Blake Shelton Reflects On His Touring Career — And How Today’s Stadium Acts Are Changing the Game

Blake Shelton has played some of the biggest stages in country music, including a career-defining night at Chicago’s Wrigley Field and headlining his own Las Vegas residency, but even he admits the touring landscape looks completely different today than it did when he first hit the scene.

During an appearance on The Michael Waddell Podcast, Shelton reflected on his touring career and admitted he never imagined a world where country artists could leap from a breakout album to multiple sold-out stadium nights.

“I look back at my touring career and I guess the pinnacle was…it would’ve been probably back when I had an album called Based on a True Story, and it had ‘Boys ‘Round Here’ and we were really having some big records back then and my touring had gotten was strong, and we played Wrigley Field one night, and that was really cool to sell that out,” he shared. “But I feel like we got there and then it didn’t stay up there. For me, I’ve always kind of been about that level of an arena touring act, you know what I mean? Which by the way, who gets to do that? It’s incredible.”

The Oklahoma native noted that the way music is consumed now has completely changed the game for touring, allowing artists to be discovered through various channels instead of relying solely on a radio hit.

“But I see these kids coming up now like Luke Combs and Zach Bryan and these guys are selling out stadiums, stadiums multiple nights and I’m just going, ‘Wow, gosh, I didn’t even know that was out there for country artists to be able to do that,’” he admitted.

Shelton pointed out that Garth Brooks did it in the past, “but Garth also had a longer ramp to get there.”

“These kids now are just like one album and next thing you know they’re playing a stadium. It’s just music is taken in differently now with streaming and an artist doesn’t just have to rely on having one hit song on the radio. They put out an album and it catches on. People know every single song on their album and they can sing along to it at your shows. It’s just different.”

Looking back, Shelton wouldn’t change a thing about his career. He went on to recall having a blast in his early days playing the club scene — and while he was barely breaking even, he was having a lot of fun doing it.

“I was lucky that I got to come up when there was still a club scene out there because now I feel like it’s pretty much gone now, outside of few legendary places like Billy Bob’s or Grizzly Rose, there’s just not that many left,” he said. “But when I was coming up, there was a lot of country dance clubs and things where we would get booked.”

In those early years, Shelton was playing anywhere and everywhere — bars, clubs, dance halls, and even the most unexpected venues.

“I remember in 2001 we played, there probably wasn’t a bar in the lower 50 or the lower 48th that I didn’t play. We would just be gone and it’s like for $5,000 a night, Blake Shelton will come in there and the whole band was set up. We played bowling alleys… I remember we played a couple of restaurants where they would put together a little eight inches off the ground stage in the corner and just did whatever and was excited to do it. $5,000, they’re going to pay. Of course I wasn’t making any money. I was paying for tour bus, a trailer, a small couple of crew guys, and then my band.”

It may not have been a big money-maker, but Shelton didn’t mind.

“I was still just getting by, but I didn’t care because it was just having, I was getting to live my dream, getting to go play. I had a song on the radio.”

These days, things look a lot different for the country superstar, who has racked up 30 No.1 singles throughout his career so far. 

He continues to perform at festivals, and arenas and is gearing up to return to Las Vegas in 2026.