Fan petition to get Gracie Abrams to change her opening act may have crossed a line experts say is blurring
Fan attempt to remove opener on Gracie Abrams’ tour exposes what journalist calls ‘mean girls’ mob mentality
Imagine you're an up-and-coming musician who's chosen to perform as the opening act for a popstar with millions of listeners, only to be met with disapproval and complaints from the star's fans. That's exactly what happened to Dora Jar.
The 28-year-old American singer-songwriter picked to open for singer Gracie Abrams on her European tour that begins today was the subject of a Change.org petition in late January that demanded she be removed from the tour and replaced, mostly because the author claimed Jar wasn't well known enough to fans.
The petition said that with just two weeks until the tour was set to begin, it would be "virtually impossible to familiarize ourselves with her slow-paced songs."
Don’t worry this doesn’t bum me out! I’m hear to perform for all the music loving open hearted fans. those who aren’t interested can go buy merch while I’m playing (but they might as well let me entertain them tho..;)) an overwhelming amount of fans have been so kind & excited ❤️
—@dorajar_"Just hearing about this absolute ridiculousness," Abrams wrote in a comment on Stereogum's Instagram post about the story. "So wildly uncool and bizarre does not remotely add up."
The petition was quickly deleted, but not before it went viral, sparking conversations about fan entitlement and the changing dynamic between artists and the people who love them.
A supportive system
Being selected as an opener can serve as a career-defining opportunity. Young artists like Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, and even Gracie Abrams herself, who recently opened for Taylor Swift on her Eras Tour, have enjoyed massive success after touring with a bigger artist.
Melissa Vincent, a Canadian music journalist and a PhD researcher in the department of media and communications at the London School of Economics, says Abrams' fans have had a front row seat for her rise to fame as she went from opening for Swift to headlining her own major shows.
"Her star has been tied to Taylor's star, is kind of like entering this whole other solar system, and I think fans feel really devoted to supporting an opener as they're on that journey."
So it's no surprise to Vincent that Abrams has been so supportive of Jar. "Their kind of relationship and solidarity with one another was really clear."
It's the same kind of nurturing and encouraging relationship that many openers and headliners share.
Charlie Houston, a singer from the small Ontario town of Deseronto, Ont., says opening for The Beaches on their American tour last year helped elevate her live set, and the women in the band passed along valuable knowledge about their experiences in the industry.
"Because they've been doing it for so long and, you know, have had ups and downs."
She says she also had great experiences with the Toronto band's fans being open to discovering new music. But she says it helps to keep things in perspective.
"You know, at the end of the day, they're not there for you," she said, adding that in her view, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
"It's kind of like there's nothing you can lose in those situations. If they're not paying attention to you, it's like you're going to leave the exact same way that you came in, then like you can only gain fans."
Ryland James, a singer-songwriter who's also from Deseronto, opened for Canadian singer Alessia Cara in 2019 and says the experience was invaluable because he gained many fans on that tour.
He says there's a strong dynamic at play between fans and their favourite artists.
"Fans, especially in this day and age, they're so part of the story of the artist that I can understand why they would feel like they want to sort of create the story."
The mob mentality
Jem Aswad, the executive music editor at Variety magazine, describes being an opening act as a "mixed blessing."
It brings exposure, but it can also mean playing to empty stadiums as the crowd trickles in, and there's always the chance that the opener just doesn't mesh well with the headliner's fans. He recalls an infamous incident when Jimi Hendrix, known for his raw sounds and fiery guitar antics, was invited by the Monkees to open for them on their 1967 U.S. tour.
"They were basically a Beatles knockoff, and that made no sense. [Hendrix] terrified the screaming teenagers at the show," he said. "The Monkees loved him — they had chosen him themselves — but it didn't really land well with the audience."
So much so that Hendrix ended up leaving the tour after just a few shows. But even for artists who do gel with the fans of their headliners, not every show is a roaring success.
Though James says he generally had a great experience touring with Cara, there were some nights when the audience wasn't immediately receptive to him.
"There was one particular city where they were … a little cold," he recalled.
"What you have to remember as an artist is, at the end of the day, you're there for a reason. You have to believe in yourself and your performance and your art and know that regardless of what the majority of the audience might say, there are going to be people in that audience who are going to be affected by you."
When online fans aren't receptive, Aswad says it can come across as a mob mentality.
"A lot of these younger artists grew up with social media and they're probably just sitting there like, 'Oh my God, are the mean girls from junior high coming after me again?' "
He says fans need to trust that their favourite artist is going to give them a good show and pick a good opener.
"It's a pretty safe bet the Dora Jar is opening for Gracie Abrams because Gracie Abrams wanted her to."
High cost of tickets leads to high stakes
Vincent, the journalist, says because today's live music experience is so expensive, a single show holds more weight.
"For fans paying that amount, equivalent to a down payment on a car or house, the stakes are higher, and they expect an experience that matches the value of their investment."
She notes that fans today often see concerts as an opportunity for content creation that could help them monetize their experience and execute each of these moments exactly as they've imagined.
"It's from the moment you decide to buy a ticket to the moment you're having greasy food hours after the performance. All of those individual moments are content opportunities."
Vincent also pointed out that for her, one of the best aspects of live music is the fact that it's not predictable. What makes it so "transcendental and life changing" is not knowing what's going to happen.
"You can walk into a venue and surrender to the possibility that you might be surprised by something you might not have anticipated, and that will completely change the way you receive the headlining artist."
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