Touring
Page: 19
SYDNEY, Australia — As Groovin the Moo disappears from the events calendar for the second successive year, a call for urgent assistance from the federal government.
Last Friday, Jan. 31, news broke of GTM’s decision to sit out its second successive year, joining Splendour In The Grass from the sidelines.
“It’s disappointing to see that Groovin the Moo, one of Australia’s longest-running touring festivals, will not be going ahead in 2025,” reads a statement from Olly Arkins, managing director of the Australian Festival Association, which counts GTM among its members.
Trending on Billboard
Regional festivals like GTM “play a vital role in connecting audiences with live music outside of major cities, providing opportunities for artists, local businesses, and festival workers,” the statement continues.
“But like many events across the country, the rising costs of production and ongoing challenges in the industry have made it increasingly difficult to operate.”
AFA’s Arkins says now is the moment for government to pump much-needed funds into “Revive Live,” part of the government’s National Cultural Policy, Revive, which launched in 2023.
The cancelation “highlights the urgent need for the Federal Government to extend Revive Live funding to ensure festivals of all sizes can continue to thrive. Festivals are essential to Australia’s cultural and economic landscape, and we look forward to seeing Groovin the Moo return in the future.”
Last Friday, festival producers Fuzzy shared the news no one wanted to hear. “Groovin The Moo won’t be happening in 2025,” reads a statement posted on social media, “while we work on finding the most sustainable model for Australia’s most loved regional touring festival.”
The message continues, “We will really miss seeing the smiling faces of all our beloved Moo Crew – and that means YOU! In the meantime, which artist would you most like to see on a GTM lineup?”
It was a similar story a year earlier, when organizers canceled the 2023 show due to poor ticket sales. That fest had been announced with a bill featuring Alison Wonderland, DMA’S, Jet, Armani White, GZA & the Phunky Nomads, the Jungle Giants and more.
GTM’s point of difference is in its route around the country, visiting primarily regional centers and bypassing Australia’s big three east coast cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane). The 2023 run was scheduled to start April 25 at Adelaide Showground, then visit sites in Canberra, Bendigo, Newcastle, Sunshine Coast and wrap up May 11 in Bunbury, Western Australia.
Established by Cattleyard Promotions, GTM’s first festival was held on April 2005 in Gloucester, New South Wales.
Through the years, a who’s who of edgy rock, pop, hip-hop and electronic music have graced its stages, from Vampire Weekend and Silverchair to Disclosure, The Darkness and many more.
GTM made international headlines in 2018 when its Canberra leg trialed pill testing, a first in Australia. A second trial was conducted in 2019, with more than 230 festival-goers reported to have used the pill-testing service, and seven substances were found to contain the potentially lethal n-ethylpentylone.
Researchers said the trial worked, and similar models are being rolled out at festivals in other states.
When the pandemic shut borders, grounded travel and social distancing became the norm, the festival brand halted its 2020 and 2021 events.
Australia’s colorful festivals marketplace is struggling under the weight of pressures coming at every angle, from the cost-of-living crisis, to the soaring price of securing talent and crew, changing ticket-buying behavior and more. Bluesfest director Peter Noble has described the troubles punishing the festivals industry as an “extinction event” – not everyone will survive, but life will go on and evolve.
Beyoncé is taking her Cowboy Carter album on the road.
On Sunday (Feb. 2), the 43-year-old superstar officially teased her 2025 Cowboy Carter Tour. Bey posted a short video on Instagram showcasing a large hanging neon sign that read “Cowboy Carter Tour,” accompanied by the sound of wind in the background.
In a follow-up post, she shared a promotional image of herself sporting blonde braids with the caption “Cowboy Carter Tour 2025.” Details about the upcoming trek remain under wraps, but the announcement came just hours before Sunday’s 67th Annual Grammy Awards, where she is expected to attend.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
After her headline-grabbing halftime show performance at the Baltimore Ravens vs. Houston Texans game on Christmas Day, the 32-time Grammy winner posted a cinematic teaser on social media hinting at a mystery project set for announcement on Jan. 14. Many fans speculated the reveal would be related to a tour in support of her country album Cowboy Carter, which topped the Billboard 200. These theories gained traction when Live Nation, which also backed her Renaissance World Tour, reposted her teaser content.
When Jan. 14 arrived, however, Beyoncé postponed the announcement, citing the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.
Trending on Billboard
“The January 14th announcement will be postponed to a later date due to the devastation caused by the ongoing wildfires around areas of Los Angeles,” she wrote on social media. “I continue to pray for healing and rebuilding for the families suffering from trauma and loss. We are so blessed to have brave first responders who continue to work tirelessly to protect the Los Angeles community.”
Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour was named Billboard‘s top-grossing tour of 2023, earning nearly $580 million and attracting 2.8 million concertgoers across 56 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore.
In addition to her tour news, Beyoncé — who was named Billboard’s Greatest Pop Star of the 21st Century in 2024 — is dominating the 2025 Grammy nominations with 11 nods. Cowboy Carter is nominated for album of the year and best country album. The set’s lead single “Texas Hold ‘Em” is up for song of the year, record of the year and best country song.
The 2025 Grammy Awards will be broadcast live from Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena on Sunday (Feb. 2) at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
Approximately 900 people joined a town hall meeting hosted by Burning Man Project on Saturday (Feb. 1) with the organization’s CEO Marian Goodell, along with other staffers, making myriad announcements regarding the 2025 event, including information regarding a tiered ticketing system with new prices.
The town hall happened after months of fundraising efforts by Burning Man Project — the nonprofit behind the annual gathering in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert and other Burning Man-related initiatives –after it reported a $10 million deficit due, as Goodell explained to Billboard in November, 2024 tickets not selling as forecasted.
The financial issue was compounded when Burning Man 2024 failed to sell out for the first time in many years. In November, Goodell said all ticket tiers saw decreased sales in 2024 and estimated that attendance was down by roughly 4,000. As such, in the latter part of 2024, Burning Man spent months trying to raise $20 million (with 2024’s $10 million deficit added to $10 million the organization typically raises every year) through a subscription program that encouraged Burners from around the world to make monthly donations to Burning Man Project.
Trending on Billboard
In the Saturday meeting, Goodell noted that the organization did not meet this fundraising goal, although she did not announce how much money was raised. (Goodell did note that a December campaign to raise $3 million was a success, and elaborated on the organization’s financial picture in a recent blog post.) She added that Burning Man Project “did manage to reduce our internal spending and budget by 9%… and will continue to tightly manage operating expenses and capital expenses across the organization.”
Goodell and the team then unveiled a revamped ticketing program, with new and updated price tiers. Tickets for Burning Man 2025 will start at $550, with prices scaling up from there — $650, $750 and $950m and more.
Tickets will be sold in three separate public sales, with the first happening on Feb. 12. Tickets in this sale (dubbed the “Today Sale”) will be $550, $650, $750, $950, $1,500, and $3,000, plus applicable taxes and fees. Registration for this sale opens on Monday (Feb. 3), with the sale offering a limited number of tickets available at each price. The Burning Man site notes that “$550 and $650 tickets are expected to sell quickly.” The meeting did not address how many tickets will be available at each price point.
Since 2022, Burning Man’s main sale tickets cost $575, an increase from $475 in 2019. (Burning Man didn’t officially happen in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic.) Therefore, many 2025 main sale tickets will be sold at a higher price than in previous years. In the meeting, Goodell emphasized that making new tiers (with ticket tiers previously offering no tickets between $550 and $1,500) provides more pricing options than ever before and “helps keep ticket prices affordable”
Beyond this first sale, the annual Steward’s Sale will happen on March 5, with these tickets going to camps, art installations, art cars, and groups supporting organizational initiatives having access to attending the event. The Stewards Sale has its own ticket price allotments reserved unrelated to other ticket sales.
Another ticket sale (dubbed the “Tomorrow Sale”) will happen at to be determined date and include ticket tiers based on ticketing availability following the “Today Sale.” A final sale (the annual “OMG sale”) will happen in July and offer any remaining tickets across all the price points.
Meanwhile, two new programs — the “Renaissance Program” and “Resilience Program” — will debut with the goal of bringing networks and groups to Black Rock City and brings people affected by natural disasters and geographical conflict, respectively. More information regarding these programs will be announced in the coming weeks and months.
Goodell alluded to backlash over the recent fundraising campaign among factions of the global Burning Man community, saying that “with the event selling out every year, we [previously] didn’t need to explain that tickets do not cover the event cost and that philanthropy is needed, but the game has changed, and we should have brought you along better on this journey and we appreciate you sticking with us… We are learning and improving, reducing bureaucracy and red tape, and we hope that you see and feel this in how you engage with us and one another.”
The meeting featured presentations from several members from Burning Man Project, with operations director Charlie Dolman explaining several new processes, including an expedited process to acquire the vehicle passes that allow Burners to drive through the event. Burning Man will also issue new “decommodification guidelines” meant to, as Dolman said, address “cultural issues,” along with a more organized ingress and egress system. (In previous years it’s taken some attendees roughly 12 hours to leave the event.)
“Over the last last few months we’ve gotten a lot of feedback from a lot of people, and I just want to say that we’ve heard you, and honestly even when it’s been uncomfortable we’ve kept our eyes and ears open. We want that feedback,” Dolman said, continuing that “in places we’ve overcomplicated things and we’ve made things too bureaucratic maybe, and that’s no fun. That has all been done with good intention… but also it became not fun, so we needed to course correct.”
Later in the presentation, Goodell also noted a new attempt to push back on costs related to the Bureau of Land Management, with fees from the organization typically coming in at $8 million. “I think we’re going to see some improvements in costs with the BLM,” she disclosed.
Lainey Wilson‘s career whirlwind will continue surging this year, when the 2023 CMA entertainer of the year winner launches her Whirlwind World Tour in March.
The nearly 50-date trek will feature openers Maddox Batson, Kaitlin Butts, Ernest, Zach Meadows, Drake Milligan, Muscadine Bloodline and Lauren Watkins at various shows. The Whirlwind Tour, which takes its name from Wilson’s 2024 album, will play across Europe, Canada and the United States, hitting London’s O2 Arena, Los Angeles’ Kia Forum, Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena and New York’s Madison Square Garden along the way.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Wilson revealed the tour in a comedic skit with openers Ernest and Muscadine Bloodline’s Charlie Muncaster and Gary Stanton that plays with the tour’s title. Wilson portrays a meteorologist, who is telling viewers about a powerful whirlwind that is ripping through (tour stop) cities across the U.S., while Ernest and Muscadine Bloodline portray fellow newscasters/weathermen impacted by the whirlwind.
Trending on Billboard
Wilson’s album Whirlwind is currently nominated for best country album at the upcoming 67th annual Grammy Awards, which are this Sunday (Feb. 2).
See the full list of tour dates below.
March 4: Zurich, CH (X-TRA)~
March 6: Antwerp, BE (De Roma)~
March 8: Rotterdam, NL (Rotterdam Ahoy)
March 9: Berlin, DE (Uber Eats Music Hall)
March 12: Copenhagen, DK (Vega Main)~
March 14: London, UK (O2 Arena)
March 15: Belfast, N. Ireland (SSE Arena)
March 16: Glasgow, Scotland (The SSE Hydro)
March 18: Kingston upon Thames, UK (Banquet Records)
March 19: Paris, FR (Elysée Montmartre)~
May 30: Panama City Beach, Fla. (Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam)
May 31: Lexington, Ky. (Railbird Festival)
June 6: Myrtle Beach, S.C. (Carolina Country Music Fest)
June 20: Wildwood, N.J. (Barefoot Country Music Fest)
June 26: Milwaukee (Summerfest)
June 27: Cadott, Wis. (Country Fest)
July 12: Cavendish, PEI (Cavendish Beach Music Festival)
Aug. 14: Phoenix (Footprint Center) *
Aug. 15: Albuquerque, N.M. (Isleta Amphitheater)*
Aug. 16: Denver (Ball Arena) *
Aug. 21: Bend, Ore. (Hayden Homes Amphitheater)*
Aug. 22: Sacramento, Ca. (Golden 1 Center)*
Aug. 23: Los Angeles (Kia Forum)*
Aug. 28: Calgary, AB (Scotiabank Saddledome)*
Aug. 29: Edmonton, AB (Rogers Place)*
Aug. 30: Saskatoon, SK (SaskTel Centre) *
Sept. 11: Baton Rouge, La. (Raising Cane’s River Center) †
Sept. 13: Bossier City, La. (Brookshire Grocery Arena)†
Sept. 18: Austin, Texas (Moody Center) ‡
Sept. 19: Fort Worth, Texas (Dickies Arena)‡
Sept. 20: Houston (The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman) ‡
Sept. 25: Toronto, Ontario (Budweiser Stage) §
Sept. 26: Clarkston, Mich. (Pine Knob Music Theatre) §
Sept. 27: Grand Rapids, Mich. (Van Andel Arena) §
Oct. 2: Nashville, Tenn. (Bridgestone Arena) ||
Oct. 3: Noblesville, Ind. (Ruoff Music Center) §
Oct. 4: Cleveland, Ohio (Blossom Music Center) §
Oct. 9: Columbia, Md. (Merriweather Post Pavilion) §
Oct. 10: New York (Madison Square Garden) §
Oct. 11: Mansfield, Ma. (Xfinity Center) §
Oct. 16: St. Louis, Mo. (Hollywood Casio Amphitheatre) ||
Oct. 17: Rosemont, Ill. (Allstate Arena) ||
Oct. 18: Saint Paul, M.N. (Xcel Energy Center) ||
Oct. 24: Knoxville, Tenn. (Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center) #
Oct. 25: Charlotte, N.C. (Spectrum Center)#
Nov. 7: Tampa, Fla. (Amalie Arena) #
Nov. 8: Orlando, Fla. (Kia Center) #
~with special guest Zach Meadows
*with special guests ERNEST and Kaitlin Butts
†with special guests ERNEST and Maddox Batson
‡with special guests Muscadine Bloodline and Drake Milligan
§with special guests Muscadine Bloodline and Lauren Watkins
||with special guests Muscadine Bloodline and Maddox Batson
#with special guests ERNEST and Drake Milligan
Hitsujibungaku announced its first first U.S. tour, the Hitsujibungaku US West Coast Tour 2025, set to kick off April 10 in San Diego, California. The three-piece alternative J-pop band’s trek is scheduled to make stops in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon. Canadian pop singer Jonathan Roy will accompany the group to […]
GloRilla is hitting the road. Coming off a banner 2024 campaign full of wins, Big Glo announced plans for The Glorious Tour on Wednesday night (Jan. 29). The North American trek will see support from Real Boston Richey and Queen Key as opening acts. The tour will kick off in Oklahoma City on March 5 […]
Red-hot Latin upstart FloyyMenor has signed with Independent Artist Group for booking. The signing follows the huge success of the 19-year-old Chilean singer-songwriter’s reggaeton hit “Gata Only” with Cris MJ, which was named TikTok’s Global Song of the Summer and Global Song of the Year in 2024. According to a press release, the track saw 50 million creations on TikTok, […]
AEG has unveiled the company’s plans for realigning its international business divisions, promoting Adam Wilkes to the newly created position of president/CEO of AEG Presents, Europe and Asia-Pacific and elevating Alex Hill to lead AEG’s global real estate and venue operations outside the U.S. in the new position of president/CEO of AEG International. In his new […]
The December 2024 Boxscore report is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and (likely) Future: Trans-Siberian Orchestra closes out 2024 at No. 1 on Top Tours, just as it did in December of 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2019 (there was no chart in 2020 due to venue closures during COVID-19).
According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Trans-Siberian Orchestra earned $48.2 million and sold 581,000 tickets from 70 shows between Dec. 1-30. How does one touring act perform 70 shows in 30 days? As has been the case since its 1999 touring debut, TSO employs two ensembles, pushing one to the eastern half of the United States and another to the west. Further, as Christmas approaches, each ensemble ramps up the pace with a matinee and evening performance in each city; for 12 days out of the month, TSO played four shows.
At 70 shows, TSO was four times busier than any of the other 29 artists on December’s Top Tours chart. Pentatonix is the only other act on the ranking that played more than 10 shows in December, with 16 dates on a holiday tour of its own. Even if TSO didn’t have the advantage of being in two places at once, it’d still tower over Pentatonix and everyone else on the survey.
TSO’s annual tour began on Nov. 13 in Council Bluffs, Iowa and Green Bay, Wisc. In all, it played 110 shows in 2024, marking its fullest routing since 2009 (112). It paid off, combining to $69 million, up 1% from last year’s $68.2 million to finish as its biggest year ever. Altogether, TSO has earned $871.4 million and sold 15.8 million tickets since 1999. The ensemble has reported 2,003 concerts, more than any other act in Boxscore history.
Out of 41 cities on the December calendar, TSO grossed more than $1 million in 21. Two shows at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center on Dec. 22 earned $2.1 million. That’s just the third engagement in the group’s history to eclipse the $2 million threshold, joining stops in Tampa ($2.1 million) and Cleveland ($2 million) from 2023.
Both Cleveland and Tampa were among this year’s biggest markets, with $1.9 million and $1.8 million, respectively. St. Paul, Minn. and Pittsburgh, Penn. joined with $1.8 million each. Five markets sold more than 20,000 tickets, including Rosemont, Ill. and Dallas.
Zach Bryan and George Strait follow on Top Tours, crystalizing a banner year for country acts. Bryan grossed $28.5 million over nine shows in just four markets. Just 31 miles from his hometown of Oologah, Okla., three shows at Tulsa’s BOK Center did the heaviest lifting with $9.4 million on Dec. 12-14.
It’s impressive enough that Bryan is No. 2 from shows in just four cities. But George Strait is No. 3 from the power of just one show. His Dec. 7 concert at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium grossed $23.3 million from 47,600 tickets sold, handily crowning Top Boxscores. The next highest one-night engagement on Top Boxscores is Luis Miguel at No. 18 with less than a quarter of Strait’s massive Vegas pull.
Las Vegas dominates Top Boxscores, clogging the top three positions with variety in terms of genre and size. Following Strait’s country stadium juggernaut, Bruno Mars is No. 2 with six shows from his MGM residency at Dolby Live. Those grossed $16 million and sold 31,900 tickets, pushing the residency’s total earnings to $154.8 million, dating back to its 2016 launch.
Rounding out the Vegas trio, Anyma is No. 3 with the first five of eight shows at Sphere. In between Strait’s stadium and Mars’ theater, Sphere’s arena configuration translated to 84,900 tickets sold from Dec. 27-31, combining to $13.6 million. The Italian American DJ is the first electronic act to headline the famed hall, following rock turns from Dead & Company, the Eagles, Phish, and U2.
Sphere takes two more spots in the top 10, with two weekends with the Eagles at Nos. 9-10. Altogether, those shows earned $18.5 million, making them the fifth-highest grossing act of the month. Sphere ends December at No. 2 on Top Venues (15,001+ capacity), just 2% off from its older sister venue, New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra is not the only holiday act impacting the December Boxscore recap. Perennial favorites Pentatonix and Mariah Carey both hit Top Tours, with $14.2 million and $8.3 million, respectively.
As far as individual events go, Denver’s Decadence New Year’s Eve and New York’s Z100 Jingle Ball both appear on Top Boxscores. In addition to NYE performances from Anyma and Bruno Mars, Phish closed out the year with four shows at Madison Square Garden ($9.6 million) and Billy Joel performed a one-night engagement in Long Island at the UBS Arena ($3.8 million).
And as reliable as TSO, the Rockettes returned to Radio City Music Hall for the annual Christmas Spectacular. No. 1 on Top Venues (5,001-10k capacity), the RCMH earned nearly $100 million from 736,000 tickets sold over 129 December shows.
Wasserman Music has hired five key executives to expand its client service offerings worldwide, the company announced Wednesday (Jan. 29).
“As our clients’ needs continually expand along with our ever-evolving industry, we’ve continued to stay ahead of these changes so that we’re always able to provide best-in-class service to our artists and partners,” said Wasserman Music President Lee Anderson in a statement.
The new hires include Vince Amoroso, who joins Wasserman Music as senior vp of artist services in the company’s New York office. Amoroso will help develop new revenue opportunities for clients across industries, including commercial and digital partnerships, merchandise and e-commerce, original content and IP, gaming, film, TV, and books. He previously served as chief marketing officer for independent music company The Other Songs and as senior vp/head of marketing and business development at management services company mtheory, where he worked with A$AP Rocky, Sabrina Carpenter, J. Cole, Skrillex, Diplo, FKA twigs and Florence + the Machine.
Also in New York, Georgia McGurk joins as vp of event strategy & hospitality, taking a newly created role to enhance the broader market presence of Wasserman Music and its artists through the strategic development and execution of high-touch VIP and white-glove experiences for clients, partners and industry professionals across sectors. McGurk has spent a decade working in the sports and entertainment industries at companies such as IMG/Endeavor and, most recently, BSE Global, the parent company of the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center.
Elsewhere, Sharmaine Akhigbe joins as vp of brand partnerships in Wasserman’s London office, where she will develop and manage new partnerships worldwide for clients and brands across the U.K. and Europe, as well as new opportunities for Wasserman Music’s full client roster. She previously served as director of premier artists at Premier Model Management.
Trending on Billboard
Also joining Wasserman Music is Karina Gonzalez as VP of festivals for Wasserman’s L.A. office, where she will focus on client bookings for Latin music festivals in the U.S. and contemporary festivals across Latin America. She previously served as vp of touring & development at Latin concert promoter Zamora Live, where she was instrumental in expanding the company’s reach across Central America and the U.S. Gonzalez also served as an agent at UTA focused on the Latin American market for major music artists including Karol G, Lauryn Hill, Bring Me the Horizon, AURORA and Arlo Parks.
Lastly, Yasi Agahnia joins as director of corporate & special events in Wasserman’s L.A. office, where she will primarily focus on private event bookings for artists across the electronic, hip-hop and R&B genres, though she will also work with artists across Wasserman Music’s full client roster. Agahnia previously worked at CAA, where she rose from working in the company’s mailroom to becoming an agent in its private & corporate events division.
Wednesday’s news follows Wasserman Music’s announcement earlier this month that it had onboardedthree top executives from rival agency WME — Kevin Shivers, James Rubin and Cristina Baxter — to join its executive leadership team.
Wasserman Music