Where Tours Fade Out: U.S. Concert Deserts
The Eras Tour defined this century’s concert culture, and where concerts aren’t being held.
In the modern concert economy, a few mega-tours (think Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour) dominate headlines and revenue. But beneath this headliner infrastructure lies a patchwork of gaps; regions in the U.S. that are chronically skipped or underserved by touring artists.
Examining The Eras Tour’s footprint compared to other, smaller tours of The Lumineers, sombr, and Sydney Rose, shows where concert deserts persist are exposed
Swift’s tour functioned not just as a cultural phenomenon but as a new benchmark for performers. Its route made stops in many mid- to large-sized markets, often hosting multiple shows in major metropolitan areas. As such, the Eras Tour map can act as a reference point. Where it toured can be considered an “expected coverage baseline,” and where it didn’t can be marked as potential concert deserts.
By contrasting it with the routing of The Lumineers, Sydney Rose, and sombr, we can begin to discern which parts of the country are chronically ignored by certain acts.
Each act fits a different sector of music. While Taylor Swift is at the top of the musician food pyramid, The Lumineers have been a consistently popular band for more than a decade, with over 19.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Their Automatics 2025 tour stopped in 37 venues across the U.S.
Sombr is an up-and-coming artist, recently popularized among Gen-Z audiences on TikTok, grossing almost 58 million monthly Spotify listeners. The Late Nites & Young Romantics Tour is his first time touring a studio album, visiting 25 stops in the U.S.
Sydney Rose is another up-and-coming artist with less exposure than sombr. This is her first tour, making 10 stops at small venues around the U.S. She currently grosses 5 million monthly Spotify listeners.
Several patterns emerged across the four tours. As expected, major metropolitan areas in the Northeast, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Boston, see dense coverage. Satellite and secondary markets in surrounding areas (Hartford, Albany, Harrisburg) also often land on major tours.
The proximity of many mid-sized cities, strong public transportation systems, and higher population density make these “safe” locations for a successful tour. The Eras Tour anchored many shows in this region, and The Lumineers and Sydney Rose also tend to thread more densely through the Northeast.
In the Great Lakes region, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, and Minneapolis serve as hubs for tour venues. Many of these cities serve as bridge points across the Midwest. The Lumineers tend to connect Midwest legs through this axis.
On the West Coast, cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, and occasionally San Diego and Phoenix are hot spots for concerts. The West has a strong corridor along the Pacific and Interstate 5/I-15/I-20 routes. Tours often cluster shows in the Bay Area before making their way upward to L.A. or Eastward to Denver. The Eras Tour had a heavy West Coast presence, which helped saturate that corridor.
The Gulf has major Texas cities, Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio, which often see multiple tour dates. Louisiana and Alabama are sparsely included in this region. Most tours often sweep the Deep South along I-10 or a similar connecting loop. Some acts, like Sydney Rose, skip the more rural parts of the South but hit major nodes.
Florida’s Sun Belt often includes tour dates in the cities of Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Atlanta. From there, a few acts might venture into smaller Southeastern states (South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee), depending on demand.
When overlaying the routes of The Lumineers, Sydney Rose, and sombr with The Eras Tour, more extensive routing revealed striking deficits in certain geographies. Based on the map, a few regions stuck out in particular.
Places like Montana, Wyoming, large portions of Idaho, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and parts of Nevada are rarely visited except when acts are doing “full national” legs of festivals. Sparse populations, long distances between mid-sized cities, and limited infrastructure for large concerts make many of these areas gray zones.
Northern Maine, Vermont, and much of rural upstate New York see few concert stops.
Except when Denver or Minneapolis serves as an anchor point, tours often bypass the Great Plains region, choosing to skip smaller cities like Bismarck, Rapid City, or Sioux Falls.
Beyond major southern cities, parts of Alabama, Mississippi, rural Georgia, and interior Louisiana tend to be bypassed. Unless there is a regional festival or a strong local promoter, many acts pass these locales.
Somewhat self-evident is the fact that Alaska and Hawaii are extremely unlikely to be included in tour routes.
The Eras Tour had massive scale and financial backing that allowed it to enter marginal markets that might not break even individually. The Eras Tour also had the opportunity to double back to secondary and tertiary markets in denser states. In contrast, The Lumineers, Sydney Rose, and sombr must route more conservatively.
It’s clear that concert deserts in the U.S. aren’t random; they tend to cluster in low-density regions, in areas with logistical and venue constraints, and places outside the classic touring corridor. By using the Eras Tour as a maximum coverage baseline, the map reveals just how sparse the touring footprints of other tours really are.
It’s obvious, big tours fill more of the map, and mid-tier tours stick to safety corridors. The challenge lies in turning these blank zones into new marginal markets. With careful planning, route optimization, and infrastructure investment, future touring circuits could begin to chip away at America’s concert deserts.
