This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Artist News Business News Legal Live Business
Kid Rock changes tour name due to circus legal action
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 12 January 2018
Kid Rock’s live show is officially not the greatest show on Earth. The musician has dropped that as the title of his upcoming US tour, following legal action by the owner of the trademark in that phrase.
‘The Greatest Show On Earth Tour’ was actually named after the opening track of Kid Rock’s latest album, ‘Sweet Southern Sugar’. But that didn’t stop it from infringing on the trademark, said Feld Entertainment, owner of Ringling Bros and the Barnum & Bailey Circus – with which the phrase is legally associated.
Had it got to court, this would have been the key argument presented, but with tour dates due to start next week, and Feld pushing for a preliminary injunction, Kid Rock has decided to just change the name for an easy life.
According to Amplify, Kid Rock said in a court submission this week: “While I firmly believe that I am entitled under the First Amendment to name my tour after my song, I have changed the tour name because I do not want this lawsuit to distract me or my fans from focusing on what is important in my upcoming tour – my music”.
The musician’s attorney, Kenneth G Turkle, added that the title of the tour had absolutely nothing to do with Ringling Bros and the Barnum & Bailey Circus, but rather just “boasts about Kid Rock’s ability to perform the greatest fucking show on Earth”.
And so Kid Rock’s tour is now ‘The American Rock N Roll Tour’. Although this will not, says Feld, stop it from pursuing its action and demanding damages from all the time the tour was promoted under its original name.