For the European leg of ‘The Secret of Us’ tour, singer Gracie Abrams announced bedroom pop musician Dora Jar as her supporting act. Following this, a petition to remove her as the opener began circulating online.
Now, this did not happen due to any problematic behaviour of Dora Jar, rather the creator of the petition called for her removal from the tour because they "do not recognise her" and claimed it would be "virtually impossible to familiarise ourselves with slower paced songs."
What does this say about fandoms' perception of support acts? Many on social media believe Taylor Swift’s 'The Eras Tour' is to blame for its star-studded lineup of support acts – Sabrina Carpenter, Paramore, and Gracie Abrams herself, who all have millions of Spotify listeners each - ruining the idea of an unknown support act. Is the point of the opening slot not to give emerging artists airtime? Have fandoms started expecting too much? Now, it seems that some fans feel entitled to only seeing the biggest names in music.
Dora Jar responded on X stating: “Don’t worry this doesn’t bum me out! I’m here to perform for all the music loving open hearted fans. those who aren’t interested can go buy merch while I’m playing (but they might as well let me entertain them tho..;)) an overwhelming amount of fans have been so kind & excited.” Gracie Abrams came to her defence, calling the behaviour of some of her fans "uncool" and "bizarre."
Overall, this situation demonstrates a bigger problem with how support acts are treated. Whether it’s not cheering for them during the show, to spreading hatred online or creating petitions such as these, support acts deserve better. Your favourite artist was a support act once.