The Black Keys part ways with management after that whole arena tour debacle
The Black Keys canceled their entire tour over Memorial Day weekend, before promising to announce "a similarly exciting, intimate experience" soon
Aux News Wallows
Think back to your biggest career fuck up. Now imagine that it not only spawned hundreds of tweets and multiple think-pieces (including one from us) about just how bad of a fuck up it was, but it also launched a whole other round of discourse about whether your clients were even talented or not.
This is exactly what happened to now-former Black Keys managers Irving Azoff and Steve Moir, after the band failed to sell even close to enough tickets to support their planned “International Players” arena tour. The tour was supposed to kick off in September with a show at Tulsa, Oklahoma’s BOK Center, a venue with a capacity of almost 20,000 people. That show, as well as 30 other stops the band had planned, will no longer be happening.
“We have decided to make some changes to the North American leg of the International Players Tour that will enable us to offer a similarly exciting, intimate experience for both fans and the band, and will be announcing a revised set of dates shortly,” the band posted on Instagram shortly after the entire tour was removed from Ticketmaster.
That’s some pretty obvious PR speak for “we had to size down because we can’t sell venues anymore.” Similarly, representatives for Azoff and Moir telling the New York Times that the two managers had “amicably parted” with the band in the aftermath of this whole debacle is pretty likely PR speak for something far less friendly. (The Black Keys have not publicly commented on the separation as of this writing.)
But while it may be easy to blame Azoff and Moir for being a little too optimistic regarding their clients’ relevancy, they’re not the only ones who have made a mistake like this in the past few months. While mega tours sold out in seconds in 2023, the scene has been a lot more challenging for the non-Taylor Swifts and Beyoncés of the world this year. Relatively niche indie band Wallows also booked a slow-selling arena tour that definitely feels above their station. Apparently even Jennifer Lopez can’t sell arenas anymore; the artist canceled her entire summer tour last week. Hopefully, the takeaway from all of this will be a return to mid-sized venues and reasonable ticket prices—not a dearth of live music offerings as more bands continue to miscalculate and cancel altogether.
37 Comments
I hope that this means that we, as a society, are starting to abandon arena concerts because, honestly, it’s the worst way to experience music. I’m GenX and it feels like that is when arenas really blew up. I went from watching bands scream at me, a few feet from my face, to hearing that they were playing as tiny little dots for 60,000 people. Watching the Taylor Swift Eras Tour special, it made me realize that you should only even attempt an arena show if (1) you have legions (not a lot but legions) of fans (2) enough hits to pack the show (and not “good songs” but actually singalong hits) and (3) the ability to create a compelling visual spectacle. The Black Keys had absolutely none of this.They had a string of remarkable albums that ended over a decade ago and I’m sure they would be amazing in theater or music hall. If they play my town in a smaller venue, I would be glad to see ‘em.
Not exactly sure where you’re going there. I’ve seen some great arena concerts. Why should we abandon the arenas just because some people can’t fill them anymore?
Why should we abandon the arenasIf only Uncle Ump had answered that question.playing as tiny little dots for 60,000 peopleOh
“playing as tiny little dots for 60,000 peopleOh”Some people go to concerts to listen to music.“Oh”
Yeah but that’s why there is pageantry to the show. 60,000 people singing along with Bono with a massive A/V display adding to the experience is a great time, and completely different from being in a 3,000-person theater.
I dunno, as someone who has sung along with Bono with 60,000 other people… a few times – from the farthest seat and so close I have a picture of me almost touching him, I can say I think I’d prefer seeing U2 in a 3,000-person theater.
I’d love that experience as well, but seeing a stadium full of people bouncing in time to I Will Follow made the hair on my arms stand up. A theater show would be cool but is a different animal.
If you weren’t sure where they were going, I doubt anybody knows where you’re headed. “Why should we abandon the arenas just because some people can’t fill them anymore?” What a weird question…Why would somebody BOOK an arena when they can’t fill it? For the love of losing money or playing to a half-empty stadium?
I was shocked J.Lo couldn’t pack an arena but I’m old so to me she is still relevant ( there was a time where her songs were inescapable). obviously its been more than 15 years since she had a recognizable hit (or even longer now) so it makes sense. Not a Taylor fan but totally agree with you. I went to J.Lo’s first arena tour in god knows, 2008/9, but she was also pregnant so she didn’t put on much of a show and couldn’t really dance, however Marc Anthony, I did not know any of his music, just blew me away, what a showman!
More like 25 years.
Smaller shows have their charms for sure. Huge shows create their own energy where the connection is to the crowd rather than the artist. Either way, it’s pretty naive to think that some sort of social movement is going to deter acts from booking the biggest venue they can fill. What I hope we’re seeing is the end of everyone thinking they can charge absurd prices for shows and people will just eat it.
Big venue … small venue … impersonal setting or intimate … the main thing wrong with concerts is too many other people.
That’s the main thing wrong with the world.
Maggie Rogers is another who has no business playing an arena tour.
I think the Black Keys are tools, so I wasn’t sorry this happened to them. The main thing that backed this up for me here is that they didn’t come out and admit it. But, it’s possible that was because of their management and PR team responding to make it sound like it wasn’t as bad as it is…but now that those guys are gone we can see if they announce and INTIMATE new experience or come out and fucking admit that they didn’t sell tickets which is what a band I don’t detest would do.
goofy ass take you psychopath.
a couple of jackasses can’t admit they didn’t sell out arenas, and they wouldn’t be quite such huge jackasses if they could…goofy?
do you think the band, who I also share your dislike of btw, is responsible for their own booking? that’s the goofy part, you dipshit.
do you think it’s a sign that they aren’t jackasses if they are not responsible for their own booking and don’t know enough to intercede and not to make a huge mistake in overestimating their popularity? “All my favorite bands have no control over their careers!” brilliant, asshat.
hey you illiterate dunce, the black keys aren’t my favorite band lmfao! I even said that!
Hm…didn’t follow from my response 😀
They should admit what? What would admitting something fix or change?
If this happened in 2012 I’d be a bit surprised, but now we’re in the era (ha ha) of Swift and other actually massive pop stars it does seem like either extreme optimism or hubris that the Black Keys/their managers thought “Yes, we are clearly at the level of Foo Fighters or Metallica, so of course we can play an entire tour in arenas.” Play to your strengths, chaps!
i saw metallica in an arena that was about 30% full. it was surreal.
I dunno, I’m seeing Vampire Weekend in the fall and they’re touring arenas. I never would have pegged them as an arena band.
i know it’s cliche to lump all of these musicians as out-of-touch rich folks, but here we go…are they really so far up their own bubbles that they don’t realise people just don’t have the money to afford these ticket prices?
why are all these articles sidestepping the real issue? concerts are way too expensive.
Yeah, how can these bands think they could sell out arenas, just because they’ve done it multiple times before?AND why would none of these bands be able to see into the future when they were planning these tours last year? Why didn’t they know that, unexpectedly and out of nowhere, the market for arena concerts would dry up in spring 2024?Aren’t these musicians also all economists?!?
Not to mention that Swift and Beyonce can sell that many tickets at those prices because 1. duh they have dozens of recent hits each, but also 2. they have generation-spanning appeal. My wife took my daughters to each of her last two tours (including Eras) and yes it was a major investment that we won’t make for another artist, but it was a capital-e Event. They went with a bunch of other mother/daughter combos and made a huge evening out of it. I’m not a huge Beyonce fan but can understand people doing something similar given how long she’s been around. Those two are pretty much it for current artists who can pull this off. Stones etc. are different animals but even they can’t charge what Swift and Beyonce get away with.
From what I’ve been reading, that view is actually backwards — touring musicians are very much aware of rising prices, because the same inflation making tickets more expensive is also making touring more expensive. The price of everything, like crew wages, airfare, hotel rates, and on and on has also shot up for touring musicians.It’s just not possible for most acts to slash ticket prices and still make enough profit to bother touring. The Black Keys tried to sell out arenas because a tour of mid-size venues struggles to generate enough revenue to justify the current touring expenses.Live music is in serious trouble.
I live in Denver and I’m always suprised by the artists end up at Ball Arena (capacitiy 21,000+) instead of Red Rocks (9,500). Black Keys were supposed to play Ball Arena but I’ve seen them sell out Red Rocks before and that just seems more their vibe anyway. Currently AJR, 21 Pilots, Niall Horan (who played Red Rocks just last summer) and Jhene Aiko are playing Ball Arena and it doesn’t feel like any of them are at that level. There’s some rapper named Russ playing next week and there are still a lot of seats available with plenty of floor VIP seats going for $340+. I barely knew who he was and looked him up..only a handful of hits scraping the top-40.
Irving Azoff is a LOT more than just ‘manager of the Black Keys’ – he was the CEO of Ticketmaster as well as CEO of Live Nation, so he’s probably one of the biggest reasons the concert industry is so fucked up today.Fun fact: he began managing bands when he was still in college at University of Illinois-Champaign, and his first client was a local band called REO Speedwagon.
that just makes it all the crazier that he vastly overestimated demand for the Black Keys in 2024.
He’s also the dickhead who masterminded all of the corporate synergistic whatever involved in the big Eagles reunion tours and then zombie tours.
Black keys are the kind of band people get into for a summer or two. Opposed to Taylor, Bey or groups like Guns & Roses and NIN where it’s a lifelong fandom. Without new hits Black Keys and JLo never had a shot at filling arenas.
Yet another band that could probably sell out an arena if the average ticket price was $40 instead of $140. Live music in general is currently in the hands of the least qualified people in the entire industry.
Obligatory:
If I’m in the Black Keys I hope I’m self aware enough to admit my band won’t sell out arenas in 2024.