Benson Boone is heading back out on the road July 7, only a few months after wrapping a massive world tour that turned his American Heart album into a arena-sized show. The Wanted Man tour runs through early September and includes repeat cities such as Denver, Boston, Baltimore, Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles.
The new run matters because Boone is not coming back from a quiet stretch. American Heart, released last summer, reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200, and the title track that gives the tour its name is one of the record’s songs. He has not announced a new album yet, so the summer itinerary is the next major chapter for an artist still riding the momentum of his last one.
Boone has already shown how big that momentum can get in Salt Lake City. Last fall, he brought the American Heart show to the Delta Center three times, and all three nights sold out. The production was built for scale: red, white and blue heart confetti, pyro, a giant floating chandelier, three outfit changes, a T-shirt cannon, a signed shirt, a cover song and seven flips. In one of the run’s most memorable moments, Boone told the crowd, “This is the only city we’re playing multiple nights in a row,” and then added, “We’re playing three — you guys sold out three! Come on, that’s ridiculous! I love you guys, thank you so much.”
That Utah stop also showed how much Boone leans into the people who show up for him. Megafan Chelsea Porter handed him a quilted vest, and Boone wore it for the rest of the second-night show after jumping off the stage to find her and hug her. The connection runs deeper than one concert. The videos for “Beautiful Things” and “Mr. Electric Blue” were filmed in Utah, his first-ever arena show was at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, and a Rolling Stone profile said he has a home overlooking Utah Lake.
The tension for Boone is simple: he has already sold out three nights in Salt Lake City, but the Wanted Man tour is built without the promise of a fresh album behind it. The schedule still stretches wide, with cities including Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Tulsa, Spokane, San Jose, San Antonio, Little Rock and Casper, Wyoming. For now, Boone is betting that the audience that filled the Delta Center will follow him back to the road, and the early signs suggest they will.
By the time Wanted Man ends in early September, Boone will have answered the question that matters most for the next phase of his rise: whether his crowd is tied to one breakout album or to the live show itself. In Salt Lake City, at least, the answer already looked clear.
