STYLES TOUR LOOKING
MIGHTY FINE

Harry Styles’ latest North American arena tour is blowing up. The CAA/Full Stop team, led by Jeffrey Azoff, are elated about their buzzing client’s three sold-out shows apiece at the Forum and Madison Square Garden, along with practically instantaneous sellouts of two Toronto shows, two Chicagos and two Atlantas. These dates are part of a 35-show U.S. run scheduled between 6/26 and 9/6.

With Styles’ new Columbia album, Fine Line, coming out on Friday, wonderers are wondering just how big a ticket bundle will be needed to enable a first-week number that could approach 300k. Styles has captured the zeitgeist of the market without a continual social-media presence or the typical nonstop promo schedule. It’s a less-is-more strategy in the cool English-rock tradition.

By stark contrast, today we hear the tale of the prospective superstar diva who’s had a couple of massive hits but has discovered to her dismay—and that of her team—that her new tour is in deep trouble. Said superstar in waiting has achieved social-network ubiquity and does every TV opp, every radio show, every chance to be in the public eye—if her team had its way, one manager quipped, she’d be at every envelope opening.

We’re hearing lots of chatter from the top masters of the game as they discuss the diametrically opposed management styles of these two artists.