Female superstars lead 2023’s blockbuster tours

Female artists are leading the way on 2023’s touring circuit, with American superstars Beyoncé, Madonna, Pink and Lizzo joining Taylor Swift in scoring huge sales for blockbuster tours.

A raft of additional US stadium shows were confirmed for Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour – the singer’s first solo tour in seven years – after demand exceeded the number of originally available tickets by more than 800%. The run kicks off in Europe at Stockholm’s Friends Arena on 10 May, switching to to North America in July.

“Even with these added dates, it is still expected that the majority of interested fans will not be able to get tickets because demand drastically exceeds supply,” reads a Live Nation statement.

Following the Eras tour fallout, which prompted last month’s US Senate antitrust hearing, Ticketmaster tweaked the presale for the Renaissance tour in the US, dividing the Verified Fan registration period into three groups based on city.

More than three million people attempted to buy tickets for Beyoncé’s European dates, with her original two-night stand in London expanding to five at the 60,000-cap Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Extra nights were also added in cities such as Amsterdam, Stockholm and Warsaw.

“We experienced and successfully handled an extraordinary level of demand and traffic for Beyoncé”

While the BBC reported complaints of long queues and technical issues during the UK onsale, Ticketmaster declared the process a success.

“We experienced and successfully handled an extraordinary level of demand and traffic for Beyoncé,” says a Ticketmaster spokesperson. “While there were never going to be enough tickets to meet demand, thousands of happy fans secured their tickets.”

Live Nation France boss Angelo Gopee tells Le Parisien “the demand has been huge” for the star’s two French shows at the 60,000-cap Stade de France in Paris and 55,000-cap Orange Velodrome, Marseille. Tickets started at €85.

“Do not believe that because 270,000 people are [in the queue], we can sell 270,000 tickets and fill four stadiums,” says Gopee. Many come to see the prices, the location of the seats and leave. For Madonna, we had 120,000 fans waiting and we sold 60,000 tickets.”

“We had never experienced such demand since 2014,” adds Velodrome stadium director Martin d’Argenlieu.

Taylor Swift’s 52-date The Eras US tour remains the standard-bearer in terms of demand

Madonna’s 2023/24 The Celebration Tour – which marks the 40th anniversary of her breakout single Holiday – has been another smash hit, selling more than 600,000 tickets.

Produced by Live Nation, the global greatest hits tour will kick off in North America on 15 July at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada. Madonna’s 2008-2009 Sticky and Sweet Tour is currently the highest-grossing tour by a female artist ever, raking in $411 million (£335m).

In addition, Pink’s first tour in four years, The Pink Summer Carnival, commences on 7 June with the first of two concerts at the University of Bolton Stadium and takes in stadiums and festivals around Europe, including two dates at the 65,000-cap BST Hyde Park in London. Making its way to North America in July, the run is due to conclude at Chase Field, Phoenix on 9 October.

And Lizzo’s The Special Tour got underway in the US last Autumn and arrived at European arenas in February, with a second North American leg slated from April to June.

Nevertheless, Taylor Swift’s 52-date The Eras US tour remains the standard-bearer in terms of demand, selling a record 2.4 million tickets in a single day.

“Despite all the challenges and the breakdowns, we did sell over two million tickets that day, we could have filled 900 stadiums.” said Live Nation chair Greg Maffei following the controversial presale last November.

Other acts playing stadium tours this year include Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Harry Styles, The Weeknd, Elton John, Coldplay, Rammstein, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Def Leppard + Motley Crue.

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