Trend Analysis
January 29, 2025
Lady Gaga's Jazz and Piano Residency in Las Vegas
“I chose to do a residency, maybe because I f****** hate touring.” That’s what Adele said when closing out her 100+ show residency in Las Vegas. A triumph both creatively and financially, Adele is a prime example of a recent trend in artists choosing to do a residency, usually in Vegas, over touring. The Las Vegas strip used to be a place where artists went to die, and a last hurrah as their music slowly faded off the charts. Recently however, artists like Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and Elton John have taken up Vegas residencies. These artists' residencies began to flip the narrative on the phenomenon and sparked a conversation on the merits of touring versus residencies. No longer are residencies a death rattle, but rather, a popular alternative for artists, giving them more creative freedom and letting them perform without sacrificing their personal lives and mental health.
With touring comes a life on the road. Small quarters in tour buses, different hotels every night, and living out of a suitcase are all elements that dissuade many artists from touring. Touring is an even bigger undertaking for artists with children-- they have to choose to either leave their children at home, or bring them on the road where they get homeschooled. Adele spoke openly about how her choice to do a residency came from her desire to give her son a stable life while performing during her last residency performance:
“I chose to do a residency to keep his life normal, and I did that.”
Her decision to do a weekend residency allowed her four normal days at home with her son every week. Residencies give artists the ability to financially provide for their family through performing, while also providing a stable lifestyle.
The benefits that come with the stability of a residency are not unique to parents. Missing milestones in loved ones' lives is difficult for anyone. Additionally, the mental toll a tour takes on someone is no small feat: moving constantly is whiplash which can catapult artists into a difficult mental space. By having the freedom to be physically and mentally present for the people in their lives, residencies provide a positive way for artists to perform.
Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Harry Styles was one of the first artists to do a full capacity indoor arena tour. With strict measures in place, Styles completed a 42-date run. Following this tour, he announced residencies in LA, New York, Austin, and Chicago. Though touring at an arena level so early on in the return of live music was a remarkable feat, protecting an entire crew from contracting COVID whilst traveling caused numerous challenges – the choice to do a residency helped mitigate this issue. Setting up in one city for numerous days limited the risk of exposing the crew to COVID.
From the perspective of venue bookers, knowing that an artist would be in one place for weeks at a time made them more inclined to book them, as it would reduce the risk of show cancellations due to the imminent threat of COVID-19 that was promulgated with travel. Both Styles and his booking agents understood that his choice to do a residency was risk averse, while also being more financially and creatively viable. Styles’ choice to do residencies in multiple locations expanded the financial potential. If Styles only did a residency in New York or Los Angeles, he would miss fans from the South or Midwest who would be willing to travel a few states away to see him, but not willing to go to either coast. Booking agents understood that by doing regional residencies, more fans would be able to attend shows, causing an uptick in sales. These financial benefits, coupled with the reduced risk of COVID-related cancellations, persuaded booking agents to green light Styles’ residencies in a rocky post-COVID concert landscape.
Creatively, some artists may argue that residencies best meet their live performance needs. To fulfill their creative vision, artists often want technical aspects that work best in a fixed format as opposed to transporting set components across the boundless expanse of world tours. Even if it might be logistically possible to tour a set element, steep transportation costs make it more financially viable to keep the show in one place.
Residencies began to re-enter the music space in 2003, with Celine Dion's “A New Day” Las Vegas residency. With a massive LED screen that had to be built into The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Dion’s production needed to be kept in one place, as there was little technical viability to change the production design location every night. This choice ultimately rewarded Dion, as the residency earned massive fiscal and fan success.
Lady Gaga is another example of an artist who chose to do a residency over touring for creative purposes. Gaga has both jazz and pop albums that she wanted to perform live. However, doing a multiple genre tour would be a massive undertaking. While not impossible - see Taylor Swift’s recent Eras Tour-- a multi-genre setup requires nearly double the set designs and instruments, as the staging changes to fit each genre. Logistically, an exorbitant amount of trucks and crew are needed to do a show like that, which is not a financially advisable move. Because of these factors, Gaga turned to a residency approach and created the Enigma + Jazz & Piano Residency. With pop songs one night and Jazz classics on another, Gaga created a residency with multiple genres, while limiting the logistical challenges. Gaga appealed to fans’ desire to see her perform both genres, and in some cases, pulled in double the income as many of her fans attended both shows. Like many artists, Gaga chose to do a residency in order to fulfill her complex creative visions and desires without risking logistical nightmares.
All this is to say, touring is still prosperous for artists. While there are many benefits to residencies, tours are more financially lucrative for smaller artists. Residencies require artists of a high enough caliber to have a fanbase who will travel lengthy distances to see them. For smaller artists, fans tend to be more dispersed and less willing to pay for the travel and lodging expenses required to attend residency shows. By touring smaller venues, artists can maximize ticket sales by playing in the cities their fans live in. Also, residency venues seat far more people than rising artists can fill – every unfilled seat is money lost, so it makes far more sense for smaller artists to play smaller venues.
The choice to do a tour over a residency isn’t just beneficial for small artists. With arenas and stadiums across the world selling out shows, it's clear big artists aren’t ditching tours. Just because an artist is already “popular” doesn’t mean they’re exempt from growth. Through touring, artists continue to expand their audiences by doing press interviews and visiting radio stations in the cities along their tour, each of which have unique markets to appeal to. By going on tour, artists can use local media to expand their listening base to boost their place in the charts and number of listeners. Lastly, no matter how many fans an artist has, there will be some who cannot pay to travel to a residency. By choosing to go on tour, artists are able to ensure more fans can attend their shows, a choice they may make based on understanding their audience’s demographics and willingness to travel for a residency.
Artists’ personal lives, a post-COVID world, creative visions, and audience reach – all of these are factors artists consider when choosing to tour or do a residency. Touring is often an optimal choice for artists, especially smaller ones, who want to avoid financial risk by ensuring a greater turnout in proportion to venue sizes. Yet being on tour is hard: it’s a physical and mental feat for artists, bands and crews alike, and can be costly given the scope of production for larger artists. While geographical locations of fans and promotional opportunities can incentivize artists to tour, the ability to be near loved ones and avoid the detriments of traveling endlessly in the choice of a residency often outweigh the benefits of touring. At the end of the day, deciding between a tour or a residency is not a simple choice for artists. Instead, it is a decision with promotional, emotional and artistic weight.
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