Phoebe Bridgers Joins Messina Touring Group Roster (Exclusive)

During his speech following his induction into the Pollstar Hall of Fame during April 16’s Pollstar Awards at the Beverly Hilton, legendary promoter Louis Messina rattled off his roster.

It is one that is enviable and impressive. It is led, of course, by Taylor Swift, and also includes the legendary George Strait, the forever-in-stadiums Kenny Chesney, the now-in-stadiums Lumineers and more. But there was one new name he mentioned Wednesday: singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers.

The Grammy award winner sprang to prominence with her 2017 debut Stranger in the Alps, which she followed in 2020 with Punisher. She’s also a much sought after collaborator: her projects with Swift, SZA, Conor Oberst and others have received critical and commercial acclaim and her work with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus as boygenius vaulted the trio to stardom with the release of the record in 2023.

Bridgers joining the Messina Touring Group family follows a pattern that began when Messina when first started promoting Strait in the 1990s; his roster tends to include artists who have links to one another, as he explained in a 2022 Pollstar cover story commemorating his 50 years in the live business.

“Because of George, I met Tim (McGraw) and Faith (Hill) and I met Chesney. I met the Chicks through George and of course I met Taylor,” he said. “Because of Taylor, I met Ed Sheeran, I met Shawn Mendes, I met Vance Joy. Because of Kenny, I met Eric (Church). Because of George, I met Blake (Shelton).”

Bridgers opened for Swift on part of the “Eras” Tour.

Messina is well known for taking on artists and lifting them to the next level of touring. Bridgers’ last solo headlining tour in North America was in 2022 and was largely in amps. She had a brief Australian run in the Southern Hemisphere summer of 2023 and then toured with boygenius and opened for Swift in 2023. She has 48 headline reports in the Pollstar Boxoffice database, averaging 3,211 tickets on shows that date back to 2017.

Bridgers is repped by High Road’s Dave Rowan in North America and WME elsewhere.