I enjoy listening to Elton John’s music. Always have. And I went to one of his concerts back in the 80’s, which I enjoyed, but it seems he is constantly touring, in addition to his months long Vegas show.
He takes a month off in the summer, but I think that’s about it unless he’s in the recording studio.
He says he wants to spend more time with his kids, but if you’re touring constantly that’s hard to do. He’s 69 years old. He obviously enjoys it or he wouldn’t do it, and his fans love to see him in person. He threatens to retire every few years, but here he is still touring. I don’t think he does as many shows as he used to, but I’m not too sure about that. He may be the hardest working person in show business today.
Perhaps there are other artists that tour almost constantly, but I can’t think of any. Normally an artist or band will tour for a year after their CD drops, then take a long break, and then perhaps record a new CD, lather, rinse, repeat, but they usually take a year or two off in between, which creates the demand by fans to see them live again.
Doesn’t constant touring lead to overexposure? I guess if he can fill up those stadiums why not, but sometime too much is too much.
I think someone asked demi Lovato in an interview and she said the typical "world tour " is 3 years and you do get days off here and there but its usually a month off for every 2 on tour …and theres bands that have been on tour for 5 years … but for too much touring some people don’t mind it and some people it takes a toll on …
From the '90s until just a couple years ago, Blue Öyster Cult’s deal was that they were “On Tour Forever”; they were constantly doing shows all around the country at whatever casino, club, auditorium, or state fair would book them.
They’ve slowed down a bit since Allen Lanier died, but not by much.
Rush, who recently announced that they no longer plan to tour (although they haven’t ruled out single shows here and there) have done a 2 weeks on/1 week off (give or take) touring schedule since the early 1980s. They cited family issues as their reason for doing this.
R.E.M. didn’t tour at all in the early 1990s, and that didn’t stop both albums from topping the charts. And then they DID tour the world and elsewhere, and 3 out of 4 of them ended up needing major surgery at some time while they were on the road.
It’s different for a nostalgia (maybe “heritage” would be the better label?) act with loads of hits versus a currently in-demand artist promoting a specific album cycle. Even though Elton John still releases new music and it sells fairly well with limited promotion, there’s really no demand (or need) for him to get off the road and back into the studio to produce another batch of material to tour into the ground. It might help for him to have something new to promote, but people want the hits. Fortunately for him he has a lot of them. And Yes, you can “over tour.” I’d be more worried about that for a nostalgia act or package tour with a limited repertoire hitting the same markets over and over. Like some 80s rock band with 3 hits probably isn’t going to be able to play an arena in Kansas City twice in the same year. But a 2016 band with 1 single out that plays a basement bar might play a music hall when they come back around and then headline a shed when their next album comes out 2 years later.
I recall that Meat Loaf toured heavily for a few years before Bat Out of Hell 2 came out. I believe that he used the tour as a way to make his comeback.
EDIT:
I don’t think it’s possible to overexpose yourself on tour, as long as the area is large enough. It keeps you in your fan’s minds, and as I understand it, it’s one of the primary ways bands make their money - or it used to be. They didn’t get as much from the record companies as you’d think.
I’d think that the real determining factor would be how much demand for your concerts there are.
Clearly an international superstar like Elton John can probably tour 52 weeks a year if he so desired, and make money in every city he visits, independent of new album releases.
But a lesser band with regional or national popularity might only really have an audience big enough to support a much lesser touring schedule, and probably only in conjunction with an album release. Much more than that, and they probably don’t make money on the shows, as they’ve kind of oversaturated their own market.
Musicians and touring professionals are notorious for spending what they make.
I once read an article on Elton John’s personal spending habits, and it’s obvious why he continues to tour. His lifestyle requires mega-bucks.
For example, he has numerous houses including two penthouses in Buckhead (Atlanta). They live in one penthouse and the other adjoining penthouse is a photograph museum where they entertain. Elton has the premier art photographic collection in the U.S. with a full time curator.
Heavens knows how many homes he maintains.
Jimmy Buffet is a different dude. He has a fleet of airplanes, including a Citation Jet, that he flies and maintains. I believe he lives in Connecticut and St. Barts part time. He only seems to tour in the Summer to the third generation of Parrotheads, and he remains in high demand. Mac McAnally is his record producer/guitar player and he lives in my town. Just his flying habit would require continued travel.
Many stars wish they were in high demand where they could play 15,000 person venues regularly. Unfortunately, very few music stars of any genre have longetivity in their careers and they’re destined to play one nighters too many nights out of the year.
I know some artists set up a Vegas residency to keep performing every week without having to travel to do it.
Are there any other cities where artists do this?
We saw Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band in Pittsburgh last year. A month or so later we saw him again at a different Pittsburgh venue, then a third time less than a year later.
We asked him about it and he said, “you gotta make hay while the sun shines”. Each show was sold out and each show had a different set list.
Rev and Breezy decided long ago that they wanted to spend their life together, making music and seeing the world, and have done so successfully. There are worse ways to make a living. Since they started, they make more per show thus have more dates off to sightsee visit friends and fish.
Also, they have a work ethic like nobody since James Brown. We were hanging out before a show and Rev had a cut on the pad of his thumb. He superglued the cut closed and wrote a slide-heavy set to give it a rest.