Some weeks in this business are about tour announcements and chart numbers. This one was about a single day. I traveled around 25 hours, including an unexpected misconnect in Hawaii, to get to Guam last week. I was joined by the head of the Navy MWR Entertainment program to meet the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) as it pulled into Naval Base Guam, the crew's first stop on U.S. soil in nine months. Forgetting some of the sensationalized news for now, just think about that for a second. These sailors and Marines had just come off 208 straight days at sea, 200 of them in a combat zone, on a deployment now more than 300 days long, the second-longest carrier cruise since the Cold War and closing in on the USS Gerald R. Ford's record of 326 (that’s the same USS Ford I also visited on a secret trip in March). CVN-72 was getting one day of liberty on American ground before heading back out on the long voyage home to San Diego. Our job was to make that one day count, and we brought Brett Young and DJ Screw to do it.
Guam has a funny way of testing us. Back in July for Hunter Hayes at the Naval Base’s ID250 event, Super Typhoon Bavi forced us to pivot a show on the island a day early. This time it was Saturday night on the Naval Base, and a massive lightning and thunderstorm rolled in and soaked the stage right before showtime. Cancelling crossed exactly nobody's mind. These sailors had just spent roughly 300 days doing their job at sea no matter what the weather threw at them, and we weren't going down without a fight either. So everyone pitched in, sailors included, carrying gear inside and hooking everything back up on the fly. We got a concert of more than an hour done in a rudimentary basketball gym, followed by a Meet & Greet that ran just as long, all before Liberty ended and the crew had to be back aboard the ship. If you've ever wondered what "the show must go on" looks like at its most literal, it looks like sailors hauling gear out of the rain so their shipmates can hear some country music.
The next morning, we arrived at the USS Lincoln at 9:00am and spent nearly two hours on board performing songs for the crew and getting an up-close look at how a strike group of roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines keeps running. We watched them sort mail, saw what it takes to feed that many people every single day, and got a crash course in the logistics that keep this incredible team and carrier moving. We stopped for photos at every spot we saw with sailors and signed signature cards along the way. Most of all, we got to thank them personally, face to face, which is something I never take for granted. Bringing entertainment to our service members is what we do at DEGY, and we get called in on some of the most complicated, unique, and special trips out there. This one is near the top of the list.
The number everyone in country music was talking about this week was 23. Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" logged its 23rd week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the longest run in the chart's history, passing Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You." She heads into the CMA Awards as the top nominee with nine nods. We've talked about Ella here before, but this feat deserves a mention.
On the pop side, Taylor Swift spent the week doing what she does best, turning a new release into a scavenger hunt. What a tease, and man, is she great at it! She swapped the letter O for zeros in her Instagram bio, ran a countdown, and then announced her new single "Patient Zero" for Friday, September 25. Less than a day later she added three more songs to the Friday drop. Love her or not, nobody in the business builds anticipation the way she does, and every promoter (and artist, too) wishes they could bottle it.
That same Friday, Olivia Rodrigo will open The Unraveled Tour with two nights in Hartford, the first of 86 shows across North America and Europe that run all the way to London's O2 next May. And R&B fans got good news of their own. Brent Faiyaz announced "I Spent the Night with Brent Faiyaz," three arena dates at Chicago's United Center, Brooklyn's Barclays Center, and Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena, his first U.S. headlining shows since 2023.
Then there's a reunion nobody had on their 2026 bingo card. CeeLo Green and Danger Mouse are taking Gnarls Barkley back on the road for the first time in 18 years, a nine-city North American run in November behind their third and final album, Atlanta. If you were anywhere near a radio in 2006, "Crazy" is already stuck in your head again. Sorry about that… as I keep humming it right along to finish this blog.
Role Model is the kind of act that sneaks up on the industry and then suddenly sells out everywhere. Tucker Pillsbury brought his Chuck On Tour to The Anthem in Washington, DC on Tuesday night, and CelebrityAccess described a sold-out singalong that barely let up for 20 songs. The detail I liked most is that he stopped the show to make sure a fan in the crowd got help before starting back up. That's an artist who pays attention to his room, and programmers should pay attention to that, and him.
Wolf Alice are Mercury Prize winners back home in the UK but still flying a little under the radar for a lot of American buyers. They are a vintage indie rock group with a lot of other sounds mixed in. They’re now in arena crowds full of Olivia Rodrigo fans, many hearing them for the first time. A support slot like that is one of the best discovery platforms in the business, and I'd expect their U.S. asking price to move after it. Something like the Taylor Swift effect; ask Gracie Abrams, Sabrina Carpenter, Phoebe Bridgers and others how that works out for your career.
If 23 was the week's country number, $6.12 billion was the industry's. Pollstar reported a record-setting third quarter for the Top 100 touring artists, the first time grosses have passed $6 billion at the Q3 mark, up 5.3% over last year, with 47.5 million tickets sold and a record average ticket price of $129.07. BTS ($465.8 million), Bad Bunny ($438.6 million), and The Weeknd ($261.4 million) lead the chart, with Lady Gaga fourth and Luke Combs the lone country act in the top five at $170.2 million. The number that jumped out at me is buried a little further down: average gross per show slipped 5.4% even as totals climbed. More tickets, higher prices, and a little less per night tells me the growth is coming from more shows in more places, not just bigger ones.
Louisville also had itself a weekend. Louder Than Life ran September 17 through 20 at the Kentucky Exposition Center with more than 200 bands on seven stages, including Megadeth, Alice Cooper, A Day to Remember, and Lindsey Stirling. On Friday, severe thunderstorms forced a mid-afternoon evacuation and roughly a two-hour delay, and on Saturday Papa Roach had to pull out over a sudden health issue. Bad weather sound familiar? Same weekend, opposite sides of the planet, same lesson: weather doesn't care about your set times, and the teams that plan for the pivot are the ones that save the show. The same stomping grounds turn right around for Bourbon & Beyond, running September 24 through 27 with Foo Fighters, Mumford & Sons, Kentucky's own Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, and Counting Crows among more than 100 acts. The DWP team is out there rocking and busy!
One more item for the venue nerds like me. Here’s something that slid under the touring radar for most folks this week, but I’m super intrigued. Apple announced Apple Music Hall, a 600-capacity room inside its London headquarters at Battersea Power Station, where artists can walk out with a Spatial Audio recording, a broadcast-ready mix, and multicamera video of their own show. It's a small room with a very big idea behind it. We’ve seen other creative streaming ideas the last few years, most notably coming out of the Covid pandemic, so let’s watch this one. I'll be curious whether U.S. versions follow.
We've covered a record chart run, record grosses, and a near-record deployment. So for this week's five, I wanted to spotlight acts from our own military calendar, none of them featured above, who keep showing up for service members and would fit just as well on a fair, college, or festival stage.
We the Kings played Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia on the same Saturday we were fighting the storm in Guam, a date Nick DiRoma booked. "Check Yes Juliet" still turns any crowd into a room full of 2007 again, and that nostalgia sells tickets for college and fair buyers alike.
Fuel shared that Langley-Eustis bill. When a band has "Shimmer" and "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" in its back pocket, the singalong basically runs itself. They're a smart play for any buyer chasing that late-90s rock crowd.
Secondhand Serenade played Fort Polk in Louisiana that same night, one of my Army bookings. John Vesely is out on The Long Night Tour with a full band and has new singles rolling out ahead of a full-length album in early 2027. "Fall for You" still hits, and an act heading into a new album cycle is an act worth booking before the price catches up. Nice to get the whole group together for this one.
Dusty Slay is headed out on a run of Air Force bases in Nevada and Arizona with us in early October, booked by Nick. He's an Alabama-raised, Nashville-based comic with two Netflix specials and a clean, blue-collar style that works for everyone from college students to base families. If you need comedy that won't make the event planner nervous, he's your guy.
Bret Michaels played a private show for service members and their families at Fairchild Air Force Base outside Spokane in July, one of Nick's dates. He did it while fighting through a kidney stone that sent him straight to surgery after the show. Bret tried to push through, but in August his doctors pulled him off the road and he cancelled the rest of 2026, including two more military dates with us at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and Joint Base Langley-Eustis, along with plenty of other events on his calendar. The good news landed this week, when he announced a Road to Recovery Tour starting October 16 in Portage, Indiana. We're wishing Bret a full recovery, and we can't wait to get him back out on bases with us.
I've been doing military shows for more than twenty years now, and people still ask me why I'd fly halfway around the world for a single concert and a morning on a ship. This week gave me the easiest answer I've ever had. The USS Lincoln (CVN-72) is chasing a record nobody on board asked for, more than 300 days away from home, and they spent their one day on American soil moving our gear through a thunderstorm so the show could happen. They didn't need us to fix anything. They needed a night of music, a handshake, a photo, and someone to say thank you out loud. We got to do all of that, and I'm grateful to Brett Young, to DJ Screw, and to the Navy MWR Entertainment team for making it happen.
The Lincoln is still weeks from home, and when she finally pulls into San Diego, we'll be right around the corner. On Saturday, October 10, Pitbull and Gwen Stefani take the stage at Naval Base San Diego for a free Operation MWR concert, part of a program bringing free shows to 50 installations through April 2027. Maybe they’ll arrive home in time to join us in that crowd. I’ll be watching for those special folks that I met. Fair winds and following seas to every service member on the USS Lincoln. Get home safe, hug your families, and for me, I'll see you for another blog next weekend!
For more than 25 years, Degy Entertainment has been booking talent everywhere from college quads and county fairgrounds to corporate ballrooms, festival fields, and, as this week proved, the flight line and the hangar bay. Our talent buying and middle-artist booking teams produce nearly 3,000 events a year across more than 30 countries, and we're proud that a big part of that work puts music in front of the men and women who serve.
Want to book a show, or just swap road stories? Reach out to Ari Nisman anytime, or learn more at Degy Entertainment.
Why do entertainment professionals travel such distances for military events?
Military entertainment serves a unique purpose beyond commercial touring. Service members on extended deployments sacrifice months away from family and home, often in challenging circumstances. Bringing quality entertainment directly to ships and bases acknowledges that sacrifice and provides meaningful emotional support during difficult periods. The impact justifies the logistics.
How does weather affect military event planning differently than civilian events?
Military events must proceed or pivot quickly because service members have limited time windows (one day of liberty after months at sea). Weather contingencies are built in, but cancellation is rarely an option. Teams plan for rapid setup changes, indoor backup spaces, and flexible execution because the stakes for service members are higher than typical events.
What's Operation MWR and what role does entertainment play?
Operation MWR (Morale, Welfare, Recreation) is a Navy program bringing free live entertainment to military installations and deployed ships. It supports service member wellbeing and resilience during high-stress operations. Entertainment through Operation MWR serves both morale purposes and psychological support functions, making it a strategic military readiness tool.
How long can military carrier deployments typically last?
Modern carrier deployments can exceed 300 days, with some lasting over a year. The USS Abraham Lincoln's 300+ day deployment and USS Gerald R. Ford's 326-day record represent extreme operational demands. These extended periods create significant stress for service members and families, making morale support through entertainment particularly critical.
What makes military event logistics different from commercial concert touring?
Military events require coordination with military command structures, operational security protocols, base access procedures, equipment transport through military channels, and security clearances. There's no flexibility on timing (deployment schedules are fixed), and weather often provides minimal negotiation room. The complexity is substantially higher than commercial touring.
How do service members respond to entertainment during deployments?
Service members respond deeply because entertainment provides emotional connection, escape from operational stress, and acknowledgment of their sacrifice. Live performances create memorable moments during otherwise harsh circumstances. The enthusiasm and gratitude from military audiences often exceeds commercial tour audiences because the stakes are higher and opportunities rarer.
What role does morale play in military readiness and effectiveness?
Morale directly impacts service member wellbeing, mental health, family stability, retention, and operational focus. Deployments create stress, isolation, and psychological challenges. Entertainment and morale activities support psychological resilience and overall force effectiveness. Military leadership prioritizes morale programming as a readiness asset.
How are military entertainment events coordinated with deployment schedules?
Military entertainment is coordinated with known deployment schedules and port call timelines. Events are often built around limited shore leave windows (like the USS Abraham Lincoln's single day in Guam). Coordination involves military public affairs, MWR leadership, command structure, and entertainment providers working to maximize brief opportunities.
What's the difference between shipboard entertainment and shore-based military events?
Shipboard entertainment requires navigating extreme space limitations, technical constraints, audience size limits, and weather on the open ocean. Shore-based military events have more venue flexibility but face security and access protocols. Both require understanding military culture and operational constraints unique to military environments.
Why would an entertainer prioritize military dates over higher-paying civilian shows?
Some entertainers commit to military shows because of patriotic values, desire for meaningful work, or pre-existing military relationships. Military dates often pay less than commercial touring but offer deep personal satisfaction. Artists report that performing for deployed service members creates emotional connections exceeding typical commercial audiences.
How do military entertainment providers handle complex logistics like international deployments?
International military entertainment (like the Guam deployment) requires visa coordination, international travel logistics, briefings on security protocols, sometimes covert timing requirements (like the USS Gerald R. Ford trip referenced), and advance coordination with military public affairs. It's significantly more complex than domestic commercial touring.
What happens if weather forces changes to military event plans?
Military event teams have backup plans for weather contingencies. If outdoor venues become unsafe, events pivot to indoor spaces, reduce scale, or reschedule within operational windows. Cancellation is avoided when possible because service members' time windows are so limited. Rapid adaptation and problem-solving are core competencies.
How do military personnel participate in event execution?
Military personnel often help with setup, teardown, crowd management, and logistics because they're invested in the event's success and have downtime during port calls or liberty. This creates a collaborative environment where the line between organizers and audience blurs, which is unique to military entertainment.
What's the significance of ship liberty time in military entertainment planning?
Ship liberty time is when crew members can leave the ship for onshore activities. These windows are often limited (hours, not days). Entertainment events are strategically timed to occur during liberty periods so maximum crew can attend. A single day of liberty represents the crew's only break during months at sea.
How does military entertainment contribute to family support and retention?
Military entertainment at installations supports both service members and their families, strengthening family bonds and community connection. This contributes to retention by improving quality of life. Family-inclusive events communicate that military leadership values and supports not just the service member but the entire family unit.
What kind of capacity crowds attend military entertainment events?
Military event capacities vary widely. Shipboard events might host hundreds to a few thousand sailors. Base events can host thousands. The USS Abraham Lincoln example involved roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines across multiple event formats. Audience size depends on ship capacity, base venue size, and event type.
How do military entertainment programs measure success?
Success metrics include attendance, service member satisfaction, retention impact, morale indicators, and word-of-mouth enthusiasm. Direct feedback from service members and formal satisfaction surveys guide programming decisions. Success is measured by impact on morale and wellbeing, not just commercial metrics.
What's the role of military command in approving entertainment events?
Military command authorizes all events, approves artists and programming, ensures security protocols are met, and coordinates with entertainment providers. Command priorities (operational readiness, force discipline, cultural alignment) guide event approval. Entertainment must align with military values and command objectives.
How has military entertainment evolved since 9/11?
Post-9/11, military entertainment expanded significantly as military leadership recognized morale's role in force readiness. Programs like Operation MWR formalized what had been more ad-hoc entertainment. Military entertainment became a strategic tool rather than a peripheral benefit, attracting more professional entertainment industry attention.
What should entertainment professionals know before accepting military bookings?
Key knowledge includes understanding military culture, respecting rank and protocol, preparing for unpredictable logistics, maintaining operational security, expecting weather uncertainties, and recognizing that service member wellbeing is the mission. Military events require flexibility, preparation, humility, and genuine commitment to the service member audience.