Analysis
Why every band is touring small rooms again
Arena tickets are expensive and hard to sell. Clubs with 300 capacity are booked out until spring.
Culture editor
7 min read
A sold-out club show on a Tuesday night.
Mid-size bands that once aimed for arenas are now booking twenty nights in small clubs instead. The economics, promoters say, are better than they look.
So is the atmosphere.
The maths of small
Lower production costs, fewer trucks and higher merchandise sales per head make small tours surprisingly profitable.
“Three hundred people who really want to be there beat three thousand who came because it was Saturday,” one promoter said.
A lifeline for venues
For independent clubs, many of which nearly closed during the pandemic, the trend has been a lifeline. Several now run crowdfunding schemes to buy their buildings.
Sofia Brandt
Culture editor
Sofia edits the culture pages and writes about music, work and the crafts we are losing.
