Making Sense of FGL’s Smooth Tour Stadium Show Lineup…

…For Those Who Need It.

Yesterday morning, Tuesday, March 7th, Florida Georgia Line took the live music world by storm when they announced three stadium shows for their 2017 summer Smooth Tour. The three dates are July 7th at Boston’s Fenway Park, Minneapolis’ Target Field on July 29th, and Chicago’s Wrigley Field on August 12th. With FGL on these dates is fellow country artist and one of their good friends, Chris Lane, as well as the late 90’s/early 2000’s pop heartthrobs, the Backstreet Boys, and 2000’s rap icon, Nelly.

For some country fans, it was a head scratching lineup as they expected a full country lineup. We had fans on our Facebook post write things like, ‘I don’t really understand this lineup,’ ‘the most random selection of genres ever,’ and ‘the most un-country country concert ever.’

Quite frankly, there’s nothing that says that a concert must be all of one genre. Is there? Yes, we are well aware of the FGL critics that say they’re not country. But as our good friend, William Michael Morgan (a rising star with a real traditional sound) said, “The best way I can say it is that it (modern country radio) is not what I do but it doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Everyone listened to different stuff growing up. I, in particular, listened to Merle Haggard and George Strait and George Jones. And that’s what I incorporated into my music as much as I can. Other people might’ve listened to this guy or that girl and that’s what they built their music off of. I think it’s all country music. I think if you lay out bro-country and traditional country and pop country, there’s one key word in all of them- and that’s country.” For Tyler and BK (30 and 31 years old, respectively), they grew up in a world when the Backstreet Boys and Nelly were at the top of their respective genres. Just as we did. I remember girls in my school classes, taping pictures of the Backstreet Boys to their desks and lockers. When BSB was on TRL, Times Square was shut down. Heck, we knew some guys who wish they were BSB because of all the love they got from the fans. Same thing with Nelly. He was a rap icon back in the day. And another thing, rap/hip hop was and continues to be the backbone of locker room music. We love country and we love ya George Strait, but ‘All My Ex’s Live in Texas’ probably isn’t going to pump someone up right before a game. So many of the ‘modern’ country acts today, who played sports growing up, had a lot of that influence in their life. BK was a baseball player and even played at powerhouse, Florida State University. We bet we can guess what kind of music was played in the locker room…

Another thing that must be considered is pure strategy. The live country music world is a bit saturated right now. Country shows and festivals are popping up everywhere. And in the last year or so, we’ve seen a number of shows have trouble selling out and even upgrade fans’ seats, for free, to seats in the lower portions of stadiums, amphitheaters, arenas, etc. In New England, FGL has been played amphitheaters like the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, which has a capacity of 19,900. Fenway Park has a capacity of nearly 38,000. Target Field, 39,000. Wrigley Field, 41,000. That’s a lot of concert tickets to sell, a lot more than the local amphitheaters. So what is one way to do that? Bring together popular groups/acts of different genres to bring those fanbases together and in doing so, sell more tickets. For these shows, there will be country music fans for FGL and Chris Lane, there will be pop fans there for BSB and there will be rap fans there for Nelly. Doing this, will most likely result in a sold out show. The strategy also could pay off music wise. Maybe a Nelly fan comes to the show and falls in love with FGL’s music. Their fanbase just grew. Maybe a FGL fan comes and really likes BSB’s stuff. Their fanbase just grew. And with the music world being what it is with streaming services, exposure to more fans is the key. Did you know that the average money paid to an artist per stream on Spotify is $0.006 and $0.0084. Yes, your favorite artist receives less than a penny every time you listen to their song on Spotify. So if a fan comes and likes even just a song or two from one of the other artists and starts to listen to those songs on Spotify or other streaming services, it will increase their exposure and their earning potential. It may also be why FGL has recorded songs with both Nelly (‘Cruise’ remix) and BSB (‘God, Your Mama, And Me’). ‘Cruise’ remix has been streamed 34,815,725 times on Spotify while ‘God, Your Mama, And Me’ has received another 12,374,747 streams. These acts may not be country but it’s clear that FGL has the utmost respect for them.

Whether the decision to mix genres together was to tour with icons that FGL grew up listening to or if it was purely strategic to increase their fanbase(s) remains to be seen. But both are probably reasons why this tour is happening. If the lineup is that big of a deal to you, you have an option… Don’t go! There are plenty of fans who will be more than happy to have seats available for them to use when it goes on sale. Personally, our inner-teen is pretty excited for this collaborative tour. To see some acts that were at the top of the music world when we were younger with country’s biggest duo is going to be pretty freakin’ awesome.