Ocesa director toasts Foro Sol’s ‘incredible year’

Ocesa’s Guillermo Parra Riveros has hailed an “incredible year” for Mexico City’s Foro Sol after the stadium sold more than 2.2 million tickets in 2023.

The 65,000-cap venue, which is operated by Live Nation-backed Ocesa, ranked No. 1 for ticket sales on Pollstar’s Year End Worldwide Stadium Tickets chart and No. 2 in Stadium Grosses, generating US$170,179,120 (€155.5m).

Highlights included four dates with Taylor Swift and three nights with Depeche Mode, as well as concerts by Paul McCartney, Muse, Blackpink, Lana Del Rey, The Weeknd, Arctic Monkeys, Billie Eilish, Post Malone, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rauw Alejandro, Imagine Dragons, Motley Crue & Def Leppard and Peso Pluma.

Speaking to VenuesNow, Parra, Ocesa’s director of international events, points out that domestic artists also played their part in the success.

“It was an incredible year because interesting things were happening in Mexico,” he says. “Mexican acts that didn’t previously do stadiums are now doing them for the first time. So, the year-end number we had at Foro Sol is due to local acts like Molotov or Siddhartha, two acts who had never played here, performing at Foro Sol.

“It’s also the reggaeton movement. Fans’ openness to the genre as well as regional Mexican wasn’t there before when it came to concerts at Foro Sol. We had great showings for Grupo Frontera, Rels B and Feid on top of notable international acts like Taylor Swift, Depeche Mode, Paul McCartney and Lana Del Rey.”

“There are all kinds of venues with different capacities in the city to serve all kinds of artists”

As previously revealed, Foro Sol will close for renovation following two shows by Twice from 2-3 February. It will then reopen in September with Metallica’s M72 World Tour.

“Ocesa will close the stadium for a massive renovation that will update the bathrooms, suites and food and beverage stands,” says Parra. “We are going to improve every aspect of the stadium, which officially opened in 1998 with David Bowie.

“The first concerts were actually Madonna and Paul McCartney, but at the time, it was only a seasonal venue. It officially opened as a permanent stadium in 1998, so it’s been many years, and it’s in need of a facelift.”

Namechecking other Mexico City venues such as Palacio De Los Deportes (cap. 21,000), Auditorio Nacional (10,000), Pepsi Center (7,000) and Teatro Metropolitano (3,000), Parra suggests there is a multitude of reasons for the region’s current popularity with international acts.

“We have some of the best fans in the world,” he says. “Second, it’s an easy commute from the US to Mexico. And third is our economy. It’s in good shape at the moment, and the public is paying for tickets.

“There are all kinds of venues with different capacities in the city to serve all kinds of artists.”

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