Tour updates: Who’s heading back to the Sphere?
Dead & Company are set to return to the Las Vegas Sphere for an 18-show residency celebrating the band’s 10th anniversary.
The group drew close to 500,000 fans to their 30-show run at the venue earlier this year, and will be back for a second stint in 2025 from March 20-22 & 27-29, April 17-19 & 24-26 and May 9-11 & 15-17. Tickets start at $145.
Comprising John Mayer, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti, Dead & Company play Grateful Dead covers and have played to almost five million attendees across 300 shows since forming in 2015.
In other tour news, the Black Keys have announced a European tour of large-scale outdoor headline shows and festival dates for next summer. Kicking off at Denmark’s Tinderbox on 26 June, the tour will stop at Luxembourg’s Rockhal (29 June), Zitadelle Spandau in Berlin, Germany (1 July), The Hall in Zurich, Switzerland (2 July) and France’s Garorock (4 July), Beauregard Festival (5 July) and La Nuit De L’Erdre (6 July).
The US duo will also visit the UK, with shows at Millennium Square, Leeds (8 July), Castlefield Bowl, Manchester (9 July) and Alexandra Palace Park in London (11 July), plus Belgium’s Cactus Festival (12 July), Bospop Festival in the Netherlands (13 July), Italy’s AMA Music Festival (15 July) and Rock In Roma (16 July) and Benicassim, Spain (19 July).
AC/DC will hit the road in North America for the first time in nine years for 13 stadiums coast-to-coast next spring. This run launches on 10 April 10 at Minneapolis’ US Bank Stadium, stopping off at venues such as the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, BC Place, Vancouver, Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium and Soldier Field in Chicago, before concluding at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland on 28 May.
Drake will tour Australia and New Zealand for the first time since 2017
Also in North America, Kendrick Lamar and SZA will take over 19 stadiums between April and June. Stops include MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey (8-9 May), SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California (21 & 23 May) and Toronto’s Rogers Centre (12 June).
Meanwhile, The Weeknd has announced that tickets for his one-night-only stadium show at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, sold out in under an hour, having attracted over 300,000 fans in the ticket queue. The 25 January concert, produced by Live Nation, will feature an in-the-round stage setup, taking over the entire stadium floor.
Elsewhere, Drake will tour Australia and New Zealand for the first time since 2017, taking in Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena (9-10 February), Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena (16-17 February), Brisbane Entertainment Centre (24 February) and Spark Arena in Auckland (28 February-1 March).
After announcing their biggest headline show to date at London’s Finsbury Park on 5 July, plus a date at Cardiff Castle on 30 July, Fontaines D.C. have added further outdoor gigs at Exhibition Park, Newcastle (13 July) and Wythenshawe Park, Manchester (15 August).
And fresh from supporting Blink-182, Pierce the Veil have revealed a 46-date tour spanning North America, Europe and Latin America. Beginning in Charlotte on 13 May, the band’s biggest headline tour so far will include stops at venues like Madison Square Garden in New York, Kia Forum in Los Angeles, OVO Arena Wembley in London, UK, and Espaço Unimed in São Paulo, Brazil.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Latest Las Vegas Sphere residency extended
Dead & Company have added six shows to their acclaimed residency at the 20,000-cap Sphere in Las Vegas due to “increased demand”.
The band launched the Dead Forever – Live at Sphere run on 16 May and were originally due to wrap up on 13 July after eight weekends. However, they will now also perform from 1-3 & 8-10 August, bringing their total number of shows at the venue to 30. Tickets start at $145.
The next-generation $2.3 billion development launched in September 2023 with the 40-night U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere residency, followed by a four-show stint by Phish last month. Sphere Entertainment boss James Dolan appeared to confirm the Eagles would be next in line.
“Every time an act books the Sphere, they have to create content around it,” said Dolan during the company’s most recent earnings call. “We will never have an act play the Sphere that doesn’t have something compelling up on the screen. It takes a while to do that, so we’re being too judicious about it. But the more an act plays the Sphere, like U2, the more they can monetise the content across multiple shows and therefore invest more on the content and create an even better show. That’s what we’re seeing now.
A centralised hub, the Dead Forever Experience, has been set up at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas to coincide with the shows
“[Dead & Company] premieres on Thursday [16 May]. And I think you’re going to find that — even if you’re not a Deadhead – you’re going to love that show. And I think the same will be true for the Eagles and for the next acts that we bring on.”
Dead & Company, who comprise John Mayer, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti, perform Grateful Dead covers and have completed 10 tours, playing to more than four million fans across 235 shows and breaking multiple records.
The band’s most recent outing, The Final Tour, generated more than US$100 million – the highest annual gross ever recorded on the road during the band’s eight-year run.
A centralised hub, the Dead Forever Experience, has been set up at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas to coincide with the shows, offering a space to gather, explore immersive exhibits and participate in interactive activities, as well as purchase exclusive merchandise.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
MSG Sphere Las Vegas reveals next residency
American rock band Dead & Company have announced a residency at MSG Sphere Las Vegas, following in the footsteps of U2 and their enormously successful run.
The ‘Dead Forever’ run will comprise 18 concerts across six consecutive weeks between 16 May and 22 June, with a different setlist performed each weekend.
Tickets start at $145 and will reflect all-in pricing. Advance presale registration is available now.
“As we put the finishing touches on booking venues, and understanding that word travels fast, we wanted to be the first to let you know that Dead & Company will be hitting the road next summer for what will be our final tour,” said John Mayer said in a statement posted yesterday.
“Stay tuned for a full list of dates for what will surely be an exciting, celebratory, and heartfelt last run of shows.”
“Stay tuned for a full list of dates for what will surely be an exciting, celebratory, and heartfelt last run of shows”
Dead & Company, completed by Mayer, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti, perform Grateful Dead covers and have completed 10 tours, playing to more than four million fans across 235 shows and breaking multiple records.
The band’s most recent outing – ‘The Final Tour’, which wrapped on 16 July 2023 – grossed more than US$100 million. It was the highest annual gross ever recorded on the road during the band’s eight-year run.
Ahead of Dead & Company’s residency, Phish will deliver a four-show run at the 17,500-seat/20,000-cap venue from 18-21 April.
The venue’s first resident artist, U2, wrapped their fourth leg of the U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere residency on 4 November, with Billboard Boxscore reporting that the 17 shows grossed $109.8 million and sold 281,000 tickets, marking the fastest-grossing residency in Boxscore history. The residency concludes on 2 March.
Dead & Company – Dead Forever – Live at Sphere dates:
Thursday, May 16; Friday, May 17; Saturday, May 18
Friday, May 24; Saturday, May 25; Sunday, May 26
Thursday, May 30; Friday, May 31; Saturday, June 1
Thursday, June 6; Friday, June 7; Saturday, June 8
Thursday, June 13; Friday, June 14; Saturday, June 15
Thursday, June 20; Friday, June 21; Saturday, June 22
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Friday round-up: World news in brief 7/1/22
Welcome to IQ‘s weekly round-up of news from around the world. Here, in bite-sized chunks, we present a selection of international stories you may have missed from the last seven days…
MEXICO:
Dead & Company and promoter CID Presents have cancelled their Playing in the Sand destination festival less than 24 hours before it was due to take place. The annual event had been set for Riviera Cancun over two weekends from 7-10 and 13-16 January, but has been axed due to a spike in Covid cases. “Dead & Company and CID Presents tried everything possible to bring normalcy and to deliver a great experience and amazing music, but with each day it became increasingly clear that cancelling is the correct thing to do for the fans and for our crew,” says a statement on the band’s Instagram page. Dead & Company frontman John Mayer had earlier pulled out of the festival after testing positive for coronavirus.
UNITED STATES:
A woman has filed a lawsuit against California’s The Forum, promoter Live Nation and ticketing platforms Ticketmaster and StubHub, alleging she was injured in a crowd crush at a Harry Styles concert at the venue in December 2019. According to court documents obtained by TMZ, the plaintiff claims the venue, promoters and ticketing services “failed to provide sufficient seating, lighting, security, supervision and crowd control”.
UNITED STATES:
A US judge rejected Goldenvoice’s bid to extend a restraining order against Live Nation in its trademark infringement lawsuit over a rival music event called ‘Coachella Day One 22’. The event’s promoter, Native American Tribe Twenty-Nine Palms, was not listed as a defendant in the lawsuit after claiming sovereign immunity, but Live Nation was accused of “contributory infringement” due to tickets for the New Year’s Eve event being sold on Ticketmaster. The event listing had already been changed to ‘Day One 22’ on Ticketmaster, which was permitted to continue selling tickets for the festival after the judge concluded it was no longer directly infringing the Coachella trademark. Tribal chairman Darrell Mike praised the ruling as “a win for the tribe, the community and our ticketing partners at Live Nation”.
UNITED KINGDOM:
Bengi Ünsal, head of contemporary music at London’s Southbank Centre, is switching to The Institute of Contemporary Arts in March as its new director. Ünsal was artistic and managing director of Istanbul’s Salon IKSV venue prior to joining the Southbank Centre in 2016, where she has overseen the annual Meltdown festival with guest curators MIA, Robert Smith and Nile Rodgers. This year’s Grace Jones-helmed edition is set for June.
UNITED KINGDOM:
Well-being organisation Music & You has teamed up with beauty cosmetics firm Lush, entrepreneur Zoe Sugg, aka Zoella, and mental health campaign #IAmWhole to create a fund providing free therapeutic support to people who are working, or used to work, in the live music sector pre-pandemic. To apply, individuals should complete this application form by no later than midnight on Thursday, 20 January. Applicants will be notified of a decision by 22 January.
UNITED STATES:
TodayTix Group has acquired live events ticketing platform Goldstar. The deal marks the latest move for TodayTix, which has been on an acquisition spree since 2020, purchasing four companies including theatre specialist Show-Score; London-based Encore and Broadway Roulette.“We are focused on unlocking as much potential as we can so when the industry returns we can be a big part of its recovery,” the company’s co-founder and CEO, Brian Fenty, tells Variety. “We are live events purists through and through. We really do believe that despite the toll of the pandemic, there’s going to be a Roaring ’20s. We believe that people are desperate for arts and culture and are eager to get back into theatres.”
UNITED KINGDOM:
Britvic has been named as The O2’s new Official Soft Drinks partner in a five-year deal, brokered by AEG Global Partnerships, with Pepsi Max served and seen across the London venue. The partnership will mean pouring and supply rights across all bars at Indigo at The O2 and concourse bars, suites and premium bars including The Deck, AMEX Lounge, O2 Blueroom and Sky Backstage bars at The O2 arena. The deal will also welcome a takeover of the level 1 bar which is to be rebranded as The London Essence Company bar. In addition, Britvic will have activation opportunities at the venue and access to tickets for Up at The O2 for promotional use. Meanwhile, Birmingham-based NEC Group has announced a multi-year deal with Molson Coors Beverage Company, which is responsible for a portfolio that includes Pravha, Staropramen, Rekorderlig and Coors. The deal will see Pravha being named as the official beer of Utilita Arena Birmingham and Resorts World Arena with bars across both venues carrying the Pravha branding.
UNITED STATES:
Dice has ramped up its North American expansion by becoming the ticketing partner of the Newport Jazz Festival and Newport Folk Festival. The partnership will see the events, which will be held in Rhode Island in July, offer digital ticketing for the first time. “Every year of the event, we work with our partners to innovate beyond traditional ticketing,” says Newport Folk executive producer Jay Sweet. “In a year where fans deserve to get out and go see the music they love, we know Dice is the right partner to make things as easy as possible, fair, transparent and intuitive for our Newport Family. We want these tickets in the hands of our fans and not on the secondary market.”
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.