Post Malone continues to struggle with poor ticket sales for his BIG ASS Stadium Tour: Part 2. He (his team) is forced to back-fill the crowd with a practice known as “papering.”
They are doing their best to fill the gaping holes of empty seats even though it has turned a lot of his fans against him.
If you have been following along with our coverage on BroBible, you know that I have been obsessed with this concerning concert trend for months. I am trying my best to hold off on weekly updates but the most recent Post Malone show was in my home city of Nashville so I am able to speak first hand on what is happening. It’s a strange phenomenon. Who or what is to blame?
Post Malone and Jelly Roll did not sell as many seats to their concert as they hoped.
The first leg of the BIG ASS Stadium Tour was an overwhelming success. Post Malone had just dropped his debut country album with a massive nationwide rollout. The buzz was palpable for his live shows. He went big with pyrotechnics and staging.
I went to his concert in October 2024 at Nissan Stadium. I also saw him perform at the Opry that same year. And even before that, I pulled up to the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachussetts to see him on tour with 21 Savage in 2018. All three shows were sold out. I had a great time in all three environments at two very different stages of his career.
The latest edition of the BIG ASS Stadium Tour has not gone as well as the first.
Posty had to postpone nearly three weeks of the scheduled dates because nobody was going to be there. He claimed that he wanted to release his new album before he went out on tour but we now know that was not true. We are three weeks past the start of his live shows and there has not been any new music. And, perhaps as a result of the unkept promise, ticket sales have not picked up.
This is a current look at Tampa on July 8:
Here is a look at Fayetteville, Arkansas on July 11:
Salt Lake City on July 28 is not any better:
They call this “Blue Dot Fever,” where concerts are left with a large amount of unsold tickets on Ticketmaster. The unsold tickets are represented by a blue dot on the website. Some artists decide to preemptive cancel the shows that aren’t selling seats and that might’ve been what happened with the BIG ASS Stadium Tour: Part 2. Posty said otherwise but I don’t believe him.
Ticket sales continue to be a problem that his team is forced to navigate. I can’t imagine the sponsors are thrilled.
Empty crowds are back-filled by free tickets.
The crowd in Toronto was perhaps the most concerning thus far. This was the scene at Rogers Stadium with 20 minutes until the show:
It was mostly empty for the openers.
Fortunately, it did start to fill up as the night went on. The pit was packed but the stands were…. not.
It was a similar scene in Hartford. Not every seat in the upper deck was occupied even though it is one of the smallest stadiums on the tour. (To be fair, it was also pouring rain!)
Cleveland was really bad.
And that leads us to Nashville. I had heard rumors during the early stops of the BIG ASS Stadium Tour: Part 2 that Post Malone was using a practice called “papering the house” to fill seats. He (his team) was giving away a lot of free tickets to create the appearance of a full venue, to improve the atmosphere for the performers and attendees, and to generate increased concession and merch sales. It also helps to encourage word-of-mouth (social media) promotion for other stops.
I was able to confirm that was true for Music City because I had no less than 15 people in my life claim free tickets to the show. (I couldn’t go because of a last-minute obligation or I would’ve joined them at no cost to me!) For proof:
The crowd was pretty solid, especially for a Wednesday, but a large number of people in attendance did not buy a ticket to be there.
Somewhat related— this made me laugh way harder than it should:
And here’s the kicker. I also had friends at the concert who did pay for their tickets months ago. They were absolutely furious when they found out they could’ve waited for sales to flounder and gone for free. Especially when two groups of my friends were seated in the same section, no more than 300 feet apart. One of the groups paid for their seats while the other didn’t.
The group that did not pay for their tickets probably wouldn’t have gone if the tickets weren’t free. The group that did pay for their tickets will now refuse to pay for tickets to a Post Malone concert in the future.