Touring
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American roots reggae band Stick Figure decided to conduct an experiment earlier this year when they went on sale with tickets for their Sacred Sands Summer Tour 2024.
Hoping to make their tour as fan-friendly as possible, band leader Scott Woodruff and managers Thomas Cussins and Marina Petros at Ineffable Music Group decided to offer refunds to fans who bought tickets to the tour but couldn’t make the show.
“Given that the tour included numerous large-scale amphitheaters with some of the biggest promoters in the world,” the band had to agree to cover the costs of the refunds themselves, explained Cussins.
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Refunds are rarely allowed in the concert business and promoters have long been loathe to offer money-back options to fans, worried that a rush of last minute refunds could lead to heavy losses for shows that had previously been considered a sellout. But the problem with the “all sale are final” model, Cussins explained, is that fans might be hesitant to purchase tickets when they go on sale if they are worried about their availability months later.
A refund policy might make fans feel more confident about their purchase, explained Cussins who worked with Petros to develop the rules for Stick Figure’s first ever refund policy. In order for the band to recover the cost of the refund and sell returned tickets to new fans, the band required all refund requests be made up to 10 days before a show. In order to prevent scalpers from taking advantage of the refund policy, tickets listed on secondary market sites like Stubhub were excluded from the promotion.
“Enforcing this second rule was challenging, and some tickets intended for resale likely slipped through the cracks,” Cussins said. “However, on the whole, everyone acted in good faith and used this program as intended.”
The band ultimately sold 135,446 tickets for its 16-date Sacred Sands tour and granted 750 refunds, equal to about $77,852.24, or .55% of the revenue generated from 2024 tour.
“These numbers clearly show that this is a successful formula for a band,” Cussins explains. “As this tour was largely sold out, nearly all refunded tickets were resold. Even in the case of a less well-attended tour, this loss would be worth it based on the statistics from our post-tour ticket buyer survey.”
According to the survey, 65% of buyers were aware of the refund policy and of those who were aware, 82.3% said that the band’s refund policy made them feel more comfortable buying tickets.
“There is a strong case to be made that losing less than 1% of tickets later is still worth the overall boost in consumer confidence,” Cussins concludes.
Based on their experience, Cussins noted that promoters, venues and artists could improve the ticketing ecosystem by offering refunds to “verified fans (not resellers) up until 14 days before a show, with the option to extend this to 7 days depending on stakeholder determination,” Cussins says.
That doesn’t mean taking an aggressive stance against resale, but instead allowing the practice “with a few guidelines to avoid abuse” like speculative ticket selling, where a reseller lists a ticket they have not already purchased. Abuse and price gouging can be limited through thoughtful ticket distribution practices and market monitoring, coupled with dynamic pricing models that keep prices affordable on the secondary market, Cussins said.
“Adding the security of a refund option,” on top of the above secondary market reforms, Cussins concludes, “will increase consumer confidence and drive more early ticket sales, which limits risk for bands, venues, and promoters.”
When Jaclyn Kinnon was seven, she lived more like a roadie than a second grader. Because her mother, Shelley Kinnon, headed the backstage catering for Southern California’s Irvine Meadows (now FivePoint Amphitheatre) from 1988 to 2010, she spent many evenings and weekends helping her mom pamper rock stars. One particular chore later became a rock ‘n’ roll fable.
“I remember my mom tossing me bags of M&Ms and having me pick out all the brown ones for Van Halen,” says Jaclyn. “But I didn’t throw them out — I kept them for myself.”
When it comes to hospitality riders — a list of requests in an artist’s contract fulfilled by promoters or venues — the most famous is Van Halen’s demand for no brown M&Ms in their dressing room. But whether technical, practical or outrageous, the rider is an industry staple. It is also an endless source of fascination, finding its way into pop culture, such as the This Is Spinal Tap character Nigel Tufnel, played by Christopher Guest, who complains that the bread provided backstage is a catastrophe because it’s too small for the deli meat. For those of us who live far from the galaxy of stardom, this is an inconceivable world of entitlement and excess. But for those who work in the live music industry, this is their reality.
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Touring may seem like an endless bacchanalia, but it is nonetheless challenging. There are long hours spent on the road and on airplanes, late nights, early mornings, meet-and-greets, energy-zapping performances, sleeping (or not sleeping) in foreign beds, pre-parties, after parties, and unbridled access to all manner of intoxicants. Since ticket sales make up a large portion of an artist’s revenue, ranging from Taylor Swift‘s billion-dollar Eras Tour to throw-everything-in-the-van-and-go indie bands, the industry has developed a set of best practices for how musicians are treated while on the road, and creature comforts, especially for A-list artists, make a big impact on tour. Swift’s humble 2008 tour rider included simple indulgences such as one quart of 2% chocolate milk, one stick of butter, one small jar of dill pickles, and three boxes of Kraft macaroni and cheese. Her Eras Tour version would presumably go further.
Particular types of food and meal preparations are rider staples that offer a respite from drive-thrus, greasy spoons and gas station nachos. While some artists travel with a personal chef, others may expect the venue to provide a fine dining experience.
“For Van Halen and Sammy Hagar back in the ’90s,” says Shelley Kinnon, “they had to have a big, lavish, sit-down dinner in their dressing room. We supplied the dinner, and it was one of the most expensive riders I can remember. In fact, I even hired a chef from the Ritz Carlton to come in.”
Kinnon has seen it all. Her eponymous catering business has decades of experience at venues such as the aforementioned FivePoint Amphitheatre, L.A. Sports Arena and Orange County’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts. She roasted a whole pig for an Ozzfest end-of-tour party. She whipped up a juicy roasted pork loin from a special recipe provided by members of Rush. She supplied many bottles of Cristal. While some of her food requests were easy to fulfill, like Jimmy Buffett‘s three grapefruits, others were more daunting, like finding chicken feet for the Jamaica-based Reggae Sunsplash tour of the early ’90s. Now, most rare food items are more readily available, but 30 years ago when, for example, various British bands would require HP Sauce — a tomato and tamarind condiment as popular as ketchup in the U.K. — she was at a loss.
And then there were drugs — something that was oft requested but always unwritten. Since it was the ’80s, an era that was covered in white dust, it came as no surprise. (And no, Kinnon never provided it.) She also witnessed other high-maintenance requests of which rider lore is made.
“For Michael Jackson at his ’89 L.A. Sports Arena show, they were measuring the table cloths because they had to be a certain length,” she says.”Somebody had to taste all his food before he ate it. We even had to set up a separate dressing room for Bubbles, his [chimpanzee], who was wearing a frickin’ suit.”
As the music industry evolved, so have riders. While artists are still making headlines with their demands — lest we forget Beyoncé‘s alleged 2013 request for over $900 worth of titanium straws, which she needed, according to E! News, for drinking alkaline water — at least some lean toward a more cause-driven purpose.
“Florence and the Machine was a solidly expensive rider — a few thousand dollars,” says Tadia Taylor, who has worked in artist relations, tour and artist management, and event production. “Florence is focused on sustainability so it was important to her that there’s no paper plates, no paper cups, no plastic cutlery. I had to buy stuff like china, glassware and real silverware, but it didn’t bother me because it was coming from a good place. Even though it was expensive, it wasn’t frivolous.
“I actually kept all that stuff and reused it for other events,” she adds.
The rider comes from humble beginnings. In the early ’60s, they were utilitarian, consisting of performance essentials like payment preferences, sound equipment and lighting, which these days is categorized as a technical rider to differentiate it from the hospitality version. Chuck Berry, who traveled with his guitar in hand, asked to be paid in cash upfront or he would not play. (This was used against him when the IRS charged him with tax evasion in 1979.)
Alex Hodges, 82, CEO of Nederlander Concerts, who has represented artists such as The Allman Brothers and Stevie Ray Vaughan, says his first experience with the rider was in Macon, Ga. in the early ’60s when he worked with the now-defunct Walden Artists & Promotions. While still in college, he started managing local bands around 1961 and eventually landed his first big star: Otis Redding.
“Regional bands would tell us stories of the bare dressing room or the lack of equipment or water on the floor,” says Hodges. “The first rider I ever did was probably no more than a page or two. For Otis, it became more essential and technical, just the minimum requirements. And around 1970, when The Allman Brothers came out with their first album, it became a little bit more interesting.”
That is due in large part to John Hartmann, 84, a Canadian-American author, educator and music industry legend who has worked with artists such as Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and the Eagles, and who helped reshape the rider into what it is today — which can now be upwards of 15 pages. And it all began with Perrier.
“We invented the rider,” Hartmann claimed in Michael Walker’s book Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock-and-Roll’s Legendary Neighborhood. “I remember the big thing I wanted was Perrier. I drank Perrier. So I got everybody around me into it, and we ended up putting Perrier on the riders and no one knew what it was and people were sending to France to get it. Those kinds of things crept in as the managers and the artists gained power.”
With Perrier, Hartmann was one of the first to request an indulgence on tour that was something other than technical equipment or a per diem, making venues and promoters scramble to either hunt down or import the bubbly beverage. His request was honored, and later, when the British duo Chad & Jeremy called him with a venue issue, these combined occurrences revealed an opportunity.
“I sent Chad & Jeremy to San Diego to play a concert,” says Hartmann. “When they got down there, they called and said, ‘There’s no PA.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about? It’s a venue, they’ve got a PA,’ and they said, ‘This is the kind of PA a teacher uses to talk to a class. It won’t hold rock and roll.’ That’s when we started, as agents, analyzing this whole need for proper sound and really got into the technical aspects of it all for the first time.”
Eventually, riders began to help artists and managers gain more power. If a rider was fulfilled, it meant the contracts were read. If they weren’t, it meant the artist had the ability to cancel their show. Since promoters and venues needed performers in order to run their businesses, the dynamic shifted from offering the bare minimum to ingratiating artists and management. The demands to elevate the standards of sound and lighting quality quickly became the norm for most venues, allowing artists to fill their riders with other, more personalized, requests. Thus, the hospitality rider (versus the technical rider) was born — and it didn’t take long for artists and managers to catch on.
In essence, riders evolved into binding contractual terms. Hodges once demanded in Stevie Ray Vaughan’s rider — whose last name was frequently misspelled as “Vaughn” on marquees, tickets and posters — that if his last name was misspelled on any marketing materials, the promoter would have to pay the hotel bill for the entire band and crew. As a fond reminder of this, Hodges keeps a framed poster featuring Vaughan’s misprinted name in his office.
“That’s in essence what the rider’s about: To be sure the promoters are given the information they need,” Hodges says. “Some of the funny stuff you put in isn’t necessarily intended to be funny or difficult, it’s to be sure that they read the rider and take it seriously. We’d check everything to see if they spelled the artist’s name right, whether it’s a marquee, dressing room, or on a cake — anything that might let us know they weren’t paying attention.”
“The rider evolved based on the specific interests, needs or whims of the acts, especially as they got bigger,” Hartmann adds. “Those requests became rigid, and eventually no artist performed without a rider. When I went to Europe with the Eagles, America and Crosby and Nash — before Stills — we had unwritten needs. It wasn’t on the rider, but you gotta give us pot or hashish when we crossed the border into your country.”
If there’s anyone who knows about riders based on specific interests and needs, it’s Darrius Washington, who is Steve Aoki‘s tour and production manager. Dubbed the “$30 million DJ” by Forbes in 2019, Aoki is not just known for rattling arenas with his high-energy big room house but also for lobbing cakes at eager audience members.
Known as “Cake Face,” these are not regular store-bought cakes picked up by a production assistant, but rather a particular recipe made by a local baker in each city of the tour. They are so specific that the cakes have their own rider, shared with Billboard, which offers a diagram, dimensions (12×16 inches), ingredients (plain white sponge cake, no chocolate or sprinkles), and the ratio of cake to frosting (25% white sponge cake and 75% whipped cream frosting). The rider also says, “A great test is to see how easily you can stick your finger in the top of the cake. If you have to use force, then the cake is not prepared correctly.” Even the foundation of the cake is explicit and must be made of expanded polystyrene foam board because it is soft and breaks upon impact, avoiding injuries that could be incurred by cardboard or plastic careening at one’s face.
“What most people don’t know about the cake,” Washington explains, “is that it’s all contractual. So if you fuck up our cake rider or your cakes in any way, it’s a $5,000 fee.
“We’re actually refining the rider even further because Steve has mentioned that they are on the lighter side,” Washington adds. “He’s been featured on Barstool Sports for how accurate he is with the cakes, but if you want to continue that accuracy, the cakes have to be a certain weight, a certain size, or else they don’t go as far. So all of these things have to come together to make this perfect cake for throwing.”
According to Washington, they go through about 800 cakes per summer.
Now, some venues go above and beyond the riders, not only fulfilling them in their entirety but organizing customized activations for artists and their entourage. Christy Castillo Butcher, senior vp of programming and booking for SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, believes in the broader definition of hospitality, which is welcoming people into your home.
“You wanna create a comfortable space for them, an inner sanctum to decompress before the show,” Butcher says. “Hospitality riders are key in creating some consistency from venue to venue so the performers know what to expect. From a venue side, it’s really trying to tap into some of the nuances around that. What are some of their favorite things? Is there a specialty coffee or food particular to the artist or crew? Are they fond of a certain tequila?”
From Butcher fabricating a personalized SoFi football helmet for Kenny Chesney to organizing a carne asada cookout during a press conference — complete with a local youth mariachi band — for the Mexican Norteño-banda act Grupo Firme, the rider continues to evolve via the venues and the artists themselves.
“With the rider, the power went from the criminal conspiracy known as the record business to the artist and managers,” says Hartmann with a laugh. “The rider is now an institution. The ridiculousness is unlimited and it’s up to the artist — what are they not ashamed to ask for? Well, most of the time it doesn’t matter and they’ll just ask for it anyway.”
Renowned U.K.-born singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae has signed with Independent Artist Group (IAG) for exclusive representation across North America. Managed by Anthony Patterson and Taylor Cottrell at Roc Nation, the six-time Grammy Award-nominated artist now joins the ranks of IAG’s R&B roster, which includes legends like Mary J. Blige, Ne-Yo and Keyshia Cole. Since her […]
In May, Olivia Rodrigo was due to be one of the first artists to play at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena. The city’s new indoor arena, funded by Oak View Group and has Harry Styles as an investor, was beset by delays and resulted in a number of canceled shows, including two dates by Rodrigo. Now […]
Mexican superstar Luis Miguel will close his international tour in Mexico City at the GNP Seguros Stadium on Nov. 30, Mexican promoter Ocesa announced on Tuesday (Oct. 8).
Known as “El Sol de México,” which loosely translates to “México’s sun,” Luis Miguel has chosen the Mexican capital as the stage for one of the most important moments of his career to make a spectacular closing of his Luis Miguel Tour 2023-2024, which grossed $318.2 million and sold 2.2 million tickets in its first 146 concerts, according to figures reported in September to Billboard Boxscore. This made it the highest grossing tour of all time among Latin artists.
Tickets for the last show will be available at the Gran Venta HSBC on Oct. 14 and 15, and the following day at the venue’s box office or through ticketmaster.com.mx, Ocesa said.
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The singer of “La Incondicional,” “Culpable o No” and “Suave” returns to Mexico City, where he began a series of concerts at the Arena Ciudad de Mexico on Tuesday that will end on Oct. 24, with which he will set a new record as the artist who has had the most number of concerts at that venue, with 18 presentations, according to the promoter Zignia Live.
Luis Miguel’s current tour began last summer, with 10 concerts at the Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then another 10 at the venue of the same name in Santiago, Chile. Those 20 initial dates grossed a total of $28.1 million and sold 227,000 tickets, establishing it as the third highest grossing tour of his remarkable career. After that, he toured the U.S., Mexico and Latin America, returned to the U.S., traveled to Spain and, most recently, returned to Latin America.
Luis Miguel’s U.S. stint was fruitful, grossing $49.8 million, but his return to Mexico — his native country — was even more successful, generating $57.5 million from 20 concerts. By the end of 2023, he had earned $141 million, still far from the all-time record, but enough to easily surpass his own 2018-2019 Mexico Por Siempre tour, which grossed $101.4 million, making it his most successful tour to date.
Luis Miguel has captivated generations with his unmatched voice, unique style and stage presence, which continues to establish him as the most beloved Latin artists of all time. He has been honored with multiple awards, including Billboard Latin Music Awards, Grammys and Latin Grammys. His discography is one of the most acclaimed in the industry, selling more than 15 million copies of his album Romance. He holds the record for the longest tour by a Latin artist, and is also the singer with the most performances at the Auditorio Nacional, one of the most important cultural venues in Mexico and Latin America.
On Aug. 28, just over six months after the death of country music star Toby Keith at age 62, NBC celebrated his work and his influence on some of country music’s biggest stars in a two-hour special, Toby Keith: American Icon. Eric Church, Tyler Hubbard, Parker McCollum, Jelly Roll, Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, Clay Walker and Lainey Wilson were among those who feted Keith, an oilfield worker-turned-musician known for his steely determination; burly, commanding voice; and top-flight, often witty songwriting that fueled many of his 20 No. 1s on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
The special drew 4.7 million viewers, was the No. 1 show in its time slot and was NBC’s most-watched primetime entertainment special of 2024, according to the network. And Luminate data shows a bump in the Oklahoma native’s streams in the weeks following its airing. On the Sept. 14-dated Digital Song Sales chart, streams of “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” totaled 3.4 million; a 344% jump.
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Spearheading the special behind the scenes were UTA’s Curt Motley — Keith’s personal agent for approximately three decades — and his colleague Nick Barnes. The duo packaged the concert and worked with Keith’s longtime manager, TK Kimbrell; the late artist’s family members; Universal Music Group Nashville; the label’s newly launched Sing Me Back Home Productions film/TV division; and Thinkfactory and its CEO, Adam Reed.
“We wanted artists who had connective tissue to Toby, whether they were his friends or had toured with him,” Motley says of the special’s lineup. “A lot of artists came forward and said, ‘We love Toby, and we sing his songs every night.’ There were also a handful of people on the show who had never actually met Toby but were huge fans. We wanted to honor that legacy through multiple generations of country music.”
Motley, who joined UTA in 2016, also reps a roster that includes Jamey Johnson and Sawyer Brown.
“This [wine] bottle celebrates the life of the King of Wyoming, Chris LeDoux,” Motley says. “Music legend, [1976] world champion bareback rider and one of the finest humans to ever walk the earth.”
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Barnes, who joined the company in 2017, specializes in connecting music artists to projects in TV, film and branding while overseeing UTA’s Heartland division, which focuses on family- and faith-based storytelling. Those clients include film/TV creators the Erwin Brothers and Dallas Jenkins (The Chosen).
UTA’s Nashville team has simultaneously fostered the success of a crop of country newcomers that includes Megan Moroney (“Tennessee Orange”), Dylan Gossett (“Coal”), Brittney Spencer (“Bigger Than the Song”), Chayce Beckham (“23”), HunterGirl (“Ain’t About You”), Ian Munsick (“Long Live Cowgirls”) and Oliver Anthony (the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Rich Men North of Richmond”).
What can new artists learn from the career Toby Keith built?
CURT MOTLEY: Toby was fearlessly unapologetic. He had a vision for what he wanted to do, and he didn’t waver on that line. When you’re good at something like he was, you don’t need other people to validate you. It’s a much harder road, but the fruits at the end of it are so much greater.
How does UTA Nashville differ from other agencies’ country music divisions?
NICK BARNES: An artist’s career should be multihyphenate to have longevity. They should be touching film, television and branding. We are starting earlier than ever in artists’ careers to find opportunities outside of touring to broaden their reach. Historically, these opportunities have existed for artists that were well into their careers. For instance, a feature film based on a hit song or a theatrical tour documentary — [intellectual property] that reflects country music’s way of life. For a long time, it was an antagonistic view. Now this community is embraced more for what it is. The Heartland division serves as the crossover arm for music artists here and is having success in feature film, television, unscripted productions, book publishing and more.
The Toby Keith “Super Bowl” ring was created by Live Nation’s Brian O’Connell to commemorate his 11 USO tours and over 240 shows in support of America’s armed forces, Motley says. Only four exist.
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TikTok and other social media outlets have changed the game for new artists. How do you sift through viral moments to find acts that won’t be one-hit wonders?
BARNES: It’s a balance between a gut feeling based off our experience and the data that is brought and analyzed by our team at UTA IQ — a world-class group of data analysts with proprietary tools we have built and continue to improve.
When you consider signing an artist, do you determine if they’re a strong live act? It’s key to an act’s longevity.
MOTLEY: You also have to look at consumption numbers, including streaming and social growth velocity, as an indicator for live viability.
UTA recently launched a Christian music division that has Brandon Lake, Phil Wickham, Lecrae and Forrest Frank among its clients. What do you feel is driving the growth in that genre?
BARNES: When we told one of the artists on our roster about the announcement, they said, “That’s like the Avengers of Christian music.” There’s a broader trend afoot in the faith community. In the aughts, a lot of Christian bands wanted to cross over. They were like, “We are Christian bands but we want to be rock bands. We don’t want to be labeled as [contemporary Christian music].” We are seeing Christian bands and artists now that are leaning into who they are, and that’s resonating with the fans. When Forrest Frank is printing merch that says, “I am a child of God,” and he’s selling them as fast as they can put them on the merch table, and his shows are filled with kids and teens that are on fire for his music — I think that’s the correlation.
“I’m proud of the moment that Heartland comics are having right now,” Barnes says. “Both posters are from sold-out Nashville shows by two clients: John Crist and Leanne Morgan.”
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What kind of market share do you see Christian music attaining in the next five years, and what are the demographics of the fan base?
BARNES: We think consumption will double. Similar to other genres, streaming artists that aren’t dependent on radio are bringing a younger demographic into the market. Streaming has created a multigenerational fan base for the genre.
Country music streaming is surging globally. How does that affect your work?
BARNES: When we’re watching the algorithm trends on the [digital service providers], they’re the same in Dublin as they are in Nashville. They’re the same in Australia as they are in Brazil, which are all burgeoning markets for country music. And we are starting to take artists to the U.K. first to build fans.
MOTLEY: Oliver [Anthony]’s Out of the Woods tour started in the U.K., and we started Dylan Gossett’s [No Better Time] tour in the same areas. They were incredibly well received.
What else are you doing to build fan bases overseas?
MOTLEY: Agents across the globe — especially in our London office — are leaning into country music and integrating it into the fabric of our business here. This allows us to get in early with partners abroad and leads to opportunities that allow aggressive first-look tours. Recent examples are Megan Moroney, Oliver Anthony and Dylan Gossett.
For a newer artist, what are other advantages of launching a tour abroad?
BARNES: One advantage is being able to start a business over there that you can return to when you need to take a break [from touring stateside]. In the American markets, oftentimes our clients have played a lot of hard- and soft-ticket tours and they need to let the U.S. cool off a bit. [If they have played overseas], we’ve already built relationships with promoters and have a base of fans.
“I’ve always been a Marty Stuart apostle,” Barnes says. “Marty once opened for The Steve Miller Band at the Ryman, and Steve signed this poster to Marty — including a few special doodles. It ended up forgotten in a closet, but when we moved offices, it was passed on to me as a gift.”
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MOTLEY: It is expensive to travel and perform abroad, but when you’re just starting out, your costs are going to be a lot less [because you’re doing smaller-scale shows]. If you wait too long, that opportunity cost is hard. But when you build that fan base from the get-go — we’re going back with Dylan this year and playing big rooms, and we just started in February.
Touring costs in general have increased significantly. How are artists navigating that?
MOTLEY: Post-COVID, we had that big wave where everyone had to get out and go see a show. There wasn’t a bus you could rent; there wasn’t a venue that was available anywhere. I think we are at the tail end of that now, but everything has remained more expensive. Just to lease a bus right now is more than twice as expensive as it was in 2019. It’s almost impossible for acts that tour in a window that’s only four to five months a year to be able to afford that, so we’ve got to charge more for tickets. The big, white-hot shows are largely unaffected right now, but for other things, people are making choices again. It’s probably a bit cyclical as well. I think we will see it even out. There has been a lot of debate about the climbing prices of concert tickets.
Do you think they’ve hit a ceiling?
MOTLEY: Although the pandemic curve has flattened, as it pertains to white-hot stadium-level artists, it does not appear that we have hit a ceiling — especially given the number of tickets and pricing on the secondary market. But underneath that, artists have to be conscious of the market to have the best chance at success.
Seven years ago, Drag Race stars Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme saw an opportunity to ring in the holiday season the way they wanted to — as two friends just gabbing to one another in front of a live audience.
“We could have just sat on stage and shot the s–t for an hour and a half,” Monsoon explains to Billboard. “That’s how this whole idea started, with us saying ‘Let’s just sit on stage, maybe do a couple numbers and bulls–t about the holidays.”
Today, that original concept has grown into an annual tradition for the pair that extends far beyond just chatting and singing in front of a crowd. The Jinkx & Dela Holiday Show, instead, transformed over multiple iterations into a spectacle of costumes, dancers, high-production performances and an ever-evolving story — one that usually pits the two performers’ disparate dispositions against one another.
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Each year, the pair use the plot of their show to tackle topics of the moment, including the oncoming approach of AI technology and adjusting to a post-COVID world. For this year’s show — which kicks off its 33-date North American run on Nov. 7 in Charlotte, N.C. — the pair recognized that there’s really only one topic they felt needed to be addressed; our current, fractured political discourse. “There’s a lot of fear right now,” DeLa explains. “We have never shied away from taking on those hard topics, but doing it in a way that also can bring joy and hope.”
It certainly helps that the pair are well-versed in the political challenges of this election — in July, Jinkx and DeLa joined forces with fellow Drag Race stars Alaska, Willam, Monét X Change and Peppermint to create the first-of-its-kind political action committee Drag PAC. Aimed at engaging young voters to exercise their rights in the upcoming election, the organization has already provided prospective voters with the tools needed to register to vote and spread the word about the high-stakes election taking place on Nov. 5.
Below, Jinkx & DeLa break down the creation of their latest special, their thoughts on the upcoming election and their approach to young voters who don’t feel represented by either candidate in 2024.
Let’s talk about the special! What made you want to continue your tradition of doing this holiday tour?
Jinkx: It’s grown through the years — it started as something special, and just becomes more and more special each year, and that’s because there was always true heart and intention from the very very beginning of this project. We are writing a two act musical spectacular for the seventh time, because what we created that first year resonated with an audience that wanted to come back the next year. Their support through the years has allowed us to grow and take more time; now, we take off four months a year to devote to this project. As freelance artists, that’s crazy. But it pays off, because it is not only a wonderful artistic endeavor, but it is one of our best ways to stay in communication with our audience.
DeLa: It’s really about the spirit of this thing. It’s so great to be able to do this, but also, Jinkx and I love spending this time together, we love spending this time with our show family. We wanted to create a new tradition for us and for our audiences, and now, this is coming home for Christmas for us.
What can you tell us about this particular Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Show? What are some of the new areas you wanted to explore with this year’s version?
DeLa: Every time we come at this, you can always expect that special Jinkx and DeLa flavor — we have a very specific brand of comedy, we have a very specific odd couple dynamic that makes for a very good time, and we come at it with a lot of humor, and camp, and sparkle, and spectacle, and original music, and pop parody. But we’re always also coming at it with keeping what is culturally happening around us in mind, so that will always dictate what is happening in the show. And this year, there is a lot of division happening, politically and otherwise.
Jinkx: I feel like drag queens are expected to be funny. Not every drag queen is funny, but there is an expectation that we’re going to tell some jokes and we’re going to entertain you, right? DeLa and I both chose comedy because it is a wonderfully effective tool for communication and for introducing new ideas. Throughout the years, I’ve learned that even though comedy kind of gets treated like this light-hearted, frivolous art form, it actually has been the most powerful way for me to convey very important messages to my audience.
When you double that with Christmas and what a difficult time of year this is for our community, it’s a no-brainer that people resonate with the work that we put a lot of passion into. This time of year is hard for all of us, and you don’t even have to be queer for it to be hard for you.
The two of you clearly have an excellent working relationship as artists — what, in particular, about the other person makes them a good collaborator, to you?
Jinkx: I think if you asked us at different points over the last seven years, we might have had different answers. But right now, it’s pretty easy to say that there is trust and respect here. We have so much trust in one another that you can actually believe that this person is making a suggestion that we should wear specific costumes not because she thinks it’s the best option for her, but because she thinks it’s the best option for the show. To find another artist who wants to remove their ego from the conversation and put on the best show possible is rare. It’s hard to get there as an artist, but when you find an artist who brings that out in you, it’s a unique privilege as a performer.
DeLa: Jinkx and I have just continued to propel each other to get better at everything. We come at this with very specific skill sets, and with different strengths — throughout the years, we’ve built each other up, we’ve helped each other, I feel like I am a freer, more comfortable improvisational artist because of it. I know that Jinkx feels like she’s gotten to learn a little bit about storytelling from me. It’s something that comes out of that incredible inspiration from each other. As a result, we not only are a stronger pair on stage, but we’re better comedy writers together.
The other project the two of you worked on earlier this year was the creation of Drag PAC. What made the two of you want to engage in this specific way in the election?
Jinkx: The credit actually has to go to a wonderful member of our community, someone who has helped create a lot of work for drag queens and queer entertainers since the pandemic, and that is our good friend Big Dipper. He really is the brain behind Drag PAC, and I don’t mind saying that because he puts in a lot of work so that we can come together as a group of very busy entertainers and use our platforms and our voices in a way that hopefully — actually, no, that will empower our community and give us voice in the political arena.
This is a very high-stakes election, especially for the LGBTQ+ community. With less than a month until Election Day, how are you feeling about the outcome of the campaign and our collective future as a country?
DeLa: I, personally, am feeling a great sense of gratitude for the way I’m seeing our community come together. I feel fortunate to get to step up and be a voice in the way that I do, and I feel inspired and grateful to see so many other queer people in the public eye doing that, as well as just seeing queer individuals across the board realizing that, collectively, we can make a lot happen, we can protect things and we can make change. That has been true of the queer community for decades, and I think both Jinkx and I feel very fortunate to be a part of the legacy of drag that has fought for queer rights and for the rights of all disenfranchised communities. As scary as what’s happening can be, and as infuriating as it can be, the counter to it is us knowing our extreme power. I feel a sense of knowledge that we are unbreakable, and no matter what happens in the next couple months, we will not stop fighting.
Part of Drag PAC’s aim is to engage young voters specifically, and there are a lot of Gen Z voters who have made it clear that they are not satisfied with either candidate in this election. As two people hoping to mobilize young voters, how do you approach conversations with people who don’t feel represented by the candidates?
Jinkx: In my lifetime, I’ve never lived through anything more tumultuous or divisive than the last eight years of politics. I know that those people who do not want to endorse either candidate, in many cases, are thinking about the fact that endorsing either candidate makes your friends from Palestine, your friends from the Middle East, your friends who are being actively affected by what Israel is doing, feel like you don’t care about what’s happening to them because it’s not happening to you.
I am not the most satisfied person when it comes to our government, but I’m at a point where I understand that if we want to have the kind of future where we can really dissent to things and have more options than just two candidates, then there’s only one option to vote for right now to make that future possible. I think it’s pretty obvious that, under Trump, we would lose our ability to protest, to dissent, to speak out against our government. He’s made that very clear. If you want to talk about what you can do right now to try and ensure that future that undecided voters are trying so hard to manifest, then there really is only one option right now.
DeLa: It’s important to note that Drag PAC, as an entity, is about motivating Gen Z voters, and there is no endorsement for a specific political candidate there. The intention is to encourage people to do their own research, find the candidates that align with their own values, and then take the steps to make change through our system. That free thinking is an important piece of all this. But as individuals, yes, Jinkx and I absolutely have our personal endorsements.
I also think there’s so much nuance here. I think about Rep. Ruwa Romman from Georgia, who is a Palestinian-American who was not allowed to speak at the DNC. There’s so much to say about that, and I think it’s also important for people who have strong opinions about this to go and listen to this person that they are upset they didn’t get to hear from at the convention — she has a very nuanced approach to this. She cares deeply for the Palestinian people, but she also has a lot to say about how voting Democrat is an important part of this process when you zoom out and see the full picture. That’s something we’re trying to tackle in our show this year — the importance of larger thinking, of listening, of not getting so entrenched in your own story about what’s going on, but really connecting to others face-to-face and listening to what people have to say. Sometimes, it’s not what you assume it’s going to be.
Before we wrap this up, is there anything else you want to add?
Jinkx: Yes — we’re comedians, I promise. [Laughs.]
DeLa: One hundred percent. I mean, one thing Jinkx and I are so proud of is that we’re not afraid to come at the hard stuff directly. At the end of the day, though, we are both inspired by drag. We love to make people laugh. The point of this show is that, at a hard time of year, in a hard year, a bunch of people get to come together and look at some beautiful visuals, outfits, props and performances from our brilliant cast, and get to reap the benefits of some really skilled performers who have developed a very real camaraderie over the years. Hopefully, people will come and experience some joy from this thing, and also come out feeling a little better about some of the harder stuff.
Jinkx: We’re not just spokespeople for the community — we benefit from being members of this community, too. The audiences charge us to keep going, and we only hope to charge our audiences to keep going, too, and to provide some food for thought.
Multiplatinum-selling and three-time Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Olivia Rodrigo will appear at this year’s Billboard Live Music Summit and Awards, in partnership with AEG Presents and Live Nation, for a Superstar Q&A and to receive Billboard’s Touring Artist of the Year award on Thursday, Nov. 14, in Los Angeles. In a keynote interview, Rodrigo will speak about […]
John Legend is bringing his acclaimed 2018 A Legendary Christmas album back on the road this year, with the 45-year-old EGOT winner unveiling a string of 11 festive U.S. shows slated for this holiday season.
As announced exclusively with People, the run will kick off Dec. 2 with a performance in Highland, Calif., followed by more dates in California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Oklahoma, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. “My hope for these shows is that they feel like a gathering of friends by the fireside — where the music brings warmth, joy, and a sense of togetherness,” he told the publication.
“Over the years, I’ve experienced the holidays in so many ways, and each version of me — from my childhood to now as a father — has shaped the way I approach this season,” the “All of Me” vocalist continued. “I want to share that journey with the audience, through songs and stories that celebrate both the festive spirit and the moments that bring us closer. I hope people leave feeling like they’ve been part of something warm, familiar, and special.”
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In addition to moments of storytelling about Legend’s career and life with his wife, model Chrissy Teigen, and their four children, the trek will see the musician joined by a four-piece band performing tracks — many of which are covers of holiday classics, such as “Silver Bells” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” — from A Legendary Christmas. Produced by Stevie Wonder and Raphael Saadiq, the LP peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard 200 in 2020.
Fans can secure tickets when a presale kicks off at 10 a.m. local time Monday (Oct. 7) on Legend’s website. A general public on sale will follow at 10 a.m. local time Wednesday (Oct. 9).
Legend previously toured in support of A Legendary Christmas in 2018, unveiling a 25-date trek in October of that year at the same time he announced the album. The Voice coach most recently dropped an album of children’s songs and lullabies titled My Favorite Dream, featuring cameos from Teigen, 8-year-old daughter Luna and 6-year-old son Miles.
“I’m right in the thick of fatherhood,” he wrote in a statement ahead of My Favorite Dream‘s release in August. “My parents loved to sing around the house, making up bedtime songs for us and songs to motivate and inspire us. And Chrissy and I also love singing to our kids. We make up little jingles and ditties for them all the time. In our home, music is very important to the way we interact and communicate with them.”
See Legend’s A Legendary Christmas Tour dates below.
Chhappell Roan recently canceled two shows just one day before they were due to take place, saying that she felt overwhelmed and needed to take a break. She’s not alone — over the past few years, artists including Adele, Rihanna and The Rolling Stones have all done something similar, and likely at an eye-watering cost for all involved.
People will always get sick, but the kind of health issues artists state are often more complex. While it seems that labels and management companies have put an increasing amount of investment into mental health programs over the last few years, is there anything more that could help cancellations like these to be prevented?
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One area of the business slow to change is allowing adequate recovery time on tour for emerging artists. Costs are high and labels want to get the maximum amount of exposure for new artists, but scheduling proper breaks is so important when it comes to preventing illness, overwhelm and vocal issues. A quick glance at Chappell Roan’s tour dates shows her playing in three different cities on three consecutive nights. Combine this approach with a meteoric rise in profile and you’ll have an exhausted, overwhelmed artist in no time.
It is in this state that pre-existing health issues can raise their head. Exhaustion and stress will do that to any of us. No amount of mental health support can compensate for an over-tired artist who can’t cope. But also, for artists, exhaustion and stress impact their live performance in ways that executives often forget. An artist experiencing visceral symptoms of overwhelm, as Chappell stated, will find it incredibly hard to perform. She even said: “I want to be present when I perform and give the best shows possible,” suggesting that her current state is preventing her from doing that.
For singers, their body is their instrument, and signs of tiredness, illness or stress will show in their voice. Tension in the body can result in feelings of tightness, vocal fatigue and an inability to reach high notes. Sharing their music onstage with fans is incredibly meaningful to artists, so they want to be fit and strong enough to do the material justice. The world of social media is brutal — any significant vocal issues or performance mistakes will likely end up being shared online, inviting a wealth of stress-inducing (and often unfair) criticism. No artist wants to go onstage worrying that their voice might give out at any point, so they need to be properly supported to prevent this from happening. Additionally, increased stress can raise performance anxiety levels to unmanageable states, even for those who haven’t suffered from it before.
How can things change? Firstly, executives need to work with artists to find out what a reasonable tour workload is for them, remembering that everyone is different. Be mindful that promo is tiring for the voice, and the body doesn’t process a TV or radio appearance as a “day off” from performance, no matter how tempting it is to squeeze an opportunity into a scheduling gap. Travel days are also exhausting.
Many major artists further along in their careers now demand recovery to be built into their tour schedules, but it’s harder for younger acts to feel they can ask for this. It can also be tough for teams to facilitate — it’s well-documented how long it takes for touring to become profitable, especially when taking into account the rising costs faced by the industry post-pandemic. However, it’s worth taking a long-term view. As we mentioned earlier, cancellations are also expensive and risk harming the important dynamic of trust between artist and fan.
Secondly, invest in some proper performance psychology training for artists. Classical musicians know the importance of this — all major conservatories around the world now educate their students on how to perform under pressure, using virtual reality and mental skills training techniques, among others, to help musicians cope with the challenges of a high-level performance career.
Researchers have suggested that performing live can be compared biologically to sky-diving, in terms of the levels of stress in the body. Without proper management, recovery and support, cortisol levels can stay heightened, contributing to health issues in the long term. This is why management of performance anxiety is vital. All artists need a pre- and post-performance routine to help the body, mind and voice prepare for, and recover from, performance. You’ve probably heard of them from the world of sport, where they’re commonplace for athletes. Classical musicians use them too, but pop is slow to catch on — and to its detriment.
Finally, a routine performance health check-in with artists should be mandatory. These look at vocal health, performance psychology, hearing health, musculoskeletal issues and general mental health. Research suggests that musicians are slow to seek help for health issues, leaving problems until they become chronic, at which point many are harder to deal with and can even be career-ending. These early, cheap interventions can prevent problems from escalating. A standardized offer across the industry for all artists to access support would make a huge difference in reducing performance health-related cancellations long-term.
We cover all of this and more in the upcoming international edition of our health-focused career guide for artists (and those who work with them), Sound Advice, which aims to help prevent health and performance issues before they escalate, through a combination of research, interviews, professional advice and resources.
There’s been so much discussion and headway made on the health issues faced by artists in recent years. However, as Chappell Roan’s example and many others show, there are big gaps in care and provision that need to be addressed if the industry wants to prevent last-minute cancellations and move towards a more sustainable (not to mention ethical) future.
Rhian Jones is a respected freelance journalist who specializes in the business of music. She writes for The Guardian, Music Business Worldwide and Hits, amongst others.
Lucy Heyman runs a performance health and psychology consultancy, Elevate, where she works with industry organizations, advising artists and those that work with them on how to optimize performance. She has an MSc in Performance Science from the Royal College of Music and has published original research on the health and well-being experiences of artists in popular music.