Touring
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From Jay-Z to Nicki Minaj and beyond, here are the highest grossing artists, according to Billboard Boxscore.
The Oak View Group is working with Hamilton Urban Precinct Entertainment Group and officials of the city of Hamilton, Ontario on a plan to begin renovations on the 18,500-capacity FirstOntario Centre, a reimagined arena that will be the centerpiece in revitalizing the city as a music, sports and entertainment destination, 45 miles southwest of Toronto.
The $280 million renovation is spearheaded by Oak View Group who will transform the facility into an 18,000-seat capacity venue with a reimagined facade, premium seating, enhanced acoustics, improved sightlines, upgraded concourses, optimized clubs and suites and artist lounges. The newly modernized venue will accommodate shows unable to land an available date at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Scotiabank Arena is owned my Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, where Tim Leiweke, OVG Chairman & CEO, served as chief executive from 2013 to 2015.
Live Nation will serve as the arena’s booking partner and bring concerts and other live events to Hamilton. Work on the facility will begin in spring 2024, and the building is expected to open in fall 2025.
“Our timing is perfect,” says Leiweke, noting that billions of dollars in construction for ten projects in Hamilton is planned for the fast growing region. “It’s a great market as Toronto has run out space for new construction. We’re making a big bet but we feel great about it. We have a great team here in place, a lot of great companies that believe in us and we are feeling very optimistic.”
OVG recently worked with Louis Messina, promoter of the Taylor Swift tour, to sell sponsorships for the singer’s six night run in November 2024 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
“We already have a great infrastructure in place with a strong team up here,” said Leiweke. Besides Hamilton, Oak View Group recently completed renovations at the CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore and plans to complete work at Coop-Live arena in Manchester, U.K. later this year.
The Hamilton Arena Project was designed by Brisbin Brook Beynon Architects and is part of a larger downtown revitalization project known as “The Commons”, which includes the arena, renovated convention centre, the Art Gallery of Hamilton as well as new residential, office, and retail space development.
Leiweke tells Billboard the new facility “will completely transform the downtown area with its accessibility, technology forward improvements and priority on sustainability.”
Taylor Swift will be spending a little extra time up north next year. Three months after announcing that her ongoing global Eras Tour will open for several shows in Toronto in 2024, the 33-year-old pop star has now added a trio of additional dates to her Canadian leg. All of the new shows will be […]
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) is planning to roll out new legislation to beef up the BOTS ACT and combat the growing use of automated software to attack high-demand online ticket sales for major concert tours.
In November 2022, unknown individuals attacked Taylor Swift’s ticket sale for her Eras tour, using automated software to overwhelm the Ticketmaster platform and prevent some fans from accessing tickets.
The BOTS ACT, co-authored by Blackburn at the end of 2016 and signed into law by then-president Barack Obama, outlawed the use of bots to attack ticket sales and jump the line to buy tickets ahead of consumers, but the law has only been enforced once in the seven years it’s been on the books. Blackburn is hoping to change that with the adoption of the Mitigating Automated Internet Networks for (MAIN) Event Ticketing Act, a bill she co-authored with Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) that would create new reporting requirements for online ticket sellers attacked by Bots and enact new security requirements for sites like Ticketmaster.
“A fan should be able to buy tickets to live events without bots stealing them and hiking the price,” said Sen. Blackburn in a press release provided to Billboard.
Under the BOTS Act, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has exclusive power to file suit against bot users and work with FBI and DOJ officials to bring criminal charges. Individuals caught intentionally breaking the law can face civil fines of $10,000 per violation.
“We have given the FTC the tools they need to help reduce ticket costs and protect consumers and artists from scammers,” Blackburn adds. “Now we must ensure they are enforcing it. This bipartisan legislation builds upon my work to safeguard artists and their fans in the online ticket marketplace.”
The new legislation would create a new forum for online ticket sellers have to report successful bot attacks to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and create a complaint database so consumers can also share their experiences with the FTC, and various state attorneys general. The bill also includes evolving data security requirements for online ticket sellers and requires the sharing of information between the FTC and law enforcement; as well as an annual report from the FTC to Congress on BOTS enforcement.
“Live entertainment is one of America’s greatest pastimes, and all Americans should be able to enjoy it without the fear of being scammed,” said Senator Luján. “I’m proud to join Senator Blackburn in introducing legislation to expand the BOTS Act. This bill will allow the FTC to enforce safeguards and set requirements to protect consumers from online ticketing schemes.”
Officials from Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster told Billboard they supported the legislation, saying in a statement: “We commend Senators Blackburn and Lujan for introducing this update to the BOTS Act. Ticketmaster leads the industry in fighting bots, and we see first-hand that scalper bot armies are only getting larger and more sophisticated. Scalpers make billions each year, and until there are real consequences, they will continue to rob fans of tickets at the onsale which is why we’ve long supported much stronger enforcement.”
The bill has also received the support of the National Independent Venue Association which issued a statement applauding Blackburn and Luján for “introducing the MAIN Event Ticketing Act to further crackdown on ticket-buying bots that rob fans of the opportunity to see their favorite artists. The Act builds on the BOTS Act of 2016, which put in place foundational guidelines to prevent ticket resellers from engaging in predatory ticketing practices. We believe in restoring trust in the ticketing experience for fans, and we stand ready to work with Senators Blackburn and Luján to ensure this legislation advances as part of critical comprehensive ticketing reform.”
UTA has signed The War And Treaty for booking representation, with exclusive worldwide representation in all areas. Founded in 2014 by the husband-and-wife duo Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter, The War And Treaty has quickly become one of the most exciting new musical acts. They recently teamed with Zach Bryan for the song “Hey […]
Yet again, Beyoncé crowns Billboard’s monthly Boxscore recap. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the Renaissance World Tour grossed $121.9 million and sold 476,000 tickets across nine shows in September.
This is the third consecutive month, and fourth overall, that Beyoncé has crowned Top Tours. That ties her with Bad Bunny for the second-most since the charts’ launch in February 2019, only behind Elton John’s seven. And while he, Bad Bunny, The Rolling Stones and others have achieved back-to-back wins, Queen Bey is the first act to go three-in-a-row.
It’s also her third consecutive month north of $100 million, after setting all-time monthly record with $179.3 million in August.
In addition to this monthly chart feat, Billboard previously reported upon Beyoncé’s Oct. 1 finale that The Renaissance World Tour is the highest-grossing tour by a woman, by a Black artist and by any American soloist in the Boxscore archives. Between its May 10 kickoff in Stockholm and its recent closing show in Kansas City, the tour grossed $579.8 million and sold 2.8 million tickets, making it the biggest of her career, and the seventh highest grossing trek of all time.
September is Beyoncé’s second month at No. 1 on Top Boxscores. After reigning in July with two shows at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, she claims the crown with three shows on the opposite coast. Playing SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. (Los Angeles area) on Sept. 1-2 and 4, the Renaissance World Tour brought in $45.5 million and sold 156,000 tickets.
More, Beyoncé follows herself at No. 2 with two hometown shows at Houston’s NRG Stadium. Those, on Sept. 23-24, grossed $31.3 million and sold 123,000 tickets. Though more than 30% off from her SoFi shows, the weekend in Houston earned more than double its next closest competition.
Depeche Mode’s trio of dates at Mexico City’s Foro Sol took in $15.4 million, leading a group of 13 reports between $10-15 million. Three of those 13 come from Beyoncé herself, at Nos. 6, 8 and 12.
While Beyoncé is one of a growing group of solo women who have shifted the make-up of Boxscore’s top earners in the last several months, she is one of just three on September’s Top Tours. P!nk follows at No. 6 with $30.2 million from a handful of North American stadium shows as part of the Summer Canival tour. Elsewhere, Lady Gaga is No. 29 with $11.1 million from eight dates as part of her Jazz & Piano residency at MGM’s Dolby Live in Las Vegas.
While these women make up just 10% of the acts on the chart, their grosses combine to 22% of the top 30’s combined earnings, in large part due to Beyoncé’s giant haul.
Notably, RBD adds to the gender shift, at No. 2. The Mexican pop group reunited with five of its six original members – three women and two men – to winning results. Through Oct. 1, the Soy Rebelde Tour has earned $90.2 million, $65.7 million on which came from shows in October. That’s more than the group’s entire concert revenues from before reuniting, from 2005-08.
The upper echelon of this month’s rankings is notably diverse. Morgan Wallen, Drake and Coldplay round out the top five spots on Top Tours, adding country, rap and rock to RBD’s Latin pop and Beyoncé’s mix of pop, R&B and dance music. In 39 editions of the Top Tours chart, this is the first time that each of the top five acts represent different genres.
While Beyoncé’s nine-figure haul includes revenue from her Sept. 11 show in Vancouver, Wallen gives Canada a spotlight among his September dates. Ten out of his 13 concerts were above the border, making up 61% of his total monthly earnings. Those include three in Toronto (Sept. 14-16; $7.2 million; 47,800 tickets) and others in Montreal (Sept. 23; $3.1 million; 15,200) and Calgary (Sept. 30; $2.9 million; 13,600).
After Wallen’s $25.8 million in Canada, Coldplay follows with $9.2 million from two shows in Vancouver, before Beyoncé with $7.9 million from her own Vancouver date. Ten other acts among September’s top 30 played shows in Canada, from Ed Sheeran and Guns N’ Roses in the top 20, to Lionel Richie and Marco Antonio Solis at Nos. 28 and 30, respectively.
While the stacked grosses by Beyoncé, RBD and others are certainly worth celebrating, September’s overall figures are record-breaking, well beyond the top-earning tours. For the first time since the charts launched, all 30 tours grossed more than $10 million, down to Solis’ $10.9 million. Previously, June ’23 set the high-mark with 27 tours.
September’s eight-figure treks go well beyond the top 30, in fact, with another eight artists above the benchmark. Fuerza Regida just misses the chart cut-off with $10.8 million, while Lana Del Rey ($10.7 million), The Postal Service & Death Cab for Cutie ($10.6 million) and blink-182 ($10.4 million), among others, follow.
Still looking at the big picture, though slightly zoomed in, Live Nation crowns Top Promoters, yet again. With over 8.4 million tickets sold in September, the concert giant has reported grosses of more than $1 billion for the first time.
When the Coastal Country Jam relaunched Sept. 16 at Marina Green Park in Long Beach, Calif., after a four-year absence, headliner Blake Shelton looked up before he took the stage and saw his name sparkling like a floating marquee in the sky.
Gwen Stefani and her kids cheered the moment, says Activated Events founder and event producer Steve Thacher, but they weren’t just seeing Shelton’s name in lights. They may have seen the future of country festivals. The Coastal Country Jam is one of at least four country gatherings that employed drone shows for the first time in 2023.
“We’re always looking for new, fun, wow factors to incorporate into our event,” Thacher says. “We thought this would be one of them.”
The drone show is a still-developing technology that had its biggest audience during the global broadcast of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony in 2022, when 1,800 drones were used to create a complex series of images suspended over the stadium. The technology has been utilized in a number of different events since then, including a coronation concert for the United Kingdom’s King Charles III in May and a New Year’s Eve celebration that Keith Urban witnessed in Australia.
Courtesy Southern Entertainment
“It’s surreal what they can do and how many of them can be synchronized or coordinated to do insane things,” says Urban. “It’s really amazing, like a modern version of skywriting.”
Activated Events debuted the drone show at the Coastal Jam after the company worked with several municipalities that were replacing fireworks displays with the new technology. Drones appeared before the headliner both nights during Coastal, presenting a series of images (an American flag, a whale, a surfer and the Queen Mary tourist attraction) before employing a “Next Up” announcement, leading into Shelton’s name on the first night and Tim McGraw’s on the second. The company presented a different version of the show during its Boots in the Park festival in Tempe, Ariz., Sept. 22-23, with Shelton, Sam Hunt and Brooks & Dunn.
Similarly, Southern Entertainment held a drone show one night each at two different East Coast festivals: the Carolina Country Music Fest in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on June 9 and the Barefoot Country Music Festival in Wildwood, N.J., on June 18. They employed their own images — including a patriotic red, white and blue eagle — ahead of the direct-support act, with several visuals that hinted at income-generating possibilities.
At the Carolina event, organizers used the drones to announce one of the 2024 headliners, Morgan Wallen. They also created an in-air QR code for sponsor Selfie.Live, a Lee Brice-affiliated company that enables consumers to get celebrity autographs on their own digital photos. Six thousand of the 35,000 ticket holders downloaded the QR code, a number that impressed Southern Entertainment co-founder Bob Durkin. The QR code holds other possibilities, including guiding fans to the festival website to buy tickets for the next year’s show.
Additionally, the Carolina drone show included two giant beer bottles with Coors emblazoned on their virtual labels. The display was not monetized in 2023, though it’s easy to see how it could evolve into a source of advertising revenue.
“It was sort of an added value for our sponsor,” Durkin says. “They got to see their brand portrayed in a different way, and the greatest part was [Molson Coors chairman] Pete Coors was at the Carolina Country Music Fest. He said, ‘I’ve seen it all, but I haven’t seen that.’”
Drone shows, which Durkin says can range from $25,000 to $100,000, require significant advance work. Both Activated Events and Southern Entertainment booked outside drone production companies roughly nine months ahead of their festivals, allowing time to design the presentation and program each drone. Promoters also have to navigate local regulations, which can vary widely. Drones pose security risks, as well as potential safety problems — imagine a flying object losing its charge and falling out of the sky on top of an unsuspecting patron. That complication is one reason that some promoters are reticent to get involved in the drone business. But three of the four country festivals were held in beach communities, allowing the light display to take place over the water and away from pedestrians.
There’s also a fair amount of give-and-take between the promoter and the drone companies. The concert promoters suggested messages and images they would like to see during the show, and once the production company came back with an initial presentation, the two sides tweaked the lineup and sequence and were able to time out the event. At Activated Events, DJ Luwiss Luxx built a playlist to go with the light show once the display was scheduled out.
The overall mix of sights and sounds won over a captive audience as it marked time between acts, and led to a positive social-media response.
“In every email or text message that I got, it was ‘Oh, my god, that drone show was epic,’ ” Thacher says. “I had random people reach out on LinkedIn, literally saying, ‘Hey, I never do this, but I just have to tell you, not only was the experience great, but that drone show was absolutely amazing.’”
Both Thacher and Durkin plan to do it again next year, and they may get more bang for their programming buck since continued advancements will likely make it possible to incorporate more material in the same time frame.
“I know there’s a few country festivals in 2024 you will definitely see use it,” Durkin predicts. “It’s not a great big industry, so we all kind of know each other. And they’re all like, ‘Holy cow.’ You know, everybody’s trying to one-up one another.”
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One of Jimmy Buffett’s last messages to his family and friends before his Sept. 1 death from skin cancer was “keep the party going,” and his longtime backing musicians in the Coral Reefer Band now say they plan to do just that.
“The Coral Reefer Band is second family to all of us. We are a family. And Jimmy wants us to continue and we want to continue,” Mac McAnally, longtime Coral Reefer Band singer/guitarist tells Billboard. How that will look is still being determined, but McAnally says, “there’s ongoing discussions about the best way to do that, the most practical way to do that and how to do it in a way that is worthy of the legacy that we’re part of.”
The Coral Reefer Band, which has had a rotating cast of musicians — some of whom had played with Buffett for nearly 50 years — began backing the singer-songwriter in concert and in the studio in the ‘70s.
Deciding the best way forward is taking some time. “We’re going to figure it out and we’re going to do something,” McAnally says. “Whatever the best equation arrives from those discussions is what we’re going to do,” he says. “I can’t wait until we [figure it out] because we miss being out there, playing his songs to people and feeling that alternating current go back and forth from the stage to the crowd. I don’t know who’s got more energy, them or us.”
The current members, in addition to McAnally include keyboardist Michael Utley (who has played with Buffett since the ‘70s), steel drummer Robert Greenidge, guitarist/vocalist Peter Mayer, bassist Jim Mayer, drummer Roger Guth, steel pedal guitarist Doyle Grisham, trumpeter John Lovell, percussionist Eric Darken and vocalists Tina Gullickson and Nadirah Shakoor.
The Coral Reefer Band played its last full concert with Buffett on May 6 at San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium. Buffett’s last time on stage was McAnally’s July 2 show in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, when Buffett joined him for eight songs, including signature tunes “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” and “Margaritaville.”
Though Buffett was undergoing treatment, he still craved being on stage. “He had been calling through the summertime when the treatments were going,” McAnally says. “I didn’t know how far up or down he was. I hadn’t seen him [in person], though he never called without Facetiming me and I could tell he was losing weight. He couldn’t do a full show, but he kept calling saying, ‘Where are you playing? I’m gonna come sit in.’”
McAnally’s Rhode Island date was a quick flight from Buffett’s house in Sag Harbor, N.Y. and easy for him to fly in for. “We played ‘5 O’Clock Somewhere’ and when it got to [the line], ‘What would Jimmy Buffett do?,’ nobody knew that he was there. Nobody knew and he walked out from behind the stage. It was maybe 400 people there and they all came up out of their seat. It was like somebody hit them with 220 volts,” McAnally remembers.
But no one was more pleased than Buffett. “I looked back around at him because he was coming up behind me and he was 100% the happiest person on earth because I don’t think he knew if he was going to feel it again and I don’t think he knew that he was never gonna feel it again after that,” McAnally says. “Buffett called McAnally two days later asking if he had other shows that weren’t on his website yet so he could join him again. “He was ready to tour as a guest singer on these little singer-songwriter shows,” McAnally says, but unfortunately, his time ran out.
Pete Davidson and John Mulaney announced Thursday (Oct. 26) that they will postpone their pair of shows scheduled in Maine this weekend following the deadly mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday night. “We are devastated by the events in Lewiston,” Mulaney posted to his Instagram Story on Thursday. “Shows scheduled for this weekend in […]
Independent promoter and entertainment company LiveCo has elevated Shane Quick to president of touring and strategic expansion. In his new role, Quick will be responsible for conceiving, identifying and developing new opportunities for productions and tours, venues and festivals, and new business and acquisitions for the company, which was founded earlier this year.
LiveCo was formed in February by consolidating five independent promoters. The concert promotion company combined BASE Entertainment, Premier Productions, Icon Concerts, Rush Concerts and Peachtree Entertainment, launching with a team that includes Brian Becker and Mark Maluso (BASE Entertainment), Michael Pugh and Quick (Premier Productions), Paul Meloche (Icon Concerts), Jacob Reiser (Rush Concerts) and Bradley Jordan (Peachtree Entertainment).
Quick, who was previously president of Premier Productions, will now report directly to LiveCo CEO Becker in an effort to develop new opportunities, advise and collaborate with all LiveCo companies.
In a statement, Becker said Quick’s appointment to the new role “comes as a natural progression for someone with his track record, innovative thinking, creativity and dedication to the live entertainment industry, artists and audiences,” adding, “We look forward to the new and exciting growth opportunities Shane will develop now and in the future.”
Throughout his 25 years of experience in the live entertainment industry, Quick has led Premier Productions’ faith and Christian business as well as live family entertainment. He also launched Alabama’s Rock The South, among other festival events.
“Joining LiveCo as the president of touring and strategic expansion is an incredible opportunity to shape the future of LiveCo,” said Quick in a release. “I am honored to be a part of a company that is dedicated to delivering extraordinary experiences to audiences worldwide. Together with LiveCo’s visionary leadership team and talented staff, we will explore new horizons, forge strategic partnerships, and create compelling productions that will leave a lasting impact.”