Features
Concert Touring & Live Entertainment: Forecast Is Bright For 2019
Chris Pizzello / Invision/AP – Carrie Underwood ACMs
Carrie Underwood performs “Cry Pretty” at the 53rd annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sunday, April 15, 2018, in Las Vegas.
The outlook for 2019 is a bright one for concert entertainment with major artists debuting new tours or continuing ongoing ones. There will be artists headlining big venues for the first time, some will say goodbye after decades in the spotlight and some are poised to make box office history.
Along with the road jaunts, the year ahead will also see the debut of new concert residencies as well as the return of proven headliners to high-profile showrooms. We will also bid farewell to the one who started it all: Celine Dion, who will end her 15-year run of residencies at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
Although hundreds of touring artists will cross the globe in the year ahead with many performances on many stages, here is a glimpse of just a few of them who have already announced their 2019 plans. Country star Carrie Underwood is set to return to the road with her first headlining effort since 2016’s “Storyteller Tour” that grossed $58 million and drew 847,378 fans to 80 performances. The new trek, “The Cry Pretty Tour 360,” will be staged in the round at arenas in 55 North American cities, running from May through October.
Michael Bublé will also be on the road for much of 2019 following a multiple-year break, touring in support of his latest album Love. It marks his first outing since the “To Be Loved” trek that ran almost two years beginning in the summer of 2013. That tour covered six continents, drawing more
than 1.7 million fans worldwide. Based on 163 reported shows, it surpassed $166.8 million in sales.
Hootie & the Blowfish returns with a reunion tour that kicks off in May, ending a 10-year hiatus from the road. Dubbed the “Group Therapy Tour,” it will hit 44 cities in 2019 and commemorate the 25th anniversary of the band’s 1994 debut album, Cracked Rear View. Country group Alabama has also planned a tour to celebrate an anniversary – the band’s 50th. A 31-show trek through North America is set to begin Jan. 10.
2019 will also see the continuance of some tours already out of the gate including treks by Ed Sheeran and The Rolling Stones, who each launched stadium runs in 2017. Sheeran’s “Divide Tour” will resume in February with dates planned in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe. With sales currently at $554.6 million after the tour’s first two years, revenue from 2019 could potentially make his run the top grossing tour of all time, supplanting U2’s “360 Tour” that grossed $735 million. The Rolling Stones’ “No Filter” trek played 12 European stadiums in 2017 and 13 more in its second year. With a final 13-city North American leg on the horizon, the band will wrap the tour in late-June. Currently, its two-year gross is $236.5 million.
Paul McCartney will resume his current tour in March with shows booked in the Americas into July. He hit the road in September supporting his most recent album, Egypt Station and played markets in North America, Asia and Europe during the first three months. Fleetwood Mac began the first tour with its new lineup following the departure of Lindsey Buckingham on Oct. 3 and took in $42.1 million from 25 shows through the end of November. The first series of shows in 2018 were staged in North American cities, and the band will remain on the continent in 2019 through mid-April. A five-city stint in Europe will complete the tour in June.
Residencies are the new normal for established entertainers who opt to let the fans come to them, and 2019 will see the debut of some highly anticipated productions by today’s hottest stars – none more so than the red-hot Lady Gaga, on the heels of her critically-acclaimed role in “A Star is Born.” Her residency at Park Theater at Park MGM in Las Vegas will alternate between two shows – “Enigma,” a full-scale production featuring her hits and “Jazz & Piano,” stripped-down versions of her music along with classic tunes. She kicks off the run Dec. 28.
The Park Theater will also be home to “Domination,” the new Britney Spears residency. The pop artist has 32 shows scheduled at the venue Feb. 13-Aug. 17. Her first Vegas run, “Piece of Me,” ran for 248 performances from late 2013 through the end of 2017. She moved 917,297 tickets at the Axis at Planet Hollywood (now called Zappos Theater) and racked up a gross topping $137.6 million.
Aerosmith is set to debut its own residency at the Park MGM dubbed “Deuces Are Wild” beginning on April 6. The band has a total of 18 shows booked with runs in April, June and July. Cher will also continue her residency at the venue in 2019, with nine shows scheduled in March. The Vegas shows will fall in the midst of her “Here We Go Again” tour playing in North America through May – followed by a European trek in the fall.
The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas is also set to feature multiple-night engagements including Van Morrison’s seven-show stint in January and February as well as James Taylor, who will perform 12 shows in April and May. Mariah Carey’s “The Butterfly Returns” debuted with 12 shows at the Colosseum in 2018, and she will return in February prior to her “Caution” tour, set to play North American theaters during March and April. Reba McEntire and Brooks & Dunn will continue their residency “Together in Vegas” residency at the Colosseum with six shows in the summer.
Celine Dion will wrap her Colosseum residency “Celine” with a finale planned for June 8. The show, her second production at the theater, debuted in 2011. Her first show was titled “A New Day” and played from 2003 through 2007. Since her first performance at the venue, a total of 1,059 shows have been reported to Pollstar with grosses topping $610 million from 4.2 million sold tickets.