Touring
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Chris Stapleton is extending his All-American Road Show into 2024, adding a slate of new dates.
The trek will extend through the summer of 2024, including stops at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl (June 26), Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena (Aug. 9), Seattle’s T-Mobile Park (July 27), San Diego’s Petco Park (March 2) and two shows at BankNH Pavilion in Gilford, N.H. (Aug. 1-2).
Stapleton will bring with him a top-shelf slate of openers on various dates, including Sheryl Crow, Elle King, Marcus King, Willie Nelson and Family, Marty Stuart, Turnpike Troubadours, The War and Treaty, and Lainey Wilson.
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Over the next few weeks, Stapleton will release his upcoming album, Higher, on Nov. 10 and will vie for the CMA Awards’ entertainer of the year honor (along the two other awards nominations) on Nov. 8, when the awards ceremony airs live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. The 14-song Higher was produced by Stapleton alongside his wife, Morgane Stapleton, and his mainstay collaborator Dave Cobb.
Stapleton’s current radio single, “White Horse,” is at No. 16 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart. He’s also previewed the album through the tracks “Think I’m in Love With You” and “It Takes a Woman.”
Tickets for the new dates will go on-sale next Friday, Nov. 3, at 10 a.m. local time. Citi is the official card of Chris Stapleton’s All-American Road Show. Citi cardmembers will have access to pre-sale tickets beginning Tuesday, Oct. 31, at 10 a.m. local time until Thursday, Nov. 2, at 10 p.m. local time through the Citi Entertainment program.
See his announcement and the newly added dates in his Instagram post below:
MELBOURNE, Australia — Roger Field has resigned from Live Nation, Billboard can confirm.
Based in Melbourne, Field is regularly identified as one of Billboard’s international power players, a key figure in live entertainment who led LN’s presence across Australia and New Zealand, before taking the reins in a pan-Asia Pacific role.
It’s understood that Alex Klos will now step into the permanent role as COO of LN ANZ, alongside his position as CFO of the live music giant’s Asia Pacific business.
Field exits after more than 13 years with the company. In 2010, Field joined colleague Luke Hede in launching Live Nation Australia. Two years later, LN acquired Michael Coppel Presents, reuniting the concerts specialists (Field had worked with Coppel in 2003). The promotions would come, with Field elevated from vice president of promotions to chief operating officer, then CEO for Australia and NZ.
Another reward came in 2020, when Field was appointed LN president, Asia Pacific, a new position.
At the height of the pandemic, in mid-2020, Field was appointed to a leadership role for the Live Entertainment Industry Forum (LEIF), created to help safely reactivate concerts, sports and shows of all kinds as restrictions across the country were eased, and he was part of a music industry delegation that helped secure a A$250 million federal government lifeline for the music industry.
During his time at the helm, Field has overseen stadium tours for likes of Taylor Swift, Coldplay, U2 and Red Hot Chili Peppers, the business diversified with its VIP offering, brand partnerships with the likes of National Australia Bank, Telstra and American Express, formed strategic partnerships with government and private entities including Secret Sounds, and added a slew of venues to LN’s portfolio.
“Our venue development is a huge priority for us across both Australia and New Zealand,” Field told this reporter in June. “We’ve just celebrated the return of the iconic Festival Hall in Melbourne to a fulltime live music venue after signing a multi-lease and that’s only the beginning. Our interest in venues of all sizes is partly motivated by having the ability to engage with a variety of artist content, even if we’re not promoting it, but also open to new ticket buying markets.”
Field cut his teeth in ticketing, first with Stoll Moss Theatres in London in 1995, and then with Australian ticketing giant Ticketek, part of TEG, when its Victorian operation opened in 1996.
Live Nation has not commented on Field’s departure.
Reports that singer Rihanna has inked a multi-year contract with Live Nation are “bogus” a source tells Billboard, pouring cold water on news that a live comeback for the superstar singer is imminent.
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On Sunday, the London-based Daily Mirror reported that the singer was planning a major world tour through 2024 and 2025 as part of a 32 million pounds ($39 million) deal with Live Nation. On Monday (Oct. 23), ET also ran a report saying Rihanna was “planning a world tour for 2024/2025 after striking a deal with Live Nation.”
But a high-level source who would be involved in such the talks said the 32 million pounds figure sounds made up and noted that “no tour has been confirmed for Rihanna.”
While promoters like Live Nation, or their competitive rival AEG, would be more than happy to book and a promote a global Rihanna tour, the source says “Bitch Better Have My Money” singer hasn’t yet committed to any touring projects for 2024.
As well, Live Nation has not placed any holds on venues for a potential tour. Typically, when a promoter begins booking a tour for a major artist, they will call different venues on the tour route and ask venue bookers to reserve various dates on their calendar to accommodate different routing scenarios for an upcoming tour. If Rihanna and Live Nation were to sign a deal, it would likely take several months to hammer out a potential tour route.
The demand for a Rihanna tour, and new music, is arguably unparalleled. She is one of the most commercially successful artists of all time, with 14 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a record surpassed only by The Beatles and Mariah Carey. Her last album was 2016’s Anti and her last tour was the one that followed that year. It generated more than $110 million in sales worldwide, and since its final stop in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 27, 2016, she has not performed a commercial concert. She has since only performed three times, including at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2023 and the 2023 Oscars.
While a new global tour would surely net hundreds of millions in ticket sales and merchandise, Rihanna doesn’t exactly need that money. A March 10 story from the Wall Street Journal estimated Rihanna’s business empire to be worth $1.4 billion, thanks to the success of her record sales and cosmetic company Savage X Fenty, which she owns in partnership with luxury brand LVMH.
She also has a compelling reason not to want to hit the road – in August, she gave birth to her second child Riot Rose, whom she shares with rapper A$AP Rocky. The couple’s oldest son RZA was born in 2022.
Blink-182 is returning to North America one more time. Just days after the release of the trio’s new album, Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker have announced plans to bring their new songs on the road in North America next year. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and […]
Kanye West‘s planned concert in Italy will likely not be taking place after all, sources tell Billboard Italy. West, who now goes by Ye, had been planning to perform at RCF Arena (formerly known as Campovolo) in Reggio Emilia on Oct. 27. The show, which was being organized by Italian promoter Vivo Concerti, was never […]
The world’s largest automotive trade show is launching a music festival next month, bringing together live entertainment and car culture in Las Vegas.
The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) — a 60-year-old trade organization representing after-market auto part manufacturers and sellers — is launching the first-ever SEMA Fest at the Las Vegas festival grounds Nov. 3-4 with performances by acts including Imagine Dragons, Incubus, Wiz Khalifa, AJR, Third Eye Blind, Bush and Walk the Moon. The festival takes place during the annual SEMA trade show at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which will open to the general public for the first time. Besides music, the festival will also include a full slate of immersive automotive lifestyle events, a consumer marketplace, world-class drifting, motorsports competitions and freestyle motocross.
“What we’ve noticed over the last 10 years is that the connection between a manufacturer and an end-user is getting closer and closer,” says Tom Gattuso, vp of events at SEMA.
“We decided as an association a couple years ago to open a membership category to an enthusiast or a consumer,” he added, noting that prior to 2023, the SEMA trade show was only open to wholesalers and retailers.
“And as soon as we opened it up, the consumer wanted to know how they could be part of the event,” Gattusto continued. “So we started to think how we could really engage consumers and have this complete distribution cycle where you’ve got manufacturing, distribution, and end-user all in one place. So we created SEMA Fest with an eye on automotive activation tying in another passion — live music — that would help our industry with growth.”
Tickets for the two-day festival start at $179, while tickets to both the Friday tradeshow and the weekend festival start at $299.
“Everybody remembers the first time they drove their car all by themselves — it was all about driving in the car, but also what you were listening to on the radio,” says Gattuso, who hired California talent buyer Roger LeBlanc to book the festival. “We really got positive response from both the industry and the public at large and we’re excited to see it all come together in November.”
SEMA Fest will be spread out over two stages, with the lineup of 21 artists also including The Struts, Ludacris and Dead Sara. There will also be three activation areas for Formula Drift, Hooligan off-road racing and Nitro Circus freestyle motocross.
“There will always be something to do as fans make their way through the festival grounds, either exploring something that may be new to them or exploring something that’s a deep passion for them and really interacting together in that space,” Gattuso says.
Click here to learn more about SEMA Fest.
Dope Shows co-founders Stephen Piner and Jamir Shaw have a vision for elevating hip-hop in Philadelphia and they’re ready to share that vision with the rest of the music industry.
Since launching in 2017, the Philadelphia concert promotion duo have sold over 200,000 tickets for shows including Lil Baby, Lil Durk, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, and more. They’ve become one of the most powerful independent concert promotion companies in the U.S., known for having an authentic love of music and a pound-the-pavement street team approach.
That includes hand-selling tickets for one of Lil Baby’s first headlining shows in Philadelphia years ago and promoting Rylo Rodriguez’s first show in the city on Sept. 29, also his first headlining performance there. In 2022, Dope Shows signed a partnership with Live Nation to bring shows to the company’s Philly venues like the Fillmore, the Met and Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia, as well as partnering on arena shows at venues like Wells Fargo Arena and the TD Garden Arena in Boston.
“Since day one, our slogan has been, ’Ain’t no shows like Dope Shows,’” Shaw says, attributing Dope Shows success to the authentic synergy at their concerts. Each concert is preceded by sets from local rappers and area DJs, and when it comes to the main event, the sets are often longer.
“We want Dope Shows to be a badge of honor for us and Philadelphia,” Piner says. “We want it to live forever.”
Shaw grew up in West Philly listening to Beanie Sigel and Freeway; his cousins were members of Philly’s Most Wanted. While he remembers trying his hand at rap, he soon found his calling as a party promoter. Traveling between his mother’s house in West Philly and his dad’s neighborhood in South Philly as a 12-year-old, he would hit up all the parties he could go to. There was only one problem: they usually ended in a fight.
His mom suggested throwing a party in his basement and after earning $70 from the concert, his career began. In 2016, he linked up with Piner, an all-city high school football halfback and together they promoted their first concert, Fabolous and Jadakiss’ Freddy vs. Jason at The Fillmore, which sold out. From there, they landed Rick Ross before booking Fab and Jada again at Boston’s House of Blues.
What were once conversations and vague aspirations became more sold out venues.
In February of last year, they hosted their fifth annual Birthday Bash featuring Gunna, Lil Durk, Lil Baby and G Herbo at the Wells Fargo Center. In total, Dope Shows has sold 200,000 tickets with 90 percent of tickets sold out for its events.
“Our goal is to continue building on our staples,” says Piner, including the company’s annual Birthday Bash and its Dope Fest event. “We have a couple concepts that we want to add, as well as merch and content ideas. We also want to do a national tour with an artist and grow Dope Shows in that direction.”
Dope Shows are setting their sights on the label side of the industry, launching Dope Records last year. Their first signee, artist and fellow West Philly native Toure, saw his All I Wanted Was Everything project on Dope Records earn close to a million streams in less than a week
“He’s an artist that we’re real passionate about,” Piner say. “He’s a great performing artist and sold out his first show a month ago and did an hour-and-a-half set. For a young artist, that’s a feat.”
Lainey Wilson, who currently has a three-week No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hit with “Watermelon Moonshine,” has revealed her headlining trek for 2024. Wilson’s Country’s Cool Again Tour will launch in Nashville on May 31 at Ascend Amphitheater. Joining her for the 35-plus shows are openers Zach Top, “Don’t Come Lookin’” singer-songwriter Jackson Dean and […]
Veteran touring specialist Rich Schaefer has been officially promoted to president of global touring at AEG Presents. Schaefer takes over the role from Gary Gersh, who announced he would be stepping down last month. In his new role, Schaefer will oversee all aspects of the concert promotion company’s worldwide touring deals, operations and talent relations. […]
CAA has nabbed British musician YUNGBLUD for worldwide representation. The singer, songwriter and actor (born Dominic Richard Harrison) recently concluded the North American leg of his YUNGBLUD – The World Tour this summer. He was formerly represented by UTA in North and South America. YUNGBLUD began his musical career with a 2018 self-titled EP and […]