From modern-day country music fairy tales to bona fide pop dynasties, several sets of lovebirds have earned GRAMMY nods — and even trophies — together.

While many have proven to be superstars in their own right, their GRAMMY prowess has been amplified by coming together with a musical partner. JAY-Z and Beyoncé are perhaps the prime example of that, putting the "power" in "power couple": As JAY-Z adds three more nominations in 2022, they're officially the most-nominated couple in GRAMMY history with 162 combined nods.

Though Bey and Jay aren't nominated together this year, there are a handful of couples who are, including Taylor Swift and her actor beau, Joe Alwyn. The pair collaborated on Swift's evermore, which is up for Album Of The Year — an award they won together for folklore last year.

There's even one 2022 GRAMMY nominee who famously found musical success while romantically linked: ABBA. Though their romantic relationships didn't work out, the '70s group earned their first-ever GRAMMY nomination for a project they released after a four-decade break.

Below, get to know some of the couples who have won or been nominated for GRAMMYs.

JAY-Z & Beyoncé

JAY-Z and Beyoncé's love story is one for the musical history books. From being "Crazy in Love" to confronting cheating rumors in their respective projects 4:44 and Lemonade, the music monoliths have been through just about every up and down of love (and fame) since they were first linked in 2001.

Even despite their public struggles, the couple have kept plenty of their life together private. Through it all, they've braided their personal love story with their art.

Their musical pairing started when JAY-Z recruited Beyoncé for his 2002 single "'03 Bonnie & Clyde." But their status as one of music's most powerful couples came with Beyoncé's 2003 smash "Crazy In Love," a duet with JAY-Z that won the duo their first GRAMMYs together (for Best R&B Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration).

They've since gone on to earn 13 total nominations together, winning five. Their hit collab "Drunk In Love" won Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance in 2015, and their collaborative album, Everything is Love (which they released as The Carters), won Best Urban Contemporary Album in 2019.

Separately, Beyoncé and Jay-Z hold two GRAMMY records. Beyoncé has won more GRAMMYs than any other female artist, bringing home 28 in total. JAY-Z has 83 total nominations — including three this year — making him the most-nominated artist of all time. (He has won 23.)

Johnny Cash & June Carter

Arguably the greatest country music love story of all time, Johnny Cash and June Carter's romance began backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in 1956. At the time, Carter — who was born into the legendary Carter family, and had been performing since the age of 10 — was singing backup for Elvis Presley.

Songs like "I Walk the Line" and "Ring of Fire," both of which have since been inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame, immortalize their fiery early attraction and enduring devotion to each other. Still, it took some time (and several proposals) for Carter to agree to marry Cash. They were married for 35 years, up until Carter's death in 2003, and during that time, Carter helped Cash overcome his chronic struggles with alcohol and drug addiction. They were parents to one son, John Carter Cash.

They were also an iconic musical duo. Cash, who has received 13 GRAMMY trophies and 35 nominations, won his very first GRAMMY Award in 1968 thanks to "Jackson," one of his most well-known collaborations with Carter. The duo were nominated for four GRAMMYs together, sharing one more win in 1971 for their hit "If I Were A Carpenter," which took home Best Country Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group.

Carter also won three GRAMMYs for her own music, winning Best Traditional Folk Album for her solo albums Press On and Wildwood Flower — the latter of which also earned her a Best Female Country Vocal Performance gramophone for "Keep On The Sunny Side."

Taylor Swift & Joe Alwyn

Taylor Swift and her "London Boy," actor Joe Alwyn, may keep much of their relationship away from the spotlight. But in the last couple of years, they've teamed up in the studio — and have seen GRAMMY-winning results.

Alwyn served as a co-producer on Swift's folklore, which won Album of the Year at the 2021 GRAMMYs. Like much of their life together, Alwyn's participation in folklore was a bit shrouded in mystery. But Alwyn's contributions were revealed in Swift's film about the album, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, as the singer confirmed that William Bowery — a co-writer on two of the tracks — was actually a pseudonym for Alwyn. Alwyn also co-produced six songs on the project, Swift revealed when his producer credit became public.

The actor returned for folklore's sister record, evermore, co-writing three songs (including the album's title track). The project's December 2020 release made it eligible for the 2022 GRAMMYS, where it earned Swift and Alwyn another joint Album Of The Year nod.

The couple began dating in late 2016, according to diary entries dated from early January 2017 that Swift would later release as part of the album notes to her Lover album. They've remained fiercely private, though they are occasionally spotted together at events, on red carpets and in each other's social media pictures.

Cardi B & Offset

While Cardi B and Offset's path to wedded bliss has been anything but smooth — the couple has surmounted cheating scandals, a divorce filing, public breakups and equally public reconciliation efforts — they've proven to be great partners in the studio.

The two rappers first started dating in early 2017, teaming up for "Lick" before they were even publicly a couple. Later that year, Cardi hopped on "Motorsport" with Offset and his Migos bandmates, and Offset proposed to Cardi during their first performance of the song.

Migos featured on Cardi B's GRAMMY-winning album, 2019's Invasion Of Privacy, but Offset and Cardi first celebrated a GRAMMY nomination together with "Clout," a track from his solo debut, Father of 4. Cardi has nine GRAMMY nods to date, and Offset has three nominations in total.

Tim McGraw & Faith Hill

From their first meeting at a Nashville country radio event to their recent co-starring roles on the Yellowstone prequel, 1883, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill have grown and changed throughout their 25-year marriage. But they've always remained devoted to each other.

Their story began after McGraw invited Hill to be an opening act on his tour in 1996, quickly falling in love and marrying the same year. The following year, they released "It's Your Love" — not only the first of many duets, but the first of six GRAMMY nominations they would eventually earn together.

Hill and McGraw celebrated their first GRAMMY win in 2001, when their power ballad, "Let's Make Love." They took home another gramophone five years later thanks to their hit "Like We Never Loved At All" (ironically, a breakup song).

The country stars have continued to find ways to be together: Long before they teamed up to star on the same TV show, they embarked on a series of joint tours (titled Soul2Soul) in 2000, 2006 and 2017/2018. They've also joined forces for a number of other duets, including "It's Your Love" and "The Rest of Our Life" — the title track to their 2017 joint album.

Maren Morris & Ryan Hurd

This modern-day Nashville fairy tale began when Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd were both up-and-coming songwriters who were paired together for a co-writing session in 2013. The result? A song called "Last Turn Home" that wound up on Tim McGraw's 2014 album, Sundown Heaven Town.

Morris and Hurd stayed friends for a couple of years, but in 2015, their relationship turned romantic — and like any songwriting couple, they detailed their love story in their songs. Hurd's "Love in a Bar" and "Diamonds or Twine" were inspired by Morris, while Morris' "To Hell & Back" is a love letter to Hurd.

The pair married in 2018, and welcomed their son, Hayes, in 2020. Music is still the foundation of their relationship — and it's proving to be more impactful than ever. They earned their first No. 1 country radio hit (via Mediabase) together with 2021's "Chasing After You," a song that also earned them a GRAMMY nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance this year.

Julia Michaels & JP Saxe

Singer/songwriters Julia Michaels and JP Saxe have a love story that's truly built on their shared passion for music. They met for the first time when they wrote "If the World Was Ending," which Saxe released in 2019 as the lead single off his Hold it Together EP.

Not only did the song bring the lovebirds together, but it helped earn the pair a GRAMMY nomination for Song Of The Year in 2021. The nom was Saxe's first and Michaels' third; Michaels has an Album Of The Year nod at the 2022 GRAMMYs thanks to her contributions on H.E.R.'s album, Back Of My Mind.

Saxe and Michaels officially confirmed their relationship in January of 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic made "If the World Was Ending" take on a whole new life. The pair even released a star-studded charity video that benefitted Doctors Without Borders.

As their romance has bloomed, both Michaels and Saxe have continued to musically influence each other. In separate 2021 interviews with People, they each revealed that their respective projects — Michaels' Not In Chronological Order and Saxe's Dangerous Levels of Introspection — were inspired by their relationship.

Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi

Banjo player and singer/songwriter Rhiannon Giddens has been collaborating for much of her career. Perhaps best known as a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Giddens was also a member of the roots outfit Our Native Daughters. What's more, she dueted with country star Eric Church on his 2016 single "Kill a Word."

But in 2019, her love for collaboration resulted in real love: Giddens made her 2019 album, there is no Other, with her then-relatively new partner, Italian jazz player Francesco Turrisi. The project was as complex and multifaceted as the pair's own musical backgrounds, and amalgamation of Giddens' old-time musical roots with songs like "Wayfaring Stranger" and Turrisi's European influence with songs like "Pizzica di San Vito."

The couple's second collaborative album, They're Calling Me Home, resulted in two nominations at the 2022 GRAMMYs: Best Folk Album, and Best American Roots Song for the track "Avalon."

Laura Sullivan & Eric Sullivan

While Laura and Eric Sullivan's love story might not be as high-profile as some of the other GRAMMY-nominated couples, they are prolific, classically-informed New Age musicians with a lengthy history of being partners in both music and in life.

A pianist and composer, Laura makes music that bridges genres: You can hear her compositions on TV shows like So You Think You Can Dance and 48 Hours, but her style also extends into World Music, Native American Music and classical music. Meanwhile, her husband, Eric, is her producer and talent manager.

He's also the co-owner of Sentient Spirit Records, the label behind much of Laura's work. Her new album, Pieces of Forever, is currently up for Best New Age Album at the 2022 GRAMMY Awards.

If they win, Eric and Laura will share the award, since Eric produced the project. It's the second album to take them to the GRAMMYs; Eric produced Laura's 2013 album, Love's River, which won Best New Age Album in 2014.

ABBA

Though there aren't technically any current couples in ABBA, there are a couple of exes. Upon their 1972 formation, the Swedish pop quartet consisted of one married couple — Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus, who'd gotten married a year prior — and another pair, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, who would eventually marry in 1978.

Neither marriage lasted: By 1981, both sets of couples had called it quits. The group dissolved the following year, and it seemed as if their musical partnership had soured as quickly as their romantic relationships.

However, after a staggering four-decade break between albums, ABBA made a triumphant return in 2021. Releasing the album Voyage in November 2021, the project both served as the band's highest-charting album and earned ABBA their first-ever GRAMMY nomination (the appropriately titled single, "I Still Have Faith In You," is up for Record Of The Year).

While the bandmates never found romantic reconciliation, they arguably found something better: The power of lasting friendship and musical camaraderie.

Nnenna And Pierce Freelon Are The First Mother & Son Nominated Individually At The Same GRAMMYs Ceremony: How They Honor A Husband & Father Through Music

When Dolly Parton, flanked by Brad Paisley, handed Faith Hill her GRAMMY for Best Country Album in 2001 — for her classic 1999 album Breathe — it felt like a passing of the torch.*

The first words out of an awestruck Hill's mouth, to Parton: "Wow! And coming from you, thank you so much. I just admire you so much."

Hill went on to deliver a heartfelt speech, in which she thanked her parents for helping facilitate her music dreams and expressed how long and hard her journey to the GRAMMYs stage was.

Breathe helped Hill take home three GRAMMYs that night — the others being Best Female Country Vocal Performance ("Breathe") and Best Country Collaboration With Vocals ("Let's Make Love," with three-time GRAMMY-winning husband Tim McGraw.)

Check out the throwback to Y2K-era country music history above, and keep checking back to GRAMMY.com for more episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

LeAnn Rimes On New Album God's Work, Major-Label Debut Blue & Choosing Joy 25 Years Into Her Career: "I Think It Was My Rebellion"

The Queen of Rock 'n' Roll, recording legend, icon of empowerment. No matter how one refers to Tina Turner, her passing constitutes a seismic loss that marks the end of a shining cultural legacy which leaves in its wake an industry-shaping career. Throughout her eight GRAMMY wins and 25 nominations, Turner’s vast and generation-spanning musical output proved equally entertaining and inspirational.

The icon died on May 24 at her home near Zurich, Switzerland. She was 83.

"Tina Turner broke barriers for women on and off the stage throughout her incredible career," said Harvey Mason jr, CEO of The Recording Academy, of Turner who received GRAMMY’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and is a three-time inductee to the GRAMMY Hall of Fame. "She amazed audiences worldwide with her electrifying performances, including on our GRAMMY stage in 1985 and 2008, and was an undeniable rockstar who paved the way for so many with her signature style and powerful vocals. She will be greatly missed by all the people she touched around the globe."

It’s a sentiment shared by the music industry, and world, at large. "She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer,"Mick Jaggerwrote on social media. "She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her." On her website, Beyoncé — who performed with Turner at the 50th GRAMMY Awards — paid tribute to her "beloved Queen," writing, "I love you endlessly. I’m so grateful for your inspiration and all the ways you paved the way. You are strength and resilience. You are the epitome of power and passion."Elton John put it simply: "We have lost one of the world's most exciting and electric performers," he wrote. "She was untouchable."

Turner’s untouchable talent famously embodied two phases. First, her tumultuous collaboration with husband Ike Turner, during which they performed as a duo and yielded hits including the oft-covered "Proud Mary." The instantly-recognizable song earned the couple a GRAMMY Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Group in 1972 and was inducted in the GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 2003. In her triumphant second act, Turner broke away from the partnership. She reinvented herself as a solo performer, improbably transitioning from a '60s and '70s-era rocker to arena pop star in the 1980s. 

For her efforts, the singer swept the major categories at the 1985 GRAMMY Awards, winning Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "What’s Love Got To Do With It." She also took home the golden gramophone for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Better Be Good To Me."

One of her most indelible hits, Turner utilized "What's Love Got To Do With It" as a call to action, becoming brutally honest about her abusive relationship with her ex-husband along the way. Turner later recalled toRolling Stone that when she left Ike in July 1976, "I had nothing. I didn’t even know how to get money. I had a girl working for me who had worked for Ike, because she knew about ways of getting money. I didn’t know how to do any of that stuff." She later devised what’s considered one of the greatest comebacks in music history.

First offered to Donna Summer — who sat on the track before ultimately passing — songwriter Terry Britten later revealed that she thought "What’s Love Got to Do With It" was "awful." Turner didn't like the song either, but recorded it following encouragement from her manager, Roger Davis.

"I said, 'If it doesn't work out, we won't use it. So let's give it a go,'" Britten recalled in her 2021 documentary, Tina.  It wasn’t until Turner laid down her vocal track that the song was elevated from pop confection into a showcase for the vocal powerhouse. "They weren't used to a strong voice standing on top of music," Turner said in the documentary. "But I converted it and made it my own."

Turner’s deft musical translation is evident throughout her eclectic discography, from the blues-inflicted rock she performed as Ike & Tina Turner, to pop anthems like 1989’s "The Best" (which became a trademark and, naturally, the title of a popular greatest hits album).  In 1962, she was nominated for her first GRAMMY Award for Best Rock and Roll Recording for "It’s Gonna Work Out Fine,"  her and Ike’s hit from the previous year which was offered to them after songwriter Rose Marie McCoy saw their energetic stage show at the Apollo. 

It was an auspicious early hit for Turner, who would become a staple of the category for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female. Decades later, she earned back-to-back wins in the category for "One of the Living" and "Back Where We Started" in 1986 and 1987, a nomination for "Better Be Good To Me" in ‘88, and took home the golden gramophone in ‘89 for Tina Live in Europe, among many others. 

"My songs are a little bit of everybody’s lives who are watching me," said Turner to Rolling Stonein the midst of her hot streak in 1986. "You gotta sing what they can relate to. And there are some raunchy people out there. The world is not perfect. And all of that is in my performance; I play with it."

Born Anna Mae Bullock, Turner’s journey to musical dynamo began on the farmlands of Tennessee where she discovered early on her passion for artistic expression. "As a girl, every chance I got, I’d go to our local movie theater and memorize scenes so I could reenact them," she recalled in 2021 the Harvard Business Review. "Although I did have a bit of singing training in high school and even learned some opera, my voice and dance abilities have mostly come naturally to me." 

That vocal prowess and inimitable energy as a performer was on full display throughout her life behind the microphone, one of the most memorable examples being "River Deep-Mountain High." Inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 1999, her duet with Ike was produced by Phil Spector who Turner said had him cut her vocals ad nauseam to spectacular results. "I must have sung that 500,000 times," she told Rolling Stone after the publication ranked the track No. 33 of their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. "I was drenched with sweat. I had to take my shirt off and stand there in my bra to sing." 

Upon her death, the New York Times called her "a magnetic singer with explosive power." That power was visible on and off the stage, both in her artistry and ability to soldier on in the face of the numerous obstacles.  In a 2005 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Turner explained, "There's an expression, 'You'll never get out of this world alive.' It's true. We won't. Go forward. Do your best with your makeup, hair, and clothes." 

In that same interview, Turner also mused about her legacy, touching on the inspiration she doled out by being her authentic self. "My wish is to give the kind of truth to people that will help them change their minds. When that happens, I'll be the best that I can be."

10 Essential Tina Turner Cuts From the '70s: How Her Forgotten Era Set The Stage For A Dramatic Debut As A Solo Performer

The pandemic wreaked global havoc on many levels. Beyond the human toll, the disruptions brought on by the spread of COVID-19 caused deep and lasting damage to nearly every business sector, including live entertainment. Virtually overnight, workers lost their livelihoods, businesses closed their doors or drastically curtailed operations, and supply chains were hobbled. 

Within days of lockdown, multiple outlets published sobering articles detailing the tours, concerts and festivals that had been affected by the outbreak; Insider.com article identified at least 170 postponements or cancellations. In a flash, every artist across the globe witnessed the live performance side of their careers vaporize. Crews were sent home, and all of the businesses that served the sector — logistics, audio gear, food service and more — found a barren landscape.

During the pandemic, major promoter Live Nation saw a drastic drop in the number of concerts and festivals under its banner: from over 40,000 events in 2019 to just over 8,000 in 2020. But by the end of 2022, Pollstar.com reported that the year’s top 100 tours sold approximately 59 million tickets — more than 2019's sales. 

Three years after the beginning of the pandemic, life is in many ways returning to normal. Yet the costs associated with putting on a concert have risen dramatically, due to both the pandemic's inflationary pressures and a surge in demand for the goods and services necessary to sustain tours. For those working in and around the live music business, the "new normal" means some things work as they did before COVID-19 while others have altered radically — either temporarily or for good. 

GRAMMY.com spoke with a cross section of industry professionals about some of the most profound changes, how they’re being addressed, and what it all might mean for the future. 

New Touring Paradigms

With the return of live music has come a corresponding, pent-up surge in demand, notes Christy Castillo Butcher, Senior VP, Programming & Booking at the 70,000 seat SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. "To satiate that demand, you have to have a bigger venue." 

In 2023 alone, SoFi Stadium is hosting several megashows: Billy Joel & Stevie Nicks, Grupo Firme, Romeo Santos, a five-night Taylor Swift residency, Metallica, Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran and P!nk are all on the venue’s calendar, with additional shows awaiting announcement. Madison Square Garden saw multiple sold-out performances by Janet Jackson, and will host a seven-night Phish residency. 

Since the pandemic, some artists have taken different approaches to touring. Tandem tours and residencies are just two of the phenomena that seem to be increasing in popularity with touring artists and their management teams.

Teaming up for a tandem tour isn’t a new idea; package tours have been part of the concert landscape from the days of Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars in the mid 1960s. And in an era when post-pandemic-related shortages and logistical snags make touring even more challenging, the practice is finding renewed interest.

One of the highest-profile tandem tours of 2023 is the ZZ Top/Lynyrd Skynyrd Sharp Dressed Simple Man tour. Visiting more than 22 cities across the U.S, the tour brings together three-time GRAMMY nominees ZZ Top with the popular Southern rock band.

"You want to give the fans the value of seeing two bands together," says Ross Schilling, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Tour Manager. (Pollstar reported an average ticket price for the top 100 North American tours in the first half of 2022 at more than $108. Meanwhile, ticket prices for megastars such as Beyoncé and Swift have reached astronomical levels.)

Schilling acknowledges that there are pros and cons for the artists as well. "You're sharing the expenses and the revenues," he notes, adding that the production is often halved. "Video, pyro, smoke, whatever kind of elements you want to add" can be shared on a tandem tour.

Read more: 5 Reasons Why Taylor Swift's Eras Tour Will Be The Most Legendary Of Her Generation

Another option experiencing a renaissance is the concert residency. "Residencies are not new, of course," says Phil Carson, a touring and management veteran who spent many years on the road with high-profile rock bands including Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, AC/DC and Yes. "They started with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. when there was really only one place to go: Las Vegas." 

Today there are many more options, but the motivations are often the same as before. "Sammy, Dean Martin… all those guys wanted to hang out together, and didn't want to go on the bloody road," Carson explains. As their audiences grew older, they too were interested in the idea of going to one place to see their favorite performers.

And Carson thinks that the multi-night approach may well be part of a trend for the future. "We’re starting to get two-and three-night runs in casinos across America," he says. Adele, Bruno Mars, Maroon 5, Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, Carrie Underwood and Carlos Santana are just a few of the artists eschewing the road in favor of a series of dates in one venue. 

The trend is extending to smaller venues as well. Singer/songwriter James McMutry and his band launched a residency at Austin' Continental Club in November 2021; that booking continues to the present day. And just last August, Robert Glasper announced a 48-show residency at the Blue Note Club in New York City; it’s his fourth extended run of dates at the famed jazz venue.

Festivals Return En Force

Following increased demand for live entertainment post-lockdown, major music festivals returned with a force in 2022 and continue to do so in 2023. Coachella and Lollapalooza were among the multi-day, multi-weekend events returning after COVID-forced cancellations, while mid-level events such as San Francisco's Outside Lands also saw over 220,000 attendees in 2022 — a major boon for a live music industry that had been in crisis only a year before.

Celebrating and featuring a multigenerational lineup of Latinx artists and performers, the Bésame Mucho Festival premiered in December 2022 at the 56,000 capacity Dodger Stadium. Tickets sold out within 70 minutes. The lineup for the 2023 event was announced in February; once again, the event sold out almost immediately.

Read more: Latin Music's Next Era: How New Festivals & Big Billings Have Helped Bring Reggaeton, New Corridos & More To The Masses

Ashley Capps has been wholly immersed in the festival scene; former head of AC Entertainment, for many years he oversaw the annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. These days he has scaled back his activities but still curates the adventurous Big Ears Festival which he founded in 2009 in Knoxville, Tennessee.

"The post-pandemic Big Ears has seen extraordinary growth," he says, noting a pre-COVID trajectory of growth, with an annual 20 percent increase in ticket sales. The 2022 Big Ears — the first after a two-year pause — experienced a 35 percent growth. "That led us to declare our first full-on sellout," he says, "five weeks before the festival happened." 

In 2023, Big Ears noted another surge in ticket sales, surpassing 50 percent over the previous year. The multiple-venue festival added additional larger venues to accommodate the increased demand. Concertgoers "are certainly hungry to get back into the live music experience," Capps says. "And the artists we’re working with at Big Ears are eager to be back out and in front of appreciative audiences."

That pent-up demand on both sides of the equation can result in a crowded field, with many events — even beyond music — competing both for attention, staffing and gear.

The Cost Of Making Music

Global logistical bottlenecks that plagued every industry continue to take a toll on the live music industry. Worldwide economic inflation — which hit 8.8 percent in 2022, nearly doubling year-over-year, a partial result of the pandemic — has increased costs and cut profits, laying the groundwork for a "rocky road to recovery." Finding themselves without opportunities for work during the pandemic, untold numbers of skilled tour technicians left the business. 

"People got out of the industry across the board, from musicians to agents to managers to bartenders to production staff," says Morgan Margolis, CEO/President of Knitting Factory Entertainment. "'I’ve got to do something else.' I saw a lot of that." Some never returned, causing a personnel shortage once live touring resumed.

All that affected live music venues, too. "We were shuffling around tour managers, production managers, box office personnel," says Margolis. He characterizes his company — active nationwide in venue operations, festivals, artist management, touring and more — as an "all hands on deck" operation. "I actually slung some drinks in Walla Walla at an Aaron Lewis concert," he says. 

Increased costs mean it’s essential to run the leanest operation possible while maintaining quality. Margolis recalls the landscape when live music started coming back in 2022. "Vans and buses: everything was running out, even rental cars," he remembers. "And everything — generators, lighting rigs, staging rigs – was now 20-30 percent more expensive, because everybody was spread so thin."  

But like many in the business, Margolis simply made the best of things. "Personally, I was excited to be on the ground again," he says. "I wanted to be around people." 

After a nearly overwhelming surge of music artists getting back into live performance, he says that he is seeing a "more methodical" mindset taking hold. That compares to how he characterizes 2022: "Throw it all against the wall: we’re going everywhere!"

Read more: Beyond Coachella: 10 Smaller Festivals Beloved For Their Homegrown Vibes & Huge Lineups

Another new wrinkle: proposed rule changes by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would increase the costs to international musicians of obtaining a U.S. visa by as much as 260 percent. "The more these policies are made, the harder it is for us to share our music,” says Sampa the Great. The Zambian singer/songwriter and rapper notes that the proposed changes will hit independent artists especially hard: "Touring is the only way our music gets heard globally."

Such across-the-board cost increases can mean that some international artists have to have tough conversations. If not through touring, Sampa the Great wonders, "How else do we connect with the people who support our music? And how else do we independent artists sustain our careers making music?"

Schilling admits that during the worst of the shutdown, he thought about retiring — and so did one of his biggest clients. Skynyrd began a farewell tour in 2018, which was ultimately cut short by the pandemic, prompting serious soul searching. "When everyone’s livelihood was ripped out from under them, they decided 'We want to go out on our own terms.'" This year’s tandem tour with ZZ Top puts things right, Schilling adds. 

That kind of thinking is widespread among the professionals who remain in the game post-COVID. From many working as venue owners to tour managers to crew to artists, the chance to get back on the road outweighs the challenges that they will inevitably encounter. There are many career paths easier than working in the live music industry, but few can compare with its rewards.

Changes Backstage And Post-Show

Before the pandemic, many touring artists arranged meet-and-greet sessions before or after their shows. They provided an opportunity for interaction between fans and artists, and represented an additional revenue stream for the artists. During the pandemic era, those sessions disappeared, even for the new shows that could still take place. Today, even while enforced social distancing has largely disappeared, the state of meet-and-greets is not what it was. 

"My last three artists aren’t doing meet-and-greets, because there's still that concern of COVID," says David Norman, a longtime promoter, tour director, manager and accountant currently on tour with Evanescence; his past clients have included Prince, John Fogerty, Earth Wind & Fire, Green Day, Alicia Keys, Tyler, the Creator and many others. 

Norman points out that his artists take a financial hit by eliminating the meet-and-greets. "But it’s better to be safe than sorry," he says, noting that a musician who tests positive for COVID can "shut down [performances] for weeks. Then you have to reroute [the tour], and refund money to people who aren’t able to come to rescheduled shows."

Others take a different approach. "Lynyrd Skynyrd will do meet-and-greets," says Schilling, adding that his team "wants to get back to as normal as we possibly can, as fast as we possibly can." André Cholmondeley is a musician, longtime tour manager and tech support professional who worked as guitar tech for Yes guitarist Steve Howe. 

Before 2020, "if you bought the meet-and-greet package, you could shake their hands," he says. "There were lots of hugs and pictures." Now the experience involves more waving and fist-bumping. Foreigner, meanwhile, has recently swapped meet-and-greets for Q&A sessions. “Everybody has a great time, and the band is not bored with it because it's different every night," says Phil Carson, the band's Tour Manager. 

Life away from the audience has changed, too. 

"One major change across the board is the huge difference in catering," says Cholmondeley, who has recently toured with Pat Metheny and Ani DiFranco. Before COVID, touring artists and their crews would typically find a buffet backstage. "We order a lot more food now," Cholmondeley explains. "You get a couple of menus texted to you each day."

Carson notes that the band has found an alternative solution that works for them. "Our singer Kelly Hansen is a chef who won an episode of Food Network’s 'Chopped,'" he says with pride. "He's got a whole kitchen range on our tour bus. He makes breakfast, he makes tacos after the show." 

Carson readily admits that such an approach stands in sharp contrast to rock‘n’roll road dining in the ‘70s. "Back then," he says with a hearty laugh, "it was a few lines of coke and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s!"

Bridging The Gap

Beginning in March 2020, the cancellations and disruptions brought upon by the pandemic reverberated throughout the live music industry. But as the business sector enters the third quarter of 2023, the focus is once again on the future, and guarded optimism is the prevailing perspective. 

Festival season is officially underway, with Coachella wrapping up two weekends of massive-scale excitement, and a host of other events slated throughout the summer promising an active several months for touring musicians and crews. Taylor Swift's Eras tour is selling out fast, while Beyoncé's Renaissance tour has only just begun (to much fanfare, as expected). It seems as if touring as we once knew it is falling back into place. 

Even with her focus on recording — she counts two albums, an EP, two mixtapes and nearly 30 singles — Sampa the Great emphasizes the appeal of live music for both audience and entertainer. 

"Performing is the best way to connect with an audience," she says. "You're translating your music from audio to something visual, something physical. It bridges that gap from just hearing an artist or seeing them on social [media] to actually experiencing the artist." 

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BeyHive assemble: The moment has finally arrived. Beyoncé officially kicked off her 56-date Renaissance World Tour tonight in Stockholm, Sweden. Launching with a sold-out show at the Friends Arena in the Swedish capital, the tour marks Queen Bey's first tour in nearly five years and first solo tour in seven years. The world tour is in support of her GRAMMY-winning and history-making 2022 album, Renaissance, and also marks the first time she performed songs from the album on stage. 

Across a three-hour, 36-song set, which was split into seven acts, Beyoncé delivered an expansive, dazzling set spanning her broad and celebrated discography, including many live debuts of Renaissance tracks like "CUFF IT," "BREAK MY SOUL," "PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA," "VIRGO'S GROOVE," and many more. She also performed several Beyoncé classics like "Run the World (Girls)," her Megan Thee Stallion collab "Savage Remix," "Crazy in Love," "Formation," and more.

Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood

Released last July, Renaissance is Beyoncé's seventh solo album, all of which have topped the U.S charts. Renaissance garnered Beyoncé eight of her nine GRAMMY nominations at the 2023 GRAMMYs; she was also nominated for Best Song Written For Visual Media for her original song "Be Alive" from the film King Richard.

Read More: A Timeline Of Beyoncé's GRAMMY Moments, From Her First Win With Destiny's Child to Making History With 'Renaissance'

At the 2023 GRAMMYs, she took home four GRAMMY Awards — including Best Dance/Electronic Recording for "Break My Soul," Best Dance/Electronic Music Album for Renaissance, Best Traditional R&B Performance for "Plastic Off The Sofa," and Best R&B Song for "Cuff It" — setting the record as the artist with the most GRAMMY wins of all time. When nominations for the 2023 GRAMMYs were announced last November, she was the most nominated artist for that GRAMMY Award year; she is currently tied with her husband and occasional music partner, Jay-Z, for the most GRAMMY nominations ever, counting 88 nominations each.

Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour continues across Europe through late June and then heads to North America in July.

Below, check out the full setlist, view photos, watch videos, and see fan reactions from the BeyHive from the first night of Beyonce's Renaissance World Tour.

Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood

Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Andrew White

Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Andrew White

Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Mason Poole

Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Mason Poole

Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood

Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood

Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood

Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood

Setlist

Opening Act

The Signboard (Video Introduction)

Dangerously in Love 2 (Live Debut - Shortened)

Flaws and All

1+1

I'm Goin' Down (Mary J. Blige cover)

I Care

RENAISSANCE

RENAISSANCE (Video Introduction) 

I'M THAT GIRL (Live Debut - Extended spoken intro)

COZY (Live Debut)

ALIEN SUPERSTAR (Live Debut)

Lift Off (JAY Z & Kanye West cover)

7/11 (Dancers Interlude)

MOTHERBOARD

MOTHERBOARD (Video Interlude)

CUFF IT (Live Debut)

ENERGY(Live Debut)

BREAK MY SOUL (Live Debut)

OPULENCE

OPULENCE (Video Interlude)

Formation (Shortened)

Diva (Shortened)

Run the World (Girls) (Shortened)

MY POWER (Live Debut - Shortened)

BLACK PARADE (Live Debut)

Savage (Remix) (Megan Thee Stallion cover) (Live Debut)

Partition (Shortened)

ANOINTED

ANOINTED (Video Interlude)

CHURCH GIRL(Live Debut)

Get Me Bodied (Shortened)

Before I Let Go (Maze featuring Frankie Beverly cover)

Rather Die Young

Love on Top

Crazy in Love

Freedom(Band Jam. Interlude)

ANOINTED - PT. 2

Love Hangover (Diana Ross song) (Sung by the choristers)

PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA (Live Debut)

VIRGO'S GROOVE (Live Debut)

Naughty Girl

MOVE (Live Debut)

HEATED (Live Debut)

MEGAMIX

THIQUE (Live Debut)

ALL UP IN YOUR MIND (Live Debut)

Drunk in Love

MIND CONTROL

MIND CONTROL (Video Interlude)

AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM (Live Debut)

PURE/HONEY (Live Debut)

SUMMER RENAISSANCE (Live Debut)

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