Popular YouTuber and podcaster MrBallen will embark on his first live tour this fall.
The tour, which kicks off Sept. 26 in Dallas, will see John Allen, aka MrBallen, share some of the true crime and unsettling stories that populate his YouTube channel and his show MrBallen: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories.
After playing Dallas’s Majestic Theatre, the tour will stop in Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., Nashville and end at Atlanta’s Coca-Cola Roxy on Oct. 20.
“This is something I’ve dreamed about, but I never thought it could be a reality,” Allen said. “Telling stories on YouTube and on the podcast each week for millions of fans is something I absolutely love to do. Now, to be able to do that in front of those fans, feel their energy, and have a chance to meet them as well, is something that excites me to no end. I can’t wait to get out there and get going.”
Allen, a former Navy Seal, first launched his show on YouTube in March 2020 and quickly gained traction, now counting more than nine million subscribers. He later turned the show into the MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories.
In February 2022, Allen signed an exclusive content deal with Amazon, which initially saw his podcast exclusively distributed on Amazon Music, and gave Amazon first-look rights to new ventures from Ballen Studios, Allen’s media company which counts former Night Media manager Nick Witters as its CEO and former Cadence13 executive vp Steve Cohen as its head of sales.
This past February, the podcast exclusivity ended and the show became available on all listening platforms, amid similar moves from Spotify. It ranks highly on the true-crime podcast charts on Apple and Spotify.
Ballen Studios has also launched a number of new podcasts, including MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries, in collaboration with Amazon’s Wondery and Bedtime Stories, which focuses on unsolved mysteries and other disturbing stories. Ballen Studios will also release MrBallen’s first book, a graphic novel titled MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious, which is out this fall. Last year, the studio launched a management arm for creators in digital storytelling.
The presale for the tour starts Sunday at 2 pm EST on MrBallen’s YouTube channel, with general tickets on sale Friday.
