His first two tour dates are at venues I've never heard of. But maybe they offered the most money for the least expenses. No dealing with major promoters as they did for the Beck tour.
I don’t think two semi-announced tour dates is particularly representative of anything. Actually, I see in some cases that it is the shows at less busy, less typical “rock/pop” show type of venues, that announce (or reveal) shows individually, because they may not have a huge “concert season” full of those rock/pop artists like the traditional sheds/amphitheaters, etc.
They may indeed be booking smaller venues (size-wise or market-wise), but these venues also seem relatively high-end. There’s no indication he’s booking exclusively clubs and bars or something.
Maybe Brian is heeding that advice from 2012, and booking those smaller markets that are “so vital.”

I dunno, if I had to travel to some weird venue and/or town, I guess I’d rather see the show at a high-end theater rather than a fair or rib cook-off.