Kesha (Vincent Haycock)
Can you believe Kesha has been in the music industry for nearly 20 years now? It’s sort of remarkable. If you trace her career all the way back to when she was 18 and signed to Kemosabe Records, you can make the argument that she’s spent more than half her life in the business (she celebrated her 36th birthday in March, for those counting). Anyone who’s followed her knows she’s been through the ringer … and then some … and perhaps that’s why her fifth full-length album, “Gag Order,” which hit stores a couple weeks ago, is named what it is. It’s also, perhaps, why she’s set to embark on the creatively titled “Gag Order Tour” in October.
The trek, which was only recently announced last week, will take the singer through U.S. theaters until Nov. 18, when she wraps things up in Hollywood. While there’s no word on if Big Freeida, Brian Wilson or Sturgill Simpson – all of whom appear on her latest album – will turn up at any of the dates, we can at least say that she’ll be hitting the road with Betty Who as support.
Speaking of support, this month marks the first time in the short history of this column that Harry Styles isn’t getting any of it. That’s according to Pollstar’s Live 75 chart, which tracks active tours by the average tickets sold for shows that happened over the last 30 days. The metric, which we spotlight each month here, has featured the pop star prominently for all of 2023 … until now. As of last week, Styles was not in the top 10 on the list. Instead, the winner – and by a wildly wide margin – was country star Luke Combs, who averaged about 56,000 tickets over the last 30 days. Rounding out the top three were Morgan Wallen and Ed Sheeran with about 22,000 and 21,000 tickets sold respectively.
Elsewhere in live music news, Canadian rockers Three Days Grace announced last week that they’ll head out on tour this fall, splitting headlining duties with Chevelle. The outing, which begins Sept. 8 in Bethlehem, Pa., will zig-zag through the U.S. until Oct. 14, when the bands take the MGM Music Hall at Fenway stage in Boston. If contemporary radio rock isn’t for you, Patti Smith is set to hit the road sporadically over the next handful of months. The legend will be in Oslo, Norway, on June 20. She’ll then make stops in Germany before heading back to the States for an August run of dates.
And then there’s Liz Phair. The singer will celebrate 30 years of her influential “Exile In Guyville” when she takes stages across the U.S. in November. Taking flight Nov. 7 in California, the outing will conclude Dec. 3 in Dallas, Texas. Blondshell – also known as Los Angeles-based indie rocker Sabrina Teitelbaum – will open the dates and as far as we know, Ms. Phair continues to wonder why she can’t breathe or speak whenever she thinks or talks about you. Ahhh, 2003 was a hell of a year for pop music.
Anyway, happy concert-ing!