Live Nation to book Mississippi’s BankPlus Amp
Live Nation has signed a three-year exclusive booking deal with BankPlus Amphitheater in Southaven, Mississippi, bolstering its presence in the region.
The 12,500-cap. venue opened in 2006, and has hosted shows by artists including Willie Nelson, the White Stripes, ZZ Stop, Velvet Revolver, Dave Matthews Band and Kenny Chesney.
“We jumped at the chance to work with BankPlus Amphitheater and the city of Southaven,” says Live Nation regional president Russell Doussan.
“Officially operating this venue enhances our ability to serve artists looking to make stops in Mississippi and the south”
“Amp[hitheatre]s are a key part of the touring pipeline, and officially operating this venue enhances our ability to serve artists looking to make stops in Mississippi and the south.”
Doussan’s New Orleans-based regional team will operate the venue from a satellite office in Southaven.
“Live Nation is the best in the business, and the BankPlus Amphitheater is in great hands under their leadership,” adds Darren Musselwhite, mayor of Southaven. “With the world’s largest touring operation, Live Nation will bring more artists to Southaven than ever before, which will improve the appeal of our city for locals and tourists alike.”
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AEG signs “beautiful” GRFA for new concert series
AEG Presents Rocky Mountains, AEG’s live entertainment operation in the western United States, has partnered with Aspen-based independent DDM Presents for the launch of a new concert series, Whistle Pig Vail, at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, Colorado.
The 2,565-cap. outdoor venue (1,265 seated + 1,300 standing), nestled in the Rocky Mountains and described by AEG Presents co-president Don Strasburg as “one of the most beautiful venues in the world”, will with Whistle Pig Vail host “headliner rock and pop all summer long”, with artists and dates due to be announced in the coming months.
The amphitheatre (pictured) is currently home to a range of cultural and entertainment events, including classical music and dance shows, local theatre productions and the free weekly Hot Summer Nights concert series.
“We can’t wait to help bring more world-class music to the Colorado mountains”
“Our Vail Valley community loves music, and we couldn’t be happier to be bringing incremental, great music offerings to the beautiful Ford Amphitheater with the help of a legendary group like AEG Presents Rocky Mountains,” comments Mike Imhof, president and CEO of the Vail Valley Foundation, which owns and runs the venue. “Vail in Summer 2018 is going to be better than ever before, and will set the bar for many years to come in the mountain music scene.”
“The Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater is one of the most beautiful venues in the world, and we can’t wait to help bring more world-class music to the Colorado mountains with the Whistle Pig Vail concert series,” adds Strasburg.
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World-beating Waldbühne breaks attendance record
Performers at CTS Eventim’s Waldbühne amphitheatre played to more than 350,000 people during the 2017 concert season, recording the open-air Berlin venue’s highest yearly attendance to date.
A total of 22 events, eight of them sold-out, also pushed the Waldbühne (‘Woodland Stage’) to the top of Pollstar’s 200 leading amphitheatres by ticket sales in Q3 2017, up from fifth place in Q3 2016.
Summer 2017 highlights included sold-out shows by Robbie Williams, Pink and Udo Lindenberg, along with performances by Aerosmith, Kings of Leon and Andreas Gabalier and classical concerts by Ludovico Einaudi, Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov (newly exclusive to DEAG) and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The successful Peace x Peace charity festival, meanwhile, raised nearly €414,000 for children living in war zones.
“It’s great how the Waldbühne Berlin has developed over the past nine years”
The season closed with Rumpelstil’s now-traditional Taschenlampenkonzert (‘torch concert’), which for the 19th time saw attendees “dance, sing and celebrate in an ocean of light”, says CTS, which has operated the 22,000-cap. venue (pictured), built for the infamous 1936 Olympic Games, since 2009.
“It’s great how the Waldbühne Berlin has developed over the past [nine] years,” says CTS Eventim executive vice-president Rainer Appel. “By now it is not just the leading European open-air location, but also a frontrunner worldwide. Once again, we’d like to thank the artists, promoters and visitors who together with us made 2017 another record year for the Waldbühne.”
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