D
URING THE LAST OF TYLER, THE
Creator’s three sold-out September
shows at the O2 Academy Brixton in
England, the rapper brought London-
based Rex Orange County onstage
to perform their 2017 collaboration,
“Boredom,” in front of nearly 5,000 people. “I live
nearby, so I just got an Uber and came onstage,” says
the soul-pop artist born Alex O’Connor.
The impromptu invite became Rex Orange
County’s first performance at the venue — and it
won’t be his last. During his own headlining tour
across North America and the United Kingdom,
which kicks off Nov. 12, he will return to the O2
Brixton for three nights, two of which are already
sold out. His 42-date tour also includes bucket-list
gigs at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium and New
York’s Radio City Music Hall, which each accom-
modate 6,000 — more than 10 times the amount
of people who came to see Rex Orange County
play his first U.S. show last February at Brooklyn’s
Music Hall of Williamsburg.
Rex Orange County, 21, hasn’t played a U.S. show
or festival in nearly a year; even so, in October he
topped Bandsintown’s Established Artists chart,
which tracks worldwide interest in artists’ tours on
the platform. Pumping the brakes on touring was a
strategic, though uncommon, move for the artist,
who signed a recording contract with RCA Records
earlier this year. He released his first two albums
independently, and his upcoming third, Pony, out
Oct. 25, will be his major-label debut. “I’ve been al-
lowing the demand to grow,” he says. It worked — a
majority of dates for his upcoming tour sold out in
under a month. “It’s nice to know that people are
waiting — they’re not going anywhere.”
In planning the tour, Rex Orange County was
meticulous about choosing venues that will impress
attendees just as much as his performance, saying
that any of his shows could be a fan’s first concert
ever. “I love really beautiful theaters with a balcony
with a big [general admission] floor,” he says, name-
checking The Tabernacle in Atlanta, which was
formerly a church. “That way, it’s built for [music]
rather than just being a club.”
After the attention that followed his 2017 album,
Apricot Princess, Rex Orange County says he was
“looking at everyone else, trying to figure out my
place.” Now, he assures that things are better, saying,
“I’m [finally] feeling like I can be myself.”
Steady As He Goes
Rex Orange County laid low for a year — and
still boosted his concert crowd by tenfold
BY TATIANA CIRISANO
Guaynaa photographed Oct. 9
at Proper Studio in Miami.
Get to know the artist, from
his backstage rituals to how
he found out “ReBoTa” hit the
charts, at billboard.com/videos.
Rex Orange
County
REX:^ ALEX^ WAESPI.^GROOMING^BYSANDYMARANESI^ AT^ZENOBIA.ON-SITEPRODUCER:ED^HUMARAT^TETHERPRODUCTION.ON THE ROAD
32 BILLBOARD • OCTOBER 19, 2019