Global Citizen Festival 2024 headliners announced
Post Malone, Doja Cat, Jelly Roll and Rauw Alejandro will headline this year’s Global Citizen Festival.
The 2024 edition is set to take place in New York on Central Park’s Great Lawn on 28 September. Additional performers will be announced in the coming weeks.
Global Citizen ambassador Hugh Jackman will host the event, which will also feature an appearance by Global Citizen Festival curator, Chris Martin of Coldplay.
The international advocacy organisation is calling for urgent action to defeat poverty, defend the planet and demand equitable access to nutritious food, stronger health systems and quality education.
“There’s undoubtedly a divide between what the world needs to end extreme poverty and what currently feels possible. Our mission has never been more critical,” says Hugh Evans, Global Citizen co-founder & CEO. “Together, we must hold our governments to account, and demand that businesses and foundations use their power for good. We must call for ambitious action to defeat poverty and defend the planet — there are 700 million people depending on it.”
Last year’s festival, which featured acts including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ms. Lauryn Hill and Jung Kook of BTS, was a livestream hit, generating 875,000 hours watched, with 388,000 peak viewers and 143,000 average viewers over an airtime of six hours, five minutes, according to Stream Charts.
“We all have a part we can play to help end extreme poverty and stand up for equity”
Global Citizen Festival is presented by Citi and Cisco, with major partners including Bridgewater Associates, Delta Air Lines, Motsepe Foundation, P&G, Verizon and World Wide Technology. Live Nation will serve as production partner, while iHeartMedia is exclusive US Audio Partner. The festival is produced by Diversified Production Services.
First held in 2012, the festival is the world’s longest-running global campaign calling for an end to extreme poverty. Tickets are free and can be earned by taking action on the Global Citizen app or at globalcitizenfestival.com to demand change from governments and private sector leaders.
“It’s been a few years since I was last on the Global Citizen Festival stage in Paris, and I’m excited to join forces with Global Citizen once again in Central Park this September to drive as much action as we can to make the world a better place,” says Doja Cat. “We all have a part we can play to help end extreme poverty and stand up for equity. I’m looking forward to being part of this major evening of positive change.”
In Australia in March, Melbourne’s Palais Theatre hosted Global Citizen Nights, an evening of advocacy, art and music headlined by Crowded House, which served as the finale to the Global Citizen NOW: Melbourne summit.
Last year, Global Citizen teamed with rapper Kendrick Lamar on “pioneering” new concert series Move Afrika in a bid to establish a “first-of-its-kind” touring circuit throughout Africa.
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2024’s blockbuster concert tours: Part II
Last week, IQ looked at ten blockbuster concert tours planned for the next 12 months, including outings by Taylor Swift, Coldplay, P!nk and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
Here, in the second and final part of our 2024 preview, we run through another ten of the biggest treks in what promises to be another huge year for the international live music business…
METALLICA
Fresh from headlining Saudi Arabia first major heavy metal concert at Riyadh’s Soundstorm festival last month, Metallica’s M72 World Tour will see the band playing two nights in every city it visits. Each No Repeat Weekend features two completely different setlists and support lineups. It will also include a new in-the-round stage design that relocates the Metallica Snake Pit to centre stage, as well as the I Disappear full-tour pass and the debut of discounted tickets for fans under 16.
Territories: Europe, North America
Dates: April-September
OLIVIA RODRIGO
Following her 2022 debut jaunt The SOUR Tour, the GUTS World Tour will be the 20-year-old Californian’s first arena tour. It kicks off on 23 February at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, CA, with stops across North America and Europe before wrapping up with four shows at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum in August. The 75-date tour will visit iconic venues including New York’s Madison Square Garden, Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium, and The O2 in London, as well as Manchester’s new Co-op Live.
Territories: United States, Europe
Dates: February-August
NOAH KAHAN
The American singer-songwriter follows up his sold-out 2022 and 2023 Stick Season Tour runs by returning to Australia to launch his We’ll All Be Here Forever Tour this week. Produced by Live Nation, the Australia leg kicks off on Wednesday (17 January 17) at Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl, followed by shows at Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane, Hordern Pavilion, Sydney and Red Hill, Perth. The 27-year-old then embarks on sellout arena runs on both sides of the Atlantic, before returning to Europe in August.
Territories: Australia, Europe, North America
Dates: January-September
DOJA CAT
Doja Cat’s first-ever VR concert was announced earlier this month, but the US rapper will appear in-person for her debut European headline tour this summer. Having performed her inaugural arena headline tour in the US and Canada from October-December 2023, she comes to Glasgow’s OVO Hydro on 11 June 2024, kicking off a European arena jaunt which also includes dates at festivals such as Rock in Rio Lisboa in Portugal, I-Days Festival in Italy, Poland’s Open’er, STHLM Fields in Sweden, Slottsfjell in Norway and Les Ardentes in Belgium.
Territories: Europe
Dates: June-July
BLINK-182
Reunited for the first time in a decade, Blink-182’s biggest-ever tour resumes Down Under next month at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia on 8 February. The ANZ leg is followed by a Latin American stint in March, with dates in Peru, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico, ahead of a US and Canada arena run over the summer months. The band will then land in the UK for a mix of arena, outdoor and festival slots, including headlining Reading & Leeds.
Territories: Australia/New Zealand, Latin America, North America, Europe
Dates: February-August
IRON MAIDEN
The enduring metal legends are still breaking records – selling out all 42,000 tickets for their first concert in Bogota, Colombia since 2011 this November in just 21 minutes. Maiden played to more than 750,000 fans across Europe and North America last summer and will hit the road again in Australia and New Zealand in September. The Future Past Tour will then move on to Japan for shows in Aichi, Osaka, Tokyo and Kanagawa, prior to a slew of North American gigs. It will conclude in South America in December, with two nights each at Chile’s National Stadium in Santiago and Allianz Parque in São Paulo, Brazil.
Territories: Australia/New Zealand, Asia, North America, Latin America
Dates: September-December
THE 1975
The British group’s 2023 was shrouded in controversy as a result of their infamous headline set that led to the cancellation of Malaysia’s Good Vibes Festival. But their touring business continues on the up and up, with a slate of European arena shows booked for Q1 2024, including three nights at The O2 in London.
Territories: Europe
Dates: February-March
NICKI MINAJ
Nicki Minaj Presents: Pink Friday 2 World, the Trinidadian rapper’s biggest tour to date, launches in Oakland, California, on 1 March. The North American leg runs until 12 May, visiting venues including Madison Square Garden in New York, Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle and Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The European stint will commence on 23 May at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome, also visiting Manchester, Birmingham, London, Paris, Cologne and Berlin.
Territories: North America, Europe
Dates: March-June
MADONNA
The rearranged North American stretch of Madonna’s Celebration Tour continues over the next three months. The Queen of Pop began the anniversary tour in London last October, having been forced to postpone the 40-plus date run in the US, Canada and Mexico after being hospitalised last year. The outing will climax in the spring with five shows at Palacio De Los Deportes, Mexico City from 20-26 April.
Territories: North America
Dates: January-April
JONAS BROTHERS
On the heels of touring their native North America in 2023, Jonas Brothers are taking Five Albums. One Night. The World Tour around the world in 2024. The show, which sees the group perform their five studio albums every night, picks back up in the Philippines at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay on 22 February, followed two days later by a gig in Tangerang, Indonesia. The trio then move on to arenas in New Zealand and Australia, with their first Latin America concerts in 10 years – comprising nights in Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Chile and Argentina – scheduled for April, along with three shows in Mexico. The trek will then hit European arenas from May-June.
Territories: Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Latin America, Europe
Dates: February-June
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Doja Cat to stage first-ever VR concert with Meta
Doja Cat will stage her first-ever virtual reality (VR) concert, in partnership with social network Meta and creative production company The Diamond Bros.
The concert, dubbed Doja Cat: The Scarlet Tour in VR, was filmed at the Detroit date of the rapper’s most recent arena outing, The Scarlet Tour.
Doja says: “Bringing The Scarlet Tour to life was an amazing experience for me. Taking it from an idea to real life and sharing that with my fans at arenas was surreal and rewarding. To now be able to share the live show through VR with Meta and The Diamond Bros for ‘Doja Cat: The Scarlet Tour in VR’ is a perfect way for fans who did not get to come to a show to feel like they did. I can’t wait for everyone to see what we have created.”
“Taking it from an idea to real life and sharing that with my fans at arenas was surreal and rewarding”
“Doja Cat’s dynamic performance and stage design seemed almost purpose-built for VR,” says Josh Diamond, director and executive producer at The Diamond Bros. “Between the immersive show direction and unique triangular stage, we couldn’t wait to capture it. We are beyond excited to have collaborated with Doja Cat and Meta on creating this unforgettable experience.”
Doja Cat: The Scarlet Tour in VR will premiere on Saturday 20 January at 17:00 PT exclusively in Meta Horizon Worlds’ Music Valley.
Meta Horizon Worlds’ Music Valley is available for Meta Quest VR headset owners in select regions and provides fans with performances from Doja Cat and other artists.
Attendees can RSVP for the event here. Replays will be available for another couple of weeks in Meta Horizon Worlds after the concert.
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Friday round-up: World news in brief 14/1/22
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…
UNITED STATES:
A man was arrested after allegedly making a bomb threat in an attempt to jump the queue ahead of Doja Cat’s free show in Indianapolis on 8 January. “Indianapolis IMPD has arrested a man who was trying to get through the security line for AT&T’s Playoff Playlist Live at Monument Circle,” says a police spokesperson. “Nearby witnesses told police the individual said he had an explosive on him. IMPD officers responded, searched his bag and did not find an explosive. The man had unrelated outstanding warrants and was immediately arrested for those.” The concert went ahead as planned.
NETHERLANDS:
European showcase festival and conference ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) has finalised its festival programme. The five newest additions to the festival line-up are Dutch acts MEROL, Wies, Pom and Cloudsurfers, who will be playing Noorderslag, and Tinlicker at Eurosonic. For the second consecutive year, the Groningen event has moved entirely online from 19–22 January 2022 in response to the government’s latest Covid-19 measures.
BELGIUM:
Paradise City festival has been awarded the maximum four-star rating by not-for-profit organisation A Greener Festival for the second time in a row, making it the greenest music festival in Belgium and among the greenest festivals in the world. Last year, CO2 emissions per visitor were reduced by 16% compared to the previous edition, despite a larger capacity. Paradise City returns to Ribaucourt Castle, near Brussels, from July 1-3.
ICELAND/UNITED STATES:
European ticketing operations and management software company Tix Ticketing has announced the launch of its US operations, led by newly hired business development manager Aren Murray. Murray, who oversaw the growth of Texas A&M’s centralised arts box office, as well as ticketing operations at Tobin Center for the Performing Arts in San Antonio, will be responsible for overseeing business development initiatives, assisting venues and organisations in streamlining their ticketing operations. Launched in Reykjavik in 2014, Tix has existing offices in Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden, as well as the Netherlands and the UK.
UNITED KINGDOM:
Manchester venue Band on the Wall is re-opening its doors this spring following the completion of a £3.5 million expansion project. The building has been transformed with the main room capacity extended to 500 and a whole floor dedicated to its learning programme, World of Music. The refurbishment was made possible thanks to a £1.4m grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, along with support from Arts Council England, Foyle Foundation, Oglesby Foundation, DCMS, Charities Aid Foundation, Carlsberg, Ticketline, Lloyds Bank and Manchester City Council.
UNITED STATES:
Live event ticketing technology and analytics firm Logitix has named Jed Weitzman to the newly created position of head of music. Weitzman brings over 25 years of executive experience, specialising in talent management, technology, and ticketing. Most recently, he built the music division for Ticket Evolution and consulted for over 60 major tours. Weitzman will lead the music division for Logitix to optimise concert ticket sales through real-time data, dynamic pricing, and distribution.
SWEDEN:
Premium livestreaming platform Staccs has announced its first local artist collaboration with singer-songwriter, Lars Winnerbäck. Fans will be offered exclusive access to Winnerbäck’s performance at Södra Teatern in Stockholm, filmed last August. “Following the success of our first collaboration with Nightwish, we are excited to continue to bridge the relationships between fans and artists,” says Staccs co-founder and COO Jonas Sellberg.
UNITED KINGDOM:
The Music Venue Trust (MVT) has announced a new campaign to encourage music fans to enjoy live music in safe environments by supporting their local grassroots music venues. The #golocal campaign puts the emphasis on enjoying live music in a safe environment by urging music fans to visit local grassroots music venues, avoiding mass transport and large crowds of people. “We see this difficult and uncertain period as an opportunity to put the focus firmly back on local music venues and to encourage people to investigate the many amazing opportunities to safely experience live music within their own communities,” says MVT CEO Mark Davyd.
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