A very well written text in LARB by Chicago musician Eli Winter about touring as an independent musician - "The thought of going on tour and sustaining this work produces an undercurrent of excitement that moves beyond the reach of words. Sometimes I wonder if I’m wrong to feel this way, wrong to carry on. Sure — touring has changed my life, deepened its meaning, made me a kinder person who is more open and assertive, strengthened my resolve. It’s taken me to parts of the country and world I’d otherwise not be able to visit, and it’s given me experiences I would otherwise never have had and communities of friends around the world."

American musician John Vanderslice described to Consequence how he managed to make a “middle-class living" from touring. It was a 12-date tour of the American west coast when he used a hotel scam to get discounts, didn't use any drugs or alcohol, made his own food, and had a lot of merch in his car. All in all, he made $8064 from concerts and $9220 from the merchandise. His costs were $1795, which means he made $15,500 in two weeks. Vanderslice owns a studio and works as a record producer.

Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour is the highest-grossing concert tour of all time - it has grossed $817.9 million across 278 shows so far, more than any other tour in Billboard Boxscore history (Ed Sheeran’s The Divide Tour made $776.4 million). Billboard has another fascinating statistic - dating back to reports for Elton John’s Ice on Fire Tour (1986), and including his share of co-headline runs with Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Tina Turner, and Billy Joel, John has grossed $1.863 billion and sold 19.9 million tickets over 1,573 reported shows. That’s the highest career gross and attendance for a solo artist in Billboard Boxscore history, having passed Bruce Springsteen and Madonna while on this tour.

"Many of the year’s most viral moments on TikTok were derived from live shows this year: Rosalía elaborately chewing gum during her song Bizcochito, Healy relentlessly touching his crotch, Gaga belting a power ballad while wearing an Edward Scissorhands-style claw and standing on a flaming stage. Perhaps these moments are reverse-engineered to go viral?" - Guardian asks about the nature of live shows. Tobias Rylander, who designed the 1975’s At Their Very Best tour, affirms the question - he says he’s always trying to put together “a show that reads well on social media”. LeRoy Bennett says that he and Lady Gaga were “absolutely” thinking about social media when designing her latest tour Chromatica Ball. Lorde and Rosalia had similar approach with their latest tours.

Top 100 Tours of 2022 have set a new record with $6.28 billion grossed this year, based on Pollstar’s Year End Top 200 Worldwide Tours chart.  It represents a whopping 13.2% increase over 2019 — the pre-pandemic year saw a  record-setting gross of $5.5 billion. Overall ticket sales reported around the globe in 2022 also set an all-time gross record with an astounding grand total of $11.7  billion — just over a 5% increase compared to 2019’s $11.1 billion. This number is just a part of the entire global live industry, which easily surpasses an estimated $30 billion annually. Pollstar reports on the successful touring year.

Bad Bunny has grossed $435.38 million in 2022 alone from touring, setting an all-time record amount made from touring in a calendar year, Pollstar reports. Puerto Rican artist surpassed the previous record set by Ed Sheeran for his Divide tour, which amassed $432.3 million in 2018. Bad Bunny also became Spotify’s most-streamed artist globally for the third year in a row after amassing more than 18.5 billion streams on the platform.

Ed Sheeran moved 3,047,696 tickets in 52 shows of his The Mathematics Tour this year, putting him at No. 1 on the Top Ticket Sales chart, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. Coldplay sold the second-highest number of tickets this year - 2,260,651. However, the act with the highest-grossing tour is Bad Bunny, who made $373.5 million in the 12 months ending Oct. 31. Ed Sheeran grossed $246.3 million. For the first time ever, the top 10 touring acts, who also included Elton John, Harry Styles, the Weeknd, and the double bill of Def Leppard and Motley Crue, all grossed over $100 million.

The Guardian looks into the issue of more and more tours being canceled - Santigold canceled her holified tour, Animal Collective cancelled their UK and Europe tour, Sampa the Great is rescheduling her forthcoming European shows, the Avalanches cancelled their remaining North American tour dates, the UK rapper Stormzy nixed his upcoming Australia and New Zealand tour, Justin Bieber once again postponed his world tour. Also, a staggering number from Australia - between 1 July and 31 August last year, 32,737 Australian gigs were cancelled. The G gives several reasons - the skyrocketing cost of gas, flights, and hotels; a flooded market of delayed tours, leading to overbooked venues and audiences; and the risk of infection, alongside general exhaustion and poor mental health.

Trapital's founder Dan Runcie stopped to think about this Talib Kweli's quote: “I was touring before the pandemic. I was doing 200 shows a year… how was I doing that? That’s not sustainable. I was on some superhuman shit… I got a lot of shows coming up, but I can’t let it get back to 200 a year… 20 years straight, I did that for 20 years”. Runcie concludes "artists really have to love living on the road to do it for that many nights per year. It’s ironic to think about the touring grind given the remote work vs in-office debates in Corporate America. Many 9 – 5 workers will never go back to a job that requires them to commute 200+ days per year again. Imagine doing that in a different city every night?! Artists’ travel is on another level".

A viral Twitter thread from Asheville indie rock band Wednesday about not being paid enough for live shows sparked a conversation about the economics of touring in 2022. Stereogum talked to a few bands about their touring experiences, including one which does delivery on the side while on tour. Also, a burning question - should a band book an Airbnb or sleep in the van?!

It seems like Covid-19 is disappearing, especially now as there's a much more sinister threat. However, for musicians, Covid is still hanging above their heads. Pitchfork explored the issue:: "For rising bands and independent musicians tours are a crucial way to pursue a viable career path as a musician and often serve as the crux of their income. If musicians catch COVID-19, that’s potentially hundreds if not thousands of dollars down the drain... With mask and vaccine mandates evaporating around the country, artists are forced to once again ask themselves an important question: Should they risk their health by heading out on the road, or should they risk their income by missing out on another year of touring? Lately, it seems like indie artists are realizing there’s a hidden asterisk in this ultimatum; they can give touring a try so long as fans mask up".

Music theorist and bass player Adam Neely went on a tour with his jazz band and played - improvised sets. They didn't play any structured songs, it was band practice every night of the tour. People seemed to appreciate it. Neely recorded it, of course.

Carl Palmer, the only living member of Emerson, Lake & Palmer will reunite the trio, possibly late next year using previously unseen footage of the band at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1992, Rolling Stone reports. Palmer is planning to drum live alongside those unearthed split-screen clips of Emerson and Lake. “It will look authentic, it will look real, and it will be in sync. And it’ll be something better than a hologram” - Palmer insists.

An interesting chat in The New Cue with the hit-balladeer James Blunt who talks about his life in pandemic: "I've been on the road for 17 years and I was forced to go home. I discovered all kinds of things. I discovered I had children, I didn't know that… Where the hell did these come from?!?". On life post-pandemic: "I suppose people are just excited to be out and able to socialise with each other. And then I've been playing live shows and that's been amazing too because again, people are thrilled that there’s any live music. I can play them Baa Baa Black Sheep and they’d still probably turn up. They might be expecting some other singer, but they'll take what they can get".

Steve Strange, widely respected live agent and co-founder of X-ray Touring, has died aged 53 after a short illness, Music Business Worldwide reports. A statement from X-ray reads: “His overwhelming love of music lead to a 30 year plus career guiding the touring of an eclectic mix of artists from all genres of music that he adored". Strange’s artist roster down the years has included Eminem, Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Queens of the Stone Age, The Charlatans, Jimmy Eat World and many more. Emma Banks of CAA wrote on social media: “Steve Strange – a truly good and loving person without a bad bone in his body. The life and soul of every occasion, a music man to the core and dedicated to his clients, friends and family".

“We can’t afford to sit out shows, we have to vaccinate and mask up or everything we’ve worked our entire lives for will be gone. And it’s so upsetting to work so long on a craft and lose opportunities left and right, because people would rather believe vaccine conspiracy theories than at least try these precautions out” - Austin songwriter Cari Hutson says to Guardian about the need to vaccinate. The London paper is exploring differences within country music community about vaccinating - "exposing an age-old political divide".

The U.K.’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has announced that it has negotiated short-term tours for UK musicians and performers without visas and work permits in 19 EU member states, NME reports. These countries are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden. Trade bodies and unions representing British musicians say this changes nothing, insist "short term" is undefined, adding that there is still the issue of equipment transportation, Guardian reports. Formal approaches via officials and DCMS Ministers have been made to Spain, Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Malta and Cyprus. The U.K. allows touring performers and support staff to come to the U.K. for up to three months without a visa.

"Many acts are looking a year or more ahead as they lock in itineraries for long-delayed road trips to support albums released even before the pandemic" - Pitchfork writes announcing touring-boom in the US. "Gigs in large cities are the primary goal for most national and international artists, but as open dates quickly fill up, markets [in smaller]towns within easy reach of big cities stand to play a key role in keeping tours on track".

In just the last 72 hours alone, a bevy of major US tours has been announced. Consequence (has a dedicated live music subsite) picks out a few of the biggest ones:

- Elton John has announced the final leg of his farewell tour
- Lorde has announced the first tour dates behind her new album 'Solar Power'
- J Cole has mapped out a tour in support of his latest album 'The Off-Season' - GZA, Raekwon, and Ghostface Killah are teaming up for the 'Chambers 3 Tour'
- Violent Femmes and Flogging Molly are teaming up for a co-headlining US tour

"[I was on the road] two months at a time or more. And that was wearing on my marriage and my life. Now you listen what you want to on the radio, and if you feel like pulling over and taking a nap, you pull over and take a nap" - 53-year-old bus driver John Rogan tells in a Billboard piece about the lack of drivers the live music industry is about to face. Apart from the fact that some drivers have found a more comfortable lifestyle in trucking. there's another reason for drivers' departures from the industry: Most tours are requiring vaccines for their entire crews, and plenty of them refuse to get the shots. That's not all - driving frozen food pays almost double the amount drivers get while driving hot music stars.

The live music industry in the UK is facing massive staff shortages as gigs begin to return - industry bodies have written to the UK prime minister Boris Johnson calling for the government to help fill vacant roles, NME reports. They suggest the government "temporarily ease immigration requirements for the large numbers of workers, particularly from the EU, who have returned to their homelands during the lockdowns". A study in 2020 by the UK’s Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence estimated that 1.3 million migrants left the UK between July 2019 and September 2020.

"We know all the economics in the touring business are at 85% of ticket sales. So it's a crapshoot, and you cannot buy insurance against it. So many artists are just wishing for this to end, they need to pay themselves and their crews" - music mogul Irving Azoff says in Hits Daily Double interview. He's not really completely optimistic, but he's hopeful: "We're all in the business of gambling. So if I had to handicap it, I feel 75-25 that we're on the road to prosperity. And when it is 100% open, I think we're going to see unprecedented demand. Oh my God, I can't even imagine what it's going to be like at some of these early first sold-out shows—people are going to go nuts".

An informative yet fun documentary 'Why Am I Doing This? (A Film ABout Touring)', about underground bands playing small clubs. Steve Albini and members of Bottomless Pit, Helms Alee, Wimps, the Bismarck, Nudity, Conan Neutron, Sun 0))), and Melvins talk about what really is there on tour, beyond the 1-hour pleasure they do get every day.

"If the music industry can get its own house in order, maybe it can set the tone for a journey out of the climate crisis" - Guardian argues in an article about the possible transition of the music industry - everything from recorded to live music - from carbon-exhausting to green, and in doing so, set an example for the society as a whole. Some have already started - British independent label Ninja Tune is divesting its funds and pensions from fossil fuels, it is installing renewable energy systems in its London headquarters and it is encouraging the pressing plants that supply its vinyl to switch to green energy. Brian Eno's Earth Percent is aiming to raise $100m (£72m) by 2030 from the industry itself to transition towards sustainability. Beggars Group also announced major new carbon reduction commitments. The dance music scene is taking steps too - Last Night a DJ Took a Flight report argued that tours could be routed more efficiently, local scenes and artists could be better nurtured to reduce the pull of foreign superstars, and exclusivity clauses (where artists can’t play more than one show locally) could be challenged.

Adam Met from the pop trio AJR wrote an outline for eco-friendly touring, including the ways in which everyone - artists, agents, promoters, venues, fans - can participate in technological, agricultural, and psychological solutions. For agents it would mean connecting flydates in ways that permit less travel, encouraging less private plane usage, and choosing the most direct bus routes. Venues could transition to electricity from renewable sources, standardize the requirements for food and drink vendors to use local farms and move away from single-use plastics...

Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl directed a new movie about touring vans and life on the road called 'What Drives Us', featuring interviews with Lars Ulrich, Slash, the Edge, Flea, Steven Tyler, St. Vincent, and many others. “This film is my love letter to every musician that has ever jumped in an old van with their friends and left it all behind for the simple reward of playing music” - Grohl said.

UK artists are already turning down shows and tours in parts of Europe for later this year and early next, as they have become unviable due to increased cost and bureaucracy - CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition David Martin told NME about post-Brexit tours of British acts in the EU. John Robb of Goldblade and The Membranes says now it's "just chaos in a vacuum. If we knew what we were working with then we could either pay, work a way round it or just choose not to go. At the moment, we have no idea what the options will be”. Things might be moving in the right direction, as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament that music "is a massively important part of the economy" adding "we must fix it", the "it" being current system of touring rules, NME reports.

Massive Attack‘s Robert Del Naja said he was “pretty livid” over the live music industry not meeting pledges to reduce its carbon footprint, Sky News reports. 3D highlighted Coldplay’s decision to stop touring until they could make it “environmentally friendly as possible”, adding, however, that “one band not touring doesn’t change a thing”. Del Naja also highlighted the possible “different solutions” for transportation like trains and buses. “Now is the time for action, no more pledges” - he told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee as part of its ongoing investigation into the future of UK music festivals.

American singer-songwriter Todd Rundgren has embarked on a virtual tour of 25 American cities which is broadcast from the same Chicago stage, but geo-targeted to different regional markets, Variety reports. Shows come with visual cues saluting the would-be host towns and multiple shout-outs to the virtually targeted city. The focus is on making each show a unique event, with a virtual perimeter that will restrict viewing of a particular show to audience members who live there. Prior to shows, there’s the sound of murmuring people looking for their seats, and for every city on the video wall behind the band there'll be a picture of the actual proscenium stage. This virtual tour runs February through March. Tickets go for $35.

British pianist Joseph Middleton describes the hassle he would have to go through to play a recital in Spain: "Even though I would only spend 24 hours there, my agent would be required to work on a raft of extra paperwork, my accountant to furnish me with documents giving proof of income, and my bank would need to provide me with recent certified bank statements (no pesky home printouts here, thank you). My passport would need to be submitted to the Spanish embassy and held there until the visa was processed, causing problems for when I had to travel for other work". And it's an expensive hassle as well - £600 just for visa costs.