How does a concert in a tiny Texas town of just
over 5 ,000 people generate roughly $100 ,000
more in revenue than a massive arena show in
Vancouver? Right, with more than double the audience.
Exactly. Or... Better yet, how does a slightly
smaller crowd in Dallas, Texas out earn a packed
house at Madison Square Garden? I mean, the world's
most famous arena. It sounds impossible on paper.
It really does. But today, we're opening up a
data set sent in by you, the listener, and we're
going to answer exactly those questions. So welcome
to the Deep Dive. Glad to be here. Our source
material today is the Wikipedia data for Carol
G's 2022 Strip Love Tour. And our mission here
is pretty simple. We want to reverse engineer
the anatomy of a blockbuster concert run. It's
a fascinating data set. Oh, totally. We're going
to look at the math, the map, and the music to
understand how an artist transforms a 33 -day
tour into a flawless, sold -out, $72 .2 million
blueprint for the music industry. And, you know,
To really grasp the magnitude of what she accomplished
here, we have to establish exactly where this
tour sits in her overall career timeline. Right.
Context is everything. Exactly. If we look at
the chronology and the source material, this
2022 tour, which, by the way, was sponsored by
AEG Live, served as a very specific high -stace
bridge. A bridge between her other tours, right?
Yeah. It happened right after her Bichota tour,
which wrapped up earlier in 2022, and then directly
before the massive Manana Sarabunido tour that
kicked off in 2023. Wow. So back to back to back.
Pretty much. It essentially functioned as a victory
lap for her 2021 album, KG051stein. It was a
moment to cement her status before moving on
to the next era. So whether you are a diehard
live music fanatic who lives for the front row
or you're just fascinated by incredible business
stick with us. Because understanding the mechanics
of a tour like this one, where nothing is left
to chance, it's a total revelation. It really
is a master class. Okay, let's unpack this. Before
we even look at what she played on stage, we
need to look at the staggering scope of where
and when she played. Because the timeline here
is, honestly, it's brutal. Oh, absolutely grueling.
The tour kicks off on September 6th, 3 -3 -22
in Rosemont, Illinois. And it wraps up on November
2nd, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. Which is,
what, a window of less than 60 days. Exactly.
We are talking about 33 total shows across the
US and Canada in under two months. And the total
attendance across the run, 412 ,840 people. That's
a massive footprint. Huge. But here is the critical
data point that just jumped off the page at me.
The attendance isn't just a big impressive number.
Next to every single date on this Wikipedia list,
the ticket sold number exactly matches the available
tickets number. Right. Every single available
ticket across the entire tour was purchased.
It is a 100 percent sellout rate across the board.
Which is just an operational triumph. I mean,
to put that in perspective, seeing a 100 percent
sellout rate across three dozen dates isn't just
about popularity. What else is it then? It's
about algorithmic precision from the promoters.
Right. AEG live perfectly matching venue capacities
to regional demand. OK, wait, let me challenge
that. Because I hear 100 percent sellout rate
and. little voice in my head gets, you know,
skeptical. Sure, that's fair. Like, if every
single ticket sold out across 33 dates, couldn't
a cynic argue that they actually just priced
the tickets too low? Or, I don't know, that scalper
bots just bought up large chunks of the inventory.
That's the immediate assumption a lot of people
make. Right. So how do we know from just looking
at a Wikipedia data table that this is pure,
authentic fan demand? That is a completely fair
question. And the answer is actually hidden in
the revenue variance, which we will dig into
later. OK, pizza for now. Yeah. But to briefly
answer your question now, if the tickets were
uniformly underpriced or swept by bots, you would
see a relatively flat average ticket price across
the board. Oh, because the bots don't care about
the local market nuances. Exactly. The fact that
the revenue wildly fluctuates from city to city,
even in cities with similar venue sizes, tells
us the pricing was highly elastic. I see. The
promoters captured the true ceiling of what real
fans in each specific local market were willing
to pay. But to understand how they pulled that
off, you really have to look at the sheer logistical
endurance required. Look at the calendar in late
September. OK, I have it right here. Let me just
read this stretch aloud so everyone listening
can feel the exhaustion. Go for it. She plays
Miami on September 22nd and 23rd. Orlando on
the 24th, Tampa on the 26th, Atlanta on the 27th,
Houston on the 29th, and Hidalgo on the 30th.
That is a relentless pace. Right. Performing
a highly choreographed, emotionally draining
arena show almost every single night, while,
by the way, moving an entire city's worth of
production gear down the highway. Yeah, routing
a 33 -date tour in 60 days isn't just drawing
lines on a map. It's like solving a massive 3D
Tetris puzzle. That's a great way to put it.
Thanks. I mean, the blocks are... the convoys
of 18 -wheelers, local union labor rules, and
arena availabilities. If one block falls out
of place, say a truck breaks down between Tampa
and Atlanta, the entire multi -million dollar
structure basically collapses. Precisely. And
that physical toll on the artist is massive.
To survive that brutal schedule without burning
her voice out or, frankly, physically collapsing,
the show itself cannot just rely on spontaneous
energy. So it has to be structured carefully.
Exactly. It has to be scientifically paced. And
this is where the logistics of the show's structure
become vital. For instance, the source notes
the presence of a supporting act, Aguadillo,
for the entire run. You know, I always just assume
an opening act is the to get some exposure or
just to, like, warm up the crowd a bit? Sure.
That's part of it. But in a schedule this tight,
your supporting act is a crucial logistical tool.
They aren't just there to play music. They manage
the room's energy. How so? They act as a buffer.
They set the baseline tone for the evening. And
most importantly, they buy the production manager
and the main artists the precise amount of time
needed to prepare for a flawlessly timed entrance.
Oh, wow. I never thought about it like that.
Yeah, when you are doing 33 shows in 60 days,
you rely heavily on that opener to ensure the
crowd is at the exact right temperature when
you step onto the stage. That makes a lot of
sense. But obviously, logistics and a good opener
alone do not sell 400 ,000 tickets. No, definitely
not. The product itself, the actual performance
she's putting on, has to deliver. And doing 33
shows in 60 days means her set list has to be
engineered with built -in recovery moments. Which
leads us perfectly into examining the architecture
of the set list. The Wikipedia article provides
a representative set list from her September
20th show at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte,
and it reveals a, well, highly deliberate structure.
Here's where it gets really interesting. I was
looking at the set list, and it isn't just a
random shuffle of her Spotify top 10. Not at
all. It is structurally divided into three distinct
acts, followed by an encore. Act one, act two,
act three. It's formatted exactly like a three
-act movie script. It is entirely theatrical.
It's designed to take the audience on a specific
narrative and emotional arc, while simultaneously
managing the performer's stamina. Let's walk
through it. So Act One opens the show with Catubla,
features a remix of poblado, fricky, pineapple,
and ends with oormi llama. Right, setting the
stage. Yeah, it feels very much like an introduction,
setting the baseline energy for the room. But
then we hit Act Two, and if you are listening
to this and you know her catalog, Act Two looks
like an absolute gauntlet of heavy hitters. That's
heavy artillery for sure. We've got Bichota,
El Machinon, Leyendas, Ay Dios Mio, Sejo Dio,
Do DVD, Ay Ella, and it closes with one of her
biggest hits, Provenza. Right. Act Two is the
peak physical exertion of the show. It is the
high -energy core. But then Act Three happens,
and the shift is, like, dramatic. We get... Ocean,
El Barco, Tusa, 200 Copas, and Mommy? To me,
Looking at the tracks, this seems fundamentally
different from the club bangers in Act 2. It
is. Act 3 is where the pacing we talked about
comes into play. She shifts from high tempo,
heavy production dance tracks to songs like Ocean
and 200 Copas. Which are totally different vibes.
Exactly. These are deeply emotional, often more
acoustic or anthemic songs. If you're looking
at the show as a mechanism, Act 3 is designed
to bring the audience's heart rate down while
simultaneously raising the emotional stakes.
Okay, I see. It shifts the room from a massive
dance party into a communal, intimate sing -along.
It's the emotional climax. And it probably gives
her a slight physical breather before the end
of the night, too. Oh, absolutely. But then we
reach the encore. And this is the part of the
data that genuinely confused me. The sole song
in the encore is Provenza, but it's the remix.
Right. I see the contradiction you're pointing
out. She already performed the original version
of Provenza to close out act two. Why end the
entire night with a remix of a song you just
played an hour ago? It seems redundant at first
glance. Right. I mean, looking at her discography
and the source, she clearly has plenty of other
songs she could have chosen. Is repeating a track
a sign of a limited catalog for an arena show?
The Wikipedia article doesn't explicitly tell
us her psychological motive for ending on a remix,
but if we look at the data shifting from the
emotional ballads of Act 3 to a high BPM remix,
we can deduce the strategy. Okay, let's hear
it. It's a highly deliberate psychological maneuver.
How so? Walk me through the psychology of that.
Think about the emotional journey you just described.
By the end of Act 3, The audience has been through
this entire cathartic communal experience. Yeah,
they've been singing, maybe crying a bit. Exactly.
If she just ended the show right there, people
would leave feeling deeply moved, but maybe a
little drained. By deploying a high tempo dance
remix of Provenza as the encore, she completely
shifts the context. OK, I'm following you. In
Act 2, the original Provenza is just another
massive hit in a string of hits. It's mid show
momentum. But the remix and the encore. That's
a strategic deployment of pure adrenaline. Wow.
It is designed to abruptly spike the audience's
heart rate one last time. She is essentially
sending them out of the arena into the parking
lots, into the streets, completely energized.
That's fascinating. It reframes the song from
a standard performance into a grand finale celebration.
It ensures the last memory the listener has isn't
the heavy emotional weight of act three, but
an absolute euphoric high. So she is actively
manipulating the audience's physical energy as
they leave the building to ensure they associate
the entire concert experience with a feeling
of total exhilaration. Exactly. It's brilliant
show architecture. And here is where the narrative
connects, because that emotional high, that feeling
of immense perceived value as fans leave the
building translates directly into the financial
reality of the tour. Which brings us to the box
office numbers, because if you want to talk about
the economics of modern fandom, the numbers here
are jaw dropping. They really are. The total
gross revenue for these 33 dates is $72 ,243
,333. A staggering figure for a two -month run.
Let's do the math on that. If you take that $72
.2 million and divide it by the $412 ,840 total
attendees, you are looking at an average ticket
price of around $175 across the entire continent.
Which is a premium price point. And the source
breaks down the revenue show by show, revealing
some, well, Massive peaks. The LA show, for example.
Yeah. The highest -grossing single night was
toward the end of the tour, October 22nd, in
Los Angeles at the Crypto .com arena. That single
night pulled in just shy of $3 million. Almost
$3 million one night. Specifically? 2 ,998 ,273
olders lies with 13 ,067 attendees. Which makes
geographical and demographic sense. LA is a massive
primary market with a huge Latin music fan base.
Sure, LA makes sense. But here's the anomaly
I teased at the beginning of the show. Let's
look at Dallas, Texas on October 5th at the American
Airlines Center and compare it to New York City
on September 13th at Madison Square Garden. OK,
let's compare them. Madison Square Garden and
NYC had 13 ,575 fans in attendance and generated
$2 ,748 ,506. Right, solid numbers. But Dallas,
which actually had a slightly smaller crowd of
13 ,484 fans, generated $2 ,847 ,119. So what
does this all mean? How does a slightly smaller
crowd in Texas generate roughly $100 ,000 more
in revenue than a larger crowd at the most famous
arena in New York. If we connect this back to
your earlier question about whether the 100 %
sellout was just cheap tickets, this data proves
otherwise. What you are seeing here, deduced
from these numbers, is the sheer power of localized
demand. OK. The Wikipedia data doesn't use the
industry jargon, but what this illustrates is
highly elastic pricing. Can you break down elasticity
for me? Because it sounds like an economics textbook.
Absolutely. Think of elasticity like the surge
pricing on an Uber app. OK. New York City is
a massive market, yes. But on any given Tuesday
night in September, there are 100 other concerts,
Broadway shows, and a Events happening. The entertainment
dollar is fractured. Right. Lots of competition
for attention. But in Dallas, Texas, a Carol
G Arena show might be the single biggest cultural
event in the city that month. The demand is fiercely
concentrated. So the ticketing systems recognize
that concentrated demand. Right. The algorithms
see 50 ,000 people fighting for 13 ,000 seats
in Dallas and the ticket prices organically surge
to match what that specific local market is willing
to bear. Let me do the math on those numbers
I just read. Go for it. The average ticket in
New York was about two hundred and two dollars,
but the average ticket in Dallas was over two
hundred and eleven dollars. Exactly. Even though
New York is theoretically the bigger global market,
the specific density of her fandom in Texas drove
the per ticket value higher. That makes total
sense when you frame it like surge pricing. And
honestly, it gets even wilder when we look at
the floor of the tour, the smaller regional markets.
Hidalgo, right? Yeah, Hidalgo. On September 30th,
she played Paine Arena in Hidalgo, Texas. The
attendance was only 5 ,343. It's by far the smallest
crowd on the entire tour. Barely over 5 ,000
people. But the revenue? Hidalgo still grossed
over $1 .2 million. $12 ,207 ,507 to be exact.
They compare that to a major coastal city. Look
at Vancouver on October 29th. Okay, pulling up
Vancouver, wow. Vancouver had more than double
the attendance of Hidalgo, 11 ,201 people, but
grossed significantly less money. It came in
at $934 ,064. Let's do the math on that disparity.
I'm calculating now. In Hidalgo, Texas, 5 ,343
fans generating $1 .2 million means the average
ticket was roughly $226. Huge number. But in
Vancouver, 11 ,201 fans generating 934 ,000 means
the average ticket was only about $83. This is
exactly what we mean by elasticity. She has successfully
played massive coastal hubs like L .A. and NYC,
but she also targeted highly concentrated regional
markets like Hidalgo, Texas and Fresno, California.
Oh, so they really knew their audience. They
did. They dynamically scaled the revenue in these
smaller markets, capturing incredibly high per
ticket yields where the fandom was most dense
while still moving high volumes of tickets at
lower prices in newer markets like Vancouver.
Right. Expanding the footprint. And they did
all of this while... losing that 100 % sellout
metric. It really highlights how flawless the
business execution was. AEG and Carol G.'s team
knew exactly what each specific market could
bear, and they priced it perfectly. You can't
fake those margins. Which is precisely why this
tour earned deep critical and industry respect.
The source notes that the Strip Love Tour won
Tour of the Year at the 2023 Latin American Music
Awards and secured a nomination for the same
title at the Billboard Latin Music Awards. Winning
Tour of the Year against every other Latin artist
touring that entire year. Yes. And in the live
music industry, an award like that isn't just
a popularity contest, it's a recognition by industry
peers of exactly what we've been unpacking. The
logistics. Flawless, highly elastic business
execution paired with a meticulously paced product
that leaves audiences completely exhilarated.
It is the ultimate case study. So, to synthesize
all of this for you listening, the Strip Love
Tour wasn't just a series of fun concerts, it
was a $72 .2 million strategic triumph. Absolutely.
We saw how the brutal logistics of 33 dates in
60 days... required a scientifically paced set
list. We saw how that set list manipulated the
audience's heart rate, bringing them down with
the emotional ballads of Act Three, only to blast
them out the doors with a high BPM remix encore.
A brilliant move. And we saw how that emotional
high fueled an economic engine, allowing her
team to squeeze maximum revenue out of both Los
Angeles arenas and tiny Texas border towns. Above
all, it was about giving a fiercely loyal fan
base exactly what they wanted, down to the very
last ticket. It is an undeniable achievement,
but you know, looking at the broader chronology
provided in the source material, this raises
an important question. One that I think is worth
dwelling on after the applause fades. What's
that? We established right at the beginning that
the 2022 Strip Love Tour was sandwiched directly
between the Bishoda Tour, which ended earlier
that same year, and the Manana Sarabanido Tour,
which immediately fired up in 2023. Right. It's
just back to back to back touring, three straight
years on the road. Exactly. So here's the lingering
thought. When an artist is caught in a seemingly
endless multi -year cycle of these 100 % sold
out, highly engineered arena tours, at what point
does the human toll of that relentless logistical
machine begin to outweigh the financial rewards?
That's a heavy question. It is. Can a human being
sustain that kind of precisely timed, emotionally
draining momentum for three straight years without
losing the raw, spontaneous inspiration that
built the fan base in the very first place? The
logistics machine demands daily perfection, but
art usually thrives on a little bit of chaos
and breathing room. Wow. That is a fascinating
tension to consider. We talked at the beginning
about how a tour like this captures lightning
in a bottle and turns it into a perfectly engineered
electrical grid. Right. But you really have to
wonder what happens to the artist who has to
function as the generator for that grid night
after night, year after year. It's an incredible
thought to leave on. Thank you so much for sending
in this data. It really allowed us to peel back
the curtain and look at the math behind the magic.
My pleasure. Keep digging into the things that
make you curious, and we will catch you on the
next Deep Dive.