Question of the Day - 04 December 2023

To us, it's more a matter of synonyms than any reasoning behind whatever minor differences might exist. 

In terms of live-music events, a few terms seem to be interchangeable. We'd say "headliner" and "residency" fit in this category, generally speaking.

The standard definition of a headliner is "the main performer featured at a concert." Concerts often have more than one set of performers, with a "warm-up" act or two leading up to the main event: the "headliner" or most popular performer who always appears first on the bill and last at the concert (or festival). 

These days, headliner shows are mostly one-offs (perhaps two or even three) that happen in one of the arenas or even Allegiant Stadium, then move on to the next city. Recent examples are Taylor Swift, who played two nights at Allegiant, K-pop acts BTS (four nights) and Blackpink (one show), and Billy Joel (two nights); the Rolling Stones will play the stadium for one show next May. 

The days of the classic Vegas showroom, with 500 to 1,000 seats, hundreds of which were at booths, such as the Copa at the Sands, are mostly over. The headliner showrooms these days have been replaced by bona fide theaters for residency performances with thousands of seats, such as the Colosseum at Caesars (4,100 seats), Dolby Live at Park MGM (6,400 seats), and the Theatre at Resorts World (5,000 seats). They can be bigger; Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood has 7,000 seats. They can also be smaller; the Venetian Theatre has 1,800 and Voltaire at the Venetian, the new venue where Kylie Minogue will do a residency, has 1,000. 

The classic Vegas "headliner show" these days, at least to our way of defining things, is more of the non-concert variety, such as ventriloquists and stand-up comedians: Terry Fator, Carrot Top, Tape Face, and Piff the Magic Dragon.

But "residencies" have taken over the lexicon as the new designation for the biggest headliners that perform more than a one- or two-off. Pollstar Awards defines a residency as "a run of 10 or more shows at the same venue."