eleven nights in small rooms in 2013, before almost anybody knew, and the only tour of hers you could have stood ten feet from.
the short answer
the listening sessions was her first tour: eleven shows in 2013, in theatres and clubs rather than arenas, built to put yours truly in front of people who had only heard the singles. it grossed $679,360 — a figure that is meaningful only next to the $41.8 million the next tour made two years later.
what it was
the name is exact. these were listening sessions — closer to a showcase than a tour, in rooms small enough that no production was possible. eleven nights, north america only, with one album's worth of material and nothing else to draw on.
| year | 2013 |
|---|---|
| shows | 11 |
| gross | $679,360 |
| legs | north america only |
| support | none of consequence |
why it is worth knowing about
the scale of what happened next
eleven shows in 2013. eighty-eight in 2015, across four continents, seen by 808,667 people. that is a jump of a kind that essentially does not happen any more, and it happened because my everything put four top-ten singles into one year.
the through-line from here to the forty-one-date 2026 run is on the tour archive, which has every run with its dates, grosses and setlists.
what she was playing
the way, baby i, honeymoon avenue and tattooed heart — doo-wop and nineties r&b, live drums, real backing arrangements. none of the songs anybody now associates with her existed yet, and neither did her first number one, which was five years away.
she was also, at the time, still contracted to sam & cat. the tour and the sitcom were running concurrently, which is most of why there were only eleven nights.
what a show cost in 2013
$679,360 across eleven nights is roughly $62,000 a night, in rooms holding a few thousand people. that is a functioning club tour and not a profitable one once a band, a crew and a bus are paid — which is the normal condition of a first tour and the reason most artists lose money on one.
the number is on this page only for the comparison. the honeymoon tour two years later grossed $41.8 million, which is sixty times as much from eight times as many shows. that ratio is the whole story of what happened to her between 2013 and 2015.
questions people ask
what was ariana grande's first tour?
the listening sessions, in 2013 — eleven shows in theatres and clubs, supporting yours truly.
how many shows was the listening sessions?
eleven, in north america only, grossing $679,360.
why was it so small?
she had one album and was simultaneously contracted to sam & cat, which is most of why there were only eleven nights.
what did she play on it?
the yours truly material — the way, baby i, honeymoon avenue, tattooed heart — with live drums and real backing arrangements.
how big was the jump to the next tour?
from eleven shows in 2013 to eighty-eight across four continents in 2015, seen by over 800,000 people.