AEG UK’s Steve Homer: ‘Guitars are coming back’

AEG Presents UK CEO Steve Homer has talked the guitar revival, ticket pricing and the company’s latest London festival in a new interview with IQ.

The promoter’s 2024 highlights have included concerts with established superstars including Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Billy Joel and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, but Homer is also encouraged by the fresh talent moving up the ranks such as Doechii, Clairo, Ezra Collective and Paris Paloma.

“I think we’re in a fairly healthy situation,” he says. “It feels like the developing part of the market is quite solid. There are some exciting acts coming through and also the genres are broadening back out again.”

Moreover, after years in the doldrums, Homer suggests that guitar music is returning to the fore, buoyed by the progress of acts such as Last Dinner Party, Fontaines DC, Wet Leg and Vistas.

“Guitars are coming back,” he observes. “It’s not just about solo acts and sitting in your bedroom producing music on your own, there are more bands emerging – which is encouraging for the industry because that was the mainstay of what it was in decades gone by.”

AEG partnered with Yungblud on the first instalment of the singer-songwriter’s one-day festival BludFest at Milton Keynes Bowl in August, which is set to return next year, and hooked up with entertainment brand Recess to stage Recessland – a celebration of Black British culture – at Dreamland Margate in May. Other notable tours included Blue Man Group and Blade Runner Live.

“It’s a competitive landscape – there are a lot of things vying for audience money”

“It’s been varied and it’s been really positive on the whole,” adds Homer. “We haven’t had as many arena tours this year; we’ve had a lot more success in theatres than in the past, but there are far more arenas and stadium tours again next year.

“It’s a competitive landscape – there are a lot of things vying for audience money – so you have to be cognisant of what you’re booking and putting out in the market. I think next year has already set itself out with the Oasis and Coldplay tours, and there are still more top tier stadiums to be announced. If the level of pencils at stadiums come to fruition – which is looking quite likely – that automatically has an impact on money available.”

Homer also shares his thoughts on the current discourse around whether concert tickets are becoming too expensive.

“The way it’s always worked with us in terms of ticket pricing is that the artist, manager and agent are very aware of what they class as their peer group,” he explains. “You’re asked to check what the other artists playing in that arena or stadium are charging so you get a gauge of where to go. And often, because some artists don’t tour for a long period of time, the ticket price that was relevant for them on their last tour has moved on.

“As we all know, the cost of touring has gone through the roof and keeps increasing. Whether it’s labour, whether it’s equipment, or whether it’s transport, it all has a price and that’s not going anywhere other than up.”

“You’re trying to find a ticket price that works for the customer, so it’s a real balancing act”

He adds that the phase of US acts being deterred from coming to Europe due to the cost of touring has not yet fully subsided.

“We saw a period of time not so long ago, and it still happens a bit, where American artists couldn’t afford to come over because the price they need to charge for the ticket would put fans off, so you’re trying to avoid that,” says Homer. “You’re trying to find a price that works for the customer, so it’s a real balancing act to try and not overprice things and be aware of market forces. It’s tough, though. To try and pitch it right is hard.”

Earlier this week, AEG, which already runs BST Hyde Park, All Points East and Bristol’s Forwards in the UK, as well as Rock en Seine in France, announced the newest addition to its portfolio in Lido Festival, which debuts over two weekends next June in London’s Victoria Park.

Jamie xx is the first headliner to be unveiled and will be be joined on 7 June by a specially curated line-up starring In Waves collaborators Romy, Panda Bear, and John Glacier, alongside Arca, Sampha, DJ Gigola, Shy One, Wookie and livwutang. He will also bring his club residency ‘The Floor’ to Victoria Park for a one-off festival showcase, featuring a three-hour set from DJ Harvey.

Saluting the efforts of AEG’s European festivals CEO Jim King and promoter Oscar Tuttiett, Homer suggests the event is aimed primarily at a Gen-Z audience.

“The acts that are being announced are very much a new breed of artists,” he says. “I’m looking forward to seeing how that develops. To find points of difference in a very congested marketplace is quite an achievement, and looking at the lineup I think they’ve achieved all they set out to do. It’s going to be an exciting addition to the London festival landscape.”

The second part of IQ‘s interview with Homer will be published in the coming days.

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