Concert residencies are becoming increasingly popular in the music industry. At the time of writing, Harry Styles is due to perform his 10th out of 30 shows at Madison Square Garden. Shakira, meanwhile, is just days away from beginning a 12-date residency at a purpose-built arena in Madrid. But what has caused the rise in popularity of this particular concert format, and are we likely to see more of it in the future?
What is a concert residency?
A concert residency is a series of concerts performed at the same location. In contrast to a traditional tour, the artist remains in one single location instead of travelling between different cities. It has been particularly popular in Las Vegas, which has hosted residencies for artists ranging from Frank Sinatra to Bruno Mars.
Concert residencies are moving beyond Las Vegas
Traditionally, the most successful concert residencies were largely associated with Las Vegas. During the early 2020s, however, the format started to appear elsewhere. In 2024, Adele held a 10-date residency in Munich at a purpose-built venue with a capacity of 80,000. Since then, Bad Bunny has held a 30-night residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, while Coldplay performed 10 shows at Wembley Stadium in London. Céline Dion is currently performing a 26-date residency at the Plenitude Arena in Paris.
Why are concert residencies getting so popular?
In another article, we discussed the high cost of touring. Rising accommodation and transportation costs, combined with administrative expenses such as visa applications and permits, can make traditional touring extremely expensive. By staying in one city for several shows, artists can reduce some of these costs while avoiding the need to repeatedly transport large stage productions, equipment and crew between different cities and countries.
A stage setup that can be reused for several nights creates a clear cost advantage compared with rigging it up and shipping it across different countries. Remaining in the same venue may also allow artists and crews to establish a routine and become more familiar with the stage and production.
More concerts in fewer places are a growing trend
A growing trend for major artists is to perform more concerts in fewer places. For instance, Harry Styles’ 2026 world tour “Together, Together” hosts 67 concerts across just 7 cities. By comparison, Styles’ first world tour in 2017 consisted of 89 concerts in 68 cities. When comparing Beyoncé’s 2025 “Cowboy Carter” tour with her 2016 “Formation World Tour” we find the same pattern: 32 shows in just 9 cities compared to 49 shows in 42 cities. Although the total number of shows fell only moderately, the number of cities dropped dramatically. Pollstar later described the Cowboy Carter Tour as a “mini-residency model” for large-scale touring.
A potential downside for fans and smaller artists
Another downside is that some of the costs saved by artists may instead be transferred to fans. Jonathan Daniel of Crush Music told The New York Times that residencies can be “worse for fans”, as fans may have to travel much further to attend a show. For fans living outside major cities, this can mean paying not only for a concert ticket, but also for transportation, accommodation and other travel expenses.
Concert residencies may not work as well for smaller, emerging artists. World-renowned artists have the ability to draw fans from other cities, and sometimes even countries, in a way that smaller artists often do not. For emerging artists, building a stable fanbase may therefore be necessary before a residency becomes a realistic option. As the New York Times put it “The industry’s conventional wisdom is that only elite superstars — like Styles, Adele or Joel — can headline the kind of big-ticket residencies that fill arenas and sell tickets by the hundreds of thousands”.
Conclusion
Concert residencies have become increasingly popular in recent years. Artists such as Harry Styles and Beyoncé have significantly reduced the number of cities they perform in while still maintaining a similar number of concerts. This seems to point to a clear shift towards more concerts in fewer cities. For the biggest artists in the world, the financial advantages of concert residencies are becoming too big to ignore. It is, though, important to note that smaller artists often still need to reach audiences across different markets. However, if the trend of concert residencies keeps growing at the same rapid pace, they seem destined to become an increasingly important part of the future of live music.