Photo Credit: BigXThaPlug, Post Malone, and Carter Faith (@postmalone & @bigxthaplug / Instagram)
Struggling to sell tickets to his upcoming tour with Jelly Roll, Post Malone has called in BigXThaPlug for support at the tour’s stop in Nashville.
Post Malone is still having trouble selling tickets to his upcoming co-headline tour with fellow country crossover artist Jelly Roll. But some fans are concerned that Jelly Roll wasn’t as big a draw as Posty might have expected. Now, the “Sunflower” singer has called in BigXThaPlug to play at the tour’s stop in Nashville.
Notably, BigXThaPlug is not replacing Jelly Roll; the latter was never scheduled to appear at the Nashville date. But given the slow ticket sales, it makes sense to call in some backup talent to help put more butts in seats. And given Post Malone’s hip-hop-adjacent background, it makes even more sense to bring in a rapper and songwriter like BigXThaPlug. Perhaps the country angle wasn’t as wise a pivot for Malone to begin with.
Ultimately, it will be interesting to see if this change will lead to more sales in Nashville, and if BigXThaPlug can outsell Jelly Roll, who is still providing support at other dates and venues. That said, critics point out that the only thing that could save the tour might be lower ticket prices—or Post Malone’s upcoming new music, for which he postponed the start of the tour to complete.
Originally, Post Malone was originally set to kick off his Big Ass Stadium Tour Part 2 on Wednesday, May 13, where he was going to play El Paso, Waco, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Tampa, and Oxford throughout May and the first week of June. But those shows have been nixed, with Posty claiming the decision stemmed from his desire to finish his new album. What he failed to mention was the severe case of “Blue Dot Fever” plaguing his ticket sales (stadiums across the country remain 75% unsold), but he likely hopes that the release of new music will help ease this problem.
Now, the tour will begin on June 9 in Charlotte, with stops in Toronto, Hartford, Cleveland, Nashville, Fayetteville, Kansas City, Ames, Missoula, Edmonton, and Salt Lake City. Following the North American leg, the tour heads to China, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and Japan. The run is scheduled to conclude in Austin on October 24.
Carter Faith is serving as opener, while Jelly Roll is providing direct support for (nearly) all North American dates.
