Yes, The Turnpike Troubadours Just Booked an ARENA
Well damn, we were all saying right after the Turnpike Troubadours announced their return and tickets were selling out immediately wherever they announced shows, that the boys from Oklahoma could probably sell out arenas at this point, or at least in certain markets. Well now it’s time to put that hypothesis to the test.
On Tuesday (6-21), the band announced they will be playing the cavernous Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on November 12th, and will be bringing along Blackberry Smoke and Morgan Wade for the party. This is the place Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Kenny Chesney, and George Strait play when they’re in town. This is no glorified field house. This is the big time.
Now of course, this comes with some caveats. Oklahoma City is right in the heart of Turnpike Troubadours land. It’s doubtful they could do this in Seattle or Brooklyn. Turnpike is gonna barely sell out some amphitheaters on the east coast later this year. Also, Blackberry Smoke and Morgan Wade are no slouches. They’re moving quite a few tickets themselves these days.
But this will be an interesting test to see just how far the Turnpike Troubadours appeal will reach. In fact, that is probably the whole point. With the way ticket demand has far outpaced supply, if they fill an arena to capacity in Oklahoma, they may be able to do the same in Texas, in Kansas City, and in Colorado. They already sold out Red Rocks on consecutive days.
And this isn’t all smoke and mirrors. The Turnpike Troubadours are on fire at the moment, turning in some of the best performances of their careers. And sure, playing arenas comes at the expense of the intimacy of smaller venues. But would you rather see them in a arena, or not be able to see them in a smaller venue in Oklahoma because there’s no tickets, and any left are going for $700 on the secondary market?
This won’t be the first time the Turnpike Troubadours have played a venue this size. They played Rodeo Houston a few years back that’s also held in an arena, and they also played a few other arena shows opening for … someone. But this is their own gig, not piggy-backing off of anyone, or another event.
In other exciting Turnpike Troubadours news, Evan Felker will also be appearing on the new Dropkick Murphy’s album This Machine Still Kills Fascists, which is a tribute to Oklahoman Woody Guthrie. Felker will appear on a song called “The Last One.” That project will be released on September 30th. More info on that soon.
Meanwhile, presale tickets for the Turnpike Troubadours at Paycom Center will go up Wednesday at 10 am Central, with the full sale starting Friday, June 24th.
June 22, 2022 @ 8:50 am
Damn! Good for them. Of course, selfishly I hope I can still see them in smaller venues.
June 22, 2022 @ 9:05 am
They teased a major announcement this week, and I’m guessing this was it…no album news? Sturgill and Childers sold out Rupp, which is 5,000 seats bigger than this place, so I’d expect a sell out in their home state.
June 22, 2022 @ 9:22 am
Yes, I believe this was the big announcement.
My understanding is a new album is in the works, but it may be 2023 before it’s released. We might get a new single earlier though, or maybe it will be late 2022, we’ll see. Right now with the delays in vinyl, these things just take time. There are more rumors out there, but I like to leave these things to the band to announce on their terms, and not ruin any surprises.
June 22, 2022 @ 9:41 am
They better bring their “A” game cause Blackberry Smoke should have that crowd rev’d up. They are a tough act to follow for anyone!
June 22, 2022 @ 9:50 am
I think it got pretty close to selling out through “presale.” I use quotes because the presale code was posted on most social platforms. It took me almost 30 minutes to purchase tickets. Constantly picked seats that were sold by the time I clicked purchase. I was in virtual line and queue 10 minutes before they went on sale and it said 2,000+ people were in front of me. Curious if that was actual demand or the bots.
June 22, 2022 @ 10:57 am
Seems there’s a decent amount on resale sites already, but they don’t seem insanely overpriced like Red Rocks. At the end of the day this is just the reality with Ticketmaster, they’re such a scam. Also looks like a good amount of real people were able to get tickets.
June 22, 2022 @ 11:01 pm
The pre sale Emails that I get are a rip off
They wanted over $300 for nose bleeds
I went to the site of the venue and got 4 tickets $100 each
June 22, 2022 @ 11:02 pm
I saw a corb at the Mercury 2 weeks ago, tickets were $20 it was awesome
June 22, 2022 @ 10:17 am
Would definitely go see Turnpike at the Tacoma Dome or BC Place! come on Evan!
June 22, 2022 @ 11:54 am
Let’s not forget Evan is featured on the new Dropkick Murphys album.
That’s pretty damn big too.
The boys are growing up.
June 24, 2022 @ 3:40 pm
I can’t wait! I’m going to be there! Just got tickets a couple days ago!
June 28, 2022 @ 1:00 am
Mainstream country radio and music charts are increasingly irrelevant.