State Champ Radio Touring
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YoungBoy Never Broke Again is getting back on the road once again. YB announced the 2025 MASA Tour (Make America Slime Again) on Thursday (May 15) as the Baton Rouge native regained his freedom after being released from federal prison in March. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and […]
Assembling a show for the technological mecca that is Las Vegas’ Sphere is a head-spinning process for any artist and their team. But CAA agent Ferry Rais-Shaghaghi and Sphere Entertainment vp of live Erin Calhoun worked side by side to help create the buzzy, boundary-pushing run by melodic techno artist Anyma, who became the first electronic act to play the venue when he kicked off a residency there in late December that ran through early March.
Booking an electronic artist had been a priority, particularly given that the right artist would, Calhoun says, “be able to leverage all of Sphere’s experiential technologies in a new, compelling way.” Anyma (born Matteo Milleri) had been on the Sphere team’s radar for years, and over time, it became clear that his international appeal, futuristic music and strong preexisting visual identity made the Italian American artist the perfect choice.
Rais-Shaghaghi says that for him and the rest of Anyma’s team, Calhoun became “the point person for us to navigate everything.” In the year or so it took to produce the show — titled Afterlife Presents Anyma ‘The End of Genesys’ — Calhoun and Rais-Shaghaghi formed, he says, “an incredible business relationship that became a friendship with someone we trusted and felt comfortable going to and having the difficult conversations we needed to have.”
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Through these conversations, the team created huge and viral moments, like the scene where a character falls through space, creating a wild, lightly dizzying effect for the audience. They also made a pair of cello-playing robots that helped bring Anyma’s melodies to life. Calhoun says such elements “highlighted the way technology combines with artistry to make for an unforgettable experience.” Milleri developed the visual feast of a show himself alongside Anyma’s longtime visual creative director/lead computer graphics artist Alessio De Vecchi and head creative Alexander Wessely.
Rais-Shaghaghi and his team leveraged their network and hype around the residency to book support acts — “We looked at them more as guests,” he says — for the run that included Peggy Gou, John Summit, Solomun, Amelie Lens, Charlotte de Witte and Tiësto, giving each night a mini-festival feel.
And when issues inevitably arose during production, Rais-Shaghaghi says Calhoun “would always help us in navigating it within her ecosystem and [figuring out] how we could get to the finish line. Erin is firm, but she knows how to get the results she needs without burning bridges. She’s also really good at being a team player, understanding the artist’s creative process and direction and being the voice between the artist and the owner of [Madison Square Garden] in finding that middle ground.”
“We were completely aligned on the overall goal here: to blow everyone away with stunning visuals, next-level sound and an unparalleled live experience,” Calhoun adds. “Every move we made was side by side, which is how we approach every artist playing our venue. The vision is led by the artist, and we do everything we can to make it happen. Ferry is so passionate and was hands-on throughout the entirety of the run.”
This shared mission was ultimately a huge success, with the 12-night residency drawing more than 200,000 fans from around the world. The first eight dates alone sold 137,000 tickets and grossed $21 million, although Rais-Shaghaghi says money is ultimately beside the point.
“Obviously, as agents, we have to look at how we make our clients win financially,” he says, “but more so, it’s about how we can do things where the promoter wins, the fans win and the artists feel that they created an experience that had a high impact.”
This show is clearly one such instance. “From the performers onstage to the fans in the crowd,” Calhoun says, “everyone wanted more, more, more.”
This story appears in the May 17, 2025, issue of Billboard.
LONDON — A number of vital grassroots music venues in the U.K. are set to come under shared ownership in the second phase of a new community-led project.
The Music Venue Properties, the Charitable Community Benefit Society (CBS) created by Music Venue Trust (MVT), seeks to protect grassroots venues by placing them into community ownership and outside of commercial leases with landlords.
Seven grassroots music venue will be included in the next phase of the project: Esquires, Bedford; The Sugarmill, Stoke-on-Trent; The Joiners; Southampton, The Croft, Bristol; Peggy’s Skylight, Nottingham; The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle; The Pipeline, Brighton. The community share offer, which will open on May 15, 2025 and close on July 31, 2025.
The first phase of the Own Our Venues initiative ran in 2023, and raised £2.88m ($3.83m) to secure the ownership of a number of venues across the U.K., including The Bunkhouse in Swansea, Wales, and The Snug in Atherton, England.
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An accompanying press release says that the scheme offers a “cultural lease,” that far exceeds the traditional 18 month commercial lease that these venues must operate within. The statement adds, that these cultural leases “ensure fair, sustainable rent, annual contributions toward essential maintenance, and ongoing support in areas such as financial sustainability and operational best practice.”
Ricky Bates, venue operator of The Joiners, Southampton said of the next phase of the program, “We welcome Music Venue Properties’ ownership of our building as the only real solution to securing one of the most important live music venues in the UK. For almost 60 years, The Joiners has been a vital part of the UK touring circuit and a creative cornerstone of Southampton, but today its future is uncertain. Our lease expires this year, our landlord is retiring and, while the venue is rich in history, the building is over 200 years old and in need of care.
“In today’s economy, it simply isn’t viable for us as individuals to purchase the property but, with the support of the Own Our Venues campaign and the wider music community, we can secure The Joiners for the next 60 years and beyond. Be part of this historic moment—get involved and help protect grassroots music for generations to come.”
It’s the latest move by the U.K. music scene in the fightback against closures of independent venues and to support grassroots musicians. On Wednesday (May 14), the team behind The Leadmill in Sheffield, England said that their eviction appeal had been unsuccessful and that they have three months to vacate the premises. The building’s landlord, the Electric Group, runs a number of venues in the U.K. already, including London’s Electric Brixton, Bristol’s SWX and Newcastle’s NX. Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, Pulp and Coldplay are among the legendary artists to play The Leadmill over the years.
After taking a few years off, the irreverent and one-of-a-kind podcast Promoter 101 is back and dropping hot takes on the concert business like it’s 2018 all over again.
Understanding why music manager Luke Pierce and Live Nation promoter Dan Steinberg revived their podcast is nearly as complex as understanding why they stopped in the first place. When they shelved the show in 2020, shifting priorities and the increasingly complicated post-pandemic concert industry played a major role. But what surprised Steinberg most was that no one stepped in to capitalize on their absence.
“We thought that we’ve been talking for quite a while, and maybe there was another voice; maybe if we got out of the way and somebody else wanted to speak up and fill that void,” Steinberg says.
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But no one did — and Steinberg and Pierce believe that’s partly because the concert business has only grown more complex in the wake of the pandemic, especially with the rise of dynamic pricing and nine-figure tour grosses. While they plan to keep the show’s popular interview format, they also intend to dive deeper into topics like ticket pricing and the reasons behind the sharp rise in concert costs in the post-pandemic era.
“I think it’s a mistake to say the promoters are outpricing the market,” Steinberg said. ” I think the managers are setting the prices. The artist may say they want more money, but I think that call is usually the manager, and it’s their job to direct that, and most artists leave that to the manager and the agent to figure out. I don’t know the promoters that want a more expensive ticket — more often, the promoter is trying to bring the ticket price down.”
Pierce added that there’s a “good swath of working artists that have priced themselves out of the middle class of live music.”
In the months immediately following the reopening of concert venues, fans were spending significant money on concerts and live experiences, making up for time lost during the pandemic. That period was followed by what Pierce calls a “burnout period” that’s happening “right now.”
“While fans return to some of their pre-pandemic behaviors, you know, artists continue to kind of tour at peak levels, and I think that will cause some problems with soft tours and unsold inventory,” he said. The result is a “top-heavy touring ecosystem, where the middle is kind of getting squeezed out a little bit, and I think it’s something artists and their teams really need to be cognizant of.”
The pricing problem will become more acute in the next 24 months based on what happens with the economy, Pierce adds, noting that “we just saw GDP figures come out, and the contraction of the U.S. economy is certainly not a great sign. Paying attention and making adjustments to your business is prudent right now.”
“Put more simply, the demand in the post-pandemic environment was enormous because we couldn’t do anything for a while, and we got free money from the government for a little bit, and nowhere to spend it,” Pierce says. “But that has to reset somewhere along a sensible trend. And I think it’ll be challenging for some people to figure out what that looks like.”
Steinberg notes that while the festival market will need to make some adjustments to navigate a tough economic climate, he remains optimistic about its long-term potential.
“Festivals are not done, it’s just a competitive space,” Steinberg says. “And they’re for younger people. And so there’s always going to be a cooler festival with a more cutting-edge lineup. But festivals can come back from a bad year. Coachella had some rough years, but they came back. Bonnaroo definitely had some tougher years, but they have come back. It’s very cyclical.”
One real challenge festivals face, Pierce notes, is “headliner fatigue, due to a lack of inventory of headliners.” Artists can make more money touring, especially artists playing arenas and stadiums, where they can deliver “the exact experience they want their fans to have, and that’s a better business decision for them, top to bottom.”
Steinberg and Pierce plan to release one new Promoter 101 episode each month and have launched a refreshed brand identity, complete with updated logos and artwork, to mark their return. Their comeback episode, No. 230, features interviews with Paladin Artists agents Steve Martin, Andy Somers and Chyna Chuan. The latest episode is available now at promoter101.net.
The “She Wolf” is on the prowl again. Global superstar Shakira performed to a sold-out crowd at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday (May 13), kicking off the U.S. leg of her successful Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour. As the tour slogan suggests, “women don’t cry,” they dominate stadiums! […]
Live Nation has announced the launch of a $30 concert ticket initiative for summer 2025, through which fans will be able to access more than 1,000 shows at select amphitheaters across the U.S. and Canada throughout the season.
Live music fans can catch concerts from The Offspring, Halsey, Nelly, Pierce the Veil, Avril Lavigne, Kesha, HARDY, Dierks Bentley, Cyndi Lauper, Kidz Bop Kids, Rod Stewart and many more for just $30 — an all-inclusive price with no additional fees outside of local taxes.
Additional artists under the $30 ticket options include Willie Nelson, Simple Plan, The Black Keys, Weird Al Yankovic, Little Big Town, James Taylor, Leon Bridges, Goo Goo Dolls, Luke Bryan, Barenaked Ladies, Billy Idol, Cody Jinks, Keith Urban, Big Time Rush, Volbeat, Slightly Stoopid and more.
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More shows will be added throughout the summer, giving fans multiple chances to score $30 tickets all season long.
Starting May 21 in the U.S. and Canada, fans can go to Live Nation’s Ticket to Summer site to see the full list of participating events and add the ticket type “$30 Ticket to Summer” to their cart for the deal. T-Mobile and Rakuten members will get early access on May 20. All ticket sales will begin at 10 a.m. ET on the given day.
The $30 Tickets to Summer initiative follows Live Nation’s similar summer offering, Live Nation Concert Week. Live Nation Concert Week, which hit its 10-year anniversary last year, only lasted seven days. Notably, the promoter recently discontinued its popular Lawn Pass program, through which music fans paid a flat fee for a lawn ticket to every summer concert at participating amphitheaters. At the time of that announcement, the company said it would replace the six-year-old program with something different. The $30 Ticket to Summer will be the promotion giant’s only summer offering for the 2025 season.
Tickets for this year’s $30 Tickets to Summer are available for select Live Nation shows while inventory lasts.
Live Nation has agreed to a long-term lease for a 5,000-seat venue in downtown Atlanta that will be part of a development around the Mercedes-Benz Stadium and State Farm Arena.
Centennial Yards is described by CIM, the developer that has partnered with the City of Atlanta, as a “mixed-used community featuring residential units, retail and entertainment establishments, community gathering spaces and more.” The 50-acre site is expected to have a $5 billion price tag. In addition to the music venue, it will include a 14-story hotel, a two-story food and beverage hall and a Cosm entertainment venue. The development already includes a brewery, loft residences and a 500-foot pedestrian bridge.
Live Nation’s involvement with the development was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
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Concert venues are increasingly popular properties in urban developments centered around the venues of professional sports teams. Mercedes-Benz Stadium has been the home of the Atlanta Falcons since 2017. The Atlanta Hawks basketball team plays at State Farm Arena.
“Every owner of a major sports team that wants to have their new building is not just building a building anymore,” Live Nation president/CFO Joe Berchtold said at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference on Tuesday (May 13). “They’re building an entertainment district around it.”
Centennial Yards is the latest example of concert promoters taking part in developments that aim to revitalize urban areas. Downtown Nashville’s The Pinnacle, a 4,500-capacity music venue operated by AEG Presents, is part of Nashville Yards, owned by real estate developer Southwest Value Partners. Nashville Yards also houses AEG Presents’ regional offices, CAA and, starting in July, Messina Touring Group.
Another massive multi-purpose project getting underway is RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. The development currently includes a food hall, a skate park and festival grounds that hosts music festivals and other large gatherings. Berchtold said at the conference that he was in D.C. last week but didn’t mention the RFK project.
Leasing a mid-sized venue in Atlanta will add to Live Nation’s portfolio of venues under its Venue Nation business segment. Venue Nation plans to open 20 additional venues globally in 2025, which it believes will add 7 million incremental fans annually. As of the end of 2024, Live Nation leased 222 venues, owned 32 and operated 67. It has the exclusive booking rights to another 69 venues and owns an equity stake in 4.
Facility management company Marathon Live is opening the music venue FIVE, located at Jacksonville, Fla.’s, historic Five Points, on Tuesday night (May 13) with Korean-American singer, musician and internet personality BoyWithUke performing. FIVE is located in a historic 1927 theater that was recently renovated. The work began in August with crews working to preserve the […]
Kali Uchis is trading intimacy for enormity. Fresh off the release of her most vulnerable album yet, Sincerely, the Colombian American artist is set to bring her lush, genre-melding sound to arena stages across North America this summer. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news With stops at […]
Ineffable Live has signed an exclusive talent buying agreement with Majestic Ventura Theater, previously managed and booked by Live Nation since 2019. Ineffable Live is the concert promoter and talent buying division of Ineffable Music Group, the Oakland-based record label, management company and concert promoter. Ineffable’s stable of California venues include the Uptown Theatre in […]
