Live Nation attracts ‘5m fans’ to UKI fests in ’24

Live Nation says it will host nearly five million attendees across UK and Irish festivals this summer.

Highlights so far in 2024 have included Download, TRNSMT, Parklife and Isle of Wight Festival, which featured headline performances from the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Liam Gallagher, Doja Cat and Green Day.

Other standouts include Camp Bestival Dorset and Latitude, which both took place on the last weekend in July

Reading & Leeds (21-25 August) and Creamfields (22-25 August) are also on track to sell out, while Ireland’s Electric Picnic (16-18 August) has already sold out. And despite ongoing challenges for the sector as a whole, the company says it is on course for a successful season, with ticket demand remaining high.

“We’ll host a total of almost five million attendees at our UK and Irish festivals this summer, demonstrating that festivals remain vital to our cultural life”

“We’ll host a total of almost five million attendees at our UK and Irish festivals this summer, demonstrating that festivals remain vital to our cultural life,” says Live Nation UK & Ireland chair Denis Desmond.

LN festivals have showcased emerging domestic talent such as CMAT, Barry Can’t Swim, The Last Dinner Party, Myles Smith, Caity Baser, and English Teacher, and Glasgow’s TRNSMT provided a platform for Scottish acts like Dylan John Thomas, Katie Gregson-Macleod and Tallia Storm, as homegrown stars Gerry Cinnamon and Calvin Harris took headline slots.

The firm adds that diversifying its offering by opening new greenfield sites means that more people can attend music events closer to home.

According to UK Music research, UK music tourism increased by 33% in 2023 thanks to concerts from the likes of Beyoncé, The Weeknd, Harry Styles and Blur and festivals including Glastonbury, Boomtown and TRNSMT.

Around 19.2m music tourists (national and international) attended live music events across the UK last year, up from 14.4m in 2022. The total includes 1.014m foreign music tourists (roughly in line with 1.053m in 2022) and 18.2m domestic music tourists (an increase of 36% from 2022 when the total was 13.3m).

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