The Voice is set to hit the road, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Like American Idol before it, NBC’s hit music competition show has a tour in the works featuring the show’s eight finalists — Beverly McClellan, Vicci Martinez, Dia Frampton, Javier Colon, Nakia, Xenia, Casey Weston and Frenchie Davis.
Noticeably absent from the road-show: the show’s four chart-topping coaches, Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Blake Shelton and Adam Levine. According to multiple sources, organizers for the Live Nation tour wanted the foursome to join the show’s contestants but talks apparently broke down over compensation. It is unclear how big a seller The Voice tour will be without the coaches, whose involvement thus far has proved a significant differentiator and draw for the series.
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A tour would not only drum up more buzz for the show, but also provide another way for the network to cash in on its biggest success in years. The Voice —which at $2.3 million per episode is NBC’s priciest unscripted series ever– is garnering in the neighborhood of $250,000 per 30-second spot this season.
After some internal debate, NBC opted to hold the series’ second season for the spring. It was granted the plum post-Super Bowl slot and is poised to expand its number of episodes. Last month, NBC Universal Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt told THR that he hopes to feature fall and spring iterations of the show the following year.
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Shelton and Levine have already expressed their excitement on Twitter. “I feel like a proud papa with my two girls @DiaFramps and @X3NIA17 hitting the road this summer for The Voice Live on Tour. Show ’em Love!,” Shelton tweeted earlier Monday. Levine’s tweet, which has since been deleted, said: “LevineTeam members @Javstwtr and @casey_weston are hitting the road in July for #TheVoice Live on Tour. Go check them out. You can thank me later.”
