Country Profile: Mexico

If any market has grown as unstoppably and as exhilaratingly as Mexico in the past few years, we’d like to know about it. Among those surfing a seemingly insatiable lust for live experiences have been Live Nation’s OCESA – the leading promoter in Mexico and one of the largest in the world, staging more than 3,000 shows a year for almost 6m fans – and its rival Zignia Live, the key challenger in the promoting space and proprietor of a number of Mexico’s key arenas.

For both, the story in 2024 is at least partly one of venues. Mexico City has had an uncharacteristically quiet year for stadium tours while OCESA modernised its 65,000-capacity Foro Sol venue. But the reopening of the thoroughly refreshed stadium in August as Estadio GNP Seguros once again signalled an end to such times.

Bruno Mars christened the venue with three shows, after which the stadium played host to four nights by Metallica in late September and two dates with The Killers in early October. The ongoing calendar of local, regional, and international headline shows includes Feid, Natanael Cano, Caifanes, Eric Clapton, blink-182, Iron Maiden, The Fabulous Cadillacs, Morat, and Twenty One Pilots.

“The [Live Nation] acquisition has taken us to the next level”

The significance of the former Foro Sol to OCESA is hard to overstate. Last year, the venue sold a staggering 2.2m tickets, its shows including four dates for Taylor Swift, three nights for Depeche Mode, as well as concerts by Paul McCartney, Muse, Blackpink, Rauw Alejandro, Grupo Frontera, and Rels B.

As well as arena shows – its Palacio de los Deportes has this year seen five Madonna shows, four from blink-182, and more from Niall Horan, Danny Ocean, and others – OCESA organises 23 festivals across the country, including Coca-Cola Flow Fest, Corona Capital, Electric Daisy Carnival, Arre, Vive Latino, and new all-female festival Hera.

Between stadiums, arenas, and festivals – spanning not only the monster market of Mexico City but the busy though less supercharged cities of Guadalajara and Monterrey – OCESA is clearly in a strong position to ride the ups and downs of the market.

“The [Live Nation] acquisition has taken us to the next level,” OCESA’s head of festivals Leizer Guss told IQ in August. “We can get to an artist and give them a 24-month plan for Mexico that includes touring and festivals. We can say, ‘Come and do a stadium run right now, with crazy money, and do festivals next year.’”

Like OCESA, Avalanz Group’s Zignia Live promotes but also controls venues, including Arena Ciudad de México and Arena Monterrey, the country’s two busiest arenas. Another, the new 20,000-cap Arena Guadalajara, is under construction. It will be the second-biggest arena in Mexico, and it is hoped that its appearance will significantly reinforce its local market. Its opening date, scheduled for late 2024, was still unconfirmed at press time but seemingly imminent.

“We can get to an artist and give them a 24-month plan for Mexico that includes touring and festivals. We can say, ‘Come and do a stadium run right now, with crazy money, and do festivals next year.’”

Elsewhere, arena shows for Luis Miguel, Carlos Rivera, and Los Claxons are among highlights of Zignia Live’s comparatively Mexican-skewed talent schedule as this year draws to a close and 2025 begins.

Mexico’s independents include ECO Live, organiser of Ceremonia Festival – headlined by Kendrick Lamar, LCD Soundsystem, and regional Mexican band Fuerza Regida at Mexico City’s Parque Bicentenario in March – as well as events including Trópico, Radiobosque, and the Mexican edition of Sónar, and shows to arena level. Caballeros is a promoter, booking agent, and music and branding agency with a young Mexican roster.

Monterrey-based Apodaca Group, meanwhile, is a long- established Mexican promoter with strength in regional Mexico, promoting numerous Mexican, Latin, and international artists from Monterrey to Tijuana, all the way up to arenas and stadiums.