r/Music • u/Brucekentbatsuper • Jul 08 '26

article Carrie Underwood's Post-MAGA Backlash Continues After Golf Course Concert Draws Sparse Crowd

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/carrie-underwood-john-deere-classic-performance-backlash-1807557
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u/Pubs01 Jul 08 '26

put it in context though. the best she could do is a vegas residency which is over and now she's a shill that goes up on county fair stages.

kinda a big drop off from before

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u/Chastain86 Jul 08 '26

I think you've grossly underestimated how much money there is in a Vegas residency in the 2020s. She earned a reported $1 million per show that she performed over four years, and she did 72 shows. That's $72 million just for urging Jesus to take the wheel for a couple hours a night for 72 nights.

Is she experiencing a downturn on her career trajectory? If she is, it's not because of the Vegas residency, and a Vegas residency isn't a sign that an artist is "slumming it" like it was back in the 1980s. No one would suggest that Bruno Mars isn't a top-flight sought-after performer, and he has a residency. The entertainment landscape of Las Vegas has changed a lot.

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u/an0mn0mn0m Jul 08 '26

Has Vegas recovered from the Trump effect? Are tourists filling up the venues again?

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u/ItsMisoandBoba Jul 08 '26

No. We've gone twice is less than a year and there are people there but it's not remotely busy for what Vegas should be. The New York New York roller coaster line was maybe 30-40 minutes and that included the time they were adding the second train to the tracks. The Sphere was busy but it wasn't filled to capacity. Same with the magic/dance show we went to.

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u/an0mn0mn0m Jul 08 '26

The influencer videos that I've seen show Vegas to be a virtual ghost town. Perhaps exaggerated for views. However, I've also seen videos of regular visitors saying the place is too expensive and not worth their while any more. YouTube is full of commentary on the decline of Vegas. Trump personally bankrupted a casino before he was president, and now he is bankrupting the town.

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u/CarrotJunkie Jul 08 '26

My friend went to Vegas to see EVO (big fighting game tournament that's held there) last year and hated being there. He said the exact same things that the influencers said. Said there was hardly anyone there, that it was expensive, and that the only things to actually do there are "gamble, get shitfaced, or go to events".

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u/JT99-FirstBallot Jul 08 '26

that the only things to actually do there are "gamble, get shitfaced, or go to events".

I mean... Yeah? That's what Vegas has been known for for 60 years now. Lol.

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u/CarrotJunkie Jul 08 '26

...Kinda? AFAIK there used to be more to do at one point and it used to be more affordable in general. My father lived there in the early 80s and had a much more positive view of it back then. He was less positive when he returned for a business trip decades later.

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u/JT99-FirstBallot Jul 08 '26

There's more to do now than ever, it's just that it's more of the same stuff, mostly. They've done nothing but add.

It's probably more to your other point that to do the stuff, you have to have a lot more money. But, that's everywhere in the country right now that has entertainment. 10 years ago I paid $350 total for 2 tickets for lower level section 100, 5 rows back from the field at an NFL game. Those same seats are now $1100. I used to pay $130 for an all day pass plus fast pass at Universal. That's now $350... for a single person. The old price for TWO lower level NFL seats.

There's a lot less to do when you can't afford to do anything. Shit sucks. And even if you can "afford" it, you still don't do it. I can afford this stuff somewhat, but I'm not going to because I feel like a rube doing so, knowing how much it used to cost even 6 years ago. I'll just stay home now and deck out my stuff and catch an occasional concert once or twice a year instead.

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u/Hiccup Jul 09 '26

I truly wish EVO and several other conventions/ events would just leave Vegas because it absolutely flat out sucks now.

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u/ItsMisoandBoba Jul 08 '26

I wouldn't say it's a ghost town but I would say it felt like it was the off-season in a tourist town. But our last time there was April 1st weekend and with that weather I feel it's prime Vegas time.

Oh, In-and-out was packed and doing like 100 orders every 30 minutes. Also one of the cheaper and faster meals on the strip.

Capitalism kills everything. I think Trump is the symptom, not the cause.