Country Profile: Colombia

Colombia is a stronghold of Mexican giant OCESA, which in turn has been owned since 2021 by Live Nation. The acquisition through OCESA of a controlling interest in prominent local independent Páramo Presenta in July 2023 further strengthened the consolidated group’s presence in the country.

“Sergio Pabón and his Páramo team are seasoned professionals who will enable us to further grow the market,” says Bruce Moran, Live Nation’s president of music in Latin America. “Given the size of Bogotá and Medellín, and with the leadership of Sergio, we anticipate Colombia becoming ever more important as a concert destination.”

The deal puts metal festival Knotfest Colombia, the electronic Baum Festival, and the Estéreo Picnic Festival into the Live Nation/OCESA network. The last of those is one of the largest music events in the country, bringing Blink-182, Drake, Billie Eilish, and others to the capital Bogotá across four days in March and drawing close to 173,000 people. OCESA, meanwhile, has promoted The Weeknd, Alicia Keys, Spanish star Enrique Bunbury, and 5 Seconds of Summer in Colombia this year.

Move Concerts also operates in the country, and will bring Luis Miguel, Roger Waters and a Gojira/Mastodon double bill through in the coming months, though CEO Phil Rodriguez predicts a bumpy road ahead as Colombia wrangles with a variety of political and economic difficulties.

“The fact is the country is going through some serious economic challenges.”

“The fact is the country is going through some serious economic challenges,” he says. “In this second semester, every Anglo show is doing very soft business – all of them. The only shows that are doing strong business are the Latin shows – Luis Miguel, Karol G, Mora, Feid.”

Bizarro Live, headquartered in Chile but active across large parts of South America, will be the promoter behind Primavera Sound’s first trip to Bogotá in December, on the Spanish festival’s second tour of the continent, with The Cure, the Pet Shop Boys, Grimes, and The Hives. Universal’s management and promotion company GTS also operates in Colombia, where it has promoted shows by artists including local heroes Morat.

Based in Medellín, Diomar García Eventos is another major Colombian promoter, having brought Bad Bunny to the second city last year and done the same for Karol G in 2021 and J Balvin in 2019.

CKConcerts is a Colombia-based tour and local promoter that operates across Latin America with an emphasis on rock and metal, having handled tours for Steve Vai, The Rasmus, Skid Row, Apocalyptica, and Stone Temple Pilots in 2023. Brazil’s Mercury Concerts, meanwhile, took its touring Monsters of Rock bill to Bogotá in April, selling 31,000 tickets.