Updated: Ticket demand intense. 3rd Morgan Wallen show added at Rupp in December
Country music’s newest superstar, Morgan Wallen, will now host three concerts with singers HARDY and ERNEST at Rupp Arena in December.
Wallen was initially supposed to perform one concert on Dec. 4, but “due to fan demand,” a second show was added for Dec. 3 just one day after the first announcement. As tickets went on sale on Friday morning, Rupp Arena announced a third concert would occur on Dec. 5.
It’s only the second time in Rupp Arena’s 45-year history that an artist headlined three consecutive shows, officials said. The other was Garth Brooks in 1998.
Officials with Rupp Arena gauged the interest for tickets through fan club and radio pre-sales.
“It sold a lot of tickets. A lot of excitement about Morgan, a lot of fan club members, so that was kind of how we knew there was such a demand for a third show, was because of how successful those first two shows sold,” said Brian Sipe, general manager with Central Bank Center.
Tickets for the shows are on sale at Ticketmaster.com, although very few options remain.
When tickets were released Friday morning, only a small amount of high-priced tickets were available for the shows on Dec. 3-4 due to the pre-sales. Ticketmaster reported a few thousand in the queue waiting to buy tickets for the show on Dec. 5, but many of those tickets quickly vanished with only more expensive options remaining.
Even with the high interest in tickets, Sipe said there are no plans to add more shows for December. Sipe expects all of the existing shows to be completely sold out by the concert dates.
Despite the clamor for tickets to his Kentucky shows, the country singer still faces backlash for saying a racial slur in February 2021. His music was removed from many streaming platforms, including Cumulus Media, SiriusXM, iHeartMusic and Pandora. Wallen apologized for the incident, later calling his use of the term “ignorant.”
“I think I was just ignorant about it,” he said in a recent ABC interview. “I don’t think I sat down and was, like, ‘Hey, is this right or is this wrong?’”
Wallen is banned from the CMA Awards Nov. 10 even though he’s up for Album of the Year. Wallen is nominated for two American Music Awards — Favorite Male Country Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album of the Year. However, he is not allowed to perform, attend or accept any awards at the ceremony.
“We plan to evaluate his progress in doing meaningful work as an ally to the Black community and will consider his participation in future shows,” the entertainment company said when announcing nominations.
Labeled as “the most wanted man in the country” by The New Yorker, Wallen rapidly climbed the ranks as one of country music’s most popular artists in the last couple of years. He has over seven billion on-demand streams, multiple platinum certificates and four straight No. 1 hits, such as “Whiskey Glasses,” which was Wallen’s five-time platinum breakout track.
Wallen’s second album, “Dangerous: The Double Album,” also topped the charts.
This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 10:25 AM.
