Is a 2012 tour likely?

[weirdalisthephantomoftheopera]

Oh man, I'm loving this topic.

As previously stated, while Al can tour every year, it'd be highly illogical and poor for business reasons. spmahn was right and I wouldn't get too jumpy on the years as every major tour promoting an album was 3 years apart, aside from this year which was due to the need to promote the Internet Leaks and, admittedly, to make some money. Jon stated nicely that touring is the major source of income now for many artists, especially ones like Al in which Billboard Top Ten Singles aren't too common.

Al's tours have been running smoothly because of the gap difference and because he knows what venues sell. Theaters sell quickly in large cities because there isn't an overabundance of seats. As for arenas, Al tends to lean towards those where the tickets can be sold for less, like fair shows.

Take the OC Fair shows this year for example: Decent seats (without being part of the VIP package) were around $25 (not including extra fees). That's better than most acts at that amphitheater and the pre-sale sold out pretty quickly. At the fair, $10 tickets were advertised all around Al's Brain and at the ticket booths so that people at the fair could get tickets for less than they'd have to shell out for their kids to go on a few rides. Sure the seats would have been at the back, but it's still good entertainment well worth the parking fee at the fair. When I went to Al's Brain at around 3pm where it was stated that there were tickets for sale, the announcer said they actually ran out there but that there were a few left by the box office. During the concert, I noticed a few seats still left, but not many and it's clear that had it not been for the low prices, there would have been a lot more seats left.

Yeah, we love Al and I bet there are people dying to tear up this post by arguing that Al could have sold those tickets anyway, but we also have to admit that there aren't thousands die-hard fans waiting for the next tour as there are casual fans that notice a tour and happen to get a ticket when he's in town. Without a huge demand for concert tours (and by huge, THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE), Al can't supply it.

[spmahn]

What I should have said is not that Al only tours every 3-4 years, but that there is typically that lomg of a gap in between his returning to the same area. Take where I live in Connecticut for example, Al hasn't been within 100 miles of here since 2007, before that, 2004, etc. So yes, for most casual fans who don'tmwantmto drive more than 20 minutes to reach a venue, he really only does come around every 3-4 years

[Orthography Enthusiast]

I believe there are actually places that Al passed over on purpose this tour so that he could go there after the new album is released.

[spmahn]

I think it was more of a case of this being a very abbreviated tour which isn't coming off the heels of any recent mainstream success, so he limited it to larger cities and regular venues he always plays at and knows all the hardcore fans will show up to. After the new album he'll do another tour where he will probably play everywhere as he usually does. This was more of a Texas, New York, California sort of tour and less of a Connecticut, Iowa, South Dakota kind of tour