Arcade Fire reportedly playing to half-empty arenas on North American tour

Arcade Fire are reportedly struggling to fill arenas across North America on their current tour.

• Buy Arcade Fire merch

The band released their fifth album ‘Everything Now‘ earlier this year. In a five-star review, NME said it “might occasionally marvel at how far we’ve come, but it’s tempered by notes of dread at where we’re going.”

The Globe And Mail reports the group’s current tour in support of that record is being noticeably under-attended. It claims Billboard and Pollstar boxscore figures show only 4,263 fans turned up for the gig in Quebec, 4,004 in Tampa, 5,614 in Austin and 5,051 in Dallas. All relevant venues can seat up to between 10,000 and 20,000 people.

Frontman Win Butler allegedly addressed these low turnouts at the band’s Vancouver show last month. “We’ve played cities three times as big with half as many people, so this is really a thing of beauty for us,” he reportedly told a 15,000-strong crowd.

According to Pollstar figures, the band played for 5,739 people in Ottawa on this tour, bringing in revenues of $396,849. When they played at the same venue – the Canadian Tire Centre – in 2014, they performed to 9,798 fans and brought in $568,064.

When contacted by The Globe And Mail, both the band and the tour’s promoters Live Nation declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Arcade Fire recently announced they have parted ways with their long-term manager Scott Rodger.

The Canadian band had worked with Maverick Management’s Rodger – who also manages Paul McCartney, Lily Allen and La Roux – for over 12 years.

In a statement posted to Facebook, the band said that the split was “amicable”, adding that Rodger “has been an amazing shepherd and a true friend over the last 12 years. We wish to thank him deeply for all his hard work, blood, sweat and tears, and wish him nothing but the best.”