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After becoming a band nearly 30 years ago, iconic pop-punk act Sum 41 has approached a milestone: its final album. Out Friday (March 29), Heaven :x: Hell arrives as the band’s eighth and last project together.
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“The title doesn’t just represent the light and dark sonically of the record — to us that’s been our whole career,” frontman Deryck Whibley tells Billboard News. “It’s been extreme highs and extreme lows and the only way you stick with it is if you love what you’re doing.”
Across its career, the Grammy-nominated Sum 41 has scored two top albums on the Billboard 200 (2004’s Chuck and 2007’s Underclass Hero), while its biggest hit “Fat Lip” became its only Billboard Hot 100 entry, peaking at No. 66.
Heaven :x: Hell arrives as the band’s first double album, chronicling the fine line it has walked between more uptempo pop-punk with harder-hitting rock and metal music. As the band confirms, having these two sides was never a conscious choice, with Whibley saying they never even set out to make any sort of album at all.
“A lot it was by accident,” he says. “Right as we went into lockdown, I started getting calls from labels and managers and artists asking if I would write some songs for them, and everyone was asking for something leaning pop-punk. And we haven’t really done pop-punk in a long time … it’s been like, 16 years. I wrote about seven or eight songs, and once I listened to them, I realized I actually liked them and I didn’t want to give them away.”
Once he started sending the songs to the band, Dave Baksh jokes about how amazing it felt. “Like, ‘Ah, something to do.’” Adds Frank Zummo, “It was a light at a dark time.”
And now, this album — and the band’s forthcoming farewell tour, which extends through 2025 — will, funny enough, get them through the undeniable fact that the end is near. “Right now, it feels like 2001 for us when we were first coming out, getting pushed and pulled everywhere,” says Jason McCaslin. Adds Whibley: “As it gets closer to the end, it will start to hit us. I think it’s gonna get stranger and stranger as we get closer to the last shows,” which he teases will mix their greatest hits with fan favorites and, of course, some of the new songs.
“The entire band, I feel like we’re at the top of our game,” says Tom Thacker. “It’s almost a shame. I’ve never been in a band that was this tight and this mentally in tune with each other.”
When asked if this is indeed the last record and tour, each member’s eyes widen, though Whibley assures it is. “People are like, ‘You sure you want to call it the last record?’ I’ve seen Elton John six times in my life, only on the farewell tour,” he laughs, adding that will not be the case for Sum 41.
“We all knew no one was going to write our story except for us,” he continues. “I remember in the early days when people would say, ‘This band will be gone next year,’ or ‘One hit wonder’ when we had our first hit single. I always thought, ‘You don’t get to write our story. We’ll tell you when we’re leaving.’”
Watch the full Billboard News interview above.
When Co-op Live, the latest arena from developer Oak View Group (OVG), opens in Manchester, England, in April, it will look a bit different from most similarly sized British venues.
Inside, it will serve up an eminently modern offering: the United Kingdom’s largest arena concert capacity, an acoustically efficient infrastructure and a star-studded concert lineup including Stevie Nicks, Olivia Rodrigo and Nicki Minaj. But outside, the venue’s innovations will be most visible. Situated on the Manchester Ship Canal, Co-op Live is surrounded by a “biodiversity ring” — over 29,000 square feet of lush greenery offering a natural habitat for local wildlife and a surrounding green wall to attract bees. A mile-long pedestrian path partially along the water will encourage more environmentally friendly travel to and from the 23,500-capacity venue.
Since OVG broke ground on Co-op Live in 2021, chairman/CEO Tim Leiweke has frequently walked that route to the arena, which was built by local suppliers to reduce the transportation of materials, is entirely powered by electricity to eliminate the use of gas on site and even collects rain to water its plants and flush its toilets. “Co-op Live is going to be the most sustainable arena in the U.K. and one of the most in the world,” he tells Billboard. “It is our intent, our ambition and our commitment to be carbon neutral, but it takes a year to be certified” with an “excellent” rating from the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method, run by U.K. accreditation service BRE Global.
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A veteran of the live sector — and of innovation in arena construction, specifically — who once served as president of AEG, Leiweke is known for his enthusiasm for ambitious new projects like Co-op Live and Green Operations & Advanced Leadership (GOAL), a sustainability program developed by founding members OVG; State Farm Arena and its NBA sports tenant the Atlanta Hawks; Fenway Sports Group; and green building expert Jason F. McLennan for arenas, stadiums, convention centers and other venues. “I love GOAL. It’s the most important thing we’ve done toward sustainability,” Leiweke says. “It’s hugely important that we get other people in the industry committed to GOAL. That’s one of [OVG’s] highest priorities.”
Building Co-op Live is only the latest milestone in OVG’s commitment to creating more sustainable concert spaces that began with its billion-dollar, four-year renovation of Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena (formerly Key Arena), which reopened in late 2021. Now OVG is working to bring sustainability to each of the more than 400 buildings it owns, operates or partners with.
“As an industry, we are a lightning rod of attention,” Leiweke says. “Can we use that platform that has such a big profile to be an example of tackling this issue and doing the right thing?”
A rendering of U.K. venue Co-op Live, where a pedestrian path encourages foot travel to the arena.
Courtesy of Oak View Group
During Climate Pledge Arena’s renovation, OVG floated its iconic roof in the air for conservation — Seattle designated Key Arena’s exterior a municipal landmark in 2017 — and overhauled the 60-year-old building to consume zero fossil fuel, use solar panels for 100% renewable energy power and employ a “Rain to Rink” system harvesting water off the roof to help create the ice for NHL tenant the Seattle Kraken. Naming-rights partner Amazon chose the new arena’s moniker, basing it on its Climate Pledge with environmental advocacy group Global Optimism. Today, it’s a zero-waste venue without single-use plastics — and was the first arena to achieve International Living Future Institute Zero Carbon Certification, meaning it’s energy-efficient, combustion-free and powered entirely by renewable sources.
After working with OVG on Climate Pledge, Amazon provided its web services software to track venue performance for sustainability measures such as energy and water use, greenhouse gas emissions and waste management. In October 2021, OVG and fellow founding members launched GOAL to provide resources to venues exploring how to operate more sustainably.
“You don’t have to be Climate Pledge Arena and chances are you won’t be, at least not at first,” says Kristen Fulmer, OVG head of sustainability and director of GOAL. “It’s important that we meet operators where they are and make incremental improvements over time.”
Take OVG’s newly built Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, Calif., as an example. It’s surrounded by drought-resistant plants, uses electric Zambonis to maintain the ice used by AHL team the Coachella Valley Firebirds, runs on solar panels covering its parking lot and is sunk 25 feet below grade to limit exposure of its exterior facade and thus reduce its HVAC dependence. Parking lot lights are on dusk-to-dawn sensors, the venue composts, and prepaid parking reduces the time cars spend idling.
“When you open a venue that has all these elements already designed into it, [sustainability] becomes part of your daily procedure,” Acrisure senior vp John Page says. And GOAL provides a “tracking system that allows us to evaluate on an ongoing basis how we can lower our carbon footprint” and reach a target of carbon neutrality by 2025.
As with Acrisure, GOAL’s approach to sustainability often utilizes creative solutions to regional issues, a practice made easier by the data it collects from its now 50 members. (Leiweke intends to double that number by the end of 2024.) “No one does a better job than State Farm Arena on recycling,” Leiweke says. “We brought them in and said, ‘Great, write the playbook.’ And then we bring in all of the other people in our industry that we see as best in class on green and sustainability and say, ‘Great, write that playbook.’ ”
Even with its collected best practices, Leiweke says, “Amazingly, many people turn down [GOAL] because they say it will cost too much money, which is ridiculous. How much do you think it’s going to cost to replace the Earth?” It’s true that upfront costs are higher at OVG’s tricked-out-for-sustainability venues — but, Leiweke insists, GOAL’s energy tracking and operational data will prove they’re saving money in the long term. “It’s usually about how long you’re looking at the budget,” Fulmer says, “and usually it will pay for itself.”
In the meantime, there are ways to defray costs. Corporate partners, Fulmer explains, are often eager to contribute funding for environmental causes, promote their own sustainability agendas or both. GOAL helps those that want to back specific measures — say, funding a venue’s switch from plastic to compostable cups — to team up with venues in exchange for on-site branding or activations.
As artists calculate their carbon footprint for upcoming tours, GOAL venues and partners can provide numbers, as well as initiatives and proposals, to lessen a tour’s impact.
“Do I think it makes a difference that Billie Eilish is going to play my venue when she has a choice because she knows how committed we are to sustainability? 100%,” Leiweke says. “But that’s not the only reason we did it. We did it because we should all be doing this.”
This story will appear in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.
In early September 2022, organizers of the Harvest Moon festival in Miramar, Fla., were forced to cancel their three-day country music event for an unusual reason: They could not find affordable cancellation insurance for the festival, which was scheduled to take place Oct. 27-29, little more than a month away.
Executives with destination-festival producer Topeka thought they had a policy in place when they announced Harvest Moon — which was to feature headliners Eric Church and the Turnpike Troubadours — and had had no problem getting coverage in the past; the festival fell outside the official hurricane season. But approximately six weeks before the event, weather forecasts indicated that Miramar could be in the path of two developing superstorms. As a result, sources close to the festival tell Billboard that Harvest Moon promoters were suddenly being quoted prohibitively high prices that led to the decision to scrap the event and refund buyers, despite being 70% sold.
While these circumstances are rare, the incident underscores how the liabilities posed by inclement weather and climate change have significantly increased financial risk for independent promoters.The event business used to be much more competitive, which meant much lower prices for the policyholders. But a substantial increase in the number of festivals taking place yearly in North America, coupled with an increase in adverse weather, has caused event cancellation insurance premiums to triple and deductibles to balloon in recent years.
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For much of the last decade, event cancellation insurance enabled promoters to insure their expenses and forecast profits for about 80 cents per $100. So, for example, a promoter that booked an artist for $500,000 could purchase a $4,000 policy covering that expense in the event of an adverse weather cancellation.
But policy prices have risen exponentially now that “insurance companies are increasingly relying on historic data about regional weather patterns and spending more time trying to identify the statistical risk based on location and time of year,” says Paul Bassman, a broker with Dallas event coverage firm Higginbotham.
Tim Epstein, an attorney for independent festivals in North America, says rising premium costs are first felt by indie promoters and organizers. While Live Nation and AEG have begun reducing payouts for festivals that cancel 60 to 30 days in advance, prompting some artists to carry their own policies, indie promoters can’t often stipulate similar terms for their acts, and, as a result, “people are becoming more cognizant of the risks they face from weather,” he says.
This story will appear in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.
On its surface, Cali Vibes seems like a normal music festival. In February, the three-day Long Beach, Calif., event held its third annual edition, welcoming 20,000 fans per day with a bill topped by Gwen Stefani, Stick Figure, Slightly Stoopid and Rebelution. But a closer look reveals quiet innovation. Attendees drink from reusable plastic cups instead of single-use ones. Solar panels power the artists lounge. Staff members posted at each garbage station advise guests on whether waste should be thrown away, recycled or composted. Excess food is donated to local shelters.
The festival is a fun time — and a testing ground for sustainability initiatives that may eventually be used throughout the live sector. In 2023, Goldenvoice parent company AEG Presents designated Cali Vibes as an incubator to pilot green measures with the hope of expanding them across AEG’s festival portfolio. Cali Vibes designed its program in partnership with Three Squares, a Los Angeles-based environmental consulting firm.
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“Environment is part of the DNA of the festival,” says Goldenvoice vp of festivals Nic Adler, who in his position oversees California festivals including Cali Vibes, Cruel World, Just Like Heaven, Portola, Camp Flog Gnaw and Goldenvoice’s other “non-desert” (i.e., not Coachella or Stagecoach) events, which all typically draw between 20,000 and 30,000 fans per day.
“Cali Vibes is definitely the greenest one,” says Adler, who also helps book the shows, which focus on reggae, roots rock and hip-hop. “It’s harder to do something on the scale of 125,000 people a day [like Coachella or Stagecoach] versus 30,000, so the festivals we oversee are testing grounds for our larger events.
“We’re all aware that bringing 50 truckloads of stuff and 50,000 people to a site is not sustainable,” he continues. “But there’s a way to go at it where everybody does better.”
Goldenvoice doesn’t promote Cali Vibes as a green festival — but it certainly could. That starts with how fans reach the festival grounds at Long Beach’s Marina Green Park. Cali Vibes promotes public transit use by offering attendees free or discounted rides through a partnership with L.A. Metro and electric scooter company Bird. (Scientists cite the emissions from fan travel as the single biggest challenge in greening concerts.) This year, most Cali Vibes transport vehicles were electric. While the festival can’t control how artists arrive at the site or how the event’s equipment is delivered, its “no idling” rule reduces emissions by requiring cars and gas-powered golf carts to be turned off when not in motion. Adler says the rule will likely be implemented at Coachella 2024.
Reusable cups from r.Cup were the rule.
Nicolita Bradley
Elsewhere, festival signage is made from wood so it can be reused, while thousands of square feet of plastic banners at stages are taken by upcycling company Rewilder after the event wraps and sewn into tote bags and backpacks sold at the following year’s merchandise stand. Unsold merch is refashioned into staff uniforms. This year, the festival’s reusable cup program, r.Cup, had an 81% return rate, which translated to the elimination of 300,000 single-use plastic cups. Water is served in aluminum cans, and refill stations are located throughout the event. Each ticket includes a $5 sustainability charge — Adler says it helps fans “feel like they’re participating” — which is split between greening festival operations and nonprofits including Surfrider Foundation and Plastic Pollution Coalition; Cali Vibes has donated $130,000 since the program’s inception.
Such forward-facing initiatives are crucial, Adler explains, because “festivals are inherently discovery-based in terms of new music, new people, new food” and can instill new habits that might stick with attendees. “We are an example,” he says, that could inspire fans to get their own reusable cup, learn to compost or go vegetarian.
Roughly 20% to 30% of food vendors at Goldenvoice festivals are vegan, with all vendors required to offer at least one vegetarian option. When Morrissey and Siouxsie Sioux headlined Cruel World in 2022 and 2023, respectively, both artists required that meat not be sold, resulting in roughly 80% vegan options — and demonstrating the power artists have to demand sustainability initiatives. Meanwhile, festival staff collect and compost food waste from vendors and divert excess food to local nonprofits and homeless shelters.
Beyond the solar-powered artists lounge — which Adler says has become a point of pride even if it isn’t “that great-looking” — the fest has shifted to clean energy in several areas, including solar-powered light towers in parking lots, merch stations and bathroom zones, and battery-powered LED lights in some locations. In 2023, the use of renewable diesel in generators and heavy equipment eliminated 43 tons of carbon emissions.
And since festival greening often means entering unknown territory, Adler says his team “spends a lot of the year going to random parking lots to meet someone to test a solar battery. We’ve seen more things we don’t like than things that will work, but that’s the process to find the right products.”
Staffers served as garbage station guides.
Juliana Bernstein
When it comes to green initiatives, Adler thinks the live sector is “crossing the threshold.” As sustainable technologies become more widely available and adopted, “the more prices are going to come down, so more festivals will want to use solar batteries or electric vans. The minute [the costs] start affecting the bottom line in a positive way, there’s going to be a full push for all of this.”
That hasn’t happened just yet, but even so, Adler can’t “recall a time in this business where it has been easier to use these alternatives.” He predicts that in five to 10 years, green energy tech will be established and affordable enough for producers to feel confident using it for large-scale stages and other major energy use points.
But for Adler, the goal is not necessarily to create a zero-emissions festival — “If you restrict it too much, people might not come back” — but instead an enjoyable, inspiring environment that implements and showcases ever-improving sustainability components and which vendors, artists and fans are happy to return to.
“You must create the opportunity for people to do the right thing,” he says. “That’s what our team is focused on the most: Have we created enough opportunities for people to participate in doing better?”
This story will appear in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.
For decades, festivals have created weekendlong oases for music fans — and left a mind-boggling amount of waste in their wakes. But as artists and fans increasingly learn about their impact on the environment, eco-minded — and creative — organizers have started pushing to make festivals greener.
Whether headliner- (solar power) or supporting act-size (“Pee into tea,” anyone?), their ideas are making the live space more sustainable. Just imagine if they could all happen in one place. Below, Billboard digs into a look at the eco-friendly festival of the future.
Catch Some Rays
Illustration by Sinelab
Most festival stages are powered by generators burning diesel fuel, but advances in solar technology now make it possible to store and generate enough power to meet a major festival’s heavy energy needs. Late last year, Massive Attack announced Act 1.5, the first 100% solar-powered festival in the United Kingdom, with the help of solar panels and battery packs that store sufficient energy on site without needing diesel generators.
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It Takes a Village
Illustration by Sinelab
Tennessee’s Bonnaroo offers fans interested in sustainability a dedicated place at the festival to organize and learn about new green efforts proposed by its nonprofit division, Bonnaroo Works Fund. That includes the Roo Works cafe, where green entrepreneurs can pitch their ideas in a group setting; a nonprofit village where patrons can interact with green groups; a “learning garden” highlighting sustainable farming practices; and a volunteer program called Rooduce, Roouse and Roocycle.
Keeper Cups
Illustration by Sinelab
Single-use beverage cups are a major source of festival landfill waste. Companies like r.Cup have begun working with major promoters like Goldenvoice to switch to washable, reusable cups, which are collected each night and washed at a local cleaning center. In 2023, r.Cup’s program diverted 1.1 tons (roughly 30,000 cups per day) of waste from local landfills.
Plant Seeds of Change
Illustration by Sinelab
To offset the carbon dioxide emissions of large events, promoters are increasingly planting trees and creating forest reserves. Groups like the European Festival Forest focus their offset efforts in certain regions of the globe, like Iceland, while other organizers plant and restore forests at festival sites for future concertgoers’ benefit.
Making (Vegan) Concessions
Illustration by Sinelab
In 2022, Goldenvoice’s Cruel World Festival in Pasadena, Calif., launched the largest vegan and vegetarian dining pavilion for any festival west of the Mississippi, with 10 vegan and 20 vegetarian vendors offering items like maneatingplant’s vegan bao buns, dairy-free milkshakes from Monty’s Good Burger and plant-based sushi burritos from Oona Sushi.
Water Works
Illustration by Sinelab
Last year, Amsterdam’s DGTL festival launched an initiative to protect the site’s limited groundwater supply — it’s located within an industrial port in the city — by partnering with local sanitation companies to, well, “make tea out of pee.” By harnessing the same water purification technology that’s used to convert wastewater in space, DGTL created water reuse applications that will likely be expanded in the future.
Wipe Deforestation Out
Illustration by Sinelab
Festivals like Lollapalooza and Outside Lands have switched to bamboo-based toilet paper this year, not because of the material’s post-flush qualities but to help curb deforestation. Bamboo grows much faster than trees cultivated for paper products, and activists see it as a possible long-term solution to the developing world’s need for lumber, which is increasing in price as deforestation continues.
Start a Movement
Illustration by Sinelab
For its Music of the Spheres tour, Coldplay deployed a kinetic dancefloor, harnessing the crowd’s movement to activate LED lights and other visuals — and to generate electricity that was then routed to power elements of the production. On the tour, custom-made Energy Centers were also assembled in a circle for fans to generate energy by riding stationary bikes.
Wrist Watch
Illustration by Sinelab
Light-up wristbands are now common audience accessories on major tours (and at some festivals), though some activists worry about the waste they create. For its Music of the Spheres tour, Coldplay partnered with Canadian company Pixmob to make biodegradable light-up wristbands — the first of their kind — from compostable plant-based plastics. Now Pixmob only makes biodegradable wristbands, having done so for events like the Super Bowl and the Olympic Games and tours by Taylor Swift and Imagine Dragons.
This story will appear in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.
On February’s Top Tours list, U2 is in the winner’s circle with monthly earnings of $56.5 million from 166,000 tickets sold.
February is U2’s first month at No. 1, after sitting at No. 2 in December of 2019 and 2023, both behind Trans-Siberian Orchestra. This marks the first Irish act to claim monthly honors.
Since launching in 2019, the monthly Boxscore recap has detailed touring breakthroughs, particularly in country and Latin music — highlighted by Morgan Wallen and Bad Bunny, respectively — as well as reporting quirks along the way, including Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s dual coastal ensembles during the holiday season. The latest oddity: U2’s recent domination makes the band the first act to lead Top Tours without actually going on tour.
The group’s haul north of $50 million comes from 10 shows, all at Las Vegas’ Sphere. The rock quartet christened the Sin City arena with the first show from its U2:UV Achtung Baby Live residency in September, and to date, is still the only act to play at the venue. Concert series by Dead & Company and Phish are scheduled for later on Sphere’s 2024 calendar.
Residencies at this scale – 40 arena shows in six months – are unprecedented. Prior to U2’s kickoff, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars were the only residency acts to crack the top 10 of Top Tours. The traditional Vegas model is for acts such as them to play sold-out theaters to roughly 5,000 fans each night, with the flexibility to charge extravagant prices for the opportunity to see an A-list artist in a more intimate setting.
U2 is playing by similar rules, with its $340 average ticket within 5% of Mars (No. 19), but expanded to an arena audience. Demonstrating the same intensity of demand as theater residencies but broadened to an audience three times as big, U2’s monthly victory, ahead of stadium tours at Nos. 2-3, is groundbreaking.
With all that activity from one arena, U2 also crown Top Boxscores, with Sphere reigning as the month’s top-grossing venue. Both victories were decisive, by a margin of more than 3:1.
U2’s recent run began on Jan. 26 and stretched through March 2, earning $84.7 million during that period. Dating back to opening night (Sept. 29, 2023, and through its close on March 2), the U2: UV Achtung Baby Live residency brought in $244.5 million and sold 663,000 tickets over 40 shows.
That is the lowest show count – by far – for any residency with a gross of $100 million or more. Mars and Billy Joel (Madison Square Garden) are the only others with a nine-digit gross and fewer than 100 shows.
Former chart-topper P!nk is No. 2 on Top Tours with a $48.3 million gross. Shows from the Australian leg of the Summer Carnival Tour sold 437,000 tickets in February, marking the highest attendance total of the month. This is P!nk’s third time at No. 2, following stints in April 2019 and August 2023, adding to her three months at No. 1 (March 2019, July 2019, October 2023).
Oceania brought in more revenue than North America or Europe on P!nk’s I’m Not Dead Tour (2006-07), the Funhouse Tour (2009) and The Truth About Love Tour (2013-14). Her recent leg, stretching through March 23, marks her first time in stadiums in Australia and New Zealand, having made the outdoor transition elsewhere on the Beautiful Trauma World Tour (2018-19).
Including her March dates, P!nk’s 20 continental shows grossed $104.3 million and sold 980,000 tickets, bringing the tour’s total to $361.8 million and 2.8 million tickets. With more dates scheduled in the U.S. and Canada, and Europe through November, the Summer Carnival will easily become P!nk’s first to cross $400 million. The Beautiful Trauma World Tour came agonizingly close when it wrapped in 2019 with $397.3 million.
Karol G follows at No. 3, leading a trifecta of Latin stars in the top 10. Luis Miguel sits just beneath at No. 4, and Bad Bunny rounds out the group at No. 10. Across shows in the U.S. (Bad Bunny), Mexico (Karol G) and South America (Luis Miguel).
Stars of the 21st century fill out most of the rest of the top 10, with Madonna, Depeche Mode, Blink-182 and the Eagles filling out Nos. 5 and 7-9, respectively. Ed Sheeran rounds out the top 10 at No. 6 as the last of six $30 million tours from February. Emerging from the slow winter months, the last time more acts crossed the $30 million threshold was August, when Beyoncé led P!nk, Metallica, Morgan Wallen, The Weeknd, Drake and the Jonas Brothers.
Behind Sphere as the month’s top venue, London’s O2 Arena and Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena bring the U.K. and Australia to the top of the heap at Nos. 2-3, respectively, peppered by Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena at No. 6 and Manchester’s AO Arena at No. 7.
A version of this story will appear in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Madonna’s historic concert at Rio’s Copacabana Beach on May 4 will be produced by her long-time promoter Arthur Fogel and legendary Brazilian producer and promoter Luiz Oscar Niemeyer, Live Nation officials have confirmed to Billboard. Fogel is one of the most accomplished concert and tour producers in the world and serves as the chairman of […]
The Brooklyn Paramount, Live Nation‘s new 2,700-capacity venue in downtown Brooklyn, opens its doors Wednesday (March 27) with its first show: A headlining performance by Damian and Stephen Marley.
The concert kicks off an inaugural season at the venue that will bring artists including PinkPantheress, Oneohtrix Point Never, Waxahatchee, Norah Jones and Sting to its stage in the coming months.
For Live Nation, Brooklyn Paramount fills a gap in the New York market between the promoter’s two 1,100-capacity clubs, Manhattan’s Irving Plaza and Brooklyn’s Warsaw, and its 3,500-capacity outdoor venue, The Rooftop at Pier 17.
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“It was my journey for the last 10 years, finding this exact capacity within our pipeline of venues in New York City, because it was the one that we were missing,” says Stacie George, senior vp of Live Nation Northeast. “Now we have a home for artists in between those two stages [of development].”
The Brooklyn Paramount concourse.
Evan Joseph
The addition of Brooklyn Paramount to Live Nation’s portfolio allows the promoter to better compete with AEG and its regional affiliate The Bowery Presents, which operates three venues across the city — Webster Hall, Brooklyn Steel and Terminal 5 — that range in capacity from 1,500 to 3,000, as well as Madison Square Garden Entertainment’s Beacon Theatre (2,900 capacity). And, taken in conjunction with Live Nation’s Manhattan clubs Mercury Lounge and Bowery Ballroom, which hold about 250 and 600, respectively, Brooklyn Paramount now creates a clear path for an artist in Live Nation’s ecosystem from small rooms all the way up to the 5,000-capacity Central Park Summerstage, with which the promoter inked an exclusive booking partnership in late 2022.
“We want an artist, manager, agent to feel that we invest in their artist all the way from the beginning,” George says. “We want to grow with your artists and continue to give them amazing venues to play at. Your hope is always that you retain that relationship and that history.”
That doesn’t only apply to artists “on their way up” to the arena level but “on their way down”: “We want to be with them across their full journey and long musical career,” George says.
Brooklyn Paramount’s concert space from the back of its floor.
Evan Joseph
Brooklyn Paramount’s new chapter is just the latest in its rich, nearly century-long history. First opened in 1928, the venue hosted seminal artists including Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Buddy Holly throughout the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. Long Island University (LIU) purchased the space in 1954 and, shortly after, converted it to a gymnasium. Nearly a decade ago, LIU began working to renovate the dormant theater; the venue’s re-opening is the culmination of a five-year planning, design and construction process by Live Nation.
For George, one of Brooklyn Paramount’s strongest assets is its location, which is immediately accessible by several subway lines and the Long Island Rail Road. And she expects the venue’s fusion of old Brooklyn history — its Rococo ceiling is among the many design details the renovation preserved — and modern amenities to attract fans and artists alike. For the former, the venue offers multiple high-end cocktail bars and a VIP balcony and lounge (Ella’s, taking its name from Fitzgerald). For the latter, Brooklyn Paramount provides spacious artist accommodations with showers, a workout space and even a game room with Pac-Man and a pinball machine.
From a production standpoint, the theater has parking space for three buses. “In New York, that’s a luxury,” George says with a laugh. “Half the time the buses have to drive to, like, New Jersey to park at a Walmart, because they can’t park in front of the venue.”
Ella’s VIP lounge at Brooklyn Paramount.
Evan Joseph
In terms of booking, Brooklyn Paramount plans to continue to program a spectrum of genres in keeping with its initial calendar and to satisfy the diverse clientele it’s courting. While the venue was designed primarily as an all-general-admission space, some shows, like the multi-night runs by Jones and Sting, will be seated. Brooklyn Paramount has already announced more than 60 shows through October, and George says it has locked in an additional 50 that have yet to be unveiled.
Several hundred guests received a first look at the venue — “this beautiful masterpiece,” as George puts it — on Tuesday night at its re-opening preview party, with live music including a DJ set by St. Vincent in Ella’s. “Seeing people walk in and just have that ‘wow’ moment — that’s exciting,” George says.
Don’t get stressed out, heathens. Those hints of a potential Twenty One Pilots tour? They’re real. The duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun announced on Wednesday (March 27), that the band is hitting the road for its 59-date The Clancy World Tour in support of their upcoming album, Clancy. As if that weren’t enough to appease fans, Twenty One Pilots also dropped new song “Next Semester” and its music video from the upcoming release.
The 59-date tour kicks off Aug. 15 at the Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., before making its way around North America, with stops in Seattle, Phoenix and New York City, as well as Los Angeles, Chicago and hometown Columbus, Ohio, with the latter three getting two shows each.
After wrapping up the North American dates with an Oct. 12 show at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn., Twenty One Pilots jet off for the international leg of the tour, starting with a stop in Auckland, New Zealand, on Nov. 17. The duo will also hit up Australia for shows the rest of the month. The tour picks up again in April in Germany, then hits Italy, Spain, France and more before wrapping up the lengthy tour with two shows at London’s 02 Arena on May 13 and 14.
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Presale tickets will be available beginning April 2 to fans in the U.S. and Canada; international presale begins the next day. General on sale kicks off April 5 at 10 a.m. local time. More information about the tour and tickets can be found on Twenty One Pilots’ website.
Also arriving with the news of the tour dates was “Next Semester,” the second single from Clancy. “The Next Semester music video is here. Cannot wait to sing this one with you,” the band shared on social media, along with a clip from the visual.
The music video — directed by Andrew Donoho — kicks off with the band rocking out in a tiny, packed club, and is interspersed with scenes of Joseph in the middle of a dark street as a vehicle races toward him.
Twenty One Pilots initially announced upcoming album Clancy on Feb. 29, and celebrated the news by dropping the first single “Overcompensate.” The track peaked and debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 64 on the chart dated March 16.
Watch the video for “Next Semester” and see the full tour dates below:
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The Clancy World Tour dates:
August 15, 2024 Denver, CO Ball Arena
August 18, 2024 Salt Lake City, UT Delta Center
August 21, 2024 Portland, OR Moda Center
August 22, 2024 Seattle, WA Climate Pledge Arena
August 24, 2024 Oakland, CA Oakland Arena
August 25, 2024 Sacramento, CA Golden 1 Center
August 27, 2024 Los Angeles, CA Intuit Dome
August 28, 2024 Los Angeles, CA Intuit Dome
August 30, 2024 Phoenix, AZ Footprint Center
August 31, 2024 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
September 3, 2024 Austin, TX Moody Center
September 4, 2024 Houston, TX Toyota Center
September 6, 2024 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
September 10, 2024 Duluth, GA Gas South Arena
September 11, 2024 Orlando, FL Kia Center
September 13, 2024 Raleigh, NC PNC Arena
September 14, 2024 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
September 15, 2024 Baltimore, MD CFG Bank Arena
September 17, 2024 Newark, NJ Prudential Center
September 18, 2024 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center
September 20, 2024 Boston, MA TD Garden
September 25, 2024 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
September 27, 2024 Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena
September 28, 2024 Cleveland, OH Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse
September 29, 2024 Detroit, MI Little Caesars Arena
October 1, 2024 Chicago, IL United Center
October 2, 2024 Chicago, IL United Center
October 4, 2024 Columbus, OH Nationwide Arena
October 5, 2024 Columbus, OH Nationwide Arena
October 8, 2024 Indianapolis, IN Gainbridge Fieldhouse
October 9, 2024 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
October 10, 2024 St. Louis, MO Enterprise Center
October 12, 2024 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
November 17, 2024 Auckland, NZ Spark Arena
November 19, 2024 Melbourne, AU Rod Laver Arena
November 21, 2024 Brisbane, AU Brisbane Entertainment Centre
November 24, 2024 Sydney, AU Qudos Bank Arena
April 7, 2025 Hamburg, DE Barclays Arena
April 8, 2025 Berlin, DE Uber Arena
April 9, 2025 Lodz, PL Atlas Arena
April 12, 2025 Prague, CZ O2 Arena
April 13, 2025 Vienna, AT Wiener Stadthalle
April 16, 2025 Zurich, CH Hallenstadion
April 17, 2025 Bologna, IT Unipol Arena
April 21, 2025 Madrid, ES WiZink Center
April 22, 2025 Barcelona, ES Palau San Jordi
April 24, 2025 Lyon, FR LDLC Arena
April 27, 2025 Munich, DE Olympiahalle
April 28, 2025 Milan, IT Forum
April 30, 2025 Amsterdam, NL Ziggo Dome
May 1, 2025 Cologne, DE Lanxess Arena
May 2, 2025 Paris, FR Accor Arena
May 5, 2025 Glasgow, UK OVO Hydro Arena
May 6, 2025 Birmingham, UK Resorts World Arena
May 8, 2025 Belfast, UK SSE Arena Belfast
May 9, 2025 Dublin, IE 3Arena
May 11, 2025 Manchester, UK AO Arena
May 13, 2025 London, UK The O2
May 14, 2025 London, UK The O2
CTS Eventim, the German concert promoter and ticketing company, surpassed 2 billion euros in annual revenue for the first time in 2023. Revenue jumped 22% to 2.36 billion euros ($2.53 billion at the average exchange rate in 2023) while normalized earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew 32% to 501.4 million euros ($542.7 million).
Earnings per share increased by a third to 2.86 euros ($3.05) from 2.12 euros ($2.29) in 2022. In light of the record performance, the company’s executive board and supervisory board will propose at the annual shareholders meeting a dividend of 137.3 million euros ($148.7 million at the current exchange rate). The largest dividend payment in CTS Eventim history is equal to 50% of net income.
”These excellent results are proof that live entertainment is once again driving the arts and creative sectors,” said CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg in a statement. “We owe this primarily to the creativity of the artists who delight their fans around the world day in, day out. It is also thanks to the countless promoters who, with their boldness and entrepreneurial spirit, stage events and create unforgettable experiences. And last but not least, our team and our technologies ensure that live cultural events can thrive and that everyone involved can make a living from their work.”
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Live entertainment revenue rose 18.9% to 1.68 billion euros ($1.82 billion). The company experienced higher costs in 2023 and “partially” passed on those costs to the market, Schulenberg wrote in the annual report. As a result, normalized EBITDA dropped 1.8% to 117.0 million euros ($126.6 million). The company cited a boost it received from new North American partnerships with Mammoth and AG Entertainment, created to sign international acts for U.S. and global tours. Another collaboration, The Touring Co, a partnership with promoter Walter McDonald announced in December 2023, will help CTS Eventim’s expansion in North America in 2024.
In the ticketing segment, revenue rose 32% to 717.3 million euros ($776.4 million) and EBITDA jumped 47% to 384.4 million ($416.1 million). The number of internet tickets sold rose 19.6% to 82.9 million from 69.3 million in 2022. The company touted its ticketing platform’s reliability in handling heavy demand for concerts by Taylor Swift, Rammstein, Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Apache 207 and Paul McCartney. International expansion also provided a lift to ticketing growth: In 2023, CTS Eventim, along with Sony Music Latin Iberia, acquired ticketing companies Punto Ticket in Chile and Teleticket in Peru.
CTS Eventim’s annual results are further proof the concert business has been booming since COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. The company’s total revenue was 63.4% higher than in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic temporarily halted the touring industry. Last year’s live entertainment revenue was 70.1% above 2019 and ticketing revenue was 48.9% greater. While CTS Eventim has grown by nearly two-thirds since before the pandemic, its growth rate is about a third lower than Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter and ticketing company, which grew revenue by 93.9% from 2019 to 2023.
In 2024, CTS Eventim expects “a moderate rise” in total revenue and believes EBITDA will remain at the level seen in 2023. Demand is “rising continuously,” wrote Schulenberg, and the company expects the recent decline in inflation to provide “new, consumption-driven impetus for growth in the future.”
Shares of CTS Eventim rose 5.1% to 77.50 euros ($83.96) on Tuesday (Mar. 26). The stock gained 5.0% in 2023, slightly below the 8.0% increase of the MDAX, an index of stocks traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Here is a recap of some financial metrics for CTS Eventim’s 2023 earnings results:
Revenue of 2.36 billion euros ($2.53 billion)
Normalized EBITDA of 501.4 million euros ($542.7 million).
Ticketing revenue of 717.3 million euros ($776.4 million) and EBITDA of 384.4 million ($416.1 million).
Concert revenue of 1.68 billion euros ($1.82 billion) and EBITDA of 117.0 million euros ($126.6 million).
