thousands, if not the Tens of thousands; but it doesn’t necessarily add up to anything aesthetically worth remembering.
Tyler Childers is likely, as you said, an arena-level artist; but his main concern could be aesthetics, and not necessarily the money, the prestige, or whatever awards may come his way.
November 17, 2022 @ 7:38 pm
Most definitely the experience is different in a theater compared to an arena. But Tyler Childers played the Rupp Arena in Lexington a month ago. On this tour, he has the Merriwether Post Pavilion booked, which is a 19,000-capacity venue. He booked an entire arena tour with Sturgill Simpson before it got cancelled due to Covid, and they only played a few dates. So Childers has shown a willingness to play arenas in the past.
If what’s happening here is that Tyler Childers only wants to play intimate venues, that’s fine. He has a right to do that. But it’s going to create chaos. If you have 15,000 fans in a given market that want to see you and try to buy tickets, and you only book a 3000-5000-capacity venue, then mathematically you are going to have more disappointed people than people with tickets. This will also significant favor more affluent fans who won’t blink twice at pulling the trigger on $350 tickets, while average Joes just can’t even fathom that price tag get locked out. Meanwhile, all that markup being leveraged out of your fans for tickets is not going to you, or the venue, or the local economy. It’s going directly into the ticket scalping business and the people who profiteer from this terrible system.
November 17, 2022 @ 8:14 pm
Obviously the ticketing issues, from quantity to cost, are things that should always be paramount when doing any tour. I don’t dispute that at all. Nor do I dispute the need for fans to be satisfied, or artists wouldn’t even be able to perform in clubs or traditional concert venues, let alone stadiums or arenas.
The rub, however–and I know this from friends who have been to concerts in these places–is that, between the crowd noise and the high decibel levels of certain acts, stadium concerts are just atrocious and unmemorable when it comes to Actual Music. Some of those who I have talked to about stadium concerts have come back with splitting headaches from the amplifiers and the crowds.
I guess what I am saying is that money isn’t the only thing, and indeed isn’t Everything.
November 18, 2022 @ 12:16 am
How is it “chaos”? All I see is if he doesn’t play arenas (which I don’t think he’d be very good at) some fans just don’t get to see him. Is that really “chaos”? I’m a big Tyler fan, I saw him twice this year but he does not seem to me the type of act that could pull off playing arenas all over America. He is just not a dynamic enough performer plus he’s have to play longer sets. And what happens if fans still get shut out? Should he play stadiums next?
November 18, 2022 @ 8:46 am
Let’s back up a bit.
Last week, I traveled to and from Nashville to attend a few important events and go to some meetings. On my way back on Wednesday, I was inundated with emails, comments, tweets, etc. from frustrated ticket buyers, both from people trying to purchase Tyler Childers tickets, and a few Taylor Swift fans, believe it or not. They were frustrated and angry, and wanted to know my opinion, probably because I covered what happened with the Turnpike Troubadours so closely. This article is the result of that. You have lots of frustrated fans, and in this article, I tried my best to explain why that is happening, and what some solutions there might be to it taking other examples of independent artists that have reached the arena level. I completely understand that Tyler might not want to be an arena artist, or that some fans may not want to see him in an arena. But the simple fact is that he draws at the arena level in almost every market. If you turn around and book him in theaters, esp. small/medium theaters, this is going to create the “chaos” that I am talking about. Fan is short for fanatic. They want to see their favorite artist. And if they can’t, that’s going to create a conflict point.
November 17, 2022 @ 1:55 pm
Thankfully very few artists I like are arena level, so I have not bought a Ticketmaster ticket probably in a decade. Maybe longer. If any of my bands graduate to that level, godspeed but I am not going to the shows anymore. I just do not find the arena show-going experience to be a pleasant one.
While I am not the biggest Childers fan, I absolutely love living in a world where a guy like that can pull huge numbers. I agree that he is an arena level act. More power to him.
But yeah, the big venue ticketing system is a shit show. I feel for anyone who has to participate in it.
November 17, 2022 @ 7:21 pm
2 exceptions to arena shows, in my experience.
The Eagles in 2018.
Tran Siberian Orchestra (TSO) in 2009.
Both exceptional quality.
Both in Cleveland, interestingly enough
November 17, 2022 @ 9:08 pm
The Eagles died with Glenn Frey. You saw Don Henley with special guests Vince Gill, Timothy B. Schmidt and Joe Walsh.
November 17, 2022 @ 11:53 pm
By Any Other Name,
Saw the Eagles with Deacon Frey.
They were Amazing.
Sound quality at the Cleveland arena for that concert, as well as TSO, was fabulous
November 18, 2022 @ 4:59 am
I declined to drop the $200 to see the Eagles recently and I wish a scrounged up some money to see them. I also passed on trying to get a ticket to see Don Henley at the Ryman for his Cass County album tour because I was short on cash then…I regret that more.
I don’t understand crapping on Henley though. His song ‘Boys of Summer’ is probably the song most country artists have tried to copy the essence of.
November 18, 2022 @ 1:59 pm
I agree that band may be playing Eagles songs (plus Joe Walsh, James Gang and Don Henley songs) but they sound nothing like The Eagles.
November 19, 2022 @ 9:00 am
Bet you haven’t seen the 6 musicians that made up the Eagles the night we saw them, in concert.
They sounded enough like the Eagles to me – and i am certainly discriminating.
The talent on the stage that night was phenomenal.
And we cheered young Deacon on like crazy.
TSO, New Years Eve, in Cleveland, brought the house down.
November 18, 2022 @ 3:43 pm
you’re a mother,
You ever see Joe Walsh in concert?
: D
Fabulous, that is what he is.
November 18, 2022 @ 12:48 am
TicketMaster doesn’t just do arena shows. I bought a ticket yesterday for a show next year at Gramercy Theatre in NYC and it was through TicketMaster. The artist in question was the folk metal band Eluveitie.
November 17, 2022 @ 4:23 pm
Here’s another opinion as to why he’s booking arenas at the moment, since almost everyone (not just country artists) is going on tour next year most venues are already booked way in advance and the only work around is to choose smaller venues in these cities. In an area like mine (Maryland) it’s extremely difficult sometimes to see certain acts because you have people mostly from DC and Virginia (although sometimes Delaware and Philadelphia) coming to see these acts especially when those acts aren’t stopping by in their cities.
With everyone going on tour at the same time I doubt I’ll be able to see most acts acts cause these tickets assuming you buy them directly are not exactly cheap and they add up quick.
November 17, 2022 @ 4:30 pm
I was at the Turnpike show. It was a really good show. If they were still playing smaller venues I never would’ve been able to see them. I was actually able to get a presale ticket for a reasonable price to the show.
November 17, 2022 @ 4:47 pm
I have been fortunate to see Tyler Childers live three times. The first time was on a small side stage at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in 2017. I had fallen in love with Pugatory after coming across a live video on Youtube of Childers performing Whitehouse Road. There were only about 150 people who showed up at that stage and he was startled and cracked a big smile when people started singing along to his songs. He couldn’t believe people knew the words.
The second time I saw him was at the Crystal Ballroom, a mid-size venue in Portland, Oregon in 2018. By then he had a pretty loyal following.
The third time was at the Ryman Auditorium in 2020 with Larry Cordle. Ricky Skaggs also joined in for a few songs.
Doubtful that I ever have the chance to see him in a venue like the Ryman again. I can’t imagine what I might have to pay for a ticket like that these days.
November 17, 2022 @ 4:58 pm
I’m not going to lie, it feels pretty crappy that he hasn’t even acknowledged the issue. I spent about an hour in the queue, two days in a row, using three different presale codes and got nothing. Feels like he’s ok with his fans being shut out or having to pay absurd resale prices with his silence on the situation.
November 17, 2022 @ 5:22 pm
Speaking of arena level artists, Trig did you see that Billy Strings has a prominent feature on an upcoming Dierks Bentley single? “Going Down on a High Note” I think it’s called, snippet sounded pretty good. Do you think this is a sign that the Nashville establishment is embracing Billy?
November 17, 2022 @ 5:43 pm
Looking forward to the Dierks Bentley song. At this point, Billy Strings might be bigger than Dierks, it’s really hard to tell. He also was working with Luke Combs a while back. I’m not sure Billy needs to be embraced by anybody, but I think folks are lining up to work with him.
November 18, 2022 @ 7:51 am
That song was released and is pretty darn good. Billy plays a prominent part in vocals, playing, and the video. Was really pleasantly surprised with it.
November 18, 2022 @ 10:40 am
Yeah, it’s a good song. Saw Sam Bush in the video too which is always nice. His new John Hartford tribute record is great too.
November 17, 2022 @ 5:46 pm
Anybody else geeking out over the Garrett T. Capps & NASA Country album? Sorry to be off topic, but I’ve been waiting a month for someone to comment about it.
November 17, 2022 @ 7:21 pm
I’ve been listening to it. I think it’s a good album. The spacey sounds and production are cool, but what I’m actually digging most are the lyrics. The time will tell / wrong side of tomorrow theme is resonating with events in my life at the moment.
November 17, 2022 @ 7:04 pm
2 tickets to each person and they only sell 3 hrs before the show starts. Problem solved.
November 18, 2022 @ 12:50 am
And those who are purchasing for a larger group or just for themselves?
November 17, 2022 @ 7:06 pm
Him not playing feathered Indians and whitehouse road is gonna be a problem in the long run. He needs some self awareness. This would be like Led Zeppelin not playing stairway to heaven or Journey not playing Don’t stop believing.
I mean turnpike hasn’t cut any songs out……
November 17, 2022 @ 7:57 pm
Okay. He hasn’t played those songs since the start of the pandemic (almost 3 yrs) and look at the demand for his tickets. Fans don’t care if he doesn’t play either of those songs and they don’t expect him to at this point. We saw him 2x last year and no one was walking out saying, “I wish Tyler played Whitehouse Road.”
November 17, 2022 @ 8:38 pm
Fans do care. I know a shit load of his fans that are losing interest (albeit they still love his music especially the never to be released songs and songs Childers won’t play). He better hit a home run with his next album. The sun is setting on Childers if he doesn’t a)release a real album and b)grow up and be grateful for the songs that got him here.
Y’all may think I’m being dramatic but hide and watch. Hounds was a nice stop gap but it won’t hold for long.
November 18, 2022 @ 7:59 am
This feels right to me.
November 18, 2022 @ 8:13 am
Hounds was a stop gap for what?
November 18, 2022 @ 8:18 am
Tyler isn’t an album artist. He’s most popular songs played in concert have never been recorded properly: “Nose on the Grindstone,” “Shake the Frost,” “Charleston Girl,” “Rustin’ in the Rain.” He uses recorded music as a supplement to his touring. His next album is irrelevant if he’s still a touring draw. And by all indications, he’s on top of his game.
November 18, 2022 @ 11:03 am
I’ve been trying to write an article about how despite a very mixed reception for “Take My Hounds To Heaven,” it really hasn’t injured the Tyler Childers appeal. The album has fallen off a cliff since it was released, especially for an album with 24 tracks that can accrue spins more easily. But “Purgatory” remains as strong as ever, if not stronger. I do think you can’t just put out mediocre efforts (“Take My Hounds” was recorded in two days) and continue at this level. But at the moment, the injury Tyler suffered with “Take My Hounds” is marginal. The massive appeal for tickets proves that.
November 18, 2022 @ 10:48 am
“grow up and be grateful for the songs that got him here.”
Grow up?
I believe he is maturing just fine. Seems to me he is sticking closer to home for the time being, helping ready the nest for the baby that is coming soon, if not already here.
He could be out there tearing it up – making it all about himself. Instead, he is making it about family.
When our son was born, i had to call Quantico, Virginia, when my water broke. Asked the person who answered the phone, if she would mind ever so much, finding my husband (who had been there for 2 months) and tell him to get his a** moving – we were about to have a baby.
We were living in N. Carolina at the time.
Personally, i have a lot of respect for Tyler
November 18, 2022 @ 8:39 pm
What do you mean by off a cliff? I don’t have any local friends that share my taste in music. So I don’t have a gauge for what is going on with other fans. Did anyone actually like it? I agreed with your review. I think it was a doomed idea.
November 18, 2022 @ 11:19 pm
Well, maybe saying it feel off a cliff is hyperbole. But this week, “Purgatory” is at #12 on the country charts, and “Take My Hounds” is at #42 with nearly 3x the amount of tracks. There are definitely some folks who like the album, but most of those are people who like some of the first eight songs. Overall, reviews have been mixed. But I also don’t think the album is such an anchor on Childers that it will significantly eat into his draw live.
November 18, 2022 @ 5:31 am
This is incorrect. He was booed after the second night at Red Rocks when he closed the show with “Heart You’ve Been Tendin’” and the fans realized he wasn’t coming back to play his two most popular songs.
November 17, 2022 @ 8:00 pm
Tyler & Food Stamps @ Radio City 8/2/23
Let’s FknA go!!!!!!!!
November 17, 2022 @ 9:53 pm
Getting kinda tired of all the hype over these artists. In the least “gatekeep” way possible, this music isn’t for everyone. I don’t think Tyler Childers “should” be playing in arenas.
The frat bros who love ‘Feathered Indians’ aren’t going to love the rest of his catalogue, and his real fans aren’t going to love seeing TC in a too-big venue for fluff fans.
Not every artist has to go full stratospheric to be successful; indeed not every artist aspires to arenas. It’s obvious Tyler doesn’t want to become a human jukebox. Zach Bryan has warmly embraced the bro arena fans, and I am glad they have him. I saw Turnpike at Cain’s on their first reunion show; the same place I’d seen them many times before. I’m glad they got some overdue recognition, but the whole $1,000 turnpike ticket thing and breathless masses clamoring to see all these longtime hard working indie acts as a sudden “notch in the belt” phenomenon is getting old. So much of what we love about these artists is tied to their close connection to fans.
Of course, Ticketmaster is a huge problem. But so is generating excessive hype for artists that are staying in their creative lanes rather than clamoring for hit singles.
Looking forward to the hot takes here.
November 17, 2022 @ 10:54 pm
I can only speak for myself, but this article is not part of a hype machine. I gave Tyler’s last album a 4/10, so it’s not like I’m on the payroll. Saying that he should be paying arenas is not wishcasting. It’s a diagnosis of the reasons many thousands of fans were left disappointed on Wednesday when they tried to purchase tickets. This article was written upon the request of Tyler Childers fans, and to some extent, Taylor Swift fans as well, who wanted to know what the hell is going on. Tyler Childers could sell out any arena in any market in the United States. That’s my assessment. Putting him in smaller capacity venues creates logistical nightmares and a heyday for resellers.
Tyler Childers is a superstar. He has three Certified Platinum singles, a Double Platinum single, a Platinum album, and another Gold single. This is just the way it is. Nobody’s clamoring for hit singles. They’re just happening. The people have spoken, and they want more Tyler Childers.
November 18, 2022 @ 6:27 am
If the SCM hype machine had its way, Mike and the Moonpies would be playing arenas and not stuck in dancehalls. For every Tyler Childers, there’s thousands of hype machine indie artists eternally stuck in the mud. There’s absolutely nothing not organic about Childers’ success (as you suggest).
Your comment seems more steeped in the fear of change and “bros” than the natural progression of an artists’ growth and ensuing success (and facts). Childers played in front of 20,000+ at Healing Appalachia and no one was bothered by “fluff fans” or the lack of connection with his songs. Same with the 14,000 that attended the Rising Kentucky Concert at Rupp Arena.
“breathless masses clamoring to see all these longtime hard working indie acts as a sudden “notch in the belt” phenomenon is getting old’ – you seem bitter, stuck in the past, reluctant to change. I love converting people into Childers, Cole Chaney, Logan Halstead fans. The more successful my favorite artist becomes, the longer they can fund and prolong their music career. I guess fans of Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young pushed back against their early arena level success the way you have in your comments back in the day too.
November 18, 2022 @ 10:59 am
I hear both of y’all. I fully see and understand this side of things. I also have to imagine that Tyler’s big shows in Kentucky are a pretty different feel than a big show would be in Dallas.
I think @hoptowntiger94 last few lines are perfectly said–folks who love certain artists from early on almost ALWAYS lament when the artist steps up to the arena circuit. It’s not a new phenomenon or some sort of stuck in the past mindset. I’m in my 30’s, very progressive in most ways, and am a creative professional myself.
It’s a strange paradox, the way success that artists dream of often becomes “too much.” It’s not new that fans are saddened to see their favorite artists add several members to the band and get a big fancy light show to “fill the arena.” I used to see the Avett Brothers in divey venues when it was the four of them, no percussion, tons of sweat and broken strings and tears. They sorta lost me when they added a bunch of band members and started working with Rick Rubin and playing arenas. I love those guys and they meant SO much to me when I was younger, so I’ll always be stoked for their success. I just won’t feel as much a part of what they’re doing moving forward, and that’s okay.
Based on this comment section, I am far from alone at not being into arena shows. There’s a real challenge in walking that line as an artist, because you get pushed to serve more fans at the real risk of alienating the core group who stuck with you all along. I don’t envy the position indie superstars are in one bit. And it’s clear Tyler wrestles a lot with his relationship to mainstream success. Everything from his public comments to refusal to play “the hits” live to the unique ‘Hounds’ album prove he’s not seeking to mainline more singalongs the way Zach Bryan does.
I know my comment last night lacked a bit of nuance because I was typing on my phone at the end of a long day, but I’ve also learned if you’re *too* nuanced nobody really engages with a respectful debate. I love all the same artists as y’all and am sincerely glad to see them getting their due. @Trigger I don’t even think this article or you in particular are responsible for this phenomenon. The internet makes the strangest connections. Walking around my SEC mountain / college town, I often hear Feathered Indians blasting from frat houses alongside trap hip hop and other college anthem type music. It’s not a judgment on Tyler or the college kids, but it is a sharp departure from when I saw him at Cain’s a few years ago and everyone was the type of dyed-in-the-wool fan who was there to laugh and cry along to everything from his Bottles and Bibles material to whatever he felt like playing off Purgatory.
It’s funny because you get labeled bitter when you don’t want your favorite art to get co-opted by the masses, but somehow we all congregate on this website looking for ‘the next big thing’ and talking about remember when’s and I-was-there-when type moments. I’m all for the guys we love getting paid for their hard work. I am just a little sad that Tyler Childers is in the same ticketmaster/arena hell conversation as Taylor Swift, and I am certain I’m not alone in that sentiment.
Cheers and keep conversin’.
November 18, 2022 @ 2:25 pm
I like your nuanced reply comment much better. We aren’t that far apart with our opinions. But, now I feel like a prick for calling you bitter.
And I agree being able to seeing Tyler in his own backyard is probably a different experience that skews my opinions.
November 17, 2022 @ 11:31 pm
Except that the Tyler tix haven’t even gone on general sale yet. They all go on sale in a few hours.
To some fans of the popular acts the system is “broken” but to the artist the seats will be mostly full and the tix all get sold so how is it “broken”? The artist, the vevue and the ticket vendor are all happy. Unfortunately so are the scalpers. If no one bought tix from the scalpers they would be out of business tomorrow.
When I go to big shows and I don’t have great seats I just check what tix are still on sale on StubbHub or Seat Geek for crazy prices and that is where I sit the entire show. I’ve been doing this for years now. I sat in the 5th row for Tyler in September as I knew those seats would be empty. No one said a word to me.
November 18, 2022 @ 8:03 am
You did right. When the doors close, those seats are up for grabs.
November 18, 2022 @ 11:07 am
These presales always predict the general sale. That’s why Ticketmaster pulled Taylor Swift’s general sale. Here Friday after the general sale, I can confirm there are still thousands upon thousands of pissed off Tyler Childers fans who did not secure tickets, and are staring at $300 resell tickets.
November 18, 2022 @ 11:23 am
Got that right. Tried both pre sale days. Then this am logged on well before start. Got no tickets, but damn there were sure a lot of stub hub. They got them on there quicker than you would even think possible. Supply and demand aside, because yes tickets sell out, but there just seems to be something else going on, fueling the greed, and hurting the general fans pockets.
November 18, 2022 @ 4:18 am
Gonna see Billy Strings in 1500 ca venue in Amsterdam in two weeks. Stoked
November 18, 2022 @ 5:44 am
Sure, it was a minor disappointment that I couldn’t get tickets. I don’t blame Tyler, as long as he is doing what he wants, then I’m happy for him. Not seeing him 2 hours away, freed up cash to see 10 shows at my local venues. John R. Miller and the Steel Woods are the first benefactors of missing out on Tyler Childers.
November 18, 2022 @ 10:55 am
Man you’re going to love the Steel Woods. Saw them play at Pappy and Harriet’s last month to a crowd of about 100 people and they brought the damn house down.
November 18, 2022 @ 6:17 am
Many great points raised here by Trig and the comment gang. All very true. Are you one of the frustrated who can’t get tickets easily? Here’s my solution and boy is it a hot take. 🔥
Firstly, I will not be attending ANY of the shows on this tour. Same with the other phenoms like Zach Bryan or Turnpike Troubadors. Nope, not going, at all. No sir. Why, you ask? Not that l have a problem with them, no its for all the above mentioned reasons.
As a better option, seek out live shows from little known or less popular players. You might be amazed to find that oftentimes in your town there are local pickers and singers who can be quite entertaining. Go to small local venues and find them. Can’t tell you enough how much fun it is to discover local talent close to home, where you might have 20 people or so watching, and the only fees involved are a tip jar and the bar tab. And if you really believe in supporting your local community like I do, it’s so much more rewarding to fund the little people, the mom and pop establishments and the undiscovered talents that lurk around every corner. We have fantastic experiences doing just that every month.
Also if you sing or pick, get more involved in that, reach out to other like-minded musicians, it’s far more satisfying than paying $250 a ticket for lousy seats, $20 parking and $15 beers and putting up with the vast masses in an arena.
Don’t get me wrong, I occasionally indulge in a big show, but it’s more the exception than the norm.
November 18, 2022 @ 7:25 am
Boy your right. I saw Brent Cobb and Hayes Carll together in November. They are not local, unknown acts by any means but I was able to get a $35 ticket at the door and sit about 10 feet away. There are a lot of opportunities like this out there.
November 19, 2022 @ 8:34 am
They were playing near me in late October and I had every intention of going. I’m a long time Hayes Carll fan and also love Brent Cobb, who I’ve never seen live. Seemed like a match made in heaven. But then it turned out that my daughter’s play at her high school was that night and I just couldn’t. I did see John Moreland in the same place the next week. Same thing. Bought a ticket at the door and got a seat about 10 feet away from him.
November 18, 2022 @ 8:52 am
I know we never give awards for “posts” of the year on here but Kevin’s will come in as one of my favs for 2022. Being an old guy I’ve long since quit the arena/ticketmaster game only occasionally venturing into a theater to see Cody Jinks. I don’t care who’s playing. I was lucky enough to be on the guest list for a sold out show to see Tyler open for John Prine a few years ago at a local amphitheater here and I knew it would be my last time seeing both.
One of the things I loved about stumbling on this site was the fact that you could go see almost anyone we talked about in a small venue. A+ talent for a fair and sometimes downright cheap price and I absolutely enjoy it. Did I drag my old ass to the Smokeout to see Turnpike and Zach Bryan? Yes I did for a reasonable general admission price. The point myself and Kevin are making is if you enjoy playing that Ticketmaster game and being gouged on the secondary market to see whoever God bless you but most nights and Trig knows this…..I’m in a small bar seeing a future Tyler, Zach etc……..and loving it! I know most everyone on here does this as well but still it’s tough sometimes watching a fav graduate to arena knowing I won’t be going…lol
November 18, 2022 @ 9:19 am
I agree completely. Personally, I really don’t go to many shows, I prefer to play my own. My local music scene is pretty much devoid of country music but people like it and I kind of like having different genres on the same bill. I did but tickets to Bob Dylan pre-pandemic because I was going to drag my daughter. I took her to see Ramblin Jack a couple times just for the historical aspect. She had a good time.
November 18, 2022 @ 11:10 am
I retweeted this from a reader of mine yesterday, and it went viral:
“The only way to stick it to Ticketmaster is to go see more live, local music. Go see the dude who rolled in his merch trunk by himself. Go see the badass woman that makes the loud bar full of talkers turn silent at the first note. Go see the band that’ll hug your neck afterwards.”
That said, I’m not going to blame anyone for wanting to go see Tyler Childers or the Turnpike Troubadours, or Taylor Swift for that matter. They are fans, and they connect with these artists. There’s nothing wrong with that, and there should be a better system in place where they can see their favorite artists as opposed to having to compete with their fellow fans and falling victim to scalpers just to gain entry to that experience.
November 18, 2022 @ 12:50 pm
I mostly see lesser-known acts (several hundred in the last decade), but I’ve found that patience and observation create opportunities to see big artists for very affordable prices, too. I bought a ticket to Turnpike yesterday for $33 for the San Antonio Rodeo. I paid $39 for Strings a few months ago. I’ve seen Childers a few times and never had to pay a large amount.
November 19, 2022 @ 7:56 am
I’ll also mention that Willie’s 4th of July tickets this summer were as cheap as $25, including fees, on a Live Nation Concert Week sale. Tyler Childers was part of that lineup. It was hotter than blue hell at the venue (over 100°F), but there was music all day and the price was great. There are deals out there for almost every artist, so I recommend never “chasing up” to hundreds of dollars a ticket for anyone, no matter how big they are.
November 18, 2022 @ 6:39 am
There is no intimacy in an arena. There is some intimacy in a theater. Connecting with the audience is primary. Smaller venues will gain more true fans by connecting with those present. The most memorable venues I’ve attended were smaller venues. More people = more idiots trying to be an idiot, in a public setting, ruining something for others.
Of course in this superficial world- the government holding investigations adds to the clownish nature of gov’t… that is NOT what the gov’t is for. Read the constitution… we are where we are, in large part, because of a clownish gov’t doing crap never intended seeking publicity so it can cater to itself.
November 18, 2022 @ 10:51 am
“More people =more idiots….” hit the nail on the head
November 18, 2022 @ 7:16 am
Well, those tickets were gone by about 9:01.
I already see them on stubhub and other sites for $300+. I think non-transferrable tickets would be the way to go…
November 18, 2022 @ 7:24 am
Yup just tried for Cleveland just to see and same thing. All tickets are gone and on StubHub for $300+. What a scam.
November 18, 2022 @ 7:26 am
Same. Jacobs pavilion would be a great place to see him.
November 18, 2022 @ 8:19 am
I won’t do it. Once my favorite artist hit it big and start playing bigger arena’s I am out. Won’t pay the high price, hate sitting with 30K people, is it really that great to see a band when you are 60 yards away from the stage? I still love the artist but will just be happy listening to them at home. Most of the artist I like still only play small venues so it works for me. Seeing Jessie Daniel at 3rd and Lyndsey sitting at a table next to the stage or sitting on the patio with Billy Joe Shaver and band after the show in a small club in Cincy beats seeing anyone at Bridgestone Arena.
November 18, 2022 @ 9:10 am
We could solve some of this by not buying tickets from resellers. I mean, the resellers bought the original ticket, which means the artists get paid. If we stop buying the resale ticket, the scalpers/resellers will just lose money and eventually stop buying tickets and jacking up the prices. Right?
November 18, 2022 @ 9:23 am
I like your idea. Upper deck tickets in Charleston were $40 a piece. They’re now being sold on Ticketmaster for $180, the same week they went on sale. No way I’m giving those bastards my money.
November 18, 2022 @ 9:48 am
Idk, I only use resellers. Let them do all the work, incur the debt and all the risks and I’ll swoop in day off and get my tickets if the conditions are conducive. Keep the debt off my credits cards for 8-12 months and no risks if the weather is bad for outdoor events or if I get sick is worth it to me even if I have to pay more. I used to eat so many tickets before I started using resellers.
November 18, 2022 @ 10:17 am
But then the show would suck. Big arena shows lack the atmosphere of a smaller venue…80% of the attendees are just watching on the big screens above the stage, so they may as well be at home watching on DVD imo.
November 18, 2022 @ 11:33 am
Man you’re going to love the Steel Woods. Saw them play at Pappy and Harriet’s last month to a crowd of about 100 people and they brought the damn house down.
November 18, 2022 @ 1:06 pm
I got tickets to the Tyler show in Arkansas….Loved Purgatory, it’s a hall of fame record and Tyler talking about sobriety has helped me with mine. Dude might want to just keep it between the lines as far as that goes, and Non arena shows might help him do that.
November 18, 2022 @ 2:32 pm
If you look at Ticketmaster there are tons of tickets up for resale but there are also huge swaths where there isn’t a single ticket up for resale. It seems pretty clear that more tickets will be released at a later date once things settle a bit. And that could happen soon but it would more likely happen in spring or even summer for some of these dates.
Tyler released a bunch of tickets for Red Rocks this year on Cash or Trade a month before the shows. I would imagine this tour would be no different. As others have said in these comments, tickets are always going to be available. You just have to do your due diligence, be patient and take a few seconds each day when its convenient to check. And StubHub is always great the day of or a few days before a show in most cases.
And by the time Tyler gets around to releasing more tickets there won’t be any bots scooping them.
November 18, 2022 @ 2:36 pm
The J. Beck/J. Depp show, at a 2,000 seat venue.
J. Beck tickets were going for $65, for great seats. Add J. Depp to the menu, several weeks later, and tickets were selling in the 4 digit range. Thousands, per seat.
Was determined not to miss this show. Was down by the stage, volunteering.
Jeff Beck blew it out of the water.
Johnny Depp, was there, at the invitation of his friend, Jeff.
Who on Earth would have wanted to follow J. Beck?
And then to see Satriani a few days later?
Goodness …
November 18, 2022 @ 9:38 pm
Jeff Beck is that top level
November 19, 2022 @ 8:51 am
Still stunned by the performances of Beck, and Satriani.
Both amazing. Both, entirely different in their styles (imo)
Satriani did things with a guitar i have never, ever, seen before.
Was mesmerizing
November 22, 2022 @ 9:48 pm
Seen a lot of the best guitarists on in the world. Won’t say beck had the best show, but was the best guitarist I’ve seen live and n all my years. My story is I dragged my wife to a beck show. Wasn’t her thing. In the middle of the show though she says to me”he doesn’t play guitar, he makes love to it.” Nuff said from a complete outsider , just their cause of me. Will say billy strings live is at that level. Crazy to say but true. See him live.
November 22, 2022 @ 11:06 pm
“My story is I dragged my wife to a beck show. Wasn’t her thing. In the middle of the show though she says to me”he doesn’t play guitar, he makes love to it.””
Oh, i Totally get it.
Wait until you take her to see Satriani.
She’ll be even more appreciative, watching & listening to what he does with a guitar.
Holy cow – flammable
November 18, 2022 @ 3:38 pm
I’m just glad TM is getting all the shit and not bots (which account for very little of scalping) for a change. That was TM’s scapegoat for many years and it turns out, it’s been TM screwing folks all along and folks are just now waking up to it. Artists are to blame in all this mess too for “Platinum” tickets which are nothing more than artists/TM scalping tickets themselves. In fact, for some Tyler shows, you can go right now and get “Platinum” tickets which aren’t meet and greet or anything special. It’s all a game and everyone wants their piece. Not to mention the thousands of tickets held back for various reasons which are then slowly released by TM and the artist. Shows are never sold out even when they’re ‘sold out’. Again, glad TM is getting called out, but artists should be as well as they’re just as culpable.
November 22, 2022 @ 9:52 pm
Seen a lot of the best guitarists on in the world. Won’t say beck had the best show, but was the best guitarist I’ve seen live and n all my years. My story is I dragged my wife to a beck show. Wasn’t her thing. In the middle of the show though she says to me”he doesn’t play guitar, he makes love to it.” Nuff said from a complete outsider , just their cause of me. Will say billy strings live is at that level. Crazy to say but true. See him live.
November 24, 2022 @ 8:30 am
Simply, Tyler likely did not want to play arenas.