Why are major tours bypassing Berlin?

Concerns have been raised over a lack of venue availability in Berlin after AC/DC became the latest major act to skip the German capital on their upcoming tour.

The rock band’s Power Up Tour – their first trek in eight years – will stop in Gelsenkirchen, Munich, Dresden, Hockenheim, Stuttgart and Hannover this summer.

Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour visited Cologne, Hamburg and Frankfurt in 2023, while Adele is set to perform 10 nights in Munich this year and Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour will play multiple nights in Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg and Munich.

According to Berliner-Zeitung, the only venue in Berlin capable of hosting events of such scale is the 75,000-cap Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium), which is home to football club Hertha Berlin and is booked for the UEFA Euro 2024 international tournament in June/July.

“For 2024, we had already informed all of our concert organisers in advance that due to the hosting of the UEFA Euro 2024 with six games including the final on July 14th, no concerts could take place in the Olympiastadion Berlin this summer due to scheduling reasons,” says a spokesman for the Olympiastadion.

“A new stadium will simply have to be built so that Berlin can be included in the tour dates again in the future”

AC/DC’s German tour organiser United Promoters also explains why Berlin was not included in the plan for the 2024 tour.

“It is due to the scheduling availability of the Berlin Olympic Stadium,” says a spokesperson.

Berliner-Zeitung concludes that the city requires more stadium-sized venues.

“A new stadium will simply have to be built so that Berlin can be included in the tour dates again in the future – but then please be as big as BER airport,” it says. “Only the construction should go a little faster, because who knows whether AC/DC will come to Germany again in 14 years and whether Adele and Co. will have been completely convinced by the Munich white sausage.”

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