2024 festivals: Open’er, Rock in Rio, Tinderbox
This week has seen another flood of international festival line-up announcements, as the 2024 programme continues to comes together.
After confirming slots at Belgium’s Rock Werchter and Portugal’s NOS Alive, Dua Lipa has been revealed as the first headliner of next year’s Open’er Festival in Gdyni, Poland, which runs from 3-6 July.
The 28-year-old singer will perform on the Orange Main Stage on Thursday 4 July. Lipa is returning to complete unfinished business after her scheduled performance at the 2022 festival was cancelled due to inclement weather.
“This announcement has an additional dimension – the fulfilment of a promise,” says Mikołaj Ziółkowski, CEO of promoter Alter Art. “I remember clearly the telephone conversation with Dua Lipa at the moment when the evacuation of the area in 2022 had already been completed and the cars with the artist were heading to the airport in Gdańsk.
“She promised that she would return to Open’er for her fans and festival participants on the first possible date, and we promised that we would do everything to make it happen.”
“Future Rave is a booking that we’ve dreamed of for a long time, and to be the first in Denmark to present this brilliant duo is something we’re extremely excited about”
In addition, Rock in Rio has named Ed Sheeran as the first headliner of its 40th anniversary. It will mark the first time Sheeran, who is also lined up for RiR’s Lisbon spin-off, has played the festival’s flagship Brazilian edition, set for 13-15 & 19-22 September. Ne-Yo, Joss Stone and Brazilian artist Ludmilla have also been confirmed.
Denmark’s Tinderbox has revealed the first 13 acts to play the festival in 2024, headed by David Guetta & MORTEN present Future Rave. Taking place in Tusindårsskoven, Odense, from 27-29 June, it has also announced Avril Lavigne, Bathsheba, Benjamin Hav & Familien, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Guldimund, Jonah Blacksmith, Kaizers Orchestra, Cheek Mod Cheek, Nicky Romero, Pil, Suspekt and Tina Dickow.
“We’re very excited to finally be able to share some of the acts playing next summer,” says festival CEO Brian Nielsen. “We’re presenting a multi-faceted lineup representing many different genres and generations of great music.
“Future Rave is a booking that we’ve dreamed of for a long time, and to be the first in Denmark to present this brilliant duo is something we’re extremely excited about.”
Afro Nation Portugal‘s first wave of acts for next summer include Rema, Asake, J Hus, Tyla, Major League DJz, Uncle Waffles and Focalistic. The world’s biggest Afrobeats festival is primed for Praia Da Rocha Beach, Portimao, The Algarve, from 26-28 June.
“Hosting events like Untold at Expo City Dubai is the perfect way to demonstrate the city’s capability to host mega-events”
In the US, When We Were Young returns for a third year to the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on 19 October, with headliners My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy. More than 50 bands will each perform an album front-to-back, including My Chemical Romance (The Black Parade), A Day To Remember (Homesick), Jimmy Eat World (Bleed American), Pierce The Veil (Collide With The Sky) and The Used (In Love and Death).
Plus, Rolling Loud California has unveiled Nicki Minaj, Post Malone and Future x Metro Boomin as headliners for Inglewood’s Hollywood Park Grounds from 15-17 March.
The inaugural UAE edition of Untold – billed as Dubai’s first “mega festival” – will welcome the likes of Armin Van Buuren, Bebe Rexha, Don Diablo, Ellie Goulding, G-Eazy, Hardwell and Major Lazer Soundsystem to the 70,000-cap Expo City Dubai from 15-18 February.
“Hosting events like Untold at Expo City Dubai is the perfect way to demonstrate the city’s capability to host mega-events, further reinforcing its position as an international events hub in line with the ambition of our visionary leadership to make Dubai the best city in the world to visit, live and work in,” says Ahmed Al Khaja, CEO of Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE).
“Entertainment brings people together, and we are excited to extend this opportunity to over 200 nationalities that call Dubai home. We are delighted to partner with this amazing music festival, and we envisage that it will be a wonderful amalgamation of sensational live entertainment and a diverse mix of cultures.”
Elsewhere, Andrea Bocelli is the first headliner announced for AEG’s American Express presents BST Hyde Park in 2024. The Italian tenor will grace the London, UK concert series on 5 July, and Finland’s Provinssi, set for 27-29 June, boasts PMMP, Bring Me The Horizon, Yungblud, Bad Omens, Apulanta, Jenni Vartianen, Blind Channel, Kaija Koo, Kvelertak, Kaarija, Sanni, Sexmane, Stam1na and Vola.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Clockenflap will host acts including Pulp, Joji, De La Soul, Caroline Polachek, Idles, Alex G, Yard Act, Squid, Tom Grennan, Tones & I, Peking Duck and Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls at Central Harbour Front from 1-3 December 2023.
The latest festival to be cancelled for next summer, however, is the UK’s Neighbourhood Weekender. The SJM Concerts-promoted event has been staged in Warrington since 2018, with this year’s edition headlined by Pulp, Paul Heaton and The Kooks. An online post by organisers offered no reason for the cancellation, simply saying: “Neighbourhood Weekender will be taking a break in 2024 but we’ll be back in 2025. More news on dates and line up next year.”
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‘We sold more tickets than we’ve ever done before’
AEG Presents’ Jim King has reflected on the success of BST Hyde Park’s 10th anniversary edition, telling IQ the event enjoyed its biggest year of ticket sales yet.
Presented by American Express, the acclaimed London concert series was headlined by Guns N’ Roses, Take That, Blackpink, Billy Joel and Lana Del Rey – plus two nights each from Pink and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band – from 24 June to 9 July.
Around 550,000 tickets were sold for the festival, topping the previous best of 530,000 set in 2022 – an edition that starred the likes of the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Adele and the Eagles.
“I never thought I’d be able to say we sold more tickets than last year, but we sold more tickets than we’ve ever sold before. It’s incredible, everybody sold out,” says King.
“You can go to any arena or stadium in the world and you’ll have these great moments with your favourite artists, but – and I’m biased when I say this – something different happens in Hyde Park. It’s just this magical space. There’s a different energy created there and I hope that we play a positive role in helping that.
“Hyde Park it is one of the true great parks in the world and I find those performances with these great artists connect stronger with fans when you get those great summer evenings, in the heart of London, and I think that’s what we saw.”
“It was important that we widened our lens in how we looked at the selection of our headliners”
AEG’s CEO of European festivals, King is full of praise for this year’s artists, singling out newer headliners Blackpink and Lana Del Rey, alongside the established greats.
“It was important that we widened our lens in how we looked at the selection of our headliners,” he says. “Having a K-pop band headline a UK festival for the very first time and deliver a great show was an important moment for us. And personally, I was looking forward to Lana Del Rey so much because she doesn’t tour very often and we’d tried so hard to get her to play. It’s a big risk for any artist to come and headline a Hyde Park show, especially for the first time, and it was announced quite late, compared to other shows, but it sold out instantly.
“Ultimately, we’re there to ensure that that great connection when the artist sings their first note or plays their first chord, that that next 90 minutes, two hours, or three hours in the case of many, is spellbinding, memorable and emotional, and that the artists and their fans will remember for a very long time. And when Lana came out, the sense of anticipation in the air from the fans was palpable. I thought it was one of the great Hyde Park shows for that energy and connectivity.”
For the second year in a row, the festival took place across three weekends, comprising nine concerts instead of the previous six.
“Three weekends is a challenge,” admits King. “It’s nine shows, so the obvious point to raise is that we’ve got to book nine headliners. It used to be hard to book six – it used be hard to book three in the early days! And the best artists have a plethora of choices for where they wish to play, so I think it’s important to remind everybody that we don’t choose the artists, the artists choose us.
“It’s not like any promoter walks into a supermarket and fills their their trolley with two artists from the top shelf, three from the middle and four from the bottom, it’s the other way around – it’s the artist walking into the supermarket and choosing.”
He adds: “I think it’s a really good event for fans to come to and artists like coming and it’s a prestigious show for them to play – not many people get to headline Hyde Park in their career – but we’re certainly not resting on our laurels.”
“The supply chain is getting back to normal after being in a very different state coming out of Covid”
The 65,000-cap event was preceded by classical show All Things Orchestral on 23 June, presented by Myleene Klasse and featuring Alfie Boe and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. General admission ticket prices were set at £11.45 in a bid to “bring classical music back for all”.
“We had great attendances for Open House, our midweek programme, and were very happy to launch All Things Orchestral this year with [AEG artistic director] Lucy Noble joining us from the Royal Albert Hall, which was an idea that had been on the shelf for us to do for many years and I mentioned it to Lucy when she joined. It was just a germ of an idea but she pulled it together really quickly, and with such skill and quality.
“It was what we want to do at BST, which is ensure we have a wide-ranging festival that appeals to everybody. I thought that was another real highlight of this year. I was really pleased with the way it went and credit to her.”
Having launched in 2013, BST was celebrating its 10th anniversary and has hosted acts such Taylor Swift, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Adele, The Who, Bob Dylan & Neil Young, Justin Bieber, Tom Petty, Carole King, Barbra Streisand, Eric Clapton and Paul Simon. Wrapping up, King speaks of his ambitions for the event moving forward.
“We set very high standards in terms of what we want to organise and what we want to deliver,” he says. “The supply chain is getting back to normal after being in a very different state coming out of Covid. That has been the challenge for the last 18 months and I think we’ve met that.
“I’m still excited about how far we can push to experience, how great we can make it for artists to come in, and how great we can make it for fans coming to London for the very first time, so I like those challenges. We’re in a good state; we love what we do and we’re very fortunate to be able to do it.”
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Lana Del Rey announces surprise European shows
Lana Del Rey has unveiled a slate of surprise European shows around her sold-out headline slot at BST Hyde Park next month.
The US singer-songwriter, who topped the bill on Glastonbury’s Other Stage last Saturday (24 June), will close the 2023 edition of the AEG-promoted London concert series on Sunday 9 July, and has now announced an extra run of dates at short notice.
The 38-year-old will play Italy’s La Prima Estate festival on 2 July, followed by gigs at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome in the Netherlands, Dublin’s 3Arena in Ireland and the Olympia in Paris, France.
“I love Europe and after playing Glastonbury, have decided to play a few more shows in various countries around my Hyde Park Show in London on July 9th,” she says. “Today I am announcing shows in Amsterdam on July 4th, Dublin on July 7th and Paris on July 10th. I look forward to seeing you all.”
The American’s Glastonbury’s set was curtailed by a curfew after she took to the stage 30 minutes late
The American’s Glastonbury’s set was curtailed by a curfew after she took to the stage 30 minutes late.
“I was so fucking late that I am about to rush this set today,” she told the crowd. “If they cut power, they cut power. I’m super fucking sorry. My hair takes so long to do. I love you to death. Let’s keep on running the set as it’s supposed to go.”
Del Rey is also due to perform North American festival slots at Festival d’ete in Quebec, Canada (15 July), Lollapalooza in Chicago, Illinois (6 August), Outside Lands in San Francisco, California (12 August) and All Things Go in Columbia, Maryland (1 October).
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Lana Del Rey final headliner for BST Hyde Park 2023
Lana Del Rey is the final headliner to be announced for this year’s BST Hyde Park, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
The singer-songwriter is due to perform on the last day of the AEG-promoted London concert series’ 2023 edition (Sunday 9 July), with special guests to be announced.
Tickets go on general sale at 10 am BST next Thursday (27 April) and pre-sale for American Express cardholders went live at 10 am today (21 April).
The gig will mark Del Rey’s debut appearance at BST Hyde Park
The gig will mark Del Rey’s debut appearance at BST Hyde Park, which is also set to welcome Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band, Guns N’ Roses, Billy Joel, Pink, Blackpink and Take That this year.
Del Rey’s BST Hyde Park date takes place just over two weeks after she delivers a headline set on the Other Stage at Glastonbury 2023.
The US star recently returned to music with her latest album, “Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” which she will include in her Hyde Park set.
Del Rey is also set to perform at festivals including Music Is The Answer (Brazil), Lollapalooza (US) and All Things Go (US).
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Billy Joel joins BST Hyde Park 2023 line-up
Billy Joel is the latest headliner to be announced for next year’s American Express presents BST Hyde Park.
The 73-year-old, who is the sixth best-selling recording artist of all time with 160 million records sold, will take to the Great Oak Stage on 7 July for his only European show of 2023.
Tickets go on general sale on Thursday 6 October, with special guests to be announced soon. The show will be Joel’s first UK date in four years, since a Wembley Stadium (cap. 90,000) date in summer 2019.
The US great is the second act to be confirmed for next year’s BST line-up, following Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, who will play two nights at the AEG-promoted London concert series on 6&8 July.
Earlier this month it was announced that Joel has added another show to his record-breaking Madison Square Garden residency in New York City. Promoted by MSG Entertainment in association with AEG Presents, the star’s 13 January show will mark his 87th monthly and 133rd lifetime show at the venue.
Billy Joel was named Madison Square Garden’s first-ever music franchise in December 2013
Joel was named MSG’s first-ever music franchise in December 2013. The record-breaking residency began in January 2014 with the singer vowing to perform one show every month at The Garden, “as long as the demand continues”.
Booked by Artist Group International, Joel was 2021’s 57th highest-grossing worldwide tour, generating $17,443,530 from 133,877 ticket sales according to Pollstar data.
Meanwhile, in celebration of 50 years of Billy Joel, the musician’s famous 1990 Live At Yankee Stadium concert will be beamed in cinemas for a special two-night global fan event. Presented by Trafalgar Releasing and Sony Music Entertainment’s premium content division, the re-edited film will be screened on Wednesday October 5 and Sunday October 9.
Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, Sony Music’s catalogue division, will release Billy Joel Live at Yankee Stadium in digital, 2CD, 3LP and Blu-ray formats on 4 November.
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Bruce Springsteen announces 2023 UK dates
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band have announced four huge UK concerts for 2023, including two nights at BST Hyde Park.
The 72-year-old will visit Edinburgh’s BT Murrayfield Stadium (30 May), Villa Park in Birmingham (16 June) and BST in London (6&8 July). Tickets go on general sale next Thursday 21 July.
Springsteen, who is repped by CAA, last visited the UK on 2016’s The River Tour, when he played stadium dates in Manchester, Glasgow, Coventry and London.
Last week, the rocker revealed the tour’s opening US arena shows, which comprise 31 performances, starting at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida on 1 February and running through to his 14 April homecoming at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The tour then heads to Europe.
“No other act in the history of Spanish concerts has sold so many tickets that fast”
More than 1.2 million tickets have already been purchased for the European leg, which kicks off at the 60,000-cap Estadi Olímpic in Barcelona on 28 April and winds up on 25 July in Italy at Prato della Gerascia, Autodromo di Monza. Many cities have added second or third stadium shows due to demand.
Spanish promoter Neo Sala at Doctor Music revealed that demand for the shows helped set a new sales record in the country.
“We went on sale on [8 June] with one Estadi Olímpic, but it sold so fast that in less than an hour we had to add a second show which continued selling equally well,” he told IQ. “By noon… we had sold more than 100,000 tickets which is an absolute record in Spain. No other act in the history of Spanish concerts has sold so many tickets that fast.”
At the conclusion of the European run, the band will begin a second to-be-announced North American tour leg in August.
Springsteen’s 2016/17’s The River Tour was the highest grossing worldwide tour of 2016, earning $268.3m over 76 shows.
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Top UK festivals report strong ticket sales
BST Hyde Park, TRNSMT and Lytham festivals have all reported strong sales following another huge weekend of live music in the UK.
Held for the first time since 2019, AEG’s 65,000-cap BST series in London expanded to three weekends, selling 530,000 tickets across nine shows and welcoming a further 70,000 people to its Open House programme of free events between the weekends.
Adele, the Rolling Stones and Pearl Jam each headlined two nights, with Elton John, Eagles and Duran Duran also headlining shows. Support acts included Pixies, Stereophonics, Johnny Marr, Cat Power, Laura Mvula and Phoebe Bridgers.
“The demand for tickets was huge and we are very proud to have sold out the series”
“Like everyone in the festival business and across live music we are so happy to be back doing what we love and seeing music fans experiencing these great shows,” says AEG European Festivals CEO Jim King. “The calibre of artists we have had in Hyde Park was incredible with so many outstanding performances. The demand for tickets was huge and we are very proud to have sold out the series.”
In Scotland, DF Concerts’ three-day TRNSMT in Glasgow hosted 50,000 fans per day to see homegrown headliners Lewis Capaldi and Paolo Nutini, plus The Strokes and a supporting line-up including Sam Fender, Foals, Wolf Alice, Nile Rodgers + Chic, The Snuts, DMA’s and Sigrid.
“What an incredible weekend we’ve had,” says festival director Geoff Ellis. “We had the sun shining on Glasgow Green, a fantastic line up of over 70 artists across four stages and 50,000 incredible fans every day – we really couldn’t have asked for more.”
“TRNSMT marks the halfway point in Scotland’s record-breaking summer of music”
DF pressed ahead with a UK-heavy bill for TRNSMT last September after cancelling in 2020 due to Covid-19, but was able to return to business as usual this year.
“It was great to welcome back international artists to Glasgow Green, but also to see excited music fans enjoying our best homegrown talent, with Paolo Nutini closing day one and The Snuts getting the crowd going on Saturday,” adds Ellis. “TRNSMT marks the halfway point in Scotland’s record-breaking summer of music and I’d like to thank the artists, the fans and everyone who works extremely hard behind the scenes to make this festival happen.”
TRNSMT’s 2023 edition has been confirmed for 7-9 July next year, with ticket prices frozen for a limited time.
“It has taken us three years to bring Lytham Festival back and we came back in style”
Elsewhere, Live Nation’s Cuffe and Taylor attracted almost 200,000 fans over 10 days to its flagship Lytham Festival in Lancashire, which returned from 28 June to 10 July after a three-year absence, headlined by Diana Ross, Lewis Capaldi, Snow Patrol, Duran Duran, Nile Rodgers + Chic, Simply Red, Elbow, The Strokes, Alison Moyet and Paul Weller. The 20,000-cap event will revert to five days next year.
“More than 30 artists presenting 10 nights of live music has been absolutely phenomenal,” says co-founder Peter Taylor. “It’s taken us three years to bring Lytham Festival back and we came back in style. It has also been an absolute joy to see tens of thousands of people joining together with their friends and family to experience some of the best nights of their lives.”
The latest success comes on the heels of what is believed to be the Britain’s biggest weekend of live music ever at the end of June, with more than one million people attending concerts.
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BST’s Jim King talks Adele, live biz resurgence
AEG’s Jim King has hailed Adele as “the biggest act on the planet” ahead of the singer’s exclusive two-night stand at BST Hyde Park this weekend.
Demand for the 65,000-cap London shows was enormous, with tickets selling out within minutes of going on sale last October.
The 1-2 July double-header will be the star’s first concerts proper since 2017, when her scheduled four-night run at Wembley Stadium was cut short due to damaged vocal cords. Her planned Weekends With Adele Las Vegas residency was postponed in January – just 24 hours before its opening night – with rescheduled dates still to be announced.
“She’s the biggest act on the planet. And for us to be able to have two concerts with her here is such a highlight for everybody involved,” King, AEG’s CEO of European festivals, tells IQ. “We couldn’t be more thankful that she decided to come and play here. We know they’re so excited about it.
“Fans are going to see the biggest act in the world perform two of the best concerts anyone’s going to see this year”
Adele, whose 2016 Adele Live tour grossed $167.7 million across 107 shows, is represented by WME agents Lucy Dickins internationally and Kirk Sommer in North America.
“The conversations that we’ve been having with her team all the way through this have been unbelievably positive,” adds King. “They are a great team to work with – we know them very well from days gone by. Fans are going to see the biggest act in the world perform two of the best concerts that anyone’s going to see this year. It’s very exciting.”
This year’s BST hosted headliners Elton John, the Rolling Stones and Eagles last weekend, with Adele and a second date with the Stones (3 June) following over the next three days. Concerts by Pearl Jam (8–9 July) and Duran Duran (10 July) bring the 2022 American Express-sponsored series to a close.
But despite expanding the BST programme from six concerts to nine, AEG pressed pause on pre-pandemic plans for new events in favour of rejuvenating existing festivals. King – who previously warned the live industry against oversupplying the market – feels the promoter’s “cautious” approach since returning from Covid-19 has been vindicated.
“The concerns that we had at the top end of the year still apply now”
“I think we’re going to continue to have an amazing year, but based on the fact that we were relatively cautious,” he says. “It sounds a bit crazy to say that with nine sold-out Hyde Park concerts, but it’s nine – we’re not chasing 99. So we have chosen to be fairly modest in our output.
“The concerns that we had at the top end of the year – that rescheduled shows from 2020 and 2021 were being rescheduled into ’22, on top of those shows that were coming into the marketplace in 2022 – still apply now.
“What we saw, and what we still see, is the indoor touring cycle extending quite deeply into the summer because of venue availability, and thus you have festivals competing with headline tours. There’s only so much money that people have to buy tickets, so I think that concern is very real and our response to it – which was being cautious in the number of shows that we did – was the right thing to do.”
“The backbone of the industry is the supply chain and the staff. They’re the people who make this happen”
King also reflects on how the touring business has changed compared to pre-March 2020 times.
“From an operational perspective, it’s largely the same, albeit there are well documented challenges in the supply chain – labour resourcing, etc, has been particularly difficult,” he says. “We have an industry now which has picked itself back up again, but there are a lot of faces who are no longer with us. A lot of experience left the industry and that is one of the greatest challenges we have needed to bounce back from.
“How do we quickly and aggressively drive that experience back into what we have? Because the backbone of the industry is the supply chain and the staff. They’re the people who make this happen. And the ability to make decisions and, more importantly, make the right ones is what makes the UK industry the leading one in the world, in my opinion.”
He adds: “We’re also dealing with the impact of a wider economy issue of the cost of living crisis, which is ongoing and will be with us for some time, no doubt. But we’ve been here before, we’ve been in challenging economy situations where money’s tight and we have to react accordingly. We have to drive value and quality into the market so that when fans buy tickets, they feel that their experience was unbelievable value and they want to remain with us.”
Read part one of our interview with King here.
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AEG’s Jim King previews BST Hyde Park comeback
AEG Presents CEO of European festivals Jim King says BST Hyde Park’s extended format could become permanent as it prepares to launch its 2022 season tomorrow.
This year’s line-up includes headliners Elton John (24 June), the Rolling Stones (25 June/3 July), Eagles (26 June), Adele (1–2 July), Pearl Jam (8–9 July) and Duran Duran (10 July).
For the first time, the London-based series is taking place across three weekends, comprising nine concerts instead of the traditional six – a move King suggests is not a one-off.
“It’s certainly here to stay for the foreseeable future, which is fantastic,” King tells IQ. “It allows us to work with more artists and continue on our quest of ensuring that we have the biggest acts in the world come through this venue every year. And we love working with the artist community and the agents to achieve that.”
A by-product of the expansion will see the opening weekend clash with Glastonbury, albeit some acts – such as Sam Fender, Phoebe Bridgers and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – are performing at both events.
“There is huge demand and that is testament to the artists.”
“It’s a natural weekend for us to grow into,” explains King. “We could go later into July, but we felt that it was the best weekend to work with this year. Obviously, there are some challenges because we have to work within the supply chain, but it has given artists the opportunity to come into this window and play both shows, which is a good thing.”
Due to the pandemic, this year will mark BST’s first edition since 2019, when it welcomed Celine Dion, Stevie Wonder, Barbra Streisand, Florence + The Machine and Robbie Williams. Pearl Jam and Duran Duran were originally booked to perform in 2020.
“We wanted to keep those shows in [for 2022] and their success is astounding when you think about it,” says King. “Pearl Jam are doing two nights in London and both are going to sell out. Duran Duran are going to have the biggest show of their career in this country. There is huge demand and that is testament to the artists.
“I also think it shows what a great connection there is between the fans and Hyde Park as a venue, because we are certainly seeing artists selling more tickets here with us [than at other venues].”
He adds: “What people are going to see when they turn up is a bigger and more creative BST Hyde Park than the one they last saw in 2019, including an even bigger Great Oak Stage, which just looks incredible. Every time I walk past it astounds me what the production guys have delivered. And hopefully the fan experience will be something everybody remembers – we’ve gone the extra mile to deliver a quality day out.”
“It’s the biggest line-up we’ve ever had: nine shows of quite simply the biggest artists on the planet”
While BST launched in 2013, King says its 2022 programme is already shaping up to be its most successful yet. The American Express-sponsored festival announced its latest partnership – a link-up with Hard Rock International – earlier this week.
“It’s the biggest line-up we’ve ever had: nine shows of quite simply the biggest artists on the planet,” he says. “It’s also the most amount of tickets we’ve ever sold, the highest gross and the largest number of sponsors and partners who want to be part of the festival. Every single metric we can apply shows us it is the biggest ever BST Hyde Park, so we start from a really strong place.
“An important footnote is that brands can take their sponsorship budgets to many places – to sport and other cultural activities – and music is one of the options they have, so for us to be able to be in a position where we’re seeing growth is a really good position for us to reflect on.”
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Hard Rock International links with BST Hyde Park
AEG’s BST Hyde Park has announced a partnership with Hard Rock International.
The London festival’s 2022 edition runs from Friday 24 June to Sunday 10 July, with headliners including Elton John, the Rolling Stones, Adele, Pearl Jam and Eagles.
The concerts will be complemented by Hard Rock-sponsored festivities, including Hard Rock Rising presents the Rainbow Stage, which will showcase up-and-coming artists. The brand’s first ever Hard Rock Cafe opened in London in 1971.
“As we reflect on half a century of Hard Rock, which started right here in London and has since expanded to reach all corners of the globe with venues in over 70 countries, we’re thrilled to take part in such an iconic cultural celebration by helping extend access to music lovers and enrich the experiences of festival goers at BST Hyde Park” says Jim Allen, Hard Rock International chairman.
“For 50 years, Hard Rock has been associated with the biggest names in music”
Hard Rock Cafe will activate at BST Hyde Park with a cafe pop-up on the festival grounds and in the VIP section. Hard Rock Cafe locations will also have unique memorabilia on display from BST Hyde Park performers, as well as memorabilia from other UK music legends.
BST Hyde Park’s Open House is also set to return, offering a host of free activities between the weekends of music.
“For 50 years, Hard Rock has been associated with the biggest names in music,” says Jim King CEO of European Festivals at AEG Presents. “We look forward to sharing their glorious history at BST Hyde Park this summer where music fans can enjoy the famous Hard Rock Cafe and the Hard Rock Rising Stage.”
Hard Rock previously partnered with Live Nation on the Hard Rock Calling series in Hyde Park from 2008-12. AEG launched BST Hyde Park in 2013 after signing an exclusive agreement for the venue with The Royal Parks.
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