Touring
Page: 35
Coldplay is the midst of the third European leg of the Music of the Spheres World Tour, which has also taken the British quartet to Asia and North and South America, with 11 shows scheduled in Australia and New Zealand later this year. In all of that globe-trotting, the band has made Boxscore history, building […]
After a year of playing host to more than 960 live events and 6.3 million ticket holders, Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. said on Friday revenues rose 13% in its first full year since spinning off from the Sphere.
Last April, MSG spun off from MSG Sphere, the next-generation music venue in Las Vegas, leaving behind the rest of its live events business under the company name MSG Entertainment. MSGE includes venues such as Madison Square Garden, Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theatre and The Chicago Theatre, an entertainment and sports booking business, the Radio City Rockettes and the Christmas Spectacular production, and long-term arena license agreements with New York Knicks and New York Rangers, which play their home games at Madison Square Garden.
Executives attributed this year’s revenue growth to a record number of shows at the Garden in the fourth quarter, which included Billy Joel‘s 150th show at Madison Square Garden and two sold-out shows by the breakout singer songwriter Noah Kahan, and said they expect even more next year.
Trending on Billboard
“The world’s most famous arena ended the year on a particularly strong note with robust year over year growth in the number of concerts in fourth quarter,” MSG Entertainment chief financial officer Mike Grau said on a call with investors. “This reflects our efforts to increase venue utilization within the Knicks and Rangers playoff window, as well as our success in attracting acts that are headlining the Garden for the first time.”
A majority of events at the company’s venues sold out in the quarter and saw higher per capita spending on food, beverage and merchandise. Grau said a higher number of shows in the coming fiscal year are expected to boost the company’s adjusted operating income by high-single to low double-digit percentage increase.
MSG Entertainment reported revenues of $959.3 million for the full fiscal year ending June 30, up 13% from fiscal year 2023. It reported an operating income of $111.9 million, up $6.9 million, and adjusted operating income of $211.5 million, up $9.9 million, both compared to fiscal 2023.
On a quarterly basis, the company’s $186.1 million in revenue for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2024 was up 26% from the year-ago quarter. MSG recorded an operating loss of $8.9 million in the quarter and adjusted operating income of $13.1 million, both improvements over the prior year’s quarter.
Revenues from food, beverage and merchandise sales in the fourth fiscal quarter rose 48% to $34.7 million compared to the prior year period.
On Aug. 2, Adele kicked off a 10-show run at Germany’s Munich Messe, playing the only concerts since the release of her 2021 album 30 other than her Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. In turn, her catalog is seeing gains in worldwide consumption, leading to several re-entries on the global charts.
Leading the pack, “Easy On Me,” from the album, returns to the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart (dated Aug. 17) at No. 128, while reappearing on the Billboard Global 200 at No. 170. Then, the trio of chart-topping smashes from 2011’s 21: “Someone Like You” at Nos. 144 and 178, respectively, “Rolling In the Deep” at Nos. 149 and 200, and “Set Fire To the Rain” at No. 152 on Global Excl. U.S.
In total, Adele’s catalog generated 142.4 million official streams worldwide in the week ending Aug. 8, according to Luminate, up 29% from the previous frame, and sold 6,000 downloads (up 65%). Sales particularly surged outside the U.S., up 113% compared to a domestic bump of 19%. Still, video footage from her Germany residency went wide, sparking a 23% U.S. increase in streams, not far behind the 31% boost internationally.
Trending on Billboard
Of her four charting tracks, “Someone Like You” achieves the biggest percentage gains in both metrics, up 73% in sales and 33% in streams. In doing so, it leapfrogs the other 21 singles.
Beyond the 200-position charts, 25’s “Love In the Dark” is up 47% in streams (to 9.2 million) and 214% in sales, making it the week’s most popular song from the 2015 album despite not being one of the set’s four promoted singles. It’s one of six 25 tracks performed during her Munich shows.
Adele’s residency continues through Aug. 31, likely spurring continued chart activity throughout the month.
City of Hope will present Jay Marciano, chairman and CEO of AEG Presents, with its prestigious Spirit of Life Award at a Oct. 22 gala headlined by legendary singer and songwriter Elton John.
City of Hope is one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the U.S. and a leading research center for diabetes and other life-threatening illnesses. The Spirit of Life Gala, organized by the City of Hope’s Music, Film and Entertainment Industry (MFEI) volunteer and fundraising group’s, will take place at the historic Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Marciano is the 51st executive to be honored during the annual affair, recognizing individuals for their longtime philanthropic and humanitarian efforts. Besides managing some of the largest tours in history — Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” and Elton John’s “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” — Marciano is focused on galvanizing the industry to accelerate cancer research at City of Hope so that more people around the world may benefit from its findings.
In addition to the performance by John, attendees will experience a curated menu by chef Evan Funke, a master of the old-world techniques of handmade pasta, and an unprecedented act by magician and mentalist David Blaine — both experiences promise to round out an evening of magic. Comedian, actor, musician and writer Fred Armisen will emcee the event.
Trending on Billboard
“I am honored to be receiving The Spirit of Life Award from City of Hope and to be able to contribute to raising awareness and funds to speed its important work of eradicating cancer and improving lives for so many,” Marciano said in a statement. “I am also humbled and grateful that Elton John, a true superstar in every regard, has agreed to lend his immeasurable talents to this event with a performance that’s sure to inspire support for a cause that unfortunately touches so many lives.”
John’s historic, final tour saw the musical icon play 330 shows worldwide to over 6.25 million fans across the UK, Europe, North America and Australia. The U.S. leg of the tour concluded with three sell-out shows at Dodger Stadium. The concert was livestreamed on Disney+ in every territory the channel broadcasts in, a global first. He later headlined Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage in June 2023, the final UK show before the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour concluded in July 2023, marking the end of more than 50 years on the road. Now, the stage has been set for another very special performance at the Spirit of Life Gala.
“Jay is more than a colleague; he is a dear friend,” John said. “It is my pleasure to lend my support to him as he receives the Spirit of Life honor, especially given City of Hope’s dignity-giving supportive care for people who face cancer, along with its unmatched research for other life-threatening illnesses. Their important work has led to advancements in the field that have fortunately enabled so many people to live beautiful, long lives. Everyone should have that opportunity, and I’m honored to play a part in City of Hope’s work towards that goal.”
Founded more than a century ago to serve people who had trouble accessing high-quality, effective cancer treatment, City of Hope combines inclusive, compassionate care with big dreams realized through breakthrough scientific research.
“Our longstanding supporters in the entertainment industry are helping us deliver on our most important goal: saving lives,” said Robert Stone, CEO of City of Hope and the Helen and Morgan Chu Chief Executive Officer Distinguished Chair. “Thank you, Jay, and our partners for helping us ensure that people with cancer, regardless of race, socioeconomic status or geography, have equitable access to the most advanced cancer treatments available.”
In its 50-plus year history, MFEI raised over $150 million to benefit City of Hope research and care programs.
“The music industry has the power to unite millions of people for a cause, and when that cause is cancer research, the impact can be transformative,” said Kristin J. Bertell, chief philanthropy officer at City of Hope. “Jay’s support will amplify awareness, raise crucial funds, and inspire hope for millions of cancer patients and their families. It’s not just about entertainment; it’s about saving lives through the power of philanthropy,” Bertell continued.
“City of Hope’s MFEI Board cannot thank Jay Marciano, and his entire team, enough for all they are doing to help fight these horrible diseases,” said Evan Lamberg, president of Universal Music Publishing Group. “There is not a single person I meet that has not, in some way directly or indirectly, been affected by cancer. City of Hope continues its battle against cancer around the clock and looks to continue to make the quality of people’s lives better.”
MFEI’s Spirit of Life Gala will conclude a year-long fundraising initiative which will also include auctions and a dinner series to benefit City of Hope. Tickets and sponsorship information can be found here.
BRISBANE, Australia — Bluesfest Byron Bay will wave bye-bye after its 2025 edition.
The event is an institution on the Australian festivals calendar, staging performances from the likes of Bob Dylan, BB King, Paul Simon, John Mayer, Mary J Blige, and Kendrick Lamar, plus homegrown stars Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil and Crowded House, across its 35-year history.
Its place and time is unique, presented each year over the Easter long weekend, the final fest of the warmer months, doing so from its home of Byron Bay, the picturesque beach town that sits on the most easterly point of Australia.
“To my Dear Bluesfest Family, and after more than 50 years in the music business, Bluesfest has been a labour of love, a celebration of music, community, and the resilient spirit of our fans,” writes Peter Noble, Bluesfest festival director.
After the 2025 fest, “as much as it pains me to say this, it’s time to close this chapter,” he continues.” Next year’s festival is “definitely” happening, “but it will be our last.”
Trending on Billboard
Bluesfest is one of the most-popular, and longest-running, multi-day shows of its kind in Australia. Its organizers boast a swag of domestic and international awards, including multiple Helpmann and Pollstar trophies.
History apparently means little in a marketplace where the cost-of-living crisis, changing ticket-buying behavior and a slew of factors are crushing the widerfestivals business.
No brand is immune.
This year alone has seen a remarkable lineup of casualties, including Splendour In The Grass, Groovin The Moo, Spilt Milk, Caloundra Music Festival, Harvest Rock and others.
During its heyday, Bluesfest averaged 85,000 attendees. That figure swelled to 102,000 in 2022, when live music returned from the lockdown years. The most recent show, however, counted fewer than 65,000 attendees.
When Bluesfest collected the best festival award at Variety Australia’s Live Biz Breakfast in June, Noble, speaking from the podium, delivered a rallying cry for festival organizers in these particularly tough times.
“We’ve really got to be as one as an industry. We need to speak to government,” he remarked. “We need to say this is the time you support our industry because we are facing an extinction event and that event can be looked at during the times of COVID, government delivered a lot of funding… come on government. Give us a hand up, we don’t want a handout. We can get through this because our industry is worth it.”
The final edition of Bluesfest will be a four-day event, from April 17 to 20, 2025, on the 300-acre Byron Events Farm, about 7 miles north of Byron Bay.
The first artist announcement for Bluesfest 2025 will be made next week. “This final edition is not just the end of an era,” reads a statement, “it’s a celebration of everything that Bluesfest has stood for over the past 35 plus years – music, community, and unforgettable experiences.”
Billie Eilish and FINNEAS have a new touring and live events agent in William Morris Endeavor (WME), a representative for the two superstars confirms to Billboard. “While grateful to their former live booking agents at Wasserman, Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell have opted to have film, TV, and music handled by the same agency, WME, […]
After hosting residencies by Dead & Company and Phish, Sphere Entertainment Co. closed out its fiscal year ended June 30 with revenue of $273.4 million and a net loss of $46.6 million in the fourth quarter.
For full-year revenue, the company posted a $201-million net loss on revenue of $1.03 billion. That’s nearly double the $573.8 million revenue number in the prior year, when the Sphere venue in Las Vegas had revenue of just $2.6 million after launching late in 2023.
Following the earnings release, shares of Sphere Entertainment jumped 9.3% to $44.55 on Wednesday (Aug. 14).
Trending on Billboard
The MSG Networks division had quarterly revenue of $122.2 million, down 6.2% from the prior-year period, and annual revenue of $529.7 million, a 7% decline. MSG Networks operates two TV sports networks, MSG Network and MSG Sportsnet, and the MSG+ streaming platform.
The eye-grabbing $2.3-billion Sphere venue in Las Vegas reported revenue of $151.2 million in the latest quarter. Events such as concerts and corporate events accounted for revenue of $58.4 million. The Sphere Experience, an interactive experience combined with a showing of the film Postcard from Earth, had revenue of $74.5 million from 208 performances.
Sphere generated revenue of $489.4 million in its first three full quarters of operation. Though U2 opened its 40-date run at the end of the first fiscal quarter, the bulk of the concerts occurred in the second and third quarters. Four dates by Phish in April were followed by Dead & Co.’s 30-date residency that concluded Aug. 10.
With state-of-the-art visuals and audio, as well as the capacity to host multiple types of events, Sphere “has the potential to change the entertainment landscape for artists, guests and partners,” CEO James Dolan said during Wednesday’s earnings call. “Fully realizing that vision will take time, but we are learning every day how to optimize Sphere’s operating model.”
While its concerts have generated worldwide media attention and exposure on social media, Sphere’s financial potential depends on maximizing its utilization beyond that of a traditional venue. To that end, Dolan said the company is “making progress” toward its goal of hosting multiple events in a single day. The Sphere Experience, which includes the 50-minute film Postcard from Earth, ran on the same days as Dead & Company’s shows in July and August.
Sphere is also branching out into different types of events that take advantage of its Las Vegas location and an ability to offer dazzling visual displays on its 160,000-square-foot video screen. In June, the venue hosted its first corporate keynote event with Hewlett Packard Enterprise as well as the NHL Draft.
The content category, which includes Postcard from Earth, is another aspect of maximizing Sphere’s usage. Content generated more than $1 million in average daily ticket sales in the latest quarter, according to Dolan, and has earned more than $300 million in “high margin” revenue since debuting in October 2023.
“We are actively developing new cinematic experiences and expect to launch our next attraction in the coming weeks,” said Dolan. “We believe this expanding content library will benefit our Las Vegas business and strengthen our value proposition to new markets.”
The Eagles begin a 20-date residency at Sphere in September while Anyma will give the venue its first EDM shows in late December. Also in September, Sphere will host its first live sports event, UFC 306.
Since 2019, U.K. music festival We Out Here — which is set to host its fifth edition from Aug. 15-18 in the Dorset countryside — has sought to elevate under-the-radar artists whose music falls outside mainstream tastes. Now, the festival is opening more doors — this time for the next generation of promoters.
Newly launched by We Out Here, the Future Foundations initiative is seeking to educate and empower grassroots music promoters by offering 15 applicants the opportunity to level up their skills with a bespoke training program. In addition to on-the-job training at We Out Here, the initiative includes mentoring, networking opportunities and virtual workshops. It will also knock down other potential barriers for hopefuls by covering the cost of travel, accommodation and meals.
“As an elder, it is without a shadow of a doubt our responsibility to support the grassroots scenes for the sake of the culture,” says Gilles Peterson, a curator, radio host and A&R who co-founded We Out Here with live music promoter Noah Ball. “We’ve all benefited from that expertise over the years, so we need to allow those experiences and opportunities to happen.”
Trending on Billboard
Grassroots music promoters are often the first line of discovery for emerging musicians, but that comes with a certain amount of jeopardy, says Ellie White, head of marketing at We Out Here. “Those promoters take a lot of financial risk doing what they do,” she says. “They often do it as passion projects; they get to platform amazing artists who get to work their way up the chain, but the promoters often don’t see anything back from it.”
The Future Foundations project was funded by Arts Council England on behalf of the Department of Culture, Media & Sport, which is distributing £5 million to festivals, promoters and music spaces as part of the Grassroots Music Fund. A spokesperson for Arts Council England says Future Foundations “offers a vital platform for the grassroots communities to connect with new generations, share their knowledge, and strengthen the industry’s future.”
White tells Billboard that by the time the application period closed, they had received over 200 applicants for the positions, with an emphasis on attracting promoters from under-represented scenes and those based outside of London (the pool will ultimately be narrowed down to 15). In U.K. Music’s Diversity Report 2024, the number of Black, Asian and ethnically diverse respondents aged 16-24 had risen from 23.2% in 2022 to 40.6% in 2024. U.K. Music says industry initiatives seeking to diversify the workforce — much like Future Foundations — “are working.”
Gilles Peterson
Benjamin Teo
“We wanted to impact the diversity of promoters,” White says. “It’s currently a very male, very white section of a homogenous industry as a whole. It can be quite hard for people to enter it without connections or a bit of financial backing.”
This emphasis is a natural outgrowth of Peterson’s longtime mission of giving fresh and/or underrepresented voices a chance. During his broadcasting career at BBC Radio, Worldwide FM and Jazz FM, Peterson has given early plays to music by Amy Winehouse, Khruangbin, The Roots, Madlib and more; for the past decade, he’s hosted a weekly show on BBC Radio 6 Music. With We Out Here, he and Ball made a point of supporting artists the mainstream may not quite get, making it the kind of event where André 3000 of OutKast fame can perform his flute-heavy debut solo record New Blue Sun in full and have the 18,000 capacity crowd embrace it, while left-of-center artists like Sampha, Floating Points, Yaya Bey and jazz legend Brian Jackson also get a spotlight.
We Out Here is not immune to the challenges facing much of the festival market in the U.K. and Europe. According to figures from the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), 56 music festivals have either been canceled, postponed or closed this year, up from 36 in 2023. “We’re fighting big, big promoters and machines who are controlling the acts, the fees and all of that,” Peterson says. “In recent times there’s a lack of support for this kind of grassroots work and we’re navigating our way to stay independent and be an important part of the journey for people in the industry.”
At least so far, We Out Here has managed to ride out the turbulence happening in the U.K. live scene. But with Future Foundations, it’s hoping to provide a gateway for the next generation to build something better.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers wrapped their multi-year, multi-continent tour with the biggest business of their multi-decade career. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the Unlimited Love Tour sold 3.4 million tickets over 86 shows.
Among rock tours, it finishes as the third best-selling trek this decade, only behind Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour and Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour.
Though not eligible for Boxscore reporting, the Red Hot Chili Peppers closed out this touring cycle with a performance tonight (Aug. 11) at the LA28 handover celebration at the Closing Ceremony of 2024 Olympics, where Paris passes the torch to the Chili Peppers’ hometown of Los Angeles for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Boxscore totals only include grosses for ticketed headline shows, whereas the Olympics performance is part of a larger televised event.
Trending on Billboard
The Unlimited Love Tour supported its namesake album, which was released in April 2022, as well as Return of the Dream Canteen, which followed in October of that year. Both sets led the Top Rock Albums chart, and the former crowned the all-genre Billboard 200.
The Unlimited Love Tour kicked off on June 4, 2022 with a performance at Estadio de La Cartuja in Sevilla, Spain. That show launched a 12-show leg in Europe that sold 659,000 tickets. Next was 19 shows in the U.S. and Canada, adding 807,000 tickets. That remains the highest-grossing and best-selling leg of the tour.
What followed was a parade of shows in Asia, Latin America, and Oceania, plus returns to Europe and North America before closing on July 30 in Maryland Heights, Mo. While the first stateside run claimed top honors for cumulative gross and attendance, the Chili Peppers’ string of eight shows in Australia and New Zealand (January-February 2023) boasted the best per-show ticket sales, averaging 47,326. Those dates were helped by the presence of Post Malone, joining while on his Twelve Carat Tour.
As for individual engagements, the biggest was a double-header at England’s London Stadium on June 25-26, 2022. Those two combined for 142,000 tickets sold. Among one-night-stands, it’s the Nov. 10, 2023 concert at Estadio do Morumbi in Sao Paulo, where the band played to 71,000 fans.
These final figures represent an entirely new peak in the Chili Peppers’ career. Though the band had dabbled with stadium shows before, this was its first full tour in the top-capacity venues. The tour’s 3.4 million attendance total is about 3.5x the group’s previous best, when the By the Way World Tour sold 979,000 in 2002-03. On average, the tour paced 39,761 tickets per show, up from 14,291 on the 1995-96 One Hot Minute Tour.
Dating back to a 1985 Halloween show at New York’s The Ritz, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have sold 8.6 million tickets over 498 reported shows.
After three Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna were canceled on Wednesday (Aug. 7) following the arrest of two suspects who reportedly planned to unleash a terrorist attack on the shows this weekend, ticketing companies have provided information on how ticket holders for the concerts will receive refunds. “We are aware of the news regarding the […]