TOURING IN 2020:
HOW IT LOOKS NOW
Over the last month, concert news has been filled with gloom and doom about cancellations and postponements. But what about the major stadium, arena and amphitheater tours that are still on the books for the summer? Let’s take a look at what the concert calendar looks like now.
While the ultimate length of our collective quarantine remains uncertain, the present schedule suggests quite a few acts are banking on a relative return to normalcy starting in late spring—and possibly a very vigorous summer and fall.
Stadium shows still have considerable variables. Major League Baseball is on hold for now, and the NFL won't announce its schedule until 5/9. Should a stadium tour choose to reschedule dates, the act will be stepping into a great unknown. It's certainly a reason why BTS has no new dates in the U.S.
There are major tours with dates in May still on the books—even in coronavirus hot zones.
The Black Keys haven't announced any rescheduling of their May dates in Canada—5/5-19—and their U.S. leg with Gary Clark Jr. is still inked in to start 7/7 in Auburn, Wash.
The triple bill of Daryl Hall & John Oates, Squeeze and KT Tunstall is still holding onto late May dates, among them 5/29 at the Hollywood Bowl.
Kenny Chesney, who has yet to announce new dates for his April and May postponements, is still scheduled to open his tour with Florida Georgia Line, Old Dominion and Michael Franti & Spearhead 5/30 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.
Indicative of how fast things change: Early this morning you could still buy tickets to see Justin Bieber on his 45-date tour scheduled to start 5/14 in Seattle. Its postponement was announced around 10am ET.
Stepping into June, three major outings kick off in the Pacific Northwest, areas that have been on lockdown for weeks.
The Weeknd opens his After Hours Tour on 6/11-12 in Vancouver; Halsey’s U.S. run starts 6/2 in Seattle; and Bon Jovi opens on 6/10 in Tacoma, Wash. Dave Matthews Band starts 6/16 in another area currently locked down, Connecticut.
Elsewhere, Garth Brooks has two stadium shows that were moved to June: Charlotte, N.C., on 6/13 and Cincinnati on 6/27. Sam Hunt’s rescheduled tour opens 6/11.
One of the biggest stadium tours of the year, Def Leppard’s 31-date trek with Motley Crue, Poison and Joan Jett, is still on the books to start 6/18 in Jacksonville, Fla.
Janet Jackson’s 34-date North American portion of her Black Diamond World Tour is slated to start 6/24 in Miami and wrap 8/23 in Tacoma.
Little Big Town sprinkled in new dates through the fall and winter to take their Nightfall Tour deep into January; it starts 6/5 in Madison, Wisc.
Moving to July, Thomas Rhett is slated to begin his rescheduled the Center Point Road Tour on 7/9 in Charlotte, N.C.; three acts start their summer tours on 7/10: Dead & Co., Backstreet Boys and Tim McGraw.
Guns N’ Roses, who moved shows in Central and South America to the fall, start their 18-date stadium run 7/8 in Philadelphia.
Dan + Shay’s tour resumes 7/30 and Reba McEntire will play dates originally booked for the spring beginning 7/9 in Huntsville, Ala. Kelly Clarkson’s Las Vegas residency at the Zappos Theater in Planet Hollywood, moved from April, is also scheduled to start in July.
Camila Cabello’s North America run is slated to begin 7/29 in Vancouver, B.C., but she postponed her European leg, scheduled to begin 5/26, ostensibly due to a lack of time to rehearse. It begins the question for several acts: Will the all-clear be sounded in time for acts to get sufficient rehearsal time in before hitting the road?
August finds the 18-date Brooks & Dunn Reboot Tour getting its rescheduled start 8/28 in Cincinnati. And September is when we’ll finally see the start of Cher’s Here We Go Again Tour.
Festivals that generally fill up the April to mid-June calendar are heavy in September and October. Milwaukee’s Summerfest is running 9/3-5, 10-12, 17-19; the first edition of L.A.’s Cruel World is 9/12; Bonnaroo is 9/24-27.
October has BottleRock Napa Valley kicking off the month 10/2-4; Coachella has 10/9-11 and 10/16-18 locked in; and Stagecoach follows 10/23-25. New Orleans’ JazzFest is still looking for a date.
On the club level, City Winery has created a concert series, Open to the Future, for its eight locations. Tickets went on sale 3/27 for shows scheduled in September in New York, Chicago, Nashville and elsewhere with acts such as Jimmy Webb, Bilal and Arrested Development.
