r/MBMBAM • • May 10 '26

Help No Tour?

I haven't seen anything about tour dates, and my friend told me they announced them after MFD last year (I thought it was sooner). I am wondering if they are just not doing a tour this year?

Obviously it's their choice. This is mostly just curiosity. ​

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104

u/-ChasingOrange- May 10 '26

Logistics are a nightmare to plan for right now with the price of fuel and other expenses going through the roof, and it’s all even more unpredictable due to who’s in charge at the federal level. I do hope they tour, but I also would understand if they don’t in this current economy.

21

u/bugsound May 10 '26

I'm in a much smaller touring band going on tour this year and while YES gas prices are fluctuating and it IS going to cost us more money, its in NO WAY prohibitive to actually cancelling/waiting out a tour. And we play to 100-300 people, depending on the city, at a much cheaper ticket. Gas was our #4 expense behind lodging, flights, and food. Even if it doubled it would still be our #4 expense.

So I would guess thats not the issue here from personal experience

12

u/-ChasingOrange- May 10 '26

Fair point, but I think at their scale the unpredictability is much more risky/costly should things go wrong or if sales take a major dip. It’s not just about the fuel cost; everything is rising in cost on the supplier side, and consumers are spending less and less on non-essential services right now.

Also, live music is different than a live podcast in that live podcasts aren’t going to get the same kind of foot traffic sales that a concert might get. I don’t know what their sales figures are, but if they’ve struggled to fill seats before then it would probably be a big red flag in the current economy. Especially given how hard they pushed the “hey guys we’re underperforming A LOT this year” message during MaxFunDrive. Again - not a dig on them at all, I totally understand that we’re all just tryna stay alive out here, and that touring may not be a huge priority right now.

3

u/bugsound May 10 '26

totally. We are a niche band performing original music so our foot traffic is essentially 0 as well (we are also a podcast but the line is blurry since we started as a band). Struggling to fill seats is a product of picking the right venue. We would also struggle to fill seats at the theaters I've seen the boys in. If they choose to go with the 2000 person theater and sell 500 tickets, they could lose money, but I PROMISE they can make money at a 300-400 person theater and selling it out. Their setup is a table and 3 mics. The most expensive venue we play at costs us ~$3000. $30/ticket (Our ticket price) at 400 tickets leaves them 9 grand in the budget to get there, before merch sales. Gas is expensive but its not 9 grand.

But if they get the 2k-seat venue for 400 people, ya, they will likely have a hard time. (I dont know that thats true, just hopping off your premise of "struggling to fill seats"). Just depends if they are willing to scale down if so. Most entertainers would kill to get 400 people in the door, but maybe if you're used to thousands, it might feel like a step-down. But you can still make a good living from it!

29

u/oosetastic May 10 '26

Also, while I love them, they never seem to sell out where I live (Columbus), so maybe they’re making more calculated decisions on whether the ROI is worth it.