In recent years, there’s one type of show that’s become practically unavoidable for concertgoers: the coheadlining tour. What was once a rare practice among established acts has become one of the most common trends in live music, with team-up tours commanding summer rosters at venues around the nation. South Florida alone has dozens of these shows slated for the next few months, from Korn and Alice in Chains to Beck and Cage the Elephant.
It’s not just rock bands that are employing the coheadlining tactic anymore. Mary J. Blige and Nas are touring together, as are 311 and Dirty Heads. A practice that began with classic-rock acts such as REO Speedwagon and Styx quickly spread across the musical spectrum. Now unique cross-genre teamups are happening, such as this summer’s Blink-182 and Lil Wayne coheadlining tour.
Is this growing trend a good or bad thing for an industry that used to be built on massive headlining shows? For every act that can consistently sell out arena tours around the world, such as Foo Fighters or Drake, there are a dozen that have seen their draw swiftly diminish as traditional methods of exposure have become more ineffective. Basically, there just aren’t many artists left who can attract enough fans to fill these venues.
Jesse Stoll, a senior talent buyer and promoter for AEG Presents, explains that “the days of acts selling out amphitheaters and arenas are getting more difficult.” He adds, "Teamups help acts take the step up to a larger venue and create an angle to vie for ticket buyers’ money.”
Indeed, many of these acts have begun to employ the strategy of coheadlining with another band of stature in order to play larger stages than it would be able to command on its own. Take, for example, the Pixies, a beloved and massively influential band that could likely sell out a theater of 3,000 to 5,000 fans in the right market. Rather than spend the summer playing theaters, the group last year opted to coheadline with fellow alt-rock stalwart Weezer and tour at significantly larger venues.
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