Tame Impala

[Bosco]

Apparently his arena tour in North America has nearly sold out after being on sale for little over a week, with multiple dates in places like: Seattle, Vancouver, Nashville, Charlotte, Baltimore, and Houston...

I'm speechless, and left wondering... HOW!!!???

[Enjoyed]

He makes great music. There's no denying it. The latest album might be his weakest, but it's still great. I've actually come back to it a number of times and find myself just drifting along letting the whole thing play out, despite some definitively crapper moments.

He's big news. Still is. And I don't think a semi-dud like Deadbeat is likely to wreck that image for most fans.

Justifying the COST of the tickets? That one is a bit more of a head scratcher!

[Bosco]

I mean we are talking selling out Arena shows with capacities of ~15,000+ per show, in an extremely rough economy.

I'm not saying Tame Impala doesn't have fans or judging the quality of his music, but he's knocking on the door of Stadium type bookings if he can net that demand that he's apparently created for himself. Does that sound right to you?

Myself, I think something artificial is brewing

[Enjoyed]

You think? Like lying about the demand (and therefore stopping generally interested parties in purchasing tickets??) or only selling half the seats or something?

Unless there's a plan to release "EXTRA TICKETS!!!" - I don't see what the play would be. This isn't like Nintendo (I think) deliberately manufacturing fewer Switches to make them more alluring when they're restocked. You'd think you would just want as many people to buy a ticket on release as possible. And, at least personally, if I see a show is sold out - I'm moving on with my life and not thinking about it again - not wondering if I can luck out and get a ticket down the line.

Curious!

[Bosco]

I hate to disappoint, especially as the one who's doing the whistle blowing, but I don't have a definitive answer for you. I'm not gonna lock into some grand conspiracy, just yet... Perhaps, again, I'm too old and not with it and Tame Impala is really the shiznit and right at the heels of some of the major pop-stars out there. (Chime in younger Chem forum people, please!)

The major ticketing companies have so much data on the history of ticket sales, its consumers, and the control over artists. Essentially a fractional version of population control. You have to admit, there is an environment for some truly insidious and convoluted business practice.

[WhiteNoise]

Oh geez, Tame Impala is huge among my generation and younger. Way bigger than you'd think. Tracks like Elephant and Feels Like We Only Go Backwards were pretty well known and loved among the indie kids, but in 2016 after Currents dropped, seemed like every other person I knew became a fan. Currents was massive.

I'd put Tame Impala around the same level of popularity as Glass Animals or The 1975, if either of those are good references?

Or in Spotify numbers, The Less I Know the Better has over 2 billion streams - bigger than Daft Punk's Get Lucky or Pharrell's Happy - and Let it Happen and Borderline are both around a billion. Bunch of his other songs are sitting around half a million. Think Dua Lipa or Kendrick Lamar, and Kevin is hitting around 50-70% the same numbers they are these days.

I remember a few hipsters at my college radio station going from rating him pretty highly - kinda like how King Gizzard is seen, well regarded, talented and talked up, but not for everyone - to all acting too cool for Kevin.  "Y'know I really preferred his early work... I think he sold out..."

[Bosco]

Fair enough. Perhaps I'm greatly underestimating his influence. Younger people in my family/friends know him, but largely don't have any interest in the band. I self admit, maybe my connections are not a good barometer for this.

The hard part for me to understand is the cost of ticket, the locations, and capacities of where multiple dates easily sold out. For instance, if this is Chicago, LA, NY, I wouldn't have thought twice. Charlotte x2, Nashville x2, 5x PNW dates, a bit questionable...

Either way, I further found out that the openers for this tour are also significant. Djo is actor Joe Keery from Stranger Things (the guy with the slick hair). So that right there will sell you a good chunk of tickets.