Beyonce and Taylor's touring practices

[StrawberryBlond 14,819]

I was really considering this today after looking over the thread about what countries/cities Gaga should be adding to the Joanne tour. Despite undoubtedly achieving success with their latest albums, Lemonade and 1989 respectively, Beyonce and Taylor have been quite conservative when it comes to the breadth of their touring capability. And yet, no one questions it.

Beyonce's tours have always worked a bit weird. She didn't do a proper tour for her debut album, she just did a few European countries and that was it, she reserved the rest of her new material for the Verizon First Ladies Tour for her American audience. Then with the B'Day tour, she started to venture further afield, going all over the world, with a very impressive focus on Asia. She then did the same for her Sasha Fierce tour. But she skipped touring with 4, preferring to leave the performance of those songs until her big comeback tour, The Mrs Carter Show. But while that tour was very successful and she went far and wide, she bizarrely left out Asia completely, even though she'd clearly had a lot of success there before. Now she's just completed her Formation tour, which pulled in an impressive $256 million with just 49 dates, but the problem is, it was just a 2 continent tour, America and Europe. She didn't even go to Latin America, just North. No Oceania this time either. And no Asia for 2 tours in a row. So, why has Beyonce abandoned certain regions? My only reasoning for why she missed out Latin America was because she drained the region last time and wasn't as successful as she could've been. And she'd really milked Oceania last time as well and seeing as the attendances weren't all that high, she couldn't risk going there with stadiums and this was clearly a stadium tour. But she really has no excuse for missing out Asia. Japan is major music market and she clearly had a lot of success there before. And despite her recent albums really connecting with her black audience, she's done no dates in Africa (and she's only gone there twice in her entire career, at that). I gather that Africa is a somewhat dangerous place to tour in nowadays but she couldn't even risk South Africa? Overall, Beyonce has largely focused on America and Europe, with little support for fans on a more global scale.

Then there's Taylor. Taylor has always been an American-centered act for the most part, as it's where all her major promo was aimed and what her entire musical style appealed to. So, just touring in US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand was par for the course. But she became more pop over time and started to expand outwards. She did tiny little venues in continental Europe with her Speak Now tour but that's ultimately all it was. She also did the same for Asia. But Red was a big turning point. It's where she became a lot more pop and became more worldwide. So, more ambitious tour dates followed, right? Not exactly. She did proper sized arenas in 6 Asian countries but her European dates were appalling, just UK and Germany, and just one city in each country at that. With 1989, there was officially no more excuses. She had made it on a worldwide scale. But what was the result? 3 Asian countries and just 4 European countries. Despite her selling 1 million copies of 1989 in the UK to date, all she gave them was 2 arenas and a festival appearance. She couldn't even be bothered to go to New Zealand this time. 1989 went to #1 in Mexico and sold over 150k but she couldn't even give them one date. This so-called "world" tour only visited 10 countries in total. She's still yet to do any gigs in Latin America, Africa or Western Asia. Despite 5 albums and 11 years in the industry, Taylor is still struggling to really crack this "global artist" idea. I think it has partly to do with the fact that she'll only do large arenas or stadiums and won't perform anywhere small because to her, it would just be a waste of time. It really shocks me how she snubbed Europe despite it being a major market for her this time. Does she think she won't have demand there as a touring act? Or does she just think they're not worth it?

So, all this leads to the question: why don't they get criticised for this? For all their fame and success, you'd think this world touring thing would come very naturally to them. Remember this every time you think Gaga scrimps on her tour dates. At least she tries to include everyone if and when she can and if she's very successful in a certain region with a particular album, she will go. She's gone to Asia and Oceania with every tour, even if it's just a handful of dates each and it's predicted that she will go there with the Joanne tour, though if she wants to skip Asia this time, it would be understandable. I've always got the feeling from Gaga that she believes that every country matters, there's proof of that in her "I won't pretend you don't exist" speech she made during at Dubai gig for the artRave.

So, what do you think? And can you name any other artists who are very selective with their touring and why you think this is?

[Saint Hollywood 37,364]

Money & popularity are what determine where these artists go 

[911 16,707]

How long did it take you to write this 

[Creyk 17,805]

Among Taylor Swift fans, it's known that Taylor barely tours outside of English-speaking / Anglophone countries because of her mom, who looks down upon non-English speaking places. She gave her a hard time when she went to Asia too, because her mom thinks that is beneath her.

 

As for why are they not getting criticism for this? It's because no one really cares, imo. It's something that people let the artist's management decide and they leave it at that.

[Thomas P 18,479]

I agree with you. I think at the end of the day it's the Artists/managements choice, but they shouldn't call them "World Tours" if they aren't world wide. 

Part of the problem for some artists that are huge is that the tours continuously become smaller and smaller, because they're able to make a sufficient amount of money in a much shorter time. Cities in NA and Europe that used to be very popular (my city of Ottawa for example) are being cut out all the time now. Different market I guess.

[Delusional Aura 5,129]

33 minutes ago, Creyk said:

Among Taylor Swift fans, it's known that Taylor barely tours outside of English-speaking / Anglophone countries because of her mom, who looks down upon non-English speaking places. She gave her a hard time when she went to Asia too, because her mom thinks that is beneath her.

 

As for why are they not getting criticism for this? It's because no one really cares, imo. It's something that people let the artist's management decide and they leave it at that.

Receipts!!! 

[He8MyHeart 9,765]

The Formation 'World' Tour didn't come to Australia. I'm still annoyed 

[EdX 2,862]

I think that there are just two kinds of artists - those who earn on sales and streams and those earn on touring. However, more and more artists are understanding that the latter option is growing to be the much better one. 

About Taylor and Bey, their last tours were stadium-only tours. Which are MUCH harder to do worldwide, but are much more profitable than worldwide arena tours (once you have the success to fill the stadium, ofc). So, unfortunately, it's all about profit. And I believe that artists themselves have very little power at this. Artists have signed their touring deals that they have to fulfil (and bring the biggest profit as quickly as possible).

 

[Illuminati 15,921]

Beyonce was probably looking for the biggest possible venues that she will also manage to sell out. 

I'm pretty sure artists tours are only booked if there's a known demand, big popularity and the concert is likely to sell out. Gaga did not sell out in many areas during artrave, I wonder if it's related.

[Illuminati 15,921]

43 minutes ago, Creyk said:

Among Taylor Swift fans, it's known that Taylor barely tours outside of English-speaking / Anglophone countries because of her mom, who looks down upon non-English speaking places. She gave her a hard time when she went to Asia too, because her mom thinks that is beneath her.

 

As for why are they not getting criticism for this? It's because no one really cares, imo. It's something that people let the artist's management decide and they leave it at that.

that's a wild rumor it would be interesting to know where it came from.

[JEWRJEWR 5,663]

3 hours ago, Creyk said:

Among Taylor Swift fans, it's known that Taylor barely tours outside of English-speaking / Anglophone countries because of her mom, who looks down upon non-English speaking places. She gave her a hard time when she went to Asia too, because her mom thinks that is beneath her.

lol right

 

I mean shes trash but not on that level

[Future Lover 2,588]

1 hour ago, Halle said:

About Taylor and Bey, their last tours were stadium-only tours. 

Taylor's wasn't. 

It surprises me that these two don't even try to expand their world market by touring.

[Creyk 17,805]

8 hours ago, Delusional Aura said:

Receipts!!! 

 

8 hours ago, Sure Joanne said:

that's a wild rumor it would be interesting to know where it came from.

i read about it on classictrl in the Taylor base

[Bebe 17,093]

Why would anybody criticise Beyonce and Taylor? I kinda missed that point...

Touring is notoriously difficult, draining and isolating. Beyonce has a five year old child, so it's understandable for her to do a smaller 49 date tour. Impressively The Formation World Tour managed a $256,084,556 gross and a spot in the top 20 highest grossing concerts despite the fact that the rest of the concerts in the top 20 did far more shows than her. I don't suppose she feels the need to go on a larger 100+ date tour and would rather spend that time with her family and making music  

Why didn't Taylor go certain places? Maybe she couldn't, maybe she didn't want to? Either way she seems to still be a very successful artist and I'm not sure it really matters what the reason is.

 

[Denys 848]

Am in Africa for Christ sakes and it's not unsafe to tour here! They are just scared they won't make enough coins from the continent except SA ofcos no one even buys albums or songs over here