Gracie Abrams and the purpose of opening acts
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Controversy surrounds Gracie Abrams and her opener for her tour, The Secret of Us.
Opening acts are a time-honored tradition for live entertainment and have become a standard in the music industry for touring artists. These acts aim to help warm the crowd up, give people time to settle in, and get familiar with artists they are likely less familiar with. As a smaller artist, becoming the opening act for a well-known artist or band can be a life-changing opportunity that can potentially skyrocket artists into fame and provide increased publicity.
The power of an opportune opening spot can be seen reflectively in AC/DC’s rise to fame after opening for other classic rock powerheads like KISS and Black Sabbath in the ‘70s, or more modernly, in an artist like Chappell Roan. I know we all love “Pink Pony Club,” and the notoriety of that song in the zeitgeist can certainly be attributed to Roan being the opening act for Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour.
This sentiment speaks to a controversy that arose amongst Gracie Abrams fans in late January as the start of the artist’s UK and European The Secret of Us tour approached. On Jan. 24, two weeks before the tour leg began, Abrams revealed her opening act from these dates. It was announced that it would be Dora Jar, a 28-year-old bedroom pop performer. With a studio album, two extended plays, and a handful of singles released since she began releasing music in 2021, she has made some notable strides in her career for someone still so early in it. In 2022, she even made British Vogue’s list of “The 22 Musicians Set to Rule 2022.”
For an artist like Dora Jar, just beginning to rear her head into the big leagues of the music industry, an announcement like this was sure to be a huge step in her career— anticipated to be one of “those” moments in someone's life, where nothing will ever be the same after. The kind of thing you cannot help but get excited about. For Jar, though, this moment would take a sharp downhill as Abrams fans discovered and began commenting on the news.
Quickly after this announcement came to light, there was a petition made by fans of Abrams for a change in the opening act. They called for a different opener due to fears that “…as we do not recognize her, and with less than two weeks till the tour, it’s virtually impossible to familiarize ourselves with her slow-paced songs.” Abrams herself, to her credit, was quick to stand up for Jar. Reacting to these fans with confusion and dismissal towards fans who would continue to work to thwart Jar's opening for Abrams.
Obviously, and luckily, the petition did not succeed in enacting any change, and those seeing Abrams in the UK and Europe will also have the pleasure of watching Jar’s show. This scenario at large, however, speaks to how fan and artist dynamics have changed so drastically as we become an increasingly “online” culture. It works to demonstrate the slow but notable ways that life on the internet has begun to seep into experiences that we think of as so “unplugged,” like live music. (For a more focused perspective on how concert life has changed in a more online and post-COVID world— check out Knight’s Life editor Regan Russel’s article on “The steady decline of proper concert etiquette.”)
Opening for an artist should not be about their audience’s existing familiarity with them— in fact —it detracts from the efforts that traditions like opening acts are rooted in. Live music is not about knowing every word to every song, taking videos of their most viral hits, or dancing your way through the entire setlist. The culture of live music has this innate curiosity, casualness, and community to it that I feel should be heralded and respected, which efforts like this work directly against.