As a gas crisis begins to ease in the Southeast, a new supply-chain issue reared its head on Facebook.
Fusion Music managing partner Daniel Miller (Cassadee Pope, Riley Green) reported a “massive shortage of country concert tickets” on May 12. Miller didn’t hold back; he encouraged “stocking up” on passes to weather the “unpredictable season ahead” as the concert industry reboots in the aftermath of the COVID-19 shutdown.
Miller’s words were obviously sarcastic, but they underscored the excitement of artists and executives in the live business to see fans’ faces and generate sales again.
After 14 months of scarcity, in-person concerts and events are revving up in a big way, with Jason Aldean, Carrie Underwood and Alan Jackson among the acts adding their names to a concert marketplace bulging with package tours, benefits and even extended residencies.
Newly announced concert appearances include:
• Ashley McBryde rolls out the This Town Talks Tour on June 12 in Roanoke, Va., with over three dozen shows on the docket through January 2022. Four different acts are filling the opening slot on a rotating basis: Morgan Wade, Adam Hambrick, Priscilla Block and Ray Fulcher.
• The Birthplace of Country Music Museum is holding a three-part Road to Bristol Rhythm series that offers concerts for 100 people at an outdoor stage at the Sessions Hotel on State Street in Virginia, walking distance from the site of historic recordings by Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family. The shows will include Wade, June 19; Jim Lauderdale, July 17; and Amythyst Kiah, Aug. 7.
• Jackson is going home to Newnan, Ga., on June 26 for a benefit at the Coweta County Fairgrounds on the three-month anniversary of an EF4 tornado that destroyed 70 homes and damaged a total of 1,700 buildings.
• Aldean’s aptly titled Back in the Saddle Tour launches Aug. 5 in Virginia Beach, Va. Amphitheaters dominate the schedule that’s currently booked through Oct. 30 in Tampa, Fla. Opening are HARDY and Lainey Wilson.
• Garth Brooks will play the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ house, Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, on Aug. 14. It marks the first concert at the football venue since Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid III in 1987.
• Dan + Shay reboot The (Arena) Tour on Sept. 9 in Greenville, S.C., with openers The Band CAMINO and Ingrid Andress. Interrupted by COVID-19 after the first three dates were completed in March 2020, the updated itinerary includes additional shows in San Diego and Los Angeles.
• Underwood opens Reflection: The Las Vegas Residency on Dec. 1, with six shows booked during the month at Resorts World Las Vegas. She is the first country performer announced for the new 3,500-room hotel, which opens June 24.
• Luke Bryan also booked a six-concert residency at Resorts World’s 5,000-seat theater. His run begins Feb. 11, 2022.
This article first appeared in the weekly Billboard Country Update newsletter. Click here to subscribe for free.
