Our Touring Radar series looks at newly announced tours and live events that stand out not simply because they can generate headlines, but because they offer a glimpse at where live music may be heading.
This week's attention-grabbing announcements feature a 95-year-old actor deciding to become a heavy-metal frontman, a band playing three rooms in the same city instead of hopping in the van, what happens in the shadow of a rising star's breakout moment, and more.
1. William Shatner Is NOT Done Trying New Things at 95.
At 95 years old, William Shatner played his first-ever heavy-metal concert over the weekend at Chicago's Park West before taking the same hilariously strange experiment to Riot Fest the following day. Backed by The *uckers, Shatner delivered characteristically dramatic spoken-word versions of Ozzy Osbourne's “Crazy Train,” Motörhead's “Ace of Spades” and Metallica's “Enter Sandman,” alongside material from his forthcoming album, What the F Is Heavy Metal?
There's probably no useful career-development playbook that ends with “wait until you're 95 and start a metal band.” There is, however, a useful reminder that artists don't have to spend their entire careers protecting the logic of what they've already done. Sometimes trying something that makes absolutely no sense is... fun!
2. Metallica's Tour Is Its Own Franchise
Metallica launched the M72 World Tour in April 2023, it's now careening right into 2027. By Live Nation's count, the tour has already played 99 shows across 26 countries and drawn nearly five million fans, and at this point, M72 has developed its own visual identity too: stage design, fan expectations, and branded experiences.
The album launched the tour, but the tour has increasingly become a product independent of the album. Most artists aren't going to run the same production for five years, but there may be something worth stealing from Metallica's approach: a strong live concept doesn't necessarily need to disappear because the promotional cycle says it's time for something new.
3. HA*ASH Keep Showing How Deep the North American Latin Pop Market Runs
Mexican-American sisters Hanna and Ashley, known as HA*ASH, are heading back across the US and Canada next spring for the 18-city No Me Hablen de Amor – Gira 2027. This follows their HAASHVILLE tour that Live Nation says moved more than 66,000 tickets and produced 16 sold-out shows in total. That's the number that caught our attention.
North American touring coverage can still default to treating Spanish-language music as a specialist market until an artist reaches obvious superstar scale. HA*ASH are an example of the enormous touring ecosystem operating underneath that level. The audience is already here, and they're showing up!
4. Arkells Are Touring Cities Instead of Venues
Arkells are expanding their Between Us city-takeover format to Saskatoon, Winnipeg, and Ottawa this November. Instead of arriving, playing one appropriately sized room and leaving, the band will spend three nights in each city playing three different venues.
Not all bands are big enough to command that much attention in any one market, but it is somewhat surprising that more mid-top level touring acts don't try this. Different rooms can mean different setlists, different audiences, and entirely different atmospheres to play with. Longtime superfans get a reason to attend more than once. It's a neat flip of the recent music residencies script that we're tracking closely!
5. Ninajirachi's Breakout Has Been Mapped
Australian electronic artist Ninajirachi is extending the I Love My Computer and It Loves Me Tour with another North American leg in January. The new dates reach Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington, New York and Toronto before wrapping January 23 in Montreal. Festival visibility and online buzz are one thing, a geographically broad headline run is another.
Winter in Canada is a whole other thing. Girl, you sure you wanna do that to yourself? ❄️ Playing on a major festival bill surrounded by other attention-grabbing names is certainly worthy of praise, but it does shadow the data around what an artist is able to draw when they're the biggest name on the marquee. The route has gotten wider, suggesting confidence in her ability to draw.
6. Suki Waterhouse Heads for the Opera House Forecourt
Suki Waterhouse will take her Loveland Tour to Australia this December, including a performance on the Sydney Opera House Forecourt. It's one of those bookings where the venue itself becomes a useful career marker, considering its status in the cultural sphere of Australia's live music ecosystem. Waterhouse has spent several years on the rise, but now she gets one of the most distinctive outdoor stages in the world to use as a backdrop to tell that story visually.
Not every career milestone is measured by capacity. Sometimes the curtain behind you tells the story for you.
The One We'll Be Watching: Ninajirachi
Of this week's six, Ninajirachi feels like the one whose touring trajectory could look meaningfully different a year from now. There are plenty of artists who generate an online moment. There are plenty who land attractive festival slots.
The difficult step is turning visibility into enough geographically distributed demand that audiences begin showing up specifically for you. That's why the January routing matters. Portland. Minneapolis. Cincinnati. Charlotte. Toronto. Montreal. Those aren't simply prestige stops inserted around New York and Los Angeles. They're the beginnings of an actual North American touring network. That's when “breakout artist” starts becoming something more durable: a touring artist.
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