Touring
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Barclays has suspended its sponsorship of Live Nation’s U.K. festivals following protests from artists over the bank’s links to defense companies supplying arms to Israel as well as fossil fuel firms.
Country singer CMAT, folk group Lankum and rock bands Pest Control, Zulu, Scowl, Speed and Ithaca are among the acts who have either pulled out of or threatened to boycott Live Nation-promoted summer events, including July’s Latitude festival and the three-day Download festival, which starts Friday (June 14) in Donington Park, Leicestershire.
In a statement on Friday, a spokesperson for Live Nation U.K. said, “Following discussion with artists, we have agreed with Barclays that they will step back from sponsorship of our festivals.”
Confirming the news, a spokesperson for Barclays told Billboard that the London-headquartered bank “was asked and has agreed to suspend participation in the remaining Live Nation festivals in 2024.”
“Barclays customers who hold tickets to these festivals are not affected and their tickets remain valid,” the spokesperson continued. “The protestors’ agenda is to have Barclays debank defence companies which is a sector we remain committed to as an essential part of keeping this country and our allies safe.”
Referencing recent outbreaks of vandalism at a number of U.K. Barclays bank branches, where protestors threw paint and smashed windows, the spokesperson said the “only thing that this small group of activists will achieve is to weaken essential support for cultural events enjoyed by millions. It is time that leaders across politics, business, academia and the arts stand united against this.”
Barclays is one of the biggest sponsors of music festivals in the United Kingdom and signed a five-year sponsorship deal with Live Nation last year. Over the past two decades, the company says it has invested £112 million ($142 million) in supporting British music and the country’s arts sector.
Pressure from pro-Palestinian groups on music festivals and arts organizations to cut ties with sponsors with perceived links to Israel has been building since the start of the conflict in Gaza. Last month, more than 150 artists withdrew from Brighton’s Great Escape Festival over the independent event’s ties to Barclays.
Defending its position, Barclays has previously stated that it provides “vital financial services to U.S., U.K. and European public companies that supply defence products to NATO and its allies” but does not directly invest in these companies.
The news that the international bank, which has also drawn heavy criticism from environmental campaigners for bankrolling fossil fuel firms, was pulling out of sponsoring Live Nation’s U.K. festivals was welcomed by campaign group Bands Boycott Barclays.
“As musicians, we were horrified that our music festivals were partnered with Barclays, who are complicit in the genocide in Gaza through investment, loans and underwriting of arms companies supplying the Israeli military,” posted the campaign group on Instagram.
“Hundreds of artists have taken action this summer to make it clear that this is morally reprehensible, and we are glad we have been heard,” the group added.
Posting on X, Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, who is due to play Download this weekend, said that “the fact that the festival has listened to its musicians and cut ties with Barclays Bank is a testament to the power of artists taking collective action for human rights.”
“I’ve been pushing hard for this behind the scenes,” added Morello, “and I salute all the artists like Zulu, Scowl and Speed who have taken a stand to help make this historic withdrawal happen.”
Jennifer Koester is expanding her role at Sphere Entertainment. The live entertainment executive has been named president/COO of Sphere, effective immediately.
Prior to her promotion, Koester served as the company’s president of Sphere Business Operations, which saw her lead the strategy and execution of all business aspects of Sphere, the next-generation entertainment venue in Las Vegas.
In her new role, Koester will continue to work with executive leadership and provide strategic oversight for Sphere Studios, the immersive content studio in Burbank dedicated to developing multi-sensory experiences exclusively for Sphere, including further developing Sphere Studios’ capabilities as a full-service production studio. Koester will also continue to focus on maximizing venue utilization across a range of categories such as original programming, attractions, concerts, residencies, and corporate and marquee events, as well as driving strategic partnerships, delivering the best customer experience and growing Sphere as a premium global brand.
“Since joining our team earlier this year, Jennifer’s contributions have had a significant impact,” said Sphere Entertainment executive chairman/CEO James Dolan in a statement. “We believe we are just scratching the surface of what is possible with Sphere, and her expertise will be essential as we continue to advance on our long-term vision for this next-generation entertainment medium.”
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“I welcome the opportunity to take on this expanded role,” added Koester. “Across the Sphere organization we are focused on both bringing unique experiences to life in Las Vegas, and developing new experiences that will keep Sphere at the forefront of immersive entertainment. I look forward to continuing to work with our world-class team to grow our business and deliver on Sphere’s vision for the future of entertainment.”
Koester has 30 years of experience in technology, media and entertainment. She joined Sphere Entertainment in February from Google, where she served as MD, Americas strategic alliances, global partnerships at Google Commercial Operations. Her experience prior to Google includes serving as senior vp of advanced advertising product development, data analytics and ad operations at Cablevision, along with various legal roles.
Koester received a J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law and a B.S. in management information systems from Binghamton University.
Jelly Roll is undoubtedly on a hot streak. After toiling on the edges of the industry for nearly a decade, his career has gone supernova over the past year thanks to his singles “Son of a Sinner,” “Need a Favor” and “Save Me,” the latter of which earned him a Grammy nomination. He rolled across the United States on his 44-city Backroad Baptism Tour in 2023, has played a string of festivals this year and is slated to hit a few more this summer, along with hopping on shows with Morgan Wallen and headlining this fall’s Beautifully Broken tour with Warren Zeiders and Alexandra Kay.
But if you look at Jelly’s road history one thing you’ll notice is that his gigs have kept him within the lower 48, a situation he explained while talking to Jon Bon Jovi for Interview Magazine earlier this year. During the chat, the 39-year-old singer born Jason DeFord noted that his felonious past has kept him grounded when it comes to playing gigs overseas.
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“It’s funny, America has finally agreed to let me leave and give me a passport, but some countries won’t let me come because of my felonies,” he told Bon Jovi. “We’re working on that. I think it’s going to work in my favor.” Then, on Howard Stern‘s SiriusXM show Wednesday morning (June 12) after the host asked if Jelly’s past misdeeds are still keeping him grounded, the singer said, “I actually got off the phone with a lawyer yesterday, We are working… it’s getting good, it’s starting to look promising. It didn’t look good even just six months ago, but it’s starting to look really promising.”
Jelly Roll has spoken openly about his past scuffles with the law and his jail time, including dozens of stints behind bars on drug charges going back to when he was 14, as well as an arrest at 16 for aggravated robbery that landed him a year in prison when he was tried as an adult; he had been facing a potential 20-year sentence in the case, though he served just over a year behind bars and seven years of probation. He’s also talked about the time in 2008 when, at 23, he was locked up on drug dealing charges when his daughter Bailee was born. Among the repercussions are an inability, until recently, to secure a passport, as well as an inability to vote, volunteer at most nonprofits or own a firearm.
So what’s still keeping him from getting his first passport stamp? Billboard spoke to several prominent European immigration lawyers to find out what the hang-up is and whether Jelly might be able to rock stages overseas in the near future. (The experts agreed to speak in general terms about immigration laws in their country, but had no first-hand knowledge of Jelly Roll’s case.)
First, the good news.
According to the rules about entrance to the 26 European countries that allow unrestricted travel within their borders — collectively known as the Schengen Area, which includes Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden, among others — non-EU nationals can be denied entry if they are considered a “threat to public policy, internal security, public health or the international relations of any EU or Schengen country.”
A prominent Italian immigration lawyer who requested anonymity tells Billboard that once you legally enter a country in the Schengen region, you are free to travel among the countries with a valid passport, as long as you are not listed on INTERPOL’s list of restricted individuals. The region does have a list of serious criminal offenses over the previous decade — or 20 years in the case of terror offenses — that an applicant for entry must report before visiting. The list of barring offenses includes terrorism, human trafficking, child pornography, drug/weapon trafficking, fraud, money laundering, environmental crimes, murder, racketeering, arson and nuclear material trafficking.
Based on that list, Jelly Roll’s priors do not appear to rise to the level that would bar him from visiting the Schengen countries. The attorney noted, however, that those rules are slated to change in 2025 when non-EU nationals who don’t need a visa to travel to the Schengen area — a list that includes U.S. citizens — will have to apply for travel authorization through the ETIAS travel portal for short-term (90-180 day) stays; at present, if you have a valid passport and don’t plan to stay for more than three months a visa is not required to enter the region.
At press time, a spokesperson for Jelly Roll had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on the status of Jelly’s overseas touring plans.
The bad news, according to Matthew James of leading U.K. immigration law firm Bates Wells, is that the United Kingdom has what are called “General Grounds For Refusal” laws that look at whether an individual has previously overstayed their visa in the country as well as a past history of criminality. What gets captured under that rather broad umbrella are mandatory and discretionary grounds for refusal, which James says are somewhat “opaque.”
“If you’ve received a custodial sentence of more than 12 months, that should be a bar to entering the U.K., so there’s absolutely no chance of you coming in if you’ve done 12 months of jail time,” he says, noting that if you’ve done less than 12 months but are a “persistent offender” with multiple drug offenses you can be refused as a “persistent” offender; you can also be refused if the offense has caused serious harm.
However, for artists looking to visit for less than six months to stage a series of performances, there is an added wrinkle that if they’ve received a conviction within 12 months of their visit, their application will also be refused, which should not apply to Jelly Roll since his convictions occurred more than 20 years ago.
The U.K.’s secretary of state could also decide that an individual’s presence in the nation is “not conducive to the public good” because of their character or other reasons, with James pointing to Tyler, the Creator announcing that his lyrical content had gotten him banned from entering the United Kingdom for 3 to 5 years due to his then-violent and misogynistic lyrics. At the time, the Home Office issued a statement reading, “Coming to the U.K. is a privilege, and we expect those who come here to respect our shared values. The Home Secretary has the power to exclude an individual if she considers that his or her presence in the U.K. is not conducive to the public good or if their exclusion is justified on public policy grounds.” Tyler has subsequently been invited to the nation with no incident.
Snoop Dogg has talked about how the late Queen Elizabeth II helped him avoid getting booted from England in 1994 when he was facing first- and second-degree murder charges for which he was later acquitted. Ja Rule said he was “devastated” when his planned 2024 U.K. tour was canceled after he was denied entry due to his criminal record on gun possession and tax evasion.
James says that, in general, American visitors — especially those coming for permitted paid engagements — can enter the United Kingdom for what are called “permit-free” festivals, such as Glastonbury, without applying for a visa. In a testament to money talking, he added that the ultimate discretion lies with the secretary of state. “If you are a Snoop Dogg and you are about to sell out Wembley Stadium for three nights and it’s going to make a huge amount of money for the U.K. economy and he’s done loads of great work rehabilitating other people and people learning from his errors and never caused another issue since in 20-plus years,” says James, you could likely talk to someone more senior in the government and get some leeway on the rules, which, he notes, are mainly intended to bar known criminals from living in the country.
That said, those who have committed particularly heinous crimes face a different standard. R. Kelly — who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence on child sex abuse convictions — is unlikely to ever be allowed to perform in the United Kingdom again following his release.
Jelly Roll has talked extensively about the work he’s done talking to youth about his law-breaking days and visiting facilities to share his story, including donating a recording studio to the Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center, where he was incarcerated as a teen, in 2023.
James says that given that Jelly Roll’s arrests and incarcerations occurred mostly when he was young, that he’s clearly worked on rehabilitating himself and that he’s on the upswing of his career, it’s always possible that “overarching discretion” could come into play. This allows officials not to apply the rules in the strictest manner, particularly if an artist’s concerts will bring significant revenue to the United Kingdom and the person is not a perceived risk. “They will fly in on their private plane and play their set at Wembley and then leave,” he says. “They would have to show remorse and a redeemed character and the benefits to society they are bringing and the economic advantages they’re bringing.”
Foreigner and Styx on tour together is a match made in classic rock heaven.
It’s happened many times over the years, though it’s been a decade since the bands were last on the road together — as they will be for this summer’s Renegades & Juke Box Heroes tour, which kicks off Tuesday (June 11) in Grand Rapids, Mich., and plays 36 North American dates through August. The bands will also release a joint compilation album, Renegades & Juke Box Heroes, on vinyl in conjunction with the trek. Available at tour stops and, as of July 12, at retail, it features four songs from each band, divided onto separate sides.
With John Waite opening, the tour will be filled AOR-era hits, from Foreigner’s “Feels Like the First Time,” “Cold As Ice,” “Urgent,” “Juke Box Hero” and “I Want to Know What Love Is” to Styx’s “Lady,” “Come Sail Away,” “Renegade” and “Mr. Roboto.”
And so many more, for both. Foreigner, after all, has released nine studio albums since 1977 — seven of them platinum or better — with 14 top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Styx, formed during 1972, in Chicago, has been around a few years longer, with 17 studio albums and nine top 20 singles
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Foreigner, in the midst of a farewell tour that’s slated to go into 2025, will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Oct. 19 in Cleveland after its first nomination, following an extensive campaign spearheaded by founder Mick Jones’ son-in-law Mark Ronson. Styx is still waiting for that honor but has been (comparatively) prolific in the last decade, with new albums in 2017 (The Mission) and 2021 (Crash of the Crown).
Both bands have also gone through numerous membership changes during their histories, as well as recently. Earlier this month Styx brought keyboardist Lawrence Gowan’s brother Terry Gowan on board replacing bassist Ricky Phillips after 21 years. Foreigner, meanwhile, added guitarist Luis Maldonado three years ago after the amicable departure of multi-instrumentalist Thom Gimbel. But what both bands share is a staying power; in their cases — to turn a Pete Townshend phrase — it’s the songs not the identity of the singer that keeps the music moving along, and the popularity of those tunes has kept both bands healthy at the box office.
In advance of the tour, Billboard sat down with Styx’s Tommy Shaw and Foreigner’s Kelly Hansen, both eager to share their enthusiasm for hitting the road together once again with such friendly touring partners.
They Really Like Each Other
“It’s always been good, the respect and admiration we have for Foreigner and their music,” Shaw says of the kinship between the two groups. “They’re going for excellence all the time, and they’re achieving it. I think they are also true to the DNA of the music and really do a great job of playing the songs people have loved for so many years.”
Hansen adds that, “Both bands came out of the same era, the same kind of machinery of the time, of the ‘70s, when recording techniques were expanding colossally, when all different kinds of bands on a wide spectrum were all on the same radio station together, when every song you heard was completely different. It was a really a bountiful time, and I think that’s something both of these bands have experienced that kind of bonds us and creates a camaraderie.”
That extends to at least one end-of-tour prank that Hansen remembers. “(Bassist) Jeff Pilson and I dressed up in this crazy outfits. Jeff was wearing a dress and a wig and I had a mask on with a huge nose and a cape and tights and stuff. We were just trying to make them crack up when they were in the middle of a serious song.” Did it work? “No,” Hansen says. “They’ve experienced it before.”
The First Time They Heard The Other Band
“I had just moved to Niles, Mich.,” Shaw relates, “and was sitting in the bathtub in the middle of the afternoon, cooling off ’cause it was hot. I think it was ‘Cold As Ice’ that came on; that was the first time I heard anything by Foreigner, and I’m sitting there going, ‘Who is this?! Whoa! I have to hear more of this!’ From that point on they never let me down — in fact, they just kept getting better and better. The songwriting is just fantastic, really well thought-out and produced. I think that’s what makes their music so timeless.”
Hansen claims that he “couldn’t tell ya” when he first heard Styx. “It’s all a jumble. I was listening to pop radio — to singers with backup bands, mostly, like Aretha or Ray Charles or Rod Stewart, things like that. It wasn’t until years later that I fully understood the concept of what a band is, when I got into Zeppelin or whoever and realized, ‘Oh, these guys are really equally playing a part here. There’s not one guy out front and the rest of the band in back.’ That was a real revelation, and that’s the context I heard Styx in.”
Their Favorite Song By the Other Band
Hansen tries to demure — “There’s so many,” he protests — but pushed he allows that, “I like ‘Blue Collar Man.’ ‘Renegade’ is a big song. So, yeah, there’s two.” Shaw’s pick: “Well, of course, ‘I Want to Know What Love Is.’ But I can go down the list really — ‘Cold As Ice,’ ‘Hot Blooded,’ just really drop the needle anywhere and you’ll get a great song.”
Weathering Lineup Changes
“There’s the entity of the band and the music itself — the catalog of songs and what they carry with the audience,” explains Hansen, who’s been singing the songs made famous by original frontman Lou Gramm since 2005. “It’s all about the songs; it’s a testament to the writing and the recording of these songs originally.
“I think my job is to carry forward the legacy of those songs. To still be able to go out there and play these songs, and the songs still have meaning, is a rare thing to achieve. I think both bands have been doing that quite well.”
Styx, of course, still has founding guitarist James “J.Y.” Young and bassist Chuck Panozzo, who plays a few songs each night, while Shaw has been in the band since 1975.
“As we’ve gone on great people have come our way, and once you’re working in it it’s such a great world to be in, musically,” he says. “It’s the music that brings you all together.” Shaw adds that the benefit of legacy is “you’re not having to worry about having to make new music. We’re always working on new music, but the power of that music from the first time it came out and the experiences that our fans had and how they related to the music, that’s really what sticks with you.”
Is New Music Coming?
Foreigner hasn’t released anything since Can’t Slow Down back in 2009, but founder Mick Jones — who revealed via Billboard that he’s been battling Parkinson’s disease for several years — has confirmed that he’s still writing for both the band as well as for a solo project. Gramm has also discussed some unfinished material he and Jones wrote during the early 2000s that’s still around in demo form.
“As always, there’s unfinished stuff in the pipeline,” Hansen notes. “Maybe when we’re not on the road all the time we’ll have time to finish up some of those things. There’s definitely some good stuff that’s not finished yet, so time will tell.”
Shaw, meanwhile, says he’s been working on new Styx material with Will Evankovich, who produced the band’s last two albums and also tours with the group. “There’s music; the problem is there’s just not enough days in the week or hours in the day to get it all done. But we just keep plugging away at it and everyone brings a certain kind of magic to the new music, especially when it’s in the writing phases of it, and it’s all exciting.
“Whenever we’re creating new music we always remember who we are and the things that we love about Styx and not step out of the margins any more than we have to. But it’s such a wide lane to be in, anyway. (Styx) music can go just about anywhere.”
About the Rock Hall….
Hanses says that even though the current members of Foreigner will not be inducted, they’re thrilled for Jones, Gramm and the other members receiving the accolade.
“I think that the original guys in this band really deserve this recognition,” he says. “In so many ways they didn’t get recognition back in the day. It was somewhat of a faceless kind of thing; there wasn’t a David Lee Roth out there or a Jimmy Page or a Keith Richards public persona out there; they were a lot more about the music rather than showing off their personalities. I think they made a musical mark, so to be recognized for the music is a really great thing.”
As for the induction, Jones and Gramm have said they plan to perform, along with other members being inducted, but the current Foreigner lineup won’t be forgotten. “I know everyone has all kinds of ideas,” Hansen says. “I’m here to humbly assist in any way I can.”
Shaw is also stoked about his tour mates’ impending induction. “It’s fantastic,” he says. “You like to see your friends get in — (Peter) Frampton this year, too.” He’s circumspect about Styx’s prospects for the Rock Hall, however.
“We’re really powerless over it,” Shaw notes. “We don’t have any influence whatsoever. So to be anticipating it or be disappointed that we’re not in there…I don’t even know who the people are who judge (the Rock Hall), so I can’t really say much about it. We just know that our fans love us and we know that our music is good before we let them hear it. If that thing’s meant to happen, it will.”
Farewell is a relative term for Foreigner, by the way. Despite last year’s farewell tour announcement — which is expected to roll into 2025 — Foreigner is “not disappearing off the face of the earth,” according to Hansen, who’s blamed the vocal demands of singing that material as one of the reasons he’s dialing down.
“We’re just not gonna tour nine months out of the year anymore; it doesn’t get easier, especially for someone of my years,” explains the 63-year-old. “There’ll be some shows here and there, but there’ll be a lot more time for doing other things in my life that I’m passionate about,” including family, cooking, working on cars and motorcycles and “a social life that I’ve had to miss out on for many years. There’s just a lot of other things for me to do.”
Shaw says Styx is nowhere near such a point, but he does understand where Hansen’s coming from. “Y’know, I’m one of the singers (in Styx); there are good vocalists in our band who can take the leads,” he notes. “Kelly’s the guy in their band, and there’s a lot of high vocals in those (songs) that aren’t easy to do. So that’s a decision they have to make but, y’know, I never say never. They can say it’s the end; a lot of people do, and then a lot of people are right back there a year and a half later. I just hope they do what’s right for them and everybody’s happy.”
Bad Gyal takes Billboard behind the scenes of her LA tour stop. The Latina superstar shares her creative vision, describes how she manages her team, and reveals what a day in the life of her tour looks like and more! Bad Gyal: My fans… I feel like they have the most crazy energy. And when […]
There aren’t too many singer-songwriters making brainy, avant-leaning dance-pop that appeals equally to the hips, the head and the heart, but Róisín Murphy has always been one of a kind. From her time in the duo Moloko in the ‘90s to her no-misses solo discography that includes electropop classics such as Overpowered (2007) and Róisín Machine (2020), she never fails to deliver, particularly on stage. So when the Irish artist hits the U.S. for a tour, people turn out – and sure enough, a packed audience spanning generations and state lines (some folks drove more than four hours to see her) greeted Murphy when she played New York City’s Brooklyn Paramount on Friday (June 7).
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With a title like Hit Parade Tour, one might wonder if the trek is Murphy’s version of Madonna’s Celebration Tour or Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, both career-spanning global treks that played to enthusiastic (well, mostly) crowds and critical raves. And while Hit Parade is, more directly, the name of her 2023 album (which she followed this year with the companion piece Hit Parade Remixes), you wouldn’t be too far off.
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Over the course of a lengthy, muscular set, Murphy performed four tunes from her old band, one from her solo debut, three tracks from Overpowered, and four apiece from Róisín Machine and Hit Parade. Hardly career-encompassing (two albums were skipped), but a pretty healthy mix of beloved catalog and more recent material spanning a quarter of a century.
Throughout those years, Murphy’s substantial vocal chops have only seemed to improve with each release. During her show at the gorgeously restored, dramatically lit Brooklyn Paramount, she performed peerless electropop without singing to track (almost unheard of in pop) in front of a live band that provided every rubbery bass line, shimmering synth and razor-sharp beat in real time. (Originally a movie palace that opened at the top of the talking pictures era, Brooklyn Paramount turned into a live venue that housed everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Buddy Holly in the ’50s before shutting down to the wider public for decades; it only reopened as a concert space this year thanks to Live Nation and Arcadis.)
As a fashion-forward artist frequently inspired by drag and queer culture (more than a few chart-topping pop stars with larger profiles have followed in her footsteps), Murphy brought a mix of camp, eleganza and couture to the show, changing her outfit for nearly every song – sometimes while still singing.
The wild costuming and nonstop dance party clearly resonated with her substantial queer fanbase, who turned out in big numbers at the Brooklyn Paramount despite Murphy’s controversial comments last year. In Aug. 2023, a screenshot from Murphy’s Facebook account called puberty blockers – a go-to boogeyman for people targeting the trans community – “F—KED.” Shortly after, she released a statement apologizing for her “directly hurtful” comments, affirming her commitment to “celebrating diversity” without directly backtracking on the issue; she did, however, promise to “bow out of this conversation within the public domain.” Since then, fans – who had previously expressed widespread disappointment in her comments – have mostly dropped the topic, and it didn’t seem to impact her ticket sales too much, at least based on the NYC turnout. (In 2023, she played Terminal 5, which fits about 300 more people than the Brooklyn Paramount does – not enough of a drop in venue size to extrapolate anything meaningful.)
Notwithstanding her regressive, unnecessary take on trans youth, Murphy continues to craft, record and execute some of the most innovative dance-pop of this century. And on her latest trek, it comes to life in all its beautiful, bizarre splendor.
Upcoming Hit Parade Tour Dates
June 10 – HISTORY – Toronto, Canada
June 11 – Riviera Theatre – Chicago, IL
June 13 – Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival – Manchester, TN
June 15 – The Fillmore Miami Beach – Miami, FL
November 1 – Roseland Theater – Portland, OR
November 2 – Moore Theatre – Seattle, WA
November 3 – Vogue Theatre – Vancouver, Canada
November 7 – The Shrine Expo Hll – Los Angeles, CA
November 9 – The Warfield – San Francisco, CA
Joshua Bassett is following the yellow brick road on a headlining tour this year, with stops planned for 39 cities across North America and Europe in support of his upcoming album The Golden Years.
The 23-year-old High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star announced Friday (June 7) that he’ll hit the road starting July 30 in Phoenix. After one month of stops in Houston, New Orleans, Nashville, Chicago, New York, Toronto and more North American cities, he’ll head overseas for a few weeks in Europe, traveling to Dublin, London, Amsterdam, Paris and more.
“I’M GOING ON TOUR IN NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE !!!!” Bassett captioned an Instagram video of past performance clips. “RSVP NOW FOR PRESALE TICKETS AVAILABLE JUNE 11 AT JOSHUATBASSETT.COM !!!!!”
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The tour will kick off just four days after the singer/actor releases his debut studio album The Golden Years, which he announced last month. So far, he’s shared just one single from the project, a soft rock number that serves as the LP’s title track.
“If I would’ve known those were the golden years/ I would’ve held you longer that night when you kissed me goodbye through your tears,” he sings on “The Golden Years.” “If I would’ve known those were the golden years/ I would’ve never left you alone when you needed me most, my dear.”
See Bassett’s announcement and The Golden Years Tour dates below.
The Golden Years 2024 Tour dates
North America:
July 30 — Phoenix, AZ — Arizona Financial TheatreAug. 1 — Irving, TX — The Pavilion at Toyota Music FactoryAug. 2 — Houston, TX — 713 Music HallAug. 3 — Austin, TX — Austin City Limits Live at The Moody TheaterAug. 5 — New Orleans, LA — Fillmore New OrleansAug. 6 — Jacksonville, FL — Daily’s PlaceAug. 8 — Atlanta, GA — Coca-Cola RoxyAug. 9 — Birmingham, AL — Avondale Brewing Co.Aug. 10 — Nashville, TN — Ryman AuditoriumAug. 12 — Raleigh, NC — Red Hat AmphitheaterAug. 13 — Charlotte, NC — Skyla Credit Union AmphitheatreAug. 14 — Baltimore, MD — Pier Six PavilionAug. 16 — Philadelphia, PA — The Met Presented by HighmarkAug. 17 — Boston, MA — MGM Music Hall at FenwayAug. 20 — New York, NY — Radio City Music HallAug. 21 — Toronto, ON — Massey HallAug. 23 — Rochester Hills, MI — Meadow Brook AmphitheatreAug. 24 — Chicago, IL — Byline Bank Aragon BallroomAug. 25 — Minneapolis, MN — ArmoryAug. 27 — Denver, CO — Fillmore AuditoriumAug. 28 — Sandy, UT — Sandy AmphitheaterAug. 30 — San Francisco, CA — Bill Graham Civic AuditoriumSept. 1 — San Diego, CA — Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSUSept. 3 — Los Angeles, CA — YouTube Theater
Europe:
Sept. 16 — Dublin, IE — 3Olympia TheatreSept. 17 — Belfast, UK — Ulster HallSept. 19 — Glasgow, UK — O2 AcademySept. 20 — Birmingham, UK — O2 AcademySept. 22 — Manchester, UK — O2 ApolloSept. 23 — London, UK — Eventim ApolloSept. 25 — Brussels, BE — La MadeleineSept. 27 — Amsterdam, NL — MelkwegSept. 29 — Paris, FR — Salle PleyelOct. 1 — Barcelona, ES — RazzmatazzOct. 3 — Milan, IT — FabriqueOct. 5 — Munich, DE — MuffathalleOct. 6 — Cologne, DE — Carlswerk VictoriaOct. 7 — Berlin, DE — Huxleys Neue WeltOct. 9 — Copenhagen, DK — Vega
Equity analysts aren’t convinced the U.S. Department of Justice will accomplish its larger goal of separating Live Nation’s concert promotion and ticketing businesses, thereby undoing the controversial merger it allowed in 2010. But if Live Nation and Ticketmaster were to become separate companies, analysts estimate the combined companies would be worth from $85 to $96 per share, based on a handful of reports Billboard has seen.
Live Nation shares were trading around $101 to $102 the day before the lawsuit was announced on May 23. But shares have since traded in the $93 to $94 range, putting the current price at the upper end of analysts’ “sum of the parts” (SOTP) valuations. In the wake of the lawsuit, some analysts have lowered their price targets for Live Nation, and S&P Global downgraded its rating on Live Nation’s debt.
Any good merger creates value greater than the sum of the parts. Live Nation’s business model is a “flywheel” in which one segment (such as concerts) generates value for other segments (ticketing or sponsorship and advertisements). To the company, the flywheel is the result of hard-won competitive advantages built over the past 14 years. To the DOJ, the flywheel represents Live Nation’s ability to use its dominant market position to its advantage in anti-competitive ways.
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Breaking up Live Nation would eliminate the synergies that create value for the combined company. What is currently one stock would become two stocks of two separate companies with different management teams. Live Nation shareholders would likely get ownership in the new, standalone Ticketmaster. Analysts have calculated the value of Live Nation and Ticketmaster using a SOTP approach that combines the value of the business segments as if they were standalone companies.
But analysts have serious doubts the DOJ will succeed in breaking up the company. “Federal Judges…are generally pro-business and we doubt — at least based on [the DOJ’s 128-page] summary — the case is strong enough to either break up Live Nation or for the DOJ to win the lawsuit,” wrote Huber Research analyst Doug Arthur in a Thursday (June 6) note to investors. Similarly, J.P. Morgan sees “a real possibility that [Live Nation] comes out of this a winner” and fends off the DOJ’s ultimate goal of breaking up the company, analysts wrote in a May 29 note to investors.
“The government’s burden is going to be pretty high,” Bill Morrison, partner at Haynes & Boone, tells Billboard. “It’s long been the case in antitrust jurisprudence that it’s not illegal to have a monopoly. What’s illegal is to use that monopoly power in an anti-competitive way. And so that would be the burden that the DOJ would have to prove, which is to show that Live Nation abused its monopoly power and it acted unreasonably to restrain trade to maintain its monopoly.”
There could be outcomes other than a forced divestiture, however. Wolfe Research analysts note the “DOJ does not lose if it reached for the stars and landed on the moon,” they wrote in a May 23 note. “From that perspective, it is entirely possible the DOJ wants to get Live Nation/Ticketmaster to agree to remedies, such as eliminating exclusive ticketing deals, and is using the threat of a breakup to achieve those goals.”
The very existence of the DOJ’s lawsuit has changed how investors will approach Live Nation. The health of the concert business and Live Nation’s strengths will be overshadowed by the pall cast by the DOJ. Northcoast Research downgraded Live Nation from “buy” to “neutral” because analysts believe the stock price will be based on legal news and the political environment rather than fundamentals and business performance. J.P. Morgan also noted a “sentiment overhang” related to the DOJ’s lawsuit and lowered its price target to $116 from $126, although it kept its recommendation at “overweight.”
One variable that has largely gone unmentioned is the possible change in the administration at the White House. President Biden has taken an aggressive stance on protecting competition — the DOJ sank proposed mergers by Spirit-JetBlue and Penguin Random House-Simon & Schuster — reducing the fees consumers face everywhere from airlines to concert tickets, and criminally prosecuting companies over no-poaching rules and wage-fixing. A second Trump administration would bring an entirely new slate of appointments to head influential antitrust positions. “It depends on who is in those key [regulatory] spots, and then what the priorities are of those offices and the philosophy,” Morrison says. “We’ve seen big pivots in the past.”
Live Nation did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.
CTS Eventim completed the acquisition of Vivendi’s festival business and ticketing company, See Tickets, for 300 million euros ($327 million), Vivendi announced Thursday (June 6). The German concert promoter and ticketing company had entered into a put option to acquire the businesses from Vivendi on April 2.
The acquisition includes such festivals as the Junction 2 in the United Kingdom and Garorock in France. Vivendi’s performance hall business, See Tickets France and Brive Festival in France, were not included in the deal.
The two acquired businesses had 137 million euros ($148 million) of revenue in 2023. See Tickets, which counts Glastonbury Festival and Tomorrowland as clients, had revenue of 105 million euros ($114 million) and earnings before interest, taxes, amortization and depreciation (EBITDA) of 26 million euros ($28 million). The festival business had revenue of 32 million euros ($35 million).
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The acquisition will provide a big boost to CTS Eventim’s existing ticketing sales. In 2023, Vivendi’s ticketing business sold 44 million tickets in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the United States and its largest market, the United Kingdom. That was roughly half of CTS Eventim’s 2023 internet ticket volume of 82.9 million tickets, according to the company’s 2023 annual report.
“The acquisition supports our internationalization strategy and will also benefit artists and their managers, as we will be able to offer even more seamless services on a global scale,” said CTS Eventim chief executive Klaus-Peter Schulenberg in a statement announcing the acquisition in April.
CTS Eventim’s ticketing business had revenue of 717.3 million euros ($776 million) in 2023, up 32% from the prior year, with EBITDA of 382.4 million euros ($414 million), up 47%. Its concert promotion business had revenue of 1.67 billion euros ($1.8 billion) and EBITDA of 111.6 million euros ($121 million).
Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has promoted Emma Banks, Darryl Eaton and Rick Roskin to new leadership roles at the agency. The three veteran agents have been named co-heads of the agency’s global touring division, leading 340 employees across music, comedy and podcast touring as well as brand partnerships, tour marketing, private events and crossover opportunities in film, TV and books.
The promotions follow the elevation of CAA veteran Rob Light, who served for more than 25 years as CAA’s head of global touring. Light was recently named a CAA managing director, working alongside other company leaders in guiding the agency’s overall strategic direction. The promotion came in the wake of last year’s sale of CAA by majority owner TPG to Artémis, the investment firm controlled by François-Henri Pinault, CEO of fashion firm Kering and billionaire scion of a French luxury goods fortune.
“With the most talented team of agents ever at one agency, and serving the most influential artists in the world, we see unlimited opportunities ahead,” a statement attributed to Roskin, Eaton and Banks reads.
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“The live business has never been stronger nor had more momentum, and artists have never had more ways to express themselves and grow their careers, making this an absolutely incredible time to help chart CAA’s path for the future,” the statement continues. “We’re fortunate to have shared in the success, stability and uniquely strong culture that the department has enjoyed under Rob’s outstanding leadership. Our vision, and commitment moving forward, is to foster cutting-edge ideas that drive the market and ensure that CAA remains the most exciting and empowering agency for the industry’s best agents and artists to thrive.”
Banks has co-led the CAA’s now 60-person London music office since joining the agency in 2006. In addition to her new leadership position in touring, she serves on CAA’s internal agency board that focuses on the company’s culture of service, collaboration and excellence. She was the first female executive to receive the music industry’s coveted Music Industry Trust (MITS) Award in 2018, was honored with the prestigious Strat award in 2023 for outstanding contributions to the music business and serves on the board of Nordoff Robbins, the United Kingdom’s premier music therapy charity.
Eaton and Roskin became co-heads of contemporary music for North America in 2015, running the day-to-day operations of the North American touring department and supporting more than 100 agents and 280 employees. Eaton, who joined CAA’s mailroom in 1991, has played a pivotal role in the department’s expansion, leading its efforts to launch and grow its electronic, Latin, and hip-hop/R&B divisions. Roskin began his career at CAA and has worked in the touring department for 35 years. He was an original member of CAA’s internal agency Board and was part of the leadership group that completed the successful integration of talent agency ICM.
“CAA remains the dominant music and comedy touring agency thanks to a profoundly deep culture of collaboration, innovation, and unyielding devotion to clients,” said Light, who recently signed a long-term contract to remain at the agency. “For years, Darryl, Rick and Emma have been extraordinary partners to me in leading our touring group in North America and London, respectively. I am immensely proud of all that we have achieved to date and look forward to what they will create in the years ahead. Along with my new strategic responsibilities, I look forward to continuing to sign and empower great artists, creatively build long-term careers, and mentor young executives.”
CAA co-chairman/CEO Bryan Lourd added, “Rick, Darryl and Emma have long been among the most talented and widely admired leaders in the industry, not to mention three of the best agents in the world.” He continued, “The leadership role they each already play at CAA has earned them deep respect and trust among our colleagues across all departments.”
With employees in Los Angeles, Nashville, London, New York, Austin, Miami and Toronto, CAA’s global touring department boasts a roster that includes The Weeknd, Harry Styles, Katy Perry, Dua Lipa, John Mayer, Rüfüs Du Sol, Jelly Roll, Kelly Clarkson, Blink-182, Kelsea Ballerini, Peso Pluma, Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, Trevor Noah, Red Hot Chili Peppers and David Guetta. Since the end of the pandemic, CAA has signed Shawn Mendes, My Chemical Romance, Janet Jackson, Cody Johnson, Koe Wetzel, The 1975 and Bleachers, among many others. In the past year, the agency has booked more than 38,000 shows.