What’s the Deal With Support Acts on Tours Today?
Categoria: Musica
Tight touring budgets, short attention spans and fast fame are affecting how — and if — support slots are booked.
Por Billboard | 09/11/2026
In the past 12 months, Ariana Grande, Rosalía and Lady Gaga all completed blockbuster arena tours in support of chart-topping albums, complete with large-scale production, choreography and outfit changes. But they also had something else in common: no opening acts. While plenty of pop’s biggest artists are still booking buzzy support, tighter budgets, shorter pipelines to stardom and dwindling attention spans are changing the market for pop tour openers and the agents who book them. “There’s all these different cost balance analyses going on,” says Nathaniel Marro, executive director of the National Independent Talent Organization (NITO), which advocates for a sustainable music ecosystem and supports independent music professionals. And while pop tours — especially at the arena level, where bigger budgets, capacity and higher ticket costs rule — are more immune to the industrywide financial squeeze, “everything is more expensive,” Marro maintains. “When you’re looking at these big pop acts, you have very specific stage setups. Adding anything to or detracting from that is a big deal. And then if you are adding anyone to these arena shows, you have to think, ‘Are they actually going to add any value?’ If I’m going to go see Lady Gaga, do I really care about what’s happening before Lady Gaga? Related Touring Power Players: Billboard’s 2026 List Revealed More Than ‘Luck’: How Hilary Duff Became An Arena Pop Star — and Bigger Than Ever How Is Weezer ‘Killing It’ in Arenas, 30 Years In? (Hint: Gen Z Loves Them, Too) “Sometimes, I just want an hour-and-a-half and I want to go home,” he continues. “We’re battling people so much for attention these days, and we’re battling people so much to get off the couch and do things, that when you’re talking about adding another act and the headliner not going on till 9, 9:30, all these things start to add up. It’s [about] how to make the concertgoing experience repeatable for fans.” Performing sans opener worked just fine for Gaga, who topped Billboard ’s midyear touring report. And without an opening act, there was no required percentage split after that tour’s expenses were paid for; as Marro explains, while the promoter typically pays the opener, the headliner still stands to make less money in the end since that opener’s costs cut into overall profit. That’s significant at a time when “everyone wants more money,” says Nina Swint, an agent at the global independent agency ROAM. While Swint’s focus is on ascendant punk and rock acts, ROAM’s roster includes rock and indie stars like Adrianne Lenker and Big Thief, Hayley Williams, MJ Lenderman, Jungle and Goose. With rising costs affecting gas, food and hotel stays, Swint says it’s harder than ever to plan a budget for a tour that is happening over a year out. “You don’t really know what those tour costs are going to be, and also you never know if your artist might have a viral moment,” she says. “Why would you lock yourself into a supp