November 4, 2024

Michelle Obama’s Big Book Rollout: ‘It’s Like You’re Looking at a Madonna Tour’

The tour is to begin in Chicago, Mrs. Obama’s hometown, at the United Center. The arena, the home of the Chicago Bulls, has a usual seating capacity of 23,500. After wending its way through venues of similar size in Inglewood, Calif., Washington, D.C., Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Denver, San Jose, Calif., and Dallas, the monthlong run will end in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center (seating capacity: 19,000).

On its website, Live Nation said that Mrs. Obama’s show would “feature intimate and honest conversations between Mrs. Obama and a selection of to-be-announced moderators, reflective of the extraordinary stories shared in the wide-ranging chapters of her deeply personal book.” Because of high demand during the pre-sale period, which ended on Thursday, the promoter recently added second shows in Washington and Brooklyn.

Other authors have had book tours that resembled concert tours. Anthony Bourdain promoted his 2016 book, “Appetites,” with a 15-city jaunt that had him doing stand-up-like sets at the Grand Theater at Foxwoods (seating capacity: roughly 2,000) in Mashantucket, Conn., and the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco (roughly 3,000). But there has been nothing like this.

Mrs. Obama’s rollout is also bigger than the promotional effort undertaken by Hillary Clinton for her 2017 book, “What Happened,” during which the former presidential candidate appeared at the Auditorium Theater of Roosevelt University in Chicago (seating capacity: 3,875) and the Warner Theater in Washington (1,875). Ticket prices ran upward of $2,000 for a V.I.P. package that included choice seats and selfie opportunities.

Emily Bender, Live Nation’s public relations director, said 10 percent of the tickets for each of Mrs. Obama’s shows would be donated to charities, schools and community groups in each city.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/21/business/media/michelle-obama-book-tour.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Speak Your Mind