Touring
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After a record year for live music in 2023, last month saw two high-profile arena tour cancellations, with Jennifer Lopez calling off her This Is Me…Live Tour and The Black Keys canceling the North American leg of their International Players Tour. On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking about what […]
On Sept. 13, 2004, Van Halen was the first major music act to perform at the newly inaugurated Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan. That same year, local and international artists performed at the arena, including Draco Rosa, Daddy Yankee, Juan Luis Guerra, Andrea Bocelli and Korn.
“We wouldn’t have been able to have those shows if we didn’t have El Coliseo,” says ASM Global regional GM Jorge Pérez, who manages the venue. “It was the need we had at that moment in history.”
Mariela Vallines, executive director of the Puerto Rico Convention Center District Authority, which owns the building and contracts with ASM to operate it, notes that over the past 20 years, the coliseum “has become a cultural hub for the island, bringing people together to celebrate music and sports as the host of world-class events and entertainment. The venue has contributed significantly to Puerto Rico’s economy, generating revenue for local businesses and providing employment opportunities on the island.”
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What’s more, she adds, “it has helped to position Puerto Rico as a premium entertainment destination attracting both local and international audiences that have surpassed 10 million visitors over the last two decades.”
Prior to El Coliseo’s construction, the Caribbean island hosted sporting and entertainment events primarily at two locations: Coliseum Roberto Clemente Walker and Hiram Bithorn Stadium. Still, a high-end venue was needed “to be competitive in tourism” because “we couldn’t only survive on leisure, travel and regular tourism,” Pérez says.
Since its inception 20 years ago, “El Choli,” as it is popularly called by locals, has become known both locally and internationally and the ultimate “dream arena” to perform at for many artists.
“The first goal of any artist, musician or DJ is to play in an arena that big,” says Puerto Rican artist Jay Wheeler, who made his Choli debut in 2022 with four sold-out shows. “It’s like winning a Grammy. Every artist from Puerto Rico will always have the goal of doing something in the coliseum.”
Ángela Aguilar, who graced the venue’s stage at the 2023 Premios Juventud.
Gladys Vega/Getty Images
A wave of urban acts has not only received a seal of approval at the venue but also achieved milestones. Daddy Yankee, with his 2019 Con Calma Pal’ Choli shows, grossed $7 million, and Wisin y Yandel grossed $6.2 million with their 2018 string of concerts, according to Billboard Boxscore. The latter act holds the record for most sellouts, with 105,000 tickets sold across eight shows.
El Coliseo was No. 24 on Billboard’s 2023 year-end Top Venues global chart (in the 15,001-plus-capacity category), and it ranked fourth in the Latin/Spanish-language market venue after Miami’s Kaseya Center, Madrid’s WiZink Center and Movistar Arena in Santiago, Chile.
Pérez recently spoke with Billboard about the past, present and future of the venue.
What void did El Coliseo fill when it was built 20 years ago?
The government noticed that there was a need to have a world-class arena. The building we had before was Coliseo Roberto Clemente Walker, which opened in 1973 and where concerts and sporting events were held in the 1980s and 1990s. We also have the Hiram Bithorn Stadium built in 1962. With that came the construction of the Convention Center, which was inaugurated one year after El Coliseo. But the vision was that we needed world-class venues to be competitive in tourism.
We couldn’t only survive on leisure, travel and regular tourism. We needed to provoke groups, meetings, conventions that would have economic movement. To complement that, the government really understood that we needed a top destination. So that’s kind of the history behind it.
There was a lot of criticism at the beginning, even when construction started. But when we look back, it was a very smart decision, considering the exposure Puerto Rico has had in the entertainment industry and how it has opened doors for our artists. When we look back, it was a visionary idea with positive results.
Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot is managed by ASM Global’s Jorge Pérez.
Fronthouse Media
What’s the story behind the venue being named after comedian José Miguel Agrelot?
There were a lot of names and ideas out there. In January 2004, José Miguel Agrelot — who was a comedian, radio/TV host, actor, producer and visionary — passed away. So his name came to the top of the list and it was approved.
One of his most famous TV characters was Don Cholito, which he played during the “Encabulla y Vuelve y Tira” segment on El Show del Medio Día (The Midday Show) in the late ’70s and early ’80s. “Encabulla y Vuelve y Tira” referenced the stringing of a wooden spinning top [a yo-yo] — in other words, to do it again and keep trying. That became an analogy of persistence and optimism of the day-to-day challenges that Puerto Ricans had at the time.
While promoting “The Night of Revenge,” one of the first boxing matches that took place at El Coliseo — where Miguel Cotto won the junior welterweight championship — sports commentator Elliott Castro was the first to say: “Let’s go watch boxing at El Choliseo.” Ever since, everyone knows the building by that nickname, El Choli.
Don Cholito provided optimism, a contagious smile and a vibrant personality — and that character was precisely about persistence and overcoming hard times. Those are some strong characteristics and traits that we have in Puerto Rico. Don Cholito’s spirit lives in every corner of El Coliseo.
Why does the venue play an important role in the career of a Puerto Rican artist?
First, it’s their hometown. We’re considered “The Cathedral of Reggaetón,” and for artists of that genre especially it’s important to play at El Coliseo because it’s like a big test for them. We’ve had the top urbano acts perform here. It’s a key venue, and it [marks] a point in each artist’s career of when they performed here, how well they did and how that impacts their careers moving forward.
Why has it become important for artists from other countries?
You have people [in Puerto Rico] who love and really appreciate live entertainment and can identify a good show. The energy here is amazing. We have an educated and knowledgeable crowd. When the crowd at El Coliseo accepts you as an artist, you know you’re en route to doing good things. That goes back to our culture — how we’re raised, how from a very small age we’re listening to music — we know what a top production is. When an artist gets onstage and feels that energy and acceptance, it fills them with confidence in what they’re doing and producing is special.
Daddy Yankee
Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images
Do Puerto Rican acts get preference in dates?
Not really. We manage our calendar very responsibly, and it’s on a first come, first served basis. I work directly with management or agencies or local promoters to try to find the best fit for dates.
What would you say has been the most logistically complicated concert?
It must be the World’s Hottest Tour. Bad Bunny wanted to break the attendance record, and to do so, they put a very small stage on the south side and put all the production [overhead]. From one point of El Coliseo to the other, all the sound and lighting was on [the ceiling] — that’s not normal. Usually, our stages are large, but they wanted to maximize the audience size. I hear that Bad Bunny’s show now with the Most Wanted Tour is also very complex.
What economic impact does the venue have on the island?
The entertainment and event industry is huge in Puerto Rico and creates 30,000 jobs. It creates $2 billion, and almost $400 million of it goes to the government in the form of sales, tax and other revenue they receive from activities that we host in our buildings. It’s a big chunk of the local economy.
We look at it as an important part of our economic ecosystem. We create a lot of entertainment tourism; people travel from different parts to see a show here. About 15% of tickets purchased at the venue come from a ZIP code not in Puerto Rico. Our vision is to keep promoting Puerto Rico as a premier entertainment and tourism destination. We have a social responsibility to help our community.
In terms of business opportunities that we can bring, the exposure Puerto Rico has gotten through El Coliseo and through the artists that act on our stage has helped put the country on the map. People are realizing that this is a top-notch venue.
Aventura
John Parra/Getty Images
How many people work an event at the venue?
On average at a sold-out event — from events staff to security to housekeeping to operation — we can have close to 400 to 500 staff, not considering the production staff on the artist’s side. We have 26 corporate suites; we have our food concessions. At an end stage, which is the most common setup, we fit 15,000 people, and basically, that’s the average staff that we must [have to] make sure everything moves smoothly.
El Coliseo is now also hosting televised awards shows.
The first one we hosted was the Billboard Latin Music Awards back in 2010, and we resumed in 2020 with Premios Tú Música Urbano. We’ve also hosted Univision’s Premios Juventud in 2022 and 2023. Awards shows are very particular because they take up a lot of time. The setup for one of these shows can be seven to 10 days prior to the show. It’s very complex production, and overall, it takes up a chunk of almost two to three weeks.
After the first awards show we hosted in 2010, looking and finding a three-week period that was not booked became a challenge for us. But when we started again, we realized it was a great showcase for the destination. Premios Juventud, for example, had great ratings and exposed us to an international audience.
What do you envision for El Coliseo 20 years from now?
We are already state of the art, but hopefully, we’ll have a new and larger Coliseo. Even though we maintain the venue in optimal condition, we really focus on keeping this building [able] to comply with all the production riders and high-quality shows that we’ve had.
But the truth is, 20 more years is a long time — and I think that in that time frame, we should be transitioning to a new Coliseo. There has been conversations about building a new stadium in Puerto Rico, too, but I see us transitioning to stay relevant and continue producing results. This was designed as a sports arena, but looking into the future, I’m thinking of a new building with a larger capacity and that’s more entertainment-related.
This story originally appeared in the June 1, 2024, issue of Billboard.
By the time Hootie & The Blowfish released their Atlantic Records debut, Cracked Rear View, on July 5, 1994, the band had already been together for more than eight years. Singer Darius Rucker and guitarist Mark Bryan met while attending the University of South Carolina and began gigging as a cover band called The Wolf Brothers. They were joined by bassist Dean Felber and drummer Brantley Smith, who was eventually replaced by Jim “Soni” Sonefeld. And Hootie & The Blowfish was born.
During the height of the grunge movement, Atlantic Records A&R executive Tim Sommer signed the quartet, which had already built a strong regional following for its jangly, harmony-filled pop rock songs and Rucker’s rich baritone. But the label’s expectations for the album were low.
“The only people [at Atlantic] championing us at the time were Tim and [Atlantic’s then-president] Danny Goldberg,” Rucker recalls. “One guy actually said that if they put Cracked Rear View out, they’d be the laughingstocks of the music business. Grunge was king, and nobody was looking for this pop/rock band out of South Carolina.”
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But Cracked Rear View surpassed all expectations — and then some, to put it mildly. Bolstered by the singalong, uplifting first single, “Hold My Hand,” the album bounced into the top spot on the Billboard 200 five times and has been certified 21 times platinum by the RIAA, signifying sales of more than 21 million units in the United States. The album, which took its name from a lyric in a John Hiatt song, is the highest-certified debut album of all time, according to RIAA data.
Thirty years later, to mark the anniversary of Cracked Rear View, Hootie & The Blowfish are staging the Summer Camp With Trucks Tour on a bill with Collective Soul and Edwin McCain.
Today, Bryan and Rucker fondly remember making the album with producer Don Gehman (R.E.M., John Mellencamp), whom they still work with; their favorite moment at the 1996 Grammy Awards; and where they were when the album first went to No. 1.
A promotional photo used on the band’s flyers in the early ’90s.
Courtesy of Hootie & the Blowfish
You started as a cover band, The Wolf Brothers. When did you start writing your own songs?
Mark Bryan: We were having fun doing the acoustic covers in the meantime, just the two of us. But I think we were always dreaming a little bigger, for sure. Then as Hootie, when we were in school, we started writing, but it was nothing we would want to share with you. (Laughs.)
Darius Rucker: We had decided that we wanted to make a change and [do] mostly originals. So when Brantley [Smith] left and with [Jim “Soni” Sonefeld] coming in, he made it an easy transition. We had written a couple of songs, but when Soni came in, we really started writing.
Soni came in with “Hold My Hand,” right?
Rucker: He played that the day he auditioned for us. He walked out of the room and I told the other guys, “He’s in the band!”
There were certain songwriters and acts you adored, like Radney Foster and R.E.M. How did they influence your sound?
Rucker: There’s always such a country element, and all of that comes from Radney Foster and [Bill] Lloyd. That jangly guitar we use definitely comes from R.E.M. [member] Peter Buck’s guitar with the jingle. It was rock’n’roll but it wasn’t metal. It was something we could do.
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Who is an act people would be surprised to know influenced the band?
Rucker: We listened to a lot of rap along with those country songs. Digital Underground and De La Soul and those bands. They influenced us in a big way. We still do [Digital Underground’s] “Freaks of the Industry.”
Why are the songs on the album credited to all four band members?
Bryan: We’ve split our publishing right down the middle from the very beginning. Nobody knew whose songs were going to be the hits. Our attorney was smart, and he was inspired by R.E.M. Not only did they inspire us musically, but they inspired us on the business side as well because they did the same thing. That fit with the way we were writing together anyway because everybody was bringing stuff in.
Despite the low expectations, the album took off. When did you realize you had a hit?
Bryan: Right when “Hold My Hand” hit, we realized our sound was connecting. Then it was “Let Her Cry,” “I Only Want To Be With You” and “Time.” A lot of times, it’s really hard for the artist, manager and label to decide what’s the right song for the [next] single. The funny thing about Cracked Rear View is there was never any question. I’ve never seen anything like it before or since.
Where were you when the album went to No. 1 for the first of its five times?
Rucker: We were on the road, and it had been moving [up the charts] so much, we were waiting for it to go to No. 1. Then you get that phone call that you’re finally the No. 1 record in the country. It was like, “Great. Let’s go play a show!” When you have so many naysayers and then you have the No. 1 record, it’s a pretty great feeling. You’re not [considered] cool, but you’re selling half a million albums a week.
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The melodies are so upbeat and jangly that it was easy to overlook a lot of the darkness or messages in the lyrics. For example, “Drowning” is about racism. Did you feel some people didn’t understand what you were saying?
Rucker: One hundred percent. I still don’t. “Hold My Hand” was a protest song. That’s a song about “Why are we hating each other?” You’ve got “Drowning,” and “Not Even the Trees” is such a dark song. “Let Her Cry” is a dark song. I think some people were caught up in “Hold My Hand” and “I Only Want To Be With You” and they didn’t look any deeper than that.
Bryan: I think Darius was very overt with “Drowning,” but that wasn’t our intention on a lot of our songs. It was more of that subtle approach to that, which is just treating each other right. I think there were other lyrics, here and there, where he was telling you about how he was feeling as a Black man in America at the time. It would have been nice if people caught up more on that. And I think from our end, too, with the fame that we got, we maybe had a responsibility to write into that a little more, and I don’t know if we ever resolved that.
For the 30th anniversary, do you wish people would give it a deeper listen?
Rucker: We wish they would but they won’t, and the thing that really matters to us is 23 million records sold [worldwide]. Success is the best revenge. Say what you want. Don’t put us on the ballot for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We still have one of the top 10-selling records of all time.
Does the lack of recognition from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame bother you?
Rucker: If we didn’t get in, that’s fine. But you really mean to tell us that we don’t even deserve to be on the ballot?
When was the last time you listened to Cracked Rear View from start to finish?
Rucker: 1994. I’m not one to listen to records after I put them out. Ever. I don’t really love to hear me sing, to be honest with you.
Bryan: When we played it in Mexico last April. We played it from start to finish.
A performance in Raleigh, N.C., during the 2019 Group Therapy Tour.
Todd & Chris Owyoung
In a shocking twist at the 1996 American Music Awards, Garth Brooks won favorite artist. He left the award on the podium, saying he didn’t deserve it and said backstage that you did.
Rucker: That’s one of the greatest, classiest things I’ve ever seen. When Garth did that, it just said so much to us about what we were doing for music. Every time I tell that story and he’s around, he says, “You know where our award is, Darius? On the mantel!” (Laughs.)
The next month, you won Grammys for best new artist and best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals. What do you remember from that night?
Rucker: We figured they had to give us best new artist because we sold so many records. But the second one, we thought [TLC’s] “Waterfalls” was going to win everything. KISS, in makeup for the first time since 1979, and Tupac [Shakur] walk out to present this category. We had just won best new artist and they rush us back to our seats. We’re drunk. We sit down and then Tupac says, “My boys, Hootie & The Blowfish.” That was unbelievable.
So “my boys” meant as much as the Grammy?
Rucker: Exactly! And KISS meant so much to all of us.
Bryan: I can’t physically remember being on the stage with KISS and Tupac. It was so much bigger than me that I almost blocked it out. Isn’t that crazy? It was so overwhelming that I didn’t embrace the moment maybe the way I would have now.
Thirty years later, what do you think is the album’s legacy?
Bryan: It seems to resonate in people’s lives in a very big way. Those stories like [it’s] their wedding song or they say, “It got me through my father’s death,” always keep coming back up to us, and it never gets old. What a great full-circle way as a songwriter to know that you’ve connected with people. As a songwriter and musician, you can’t ask for more. It’s such a dream come true to have made an album that has connected on such a level with people like that.
This story originally appeared in the June 1, 2024, issue of Billboard.
After touring the world as Madonna’s emcee, drag star Bob the Drag Queen is ready to get back on the road with a show of his own.
On Tuesday (June 4), the Drag Race winner announced his new comedy tour, the This Is Wild! World Tour. Set to take place this fall, Bob’s new show will kick off the 35-date North American leg of the tour in Sacramento, Calif., on Sept. 18, before heading to cities including Seattle, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles, before closing out the show at the Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas on Nov. 15.
The new show will see Bob flexing his skills as a multi-hyphenate, including “stand-up comedy, crowd work and music, all while entertaining his audience with the charisma and flair,” according to a press release. In a statement, Bob made it clear just how much fun he intends to have on the road: “If you’ve ever laughed with me on the internet, wait till you see me in person.”
The new North American dates of Bob’s tour join a suite of previously announced shows in Australia, set to begin in Brisbane on July 18 at the QPAC Concert Hall. The star will perform shows throughout the month in Sydney and Melbourne before closing out at the Astor Theater in Perth on July 24.
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Bob spent the last year on the road with Madonna for her Celebration World Tour, serving as the emcee for her decades-spanning setlist. Speaking to Billboard in 2023 before the tour started, Bob said that working with the pop legend had already proven to be a validating experience. “She respects me in a way that doesn’t feel like a novelty,” he said. “Obviously, what matters most is how I feel about myself, but still, a stamp of approval from Madonna is just like … ‘What?!’”
Check out the full list of dates for the North American leg of Bob the Drag Queen’s This Is Wild! World Tour below:
Bob the Drag Queen
Courtesy Photo
Kany García is set to hit the road with her García Tour 2024 in North America, which will kick off Oct. 9 in Dallas’ Majestic Theatre. In support of her latest album, García, the Live Nation-produced trek will visit major U.S. markets including Chicago, New York and Atlanta before wrapping up Dec. 1 in Miami’s […]
As the summer kicks off, the music business is shifting into the 2024 festival season, which has already seen its fair share of surprises. From Coachella only selling 80% of its available inventory, to Lovers & Friends getting canceled over severe weather and the steady growth of genre-specific or niche festivals like Chicago’s Sueños, the market is moving and fans’ tastes are shifting, with promoters, agents, managers and artists all looking to find the right formula to build out the best ecosystem.
At the forefront of all festival booking is CAA’s co-head of North American music Darryl Eaton, who books acts like blink-182, The Weeknd and RBD and helps develop festival booking strategy for major stars and emerging acts. He’s had extensive experience both booking his acts and watching the festival scene in the U.S. grow over the years, as players like Lollapalooza, Coachella and Bonnaroo move from scrappy upstarts to staples of the scene and the market begins to diversify with genre-specific lineups and new, previously-untested locations.
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Eaton sat down with Billboard to discuss how the 2024 festival season is faring, the appeal of nice festivals and where festivals fit into artist’s careers. “Things go in cycles,” Eaton says. “Look at Lollapalooza and Governors Ball this year — they had their fastest selling years in a decade. The formula is not black and white.”
How do you feel about the overall state of the festival business right now?
It’s really good. It’s been strong and growing over the last several years. There are new festivals coming up every year. One that goes up and doesn’t do well, or gets cancelled, or business is off, gets the biggest headlines. But for every one that’s not doing well it seems to be two or three that are coming online that are doing well. Overall, I see it as a growth sector.
We’re in a state where it is hard to create a new Bonnaroo, Coachella, Lollapalooza — a big, established [festival] — and those legacy brands are great and dominant. But what I’m seeing is a lot of growth in these smaller, niche festivals that are either very genre-specific or in new locations. They are popping up all over the place.
Why are these newer niche festivals doing so well?
Hard to say. For instance, there’s Jeffrey Shuman, who curates a couple of these very specific festivals that he puts out. He’s got hard rock festival Sick New World, Lovers and Friends that recently launched, When We Were Young which is a retro punk vibe, Besame Mucho which is Latin-driven. Goldenvoice just put up a new festival called No Values, which is punk rock. All those festivals have done really well.
They are very targeted: targeted music, targeted demo. They do a good job of creating a lineup that is undeniable. Festivals are driven by the talent. You can have as much vibe out there as possible, but it’s really about who you book that drives sales.
We saw slower-than-usual Coachella sales this year. Do you think that has anything to do with their lineup or the repetition in lineups for these legacy festivals?
From a touring standpoint, the business is very cyclical. The right artists dropping the record at the right time is what enables you to get Beyoncé to be your headliner at Coachella. Sometimes the planets don’t align for some of these festivals, that the time period is off for key artists. And sometimes things come together and there’s a lot of available headliners where there is too much to choose from.
If Coachella was off this year, I don’t think it is indicative of the festival or the talent. Things go in cycles. Look at Lollapalooza and Governors Ball this year — they had their fastest selling years in a decade. The formula is not black and white.
Where do festivals fit into artist development these days?
It depends on the artist. Getting in front of a lot of eyeballs at one time is a big part of the draw, both on the way up and when you’re established. Look at blink-182, who is headlining Lollapalooza. Last year, they sold out two nights in Chicago at the United Center and made way more money than you could make playing Lolla as a headliner. But they wanted to be in front of 100,000 people and find new fans and keep regenerating their audience. That’s why some artists will take a bit of a pay cut to play in front of an audience that could be four to five times their draw.
On the way up, for developing artists it’s about getting in front of people and being around other artists. Having that sense of community in the artist sense is important to a lot of these are artists that play [festivals]. The majority of the reason is to get those eyeballs and, if you’re good, win them over. [When clips of festival performances go viral], it can be like a giant online infomercial for you as a band.
Is it more lucrative for big artists to be playing festivals over headlining arena tours? Or have increasing ticket prices made it more valuable to stick to their solo tours?
Post-pandemic demand has been really strong and ticket prices have creeped up. For a lot of artists, it used to be you’d get an offer for a festival and, because it was a one-off and not necessarily part of your tour routing, you would demand fees that were much greater than what you might get if you played the market for a solo tour date. But at the higher end, if you’ve got the demand and you can sell tickets, you can generally make as much if not more doing your own show. So, it’s about strategic desires to get new fans. Artists always aspire to play these festivals because it’s a small group that gets invited to play and it’s a badge of honor.
It is getting more expensive and more difficult for smaller acts to do their own headlining tours. Do festivals make more sense for them?
You can’t develop a career only playing festivals. There are some artists who do it. They’re the perennial festival artists that have no hard ticket sales, but for the most part, in order to develop a career and have long-term solid fan bases, you need to be out there earning it — being on the road, selling hard tickets, developing fans.
Are there any niche festivals that have impressed you lately?
Some of the ones I mentioned before, like When We Were Young. They did a great job of making an undeniable lineup that captured the imagination of everybody who ever listened to that music for a period of time. They had to be at that show. When they started the one in Las Vegas three years ago, they blew out 65,000 tickets and then added a second show and immediately blew out another 65,000 tickets and then added a third show. Anything that captures that kind of audience with that kind of velocity is impressive.
Because these lineups are so specific, it seems there can only be so many artists that will fit the bill. Do you think they will be able to sustain that enthusiasm from festivalgoers?
I don’t know. Thankfully, that’s not my job. [Laughs] That would cause me great stress. But it remains to be seen. I’ve heard rumors about what they are coming up with for this year, but that’s the struggle for the niche festivals. Maybe they do burn out of their lineups over time, but I am sure these festival organizers are already thinking of what might be the next idea, the next niche, the next festival. Someone like Goldenvoice, who does Coachella, they’re always trying to do other festivals and other ideas. You’d think if you had Coachella and Stagecoach, you’d be like, “Yes, we’re good,” but it always seems like they’re hungry to come up with new ideas. There’s a particular addiction for all these festival curators to do more and come up with new and fresher ideas.
Since its founding in 2001, Cardenas Marketing Network (CMN) has grown into one of the most dominant concert promoters in the world, leading the charge as Latin music continues to assert itself on arena and stadium stages. Case in point: In the midyear Boxscore tracking period, the company is up in every conceivable metric, posting the biggest gross and attendance in its history.
According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, CMN grossed $233.3 million and sold 1.9 million tickets from 148 shows between Oct. 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024. That attendance figure marks a 12% increase from the company’s 2023 midyear showing, which was already up by 71% from 2022 — a year that saw a 94% rise in attendance from pre-pandemic 2019.
CMN’s $233 million gross marks the company’s first midyear tracking period that finished north of the $200 million threshold, rising 43% from last year’s $163 million. Its 2024 midyear earnings are notably almost 4.5x higher than its pre-pandemic business. That achievement comes from working both smarter and harder: in essence, by putting on more shows by more artists in bigger venues with maximized potential.
Luis Miguel leads the charge among CMN’s touring artists. The Mexican music icon finished at No. 1 on the midyear Top Latin Tours ranking, grossing $165.6 million and selling 1.2 million tickets during the tracking period — eclipsing the biggest Latin tour of 2023 (Karol G) on both metrics in just six months. That marks the biggest gross for a Latin artist in the history of Billboard Boxscore’s midyear charts.
But as proven by Karol G last year and CMN’s run with Bad Bunny in 2022, the promoter’s reach exceeds genre restrictions. At midyear, Miguel is No. 4 on the all-genre Top Tours chart, behind only U2, P!nk and Madonna. He also ranks third in terms of tickets sold. Elsewhere, Marc Anthony is No. 48 on Top Tours with $23.4 million, while Don Omar and Christian Nodal also pulled in eight-figure earnings with $14.1 million and $11.8 million, respectively.
Notably, CMN is absent from the midyear Top Promoters chart. Having recently entered into a partnership with AEG Presents, the company’s totals were rolled into those of AEG — which ranked No. 2 with grosses of $976.6 million — for midyear chart purposes. AEG’s total is up nearly $300 million from last year thanks to the touring giant’s own promotions and the addition of CMN to its tally. Had CMN been listed individually on Top Promoters, it would have ranked in the top five.
While the midyear tracking period closed on March 31, CMN’s tours have continued rolling. Reported grosses from April and March amount to more than $100 million, outpacing the midyear period thanks to big assists from recently launched treks by Aventura and Victor Manuelle.
CMN’s would-be top five midyear placement tracks, as the company spent the last three years in the upper region of the year-end Top Promoters chart — the culmination of a steady climb since its 2001 inception. CMN volleyed on and off the chart throughout the 2000s before rising from No. 15 in 2018 to No. 10 in 2019 to No. 7 in 2020. It ranked at either No. 3 or No. 4 in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
What a difference a year makes. After a difficult post-pandemic opening in late 2022, UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y., has found its footing in its sophomore year, nearly doubling its year-over-year gross on Billboard’s 2024 mid-year rankings and finding its stride in the busy New York Metro market.
At the mid-year point in 2023, UBS Arena had posted $22 million in gross concert receipts from 39 shows. This year, the venue has posted $42 million in gross receipts from 56 shows.
That success comes from building off 2023 sellouts that included two nights of Bruce Springsteen, two nights of SUGA and shows from Blink-182, Peso Pluma, Aerosmith and Billy Joel. In 2024, UBS has already seen sellouts from Stevie Nicks, Elevation Worship, Machel Montano, ENHYPEN, Aventura (two nights), Drake (two nights) and Zach Bryan (two nights).
Delayed by pandemic-related construction issues, including the Metropolitan Transportation Authority missing a key date to connect the venue to the Long Island Rail Road, UBS Arena struggled with attendance early on.
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USB Arena
UBS Arena/Dennis DaSilva
“There was really no playbook on how to open an arena in the most competitive major market in the world during a pandemic,” says Mark Shulman, senior vp of programming at the Oak View Group-managed arena, which was built in partnership with the New York Islanders.
“You can take everything that we know about how to launch a venue and you throw it all out because so many of those strategies just weren’t feasible at the time,” Shulman adds of the 745,000-square-foot, 17,200-seat hockey and entertainment arena designed by Populos and constructed by Aecom Hunt. “But what was undeniable is that UBS Arena is a world-class, stunningly beautiful and acoustically superior venue. And we had a highly experienced team that we assembled. We had the right people for the challenge.”
The first order of business was tapping into the diversity of Nassau County and the nearby borough of Queens, “which are some of the most diverse areas in America,” says Shulman. “They have residents coming from 120 countries. They speak 130 languages. We spend a lot time developing inclusive programming that reflects that diversity and we’ve had great success with not only rock, pop and country, but also Caribbean, soca, K-pop, C-pop and artists from India.”
UBS Arena’s large 430-acre campus at Belmont Park is a rare asset in the New York market “that’s become a fantastic activation space for artists and their fans,” Shulman says. During the Zach Bryan shows, held on March 30 and 31, the country star’s father, Dwayne, “hosted events outside for fans and actually discovered a local artist who ended up performing on the show the next night,” Shulman adds.
Another example of this came on May 3, when UBS hosted K-pop group ENHYPEN and put on “a full day of activities where the fans could meet up, play games, create art and dance to their favorite music,” Shulman says. “We love seeing artists and fans take advantage of all that UBS Arena and the campus have to offer.”
The hard work involved in establishing the venue is set to culminate with two massive upcoming events. The first is the MTV Video Music Awards, which will be held at UBS Aarena on Sept. 10, marking the show’s return to New York.
“The team at MTV is designing a completely new show and really going to utilize every space in the building and the park outside,” says Shulman, including the full arena bowl, all seven of the venue’s club spaces and the venue’s two outdoor terraces.
UBS Arena will also host the 2026 NHL All-Star Game, as announced by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman during the NFL Winter Classic on Jan. 1.
USB Arena
UBS Arena/Dennis DaSilva
A big selling point for UBS Arena, Shulman adds, are the different experiences that can be hosted within the building, including the American Express Lounge speakeasy and the Heineken Terrace, which hosts large parties and group dinners. The arena even features sensory spaces designed by Northwell Health for guests of any age who may have sensory processing sensitivities. Open for all arena events, each room features custom hand-painted murals, special sensory equipment including a Vecta machine, infinity tunnels, heat sensitivity play panels and gel floor tiles along with a customizable sound system and bean bag chairs.
Says Shulman, “Our goal is to create a space that is comfortable for everyone and meets the entire needs of the community.”
WMT Digital has acquired Aloompa, a leading mobile app provider for live event experiences.
Drew Burchfield, who co-founded Aloompa in 2008, will board WMT Digital as a vp, with his entire team also joining the company. WMT focuses on technology solutions for fan engagement, storytelling, data applications and revenue platforms.
“We started in 2012 as a tech consultancy and evolved into a tech integrator model, and then eventually a digital platform and a tech provider,” says Andres Focil, founder/CEO of WMT Digital. “The goal of the business was to think about ways that we can unlock storytelling through technology. Today platforms are going more modular, flexible and scalable and really shifting from traditional content into much more dynamic storytelling content and we spend a lot of time thinking about like finding product market fit and creating specific use cases for organizations that fit their particular market.”
Traditionally, WMT has worked in the collegiate and professional sports space while Aloompa has a major foothold in the live music and festival space.
“There’s so much cross opportunity between the entertainment space and the sports space and the larger event space,” Focil notes, pointing to one of the company’s clients, Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, as an example.
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“It’s a multi-tenant venue with four different teams that also hosts a lot of events, including concerts,” Focil says. “So when we built out their application, we were thinking about ways that we can store their tickets, if you’re a season ticket holder for a particular team or you are attending a concert, and from there we really started trying to understand how to cross-sell and upsell and then create synergies between the two. We’ve started exploring the market and found that Aloompa is the premium solution in the music space and we started having discussions” that led to an eventual deal.
“I think the thing that’s super exciting here between Andres’ vision and the greater team’s vision is that what is being built is a vertical stack of solutions for an event or for a team that puts data in the center,” Burchfield said. “For events and festivals, the power is in tools that leverage all the touch points of a fan, which is really the ultimate long-term solution. And I would say that approximately 70% of those pieces are now in place with our two companies coming together. And we’re going to be attacking the market in that way.”
Aloompa will operate as a standalone brand, based in Nashville, within the “FanOS” product category of WMT. The combined companies will continue to support existing partners and customers while bringing new offerings to market designed to solve client-related challenges.
Longtime agent Lee Anderson has been named president of Wasserman Music, the company announced Monday (June 3). Anderson was a founding member of Wasserman Music’s executive team when the agency purchased Paradigm’s music division in 2021. Since playing a pivotal role in establishing Wasserman Music, Anderson has helped develop the company’s business strategy and growth […]