Touring
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Round Room Live, one of the world’s top family entertainment producers, has announced that founders and co-presidents Stephen Shaw and Jonathan Linden have completed a management buyout of its lead investor eOne, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. The acquisition was backed by Manhattan West, a Los Angeles-based strategic investment firm.
“This deal is a significant milestone for Round Room, which has become one of the most dynamic live entertainment producers and promoters in the world,” said Shaw. “This new partnership with Manhattan West will fuel our ambitious growth plans to distribute exciting entertainment experiences on a global scale.”
Led by Shaw and Linden, Round Room Live specializes in transforming intellectual property into live events. Round Room Live’s current roster of touring shows and exhibitions include: Baby Shark Live!, Blippi The Musical, Peppa Pig Live, Blue’s Clues & You! Live On Stage, Jurassic World: The Exhibition, Mandela: The Official Exhibition, Tupac Shakur: Wake Me When I’m Free and Formula 1: The Exhibition, which will launch early in 2023.
“We are excited to continue to grow this exceptional business together with our new partners at Manhattan West,” added Linden. “eOne and Hasbro were a great home for Round Room starting in early 2018, and I want to thank [CEO] Darren Throop and the eOne and Hasbro teams for their support and partnership. We look forward to continuing to work with Hasbro on live tours for some of its most iconic brands.”
Matt Gibbons with Manhattan West added the “Round Room team has our full support as they continue to expand their global footprint.”
The share purchase deal closed on Friday, Oct. 21.
The typical album cycle in recent years: drop a single, announce a handful of concerts, set a release date, encounter a global pandemic, wait two years for the touring industry to allow your world tour to play. Thirty months after tickets went on sale, Lady Gaga has wrapped The much-bigger-than-originally-planned Chromatica Ball to the tune of $112.4 million and 834,000 tickets, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore.
The original incarnation of The Chromatica Ball was a set of two European shows (Paris on July 24, 2020 and London on July 30) and four North American shows (Boston on Aug. 5, Toronto on Aug. 9, Chicago on Aug. 14, and East Rutherford, N.J., on Aug. 19). Delayed once to 2021 and again to 2022, the tour expanded from six shows to 20, playing five markets in Europe (including two shows in London), 11 in North America and a double-header in Tokyo.
Much like Harry Styles and Dua Lipa, being forced to push her shows to 2022 by the pandemic yielded heightened anticipation rather than attention-span malaise. Gaga swept through Germany, Sweden, France, the Netherlands and England, earning $28.3 million from six shows in July. She followed with a North American leg that earned $72.6 million in July and August, plus two shows in Tokyo that generated $11.5 million on Sept. 3-4.
Gaga set a handful of local records along the way, claiming the highest gross in Hershey Park Stadium’s history. Among single-night engagements, she has the all-time top gross at San Francisco’s Oracle Park ($7.4 million), top attendance at Boston’s Fenway Park (38,267), and gross and attendance at Chicago’s Wrigley Field ($6.9 million; 43,019). The only event with a larger gross at L.A.’s Dodger Stadium was 2017’s The Classic West, the two-day classic rock super-festival headlined by the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac.
The Chromatica Ball was Gaga’s first all-stadium run, but it wasn’t her first dip in the pond. As early as The Monster Ball (2009-11), the pop shapeshifter played stadiums in multiple Mexican markets, selling out two nights at Mexico City’s Foro Sol with 111,000 tickets sold.
Gaga’s stadium ambition spread throughout Asia, Europe, South America and Africa on The Born This Way Ball (2012-13) and ArtRave: The Artpop Ball (2014), mixed with arenas on each continent, and exclusively indoor venues in North America. Conversely, The Joanne Ball (2017-18) mixed arenas and stadiums in North America but stuck to arenas for its limited European run.
Despite its 2022 expansion, The Chromatica Ball was relatively brief compared to her previous tours. But moving to stadiums allowed Gaga to maximize her nightly audience, averaging 41,700 tickets per night, up 127% from her previous best of 18,400 on The Born This Way Ball. In nightly revenue, The Chromatica Ball leapt by 190% to a pace of $5.6 million, passing The Joanne Ball’s $1.9 million.
At just 20 shows, The Chromatica Ball became Gaga’s highest grossing tour in a decade, and marked her third $100 million-dollar tour, following The Monster Ball and The Born This Way Ball.
In all, Lady Gaga has a reported career gross of $689.5 million and attendance of 6.3 million.
The inaugural Black Music Summit (BMS) is coming to the island of Ibiza in summer 2023.
Founded by WME agent Jordan Hallpike and Kenny Eshinlokun, founder of creative agency Taboo, the event is described as a “social enterprise invested in the global development and celebration of Black music talent” on both the creative and executive fronts.
In a release announcing the forthcoming event, Eshinlokun further explains that the summit’s goal is “to give the next generation a chance to have more opportunities and a better experience in the music industry than many Black people have had to date. The BMS will offer Black musicians, creators and music industry professionals the opportunity to be seen and heard and, hopefully, reduce the amount of future discriminative challenges many Black people in the industry face. I’m excited about the opportunity to collaborate, celebrate and inspire the next generation, while showcasing so much amazing talent all in one place.”
Adds Hallpike, “Ibiza represents freedom, creativity, expression and beauty. Black culture has laid the foundations for so many genres of music. House and techno were formed by Black culture in Detroit and Chicago. Without the influences of Black pioneers like Frankie Knuckles, Ibiza — the island of dance — would simply not be what it is today. Our aim is to make more Black talent, executives and tourists view this wonderful island as a space they can also occupy, just like any other location in the world.”
Today’s announcement by the BMS Creative Council follows a soft launch in September at two Ibiza locations — Pikes and Hï Ibiza — that included performances from Seth Troxler, JULS, Lava La Rue and No Signal, among others. Leading up to the inaugural event next summer, BMS plans to host a series of events in key locations around the world. The summit itself will feature keynotes, panel discussions, workshops, live performances, various events and club nights.
Members of the BMS Creative Council include: Charisse Beaumont, chief executive of Black Lives in Music; Craig D’Souza, partner/agent at WME; Ebi Sampson, co-founder of August Agency; Jide Adetunji, co-founder of GUAP; Jojo Sonubi, co-founder of Recess/No Signal; Joseph “JP” Patterson, editor-in-chief of Complex UK; Kikelomo Oludemi, senior creator marketing manager at Native Instruments; Lola Oyewole, entertainment creator partnerships at TikTok; Preye Crooks, co-founder of Robots & Humans/Strawberries & Creem Festival; Seni Saraki, co-founder of Native Networks; Sheniece Charway, artist relationships manager at YouTube Music and Whitney Boateng, agent at WME.
Watch the Black Music Summit launch video here. And register for more information from The Black Music Summit here.
Colombian power couple Greeicy and Mike Bahia are bringing their successful Amantes Tour to the U.S. for the first time, Billboard can exclusively reveal.
The 2023 North American leg of the tour, which follows its successful trek across Latin America in 2018 and 2019, marks Greeicy’s return to the stage after giving birth to her first child, KAI, in April 2022. If the official poster is any indication, the couple also plans on taking their son on tour with them.
In addition to each artist performing their biggest hits, they will also join forces to sing their beloved collaborations, including “Att: Amor,” “Esta Noche,” and “Amantes,” to name a few.
Presented by Loud and Live, Greeicy and Bahia — who have been in a relationship since 2010 — will visit eight cities in the U.S., kicking off on Feb. 23 at the Colden Auditorium in New York, and wrapping on March 5 at The Novo in Los Angeles. The couple will also visit select cities including Miami and Houston. Prior to visiting the U.S., the tour will make stops in countries such as Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, and Venezuela, among others.
Tickets for the Amantes U.S. Tour go on sale Friday, Oct. 28, via Ticketmaster.com. Pre-sale tickets for American Express cardholders are available now, and pre-sale to the artists’ fan clubs will be available on Thursday, Oct. 27.
See the tour dates below:
February 23, 2023 – New York, NY @ Colden AuditoriumFebruary 24, 2023 – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live OrlandoFebruary 25, 2023 – Miami, FL @ James L. Knight CenterFebruary 26, 2023 – Washington, D.C. @ Capital One HallMarch 2, 2023 – Dallas, TX @ Majestic Theater DallasMarch 3, 2023 – Houston, TX @ Arena Theatre March 4, 2023 – Chicago, IL @ Copernicus TheaterMarch 5, 2023 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Novo
Billy McFarland, convicted felon and founder of the infamous 2017 Fyre Festival, is back with a new venture.
In a video released Monday (Oct. 24) to TikTok and YouTube Shorts, the disgraced entrepreneur — who was released from prison in March after serving four years behind bars — notes he’s “working on something new” that’s “a little crazier but a whole lot bigger than anything I’ve ever tried before.” He then flips a whiteboard to reveal a treasure map taped to the other side and says he’ll reveal the full scope of his plans in November. “This time, everybody’s invited,” he adds, before ripping the treasure map from the whiteboard to reveal a phone number.
Calling the number from a cell phone causes a text message reading “Welcome to the Treasure Hunt” to be automatically delivered to the number of the person calling, along with a link to an online form. After adding contact info to the form, a second text comes through that links to a cryptic 12-second YouTube video titled “RLTH Clue #1,” featuring underwater imagery of sharks, a glass bottle with a cork and what appears to be a tropical island. The video has since been removed from TikTok, though it remains available to watch on YouTube Shorts.
No additional information on the venture is known at this time, and representatives for McFarland declined to comment further.
In 2018, McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison after he admitted to defrauding investors in the Fyre Festival, which promised ticket holders a luxurious music event on Exuma island in the Bahamas with performances from acts including Pusha T, Blink-182, Major Lazer, Migos, Lil Yachty and Disclosure. But when attendees arrived on the island, they discovered the event was a sham. In addition to the Fyre Festival fraud, McFarland also pleaded guilty to charges in a subsequent ticket-selling scam.
McFarland lobbied for compassionate release in 2020 early in the coronavirus pandemic, claiming he was “totally vulnerable” to COVID-19, but his request was denied (he later confirmed he had contracted the virus). Following his release from Milan Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, Michigan, his attorney Jason Russo confirmed to Billboard that he was moved to a halfway house in New York, with a release set for Aug. 30.
In addition to his prison sentence, McFarland was ordered to pay roughly $26 million in restitution for his crimes. In May, Russo told Billboard that McFarland was focused on finding “the best way to generate income to pay this restitution back and make amends,” adding, “Any new projects that he does become involved in will be done solely for the purpose of generating the restitution for paying back his victims.”
In addition to his criminal victims, McFarland also owes nearly $11 million to the creditors of Fyre Festival LLC as part of a default judgement won by the trustee of the festival, Gregory Messer. A separate $3.4 million judgement is owed to the state by the now defunct Fyre Media Inc.
Owing victims of a federal crime restitution money is one of the most onerous debts to have, says Curtis Briggs, a California criminal attorney. Briggs notes that the federal government’s reach into the financial system, coupled with rules that allow collection from retirement accounts and supersede state and federal bankruptcy protections, makes the feds a “super creditor” with the “most intrusive methods” available to it for collecting debt.
“Anything he legitimately declares as income” will be subject to collection by the government to repay his victims, says Briggs, who successfully defended one of two Oakland men prosecuted in the Ghost Ship fire and currently represents Black Lives Matter activist Tianna Arata.
Without any tangible assets to seize or a salary to garnish, collecting a judgement will likely mean scrutinizing McFarland’s annual tax return and monitoring his bank accounts. McFarland will be granted a modest court-monitored income and if he is operating a business, he will be allowed to write off certain expenses, but “his finances will be closely scrutinized by attorneys for the families of the victims” and FBI agents assigned to him, says Briggs.
LONDON — For live music executives, Monday’s (Oct. 24) appointment of Rishi Sunak as Liz Truss’ successor as U.K.’s prime minister brings a sense of urgency as the sector struggles to recover to full health after the devastating impact of the pandemic.
They are calling for Sunak, who served in Boris Johnson’s government as Chancellor of the Exchequer and will become the U.K.’s first British-Asian prime minister, to swiftly cut the sales tax rate charged on U.K. ticket purchases from the current 20% VAT to 5%.
At the height of the pandemic, Sunak lowered VAT rates to 5% to try and help boost advance sales. The tax cut lasted for eight months, before rising to 12.5% last October and then returning to its pre-pandemic level of 20% on April 1.
Live execs say that cutting VAT back to 5% will encourage ticket sales at a time when many people in the U.K. are experiencing a drastic reduction in disposable income due to soaring food and energy prices. Last month, inflation hit a 40-year high of 10.1% in the United Kingdom.
Jon Collins, CEO of U.K. live music industry association LIVE, says he hopes Sunak’s experience in the Treasury office “leaves him well placed to recognize the economic stimulus that would follow” a reduction in VAT on ticket sales. “Safeguarding gigs, festivals and venues while encouraging additional activity will bring benefits to town and city centers across the U.K.,” says Collins.
An immediate priority for the new prime minister — who officially takes up his post on Tuesday, following a meeting with King Charles III — will be restoring confidence in the financial markets, following Truss’ disastrously brief reign.
Last month, the pound fell to a record low against the U.S. dollar in the aftermath of Kwasi Kwarteng’s Sept. 23 mini budget, which spooked investors with its unfunded tax cuts — something Sunak warned about when he unsuccessfully competed in an earlier Conservative Party leadership contest this summer. Truss sacked Kwarteng as Chancellor on Oct. 14, precipitating her downfall. Almost all the tax measures he introduced have since been scrapped.
Sunak, a former hedge fund partner who married the daughter of an Indian billionaire, won the prime minister role after Johnson announced on Sunday he would not be running for the position. On Monday, Sunak’s only other rival, Penny Mordaunt, pulled out of the contest shortly before votes from members of Parliament (MPs) were due to be announced.
The markets calmed Monday with sterling broadly unchanged against the dollar and government borrowing costs falling as the interest rate on bonds dropped to 3.8%. (The rate was 5.17% in late September.)
“There is no doubt we face a profound economic challenge,” Sunak, one of Westminster’s wealthiest politicians, said in a televised address. “We now need stability and unity, and I will make it my utmost priority to bring our party and our country together.”
Michael Kill CEO of The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), which represents more than 1,400 U.K. nightclubs and venues, says he will judge the incoming prime minister on his “actions not words.”
Kill says he hoped Sunak can “can address the current instability, uncertainty and begin a journey to build back consumer confidence for nighttime economy and hospitality businesses.” He echoed live executives’ demands for a cut to VAT and called for an extension on business rates relief (taxes payable on business premises, such as record shops and music venues). “Independent businesses will not survive without it,” Kill says.
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.The 2022 leg of Harry Styles‘ Love On Tour is already shaping up to be a mega-successful jaunt — and it’s not over yet. Styles, who kicked off the North American installment of his tour in August, will continue his two-week, mini-residency at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on Monday (Oct. 24).
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For the Stylers who are willing to pay a little more to see the “As It Was” singer live, we’ve rounded up some of the places that you can buy tickets online without spending an arm and a leg. Styles will head back to Europe in 2023 for another leg of the tour, Live Nation announced Aug. 26. Back in May, Styles added a handful of additional shows in New York City and Los Angeles and, of course, tickets sold out quickly. Styles also added a handful of additional dates to his Los Angeles concerts, bringing the tally to 15 shows. His string of shows at the Kia Forum will be held from Oct. 23 until Nov. 15.
Currently, tickets for Styles’ Love On Tour are available at Seat Geek starting at around $91 and approximately $80 on StubHub (prices may fluctuate depending on availability and the date of the show). You can also find passes on Vivid Seats for around $87 and up, depending on location and date. Select dates are still available at Ticketmaster, but expect to pay around $300 and up.
Harry Styles Love On Tour Tickets
$from $87
The first European leg of the Love On Tour, promoting Styles’ third studio album, Harry’s House, kicked off June 11 at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland. Styles hit Toronto in mid-August before making his way to Madison Square Garden for a mini-residency that will run until Sept. 21.
Harry’s House was released March 20 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with an impressive 521,000 units sold in its first week. In wake of the horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May, Styles and his tour sponsor, Live Nation, announced that they will donate $1 million to the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, an educational, research and litigation arm of the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country.
“Along with all of you, I have been absolutely devastated by the recent string of mass shootings in America, culminating at Robb Elementary School in Texas,” said Styles at the time. “On our North American tour, we will be partnering with Everytown who work to end gun violence, donating to support their efforts, and sharing their suggested action items.”
Looking for gear to celebrate Styles’ new album and wear to the Love On Tour? Be sure to read our list of the best gifts for Harry Styles fans.
A Harry Styles concert is what Beatlemania must have felt like.
For the 17,000 people at the singer’s opening Love on Tour concert in Los Angeles on Sunday night (Oct. 23) — many of whom were certainly not alive in the 1960s — the eardrum-rupturing screams and cries as the 28-year-old superstar walked on stage brought up a sweet nostalgia for the rock n’ roll days of the past.
Dressed in an orange and white suit, embellished with sparkling palm trees, Styles introduced his 15-night run at the Kia Forum with the Harry’s House fan favorite, “Daydreaming.”
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The Grammy winner then delivered an hour-and-a-half set list (below) of career-spanning hits, from his debut album’s “Kiwi” and Fine Line‘s “Adore You” to his third studio LP’s hits like “Music for a Sushi Restaurant,” “Cinema,” “Late Night Talking” and many more. While the set lists have evolved over Styles’ tours, one thing remains the same — the glitter-dressed fans singing every word so loud that you can barely hear Harry, waving their feather boas in the air and dancing freely with their fellow concert attendees.
Notably, Styles didn’t perform the Harry’s House track, “Boyfriends,” but thankfully, opening act Ben Harper took on the poignant ballad, as he played guitar on the original recording. “I’ve recorded in a lot of different environments with a lot of different people, and this stands out as one of the most exciting and gratifying sessions I’ve ever done,” Harper told Billboard of recording the track. “[Songwriter] Kid Harpoon and Harry, they were very patient. We went in and kept throwing ideas and, finally, I just tried one idea that really stuck.”
“I try not to put expectations on a crowd, lay them all on my shoulders. I walk up there and just give everything. Be well enough rehearsed to have a lot of fun,” Harper added of his set, which also featured both his children joining him onstage to perform. “It’s got to be fun or I should be doing something else.”
Styles wrapped up his high-energy set with a jam-packed encore, and with two songs left of the show, the singer noticed a couple heading out of the arena to try and beat the Los Angeles traffic. “We’re not finished! Go back!” Styles jokingly shouted at them, and the duo (now on the jumbotron) followed the star’s orders and went back to their chairs. “We’ve got two songs left, back to your seats! We can see you sneaking out. I’m not done!”
And while the playful interaction, of course, was just a display of Styles’ goofy sense of humor, his declaration of “I’m not done” struck a chord as he delved straight into his 15-week Billboard Hot 100 chart topper, “As It Was.” For Styles, singing to sold-out crowds in the country’s biggest and most iconic arenas, it’s clear that nothing is, in his own words, “the same as it was.” His career is also the furthest thing from “done.” In fact, it’s just the beginning for Harry Styles.
See Styles’ full set list below, and check out how to snag tickets for his upcoming Los Angeles shows here.
DaydreamingGoldenAdore YouDaylightKeep DrivingMatildaLittle FreakSatelliteCinemaMusic for a Sushi RestaurantTreat People With KindnessWhat Makes You BeautifulLate Night TalkingWatermelon SugarLove of My Life
Encore:Sign of the TimesMedicineAs It WasKiwi
Elle King will kick off 2023 in a big way. Not only will her debut country project, Come Get Your Wife, release Jan. 27, but she will bring her music to fans starting Feb. 14 with her headlining Elle King A-Freakin-Men Tour, presented by Low and Slow.
The nearly 30-city tour will launch in New Orleans on Valentine’s Day, with Red Clay Strays opening the shows.
“I am so excited to be going back out on tour, not just because I love to perform, but because I’m finally putting out a new record,” King said via a statement. “I have put all of my energy and love into this album and I cannot wait to share it live for everyone.”
Known for the Grammy-nominated “Ex’s and Oh’s,” King already has two country hits to her credit, her Dierks Bentley collaboration “Different for Girls,” as well as the Miranda Lambert collaboration “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home).”
The Alabama natives Red Clay Strays include Brandon Coleman (lead vocals/guitar), Drew Nix (vocals/electric guitar/harmonica), Zach Rishel (electric guitar), Andrew Bishop (bass) and John Hall (drums).
See the tour dates for King’s A-Freakin-Men Tour below:
Feb 14 – New Orleans – The Fillmore Feb 16 – Atlanta – TabernacleFeb 17 – Asheville, N.C. – The Orange PeelFeb 18 – Asheville, N.C. – The Orange PeelFeb 19 – Lexington, Ky. – Manchester Music HallFeb 21 – Silver Spring, Md. – The FillmoreFeb 22 – Huntington, N.Y. – The ParamountFeb 24 – Boston – RoadrunnerFeb 25 – Harrisburg, Pa. – XL LiveFeb 27 – Cleveland, Ohio – Masonic AuditoriumFeb 28 – Cincinnati – The Andrew J Brady Music CenterMarch 1 – Indianapolis – Egyptian Room at Old Red CentreMarch 3 – Detroit – The FillmoreMarch 4 – Chicago – TBAMarch 5 – St. Paul, Minn. – The PalaceMarch 7 – St. Louis – The PageantMarch 8 – Kansas City, Mo. – Uptown TheaterMarch 10 – Denver – SummitMarch 11 – Salt Lake City – Union Event CenterMarch 14 – Portland, Ore. – Revolution HallMarch 15 – Portland, Ore. – Revolution HallMarch 17 – Stateline, Nev. – Harrah’s Lake Tahoe South Shore RoomMarch 18 – Sacramento, Calf. – Ace Of SpadesMarch 20 – Tempe, Ariz. – Marquee TheaterMarch 23 – Austin, Texas – Austin City Limits Live At Moody TheaterMarch 24 – Tulsa, Okla. – Cain’s BallroomMarch 25 – Bossier City, La. – Margaritaville Resort Theater (*Red Clay Strays not available for this show)
Music and events venue veteran Becky Colwell has been announced as the general manager for the Kia Forum and vp for music and events at the yet-to-open Intuit Dome, both in Inglewood, Calif. She joins the LA Clippers organization, which owns both buildings, and brings to the job 25 years of venue industry experience. Colwell will be responsible for operations and programming of the Kia Forum as well as the programming of Intuit Dome when it opens as the new home of the Clippers in 2024.
Colwell was previously the gm of the Greek Theater, first for SMG and then for ASM Global following AEG Facilities merger with SMG in 2019, and also served as regional director of booking for ASM Global’s western region. While at the Greek, Colwell was named 2017 venue executive of the year by the International Entertainment Buyers Association (IEBA), and the venue was consistently recognized as one of the top five venues in the country.
She starts her new role today, Oct. 24 and will report to LA Clippers president of business operations Gillian Zucker.
“Becky has earned a reputation for creating best-in-class experiences for all who step foot in the venues she leads and will help us continue to achieve new standards at the Kia Forum and Intuit Dome,” said Zucker.
Colwell added “I’m thrilled to join the Kia Forum family and to be a part of the talented team building what will be the best new venue in the world at Intuit Dome.”
Colwell has also worked as an executive at Booth Amphitheatre and Walnut Creek Amphitheatre in North Carolina. She is an alumna of Auburn University and currently serves as IEBA President and incoming chairman.