Musgraves, whose new album Middle of Nowhere comes out on May 1, is set to perform at Gruene Hall with three mariachi-playing brothers from South Texas previously detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Musgraves will play three shows at the tiny New Braunfels-area venue.
In a statement to Chron, Gruene Hall said that the venue saw “extraordinary demand” for the shows, “with tens of thousands of fans attempting to purchase tickets at the same time.” Gruene Hall said the massive amount of interest accounted for difficulties some fans had buying tickets. The venue is just 6,000 square feet and can hold only a few hundred people.
“We understand how frustrating that experience can be,” Gruene Hall told Chron.
And while many blamed scalpers and sophisticated ticket-buying bots, Gruene Hall said it took measures to prevent scalping as much as possible. That didn’t stop some tickets from hitting the resale market at eye-popping prices.
“Even with those measures in place, the shows reached capacity very quickly due to the limited size of our historic venue,” Gruene Hall’s statement continued.
That Musgraves sold out all three nights, or that Gruene Hall quickly filled up, shouldn’t be a surprise. Musgraves is a massive artist playing a small venue for a limited run of shows. It was always going to be difficult to get tickets, and some fans were always going to miss out. Still, Gruene Hall understands the anger.
“We’re incredibly grateful for the enthusiasm and support, and we truly wish we had the space to welcome everyone,” Gruene Hall’s statement concluded.
Those who weren’t able to snag tickets to Musgraves’ shows at Gruene Hall aren’t totally out of luck. The Sulphur Springs native announced Wednesday that she’s hitting the road in support of Middle of Nowhere this fall. Despite the album’s title, Musgraves is coming to some of the nation’s biggest arenas. That includes three Texas stops:
For those who did get tickets to Musgraves’ shows at Gruene Hall, she’ll be performing May 3–5 with Antonio, Caleb and Joshua Gámez-Cuéllar opening for her. The Gámez-Cuéllar brothers, South Texas natives whose mariachi playing has won them awards and taken them to the White House, made headlines after they and their family were detained by ICE and held at the notorious family detention center in Dilley, Texas. Musgraves had spoken out about their detainment and treatment at Dilley, and the Gámez-Cuéllar family was released last month.