Concert concentration: are tours shrinking?
Eamonn Forde examines the evolving nature of touring across Europe, as artists and their representatives plan tighter runs of dates
Feature By IQ | 11 March 2025
Grinding it out on tour is increasingly becoming less of a… grind. Ticket prices might be rising, but the number of dates is sharply contracting. In October, the Music Venue Trust (MVT) reported that acts played on average 11 shows when touring the UK grassroots circuit in 2024.
A decade earlier, it was an average of 13 shows; two decades ago, it was 18 shows; and three decades ago, it was 22.
“This has a huge knock-on effect in the programmes that venues can produce,”…
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