Wireless Festival has announced that Drake will headline all three nights of this year’s 20th-anniversary event.

The Canadian rapper will perform a different setlist each night of the annual rap and hip-hop music festival, for what will be his first UK performances in six years.

Having first headlined the Finsbury Park event in 2012, Drake has made several special guest appearances at Wireless over the years and holds the title of the audience’s most-requested artist since the festival’s inception.

The Wasserman Music-repped act will make history as the world’s first artist to headline a festival in the same location for three nights, according to organiser Festival Republic. Kanye West delivered three headline sets at Wireless 2014 – two in London and one in Birmingham – after Drake cancelled his Saturday slot due to illness.

The Wasserman Music-repped act will make history as the world’s first artist to headline a festival for three nights

Similarly, for Download’s 20th-anniversary event (also promoted by Festival Republic) Metallica delivered two different headline sets at the four-day event.

Drake is currently in the middle of his first Australia and New Zealand tour in eight years, a 14-date run that will wrap up on 16 March in Auckland.

He will perform at Wireless 2025 on 11,12,13 July at London’s Finsbury Park, with additional sets from Burna Boy, PartyNextDoor, Summer Walker and Vybz Kartel.

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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.

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Drake has been dismissed from lawsuits relating to the 2021 Astroworld festival tragedy.

Ten people died and hundreds more were injured during the fatal crowd crush at the November 2021 event in Houston, Texas. All of those who died suffered from compression asphyxia.

The Canadian rapper, real name Aubrey Graham, appeared as a special guest during festival founder Travis Scott’s headline set, but attorneys for Drake had argued that since he was not involved in organising the concerts, he was not liable for the casualties that occurred.

“Mr Graham did not receive any security briefings, was not informed of any crowd control issues, injuries or deaths in the crowd, or any stop show orders at any time either before or during his 14-minute performance,” wrote the star’s lawyers.

USA Today reports the Harris County District Court of the 11th civil district granted Drake’s request for a summary judgment in the case and dismissed “all claims asserted against [Drake] by all plaintiffs and intervenors in this multidistrict litigation”.

District judge Kristen Hawkins dismissed seven companies and individuals who had been sued, but denied motions to dismiss that were filed by 10 other companies and individuals, including Apple, which livestreamed the concert, and Scott’s company Cactus Jack Enterprises.

The first trial from the lawsuits is slated for 6 May

In June last year, a grand jury declined to indict Scott, nor anyone else associated with the festival. However, more than 300 lawsuits were filed naming Scott, promoter Live Nation and other companies involved in the event.

Almost 5,000 people have claimed they were injured in the disaster, with lawsuits filed in each of the 24 district courts in Harris County. Nearly every claim alleges negligence such as “failures of safety and security rules, crowd control and emergency response measures, and failures to provide adequate security, supervision, training and care”.

The first trial from the lawsuits is slated for 6 May, while a number of cases have already been settled.

According to court documents, the head of safety for the festival raised concerns about the number of people that could be near the stage, ten days before the event took place.

Earlier this month, a Texas judge ordered Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino to give testimony in the lawsuits brought against his company and others by families of those who died at the festival.

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Travis Scott has made his first public statement on the Astroworld tragedy in more than two years.

Ten concertgoers, aged between nine and 27, died following a crowd surge during Scott’s headline set at the 50,000-cap festival in Houston, Texas, on 5 November 2021.

“I always think about it,” said the rapper in a new interview with GQ. “Those fans were like my family. I love my fans to the utmost.

“It has its moments where it gets rough. You just feel for those people. And their families.”

In June it was announced that no criminal charges would be filed over the tragedy. Scott’s only previous public statement on the disaster was made via his social media accounts in the days following the festival, where he spoke of his devastation.

“I’m absolutely devastated by what took place,” he said in an Instagram video. “My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened.

“Anytime I can make out anything that’s going on, I stop the show and help them get the help they need. I could just not imagine the severity of the situation.”

Scott was quizzed by lawyers for several hours in September over hundreds of lawsuits filed against him and others in the wake of the festival

Scott was quizzed for several hours in September over hundreds of lawsuits that were filed against him and others in the wake of the festival. The civil deposition, which lasted nearly eight hours, took place in Houston, and marked the first time the rapper was questioned by lawyers over the festival.

Lawyers and others connected to the civil lawsuits are under a gag order, preventing them from saying little beyond what happens during court hearings.

Rolling Stone reports that Drake, who appeared on stage at Astroworld as a special guest during Scott’s set, was also questioned in a deposition tied to the hundreds of lawsuits filed in relation to the crowd crush. Drake has been named in multiple suits alongside Scott, promoters Live Nation and Austin-based subsidiary Scoremore, and Apple, which livestreamed the event, but maintains he had no part in the organisation of the show.

Almost 5,000 people have claimed they were injured in the disaster, with lawsuits filed in each of the 24 district courts in Harris County. Nearly every claim alleges negligence such as “failures of safety and security rules, crowd control and emergency response measures, and failures to provide adequate security, supervision, training and care”.

According to Chron, two fresh lawsuits, representing more than 40 plaintiffs combined, were filed just last month, each seeking $1 million damages.

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Houston police has published its full report on the 2021 Astroworld tragedy.

Ten concertgoers, aged between nine and 27, died following a crowd surge during Travis Scott’s headline set at the 50,000-cap festival, promoted by Live Nation and Austin-based Scoremore, at Houston’s NRG Park, Texas in November 2021. All of those who died suffered from compression asphyxia.

The 1,266-page report includes details of multiple witness interviews, including Scott and special guest Drake, as well as a timeline of events on the night.

“Travis stated that towards the middle/end of the show, just before the guest (Drake) took the stage, he was instructed to end the show after he (Drake) was done,” says the report. “He stated that normally if it was something drastic, someone would have to come hit the button or pull the plug.”

According to the document, Scott was later told: “Yo Trav, you got to wrap it up, it’s getting kinda hectic out there,” via his earpiece, but was not informed of the severity of the situation.

Drake told police it was difficult to see any crowd problems from his vantage point due there being “a lot of lights”

Drake told police it was difficult to see any crowd problems from his vantage point due there being “a lot of lights”, adding, “he was also focusing on his foot placement because he was concerned about his knee which he had recently had surgery”.

The report also reveals text messages sent by security contractor Reece Wheeler to a colleague, Shawna Boardman, which said: “Stage right of main is getting crushed. This is bad. Pull tons over the rail unconscious. There’s panic in people eyes. This could get worse quickly.”

In subsequent messages, Wheeler warned “someone’s going to end up dead”.

“I would pull the plug but that’s just me,” he said. “I know they’ll try to fight through it but I would want it on the record that I didn’t advise this to continue. Someone’s going to end up dead.”

Boardman’s attorneys said that she realised Wheeler “was wrong in his assessment”, and went to the area to make sure it was populated with the correct staff.

It was confirmed last month that no criminal charges will be filed over the tragedy

“She saw paramedics, police officers, security guards, and no unconscious people,” continues the report. “Shawna did not see any panic and saw a strong police presence. She said police were taking pictures of the show with their phones which reflected the matter as not extremely dangerous or a sense of emergency.”

Boardman did not relay information in Wheeler’s text to anyone else. “She did not reply to him. He does not get on the
radio or tell anyone else,” it adds.

It was confirmed last month that no criminal charges will be filed over the tragedy after a grand jury issued six no-bills related to the deaths. Jurors declined to charge Scott (real name Jaques Webster II), festival manager Brent Silberstein, John Junell of Live Nation, security planners Boardman and Seyth Boardman of Contemporary Services Corporation, and Emily Ockenden, formerly of event production company BWG, after reviewing all the evidence.

“It is tragic that 10 innocent people were killed while trying to enjoy an evening of music and entertainment, something many of us do routinely and without a second thought to our safety,” said Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg. “But a tragedy isn’t always a crime, and not every death is a homicide.”

The decision has no bearing on the pending civil lawsuits relating to the case.

A US taskforce made a series of recommendations on how to improve concert safety in response to the disaster last year.

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US Senators have introduced new legislation which would eliminate “excessive” ticketing fees for concerts and other events.

Senators Richard Blumenthal and Sheldon Whitehouse have announced the “Junk Fee Prevention Act” following calls from president Joe Biden during his State of the Union address.

Biden argued that hidden or unexpected fees “are not only costly to consumers, but they can stifle competition by encouraging companies to use increasingly sophisticated tools to disguise the true price consumers face”.

If passed, the new legislation would eliminate “excessive, hidden, and unnecessary fees” imposed on consumers and “ensure transparency” in industries such as ticketing by requiring the full prices of services to be provided upfront.

“Concealed surprise fees – nickel and diming Americans to distraction – must be stopped,” says Blumenthal. “Airline travel, concert going, common purchases – seemingly almost everywhere – consumers are compelled to pay hidden excessive charges.

“Our bill will help end this price gouging – forcing full disclosure upfront and restricting abusive fees. It will mandate basic common sense fairness and transparency, which consumers rightly demand and deserve.”

“Our Junk Fee Prevention Act would provide consumers with the transparency they deserve when making a purchase”

“Consumers are charged hidden fees when purchasing everything from flights to concert tickets,” adds Whitehouse. “Our Junk Fee Prevention Act would provide consumers with the transparency they deserve when making a purchase.”

Live Nation has backed president Biden’s call for transparency around ticketing fees last year. The company went on to launch the Fair Ticketing Act last month and has received support from the likes of CAA, UTA, Wasserman Music and WME in its calls for ticketing reforms. Among its recommendations are for all-in pricing across all ticketing marketplaces introduced nationally so that fans know the full cost of a ticket plus fees right upfront.

Ticketing fees have been thrust under the microscope of late after The Cure persuaded Ticketmaster to offer partial refunds for “unduly high” ticketing fees charged in the Verified Fan sale for the band’s upcoming North American tour.

The firm had come in for criticism during this week’s sale when ticket-holders posted screenshots online showing some fees exceeding the cost of the tickets themselves.

Neil Young has also weighed in on the dispute, posting under the headline “concert touring is broken” on his website.

“It’s over, the old days are gone,” he writes. “I get letters blaming me for $30,000 tickets for a benefit I am doing. That money does not go to me or the benefit. Artists have to worry about ripped off fans blaming them for Ticketmaster add-ons and scalpers.

“Concert tours are no longer fun. Concert tours [are] not what they were.”

“Ticketmaster unilaterally decides which tickets it advertises and sells as ‘Official Platinum’ based on a given event”

Meanwhile, a class-action lawsuit has been launched against Ticketmaster in Canada, alleging the company “intentionally misleads consumers for their own financial gain”.

The case – filed by Montreal-based law firm LPC Avocat Inc – says a customer bought two market-driven “platinum” tickets for Drake’s upcoming 14 July show at the Bell Centre for C$789.54 (€533.70) each. However, it says that when Drake added a second show for the following night, the same seats could be purchased for more than $350 less.

As per the Toronto Star, the suit also claims that Ticketmaster knew Drake would be performing two shows at the venue, but “concealed this information” to “squeeze out” as much money as possible from fans buying tickets for the first date.

“Ticketmaster unilaterally decides which tickets it advertises and sells as ‘Official Platinum’ based on a given event,” reads the filing. “The result is that most, if not all, of the tickets advertised and sold as ‘Official Platinum’ are neither ‘premium tickets’ nor ‘some of the best seats in the house’ and are, in fact, just regular tickets sold by Ticketmaster at an artificially inflated premium in bad faith.”

Ticketmaster has not commented on the allegations.

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Lawsuits have been filed over the deadly crowd surge at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas.

At least eight people, aged between 14-27, died and hundreds others injured in Friday’s (5 November) tragedy at the 50,000-capacity event at NRG Park, promoted by Live Nation. A planned second night was cancelled.

Live Nation released a statement saying it was “heartbroken for those lost and impacted”.

“We will continue working to provide as much information and assistance as possible to the local authorities as they investigate the situation,” it said.

A total of 14 lawsuits have already been filed by survivors in Houston District Court in relation to injuries sustained at the festival, according to Billboard. The first names festival headliner and founder Scott, Live Nation, individuals associated with NRG Park and Texas-based festival producer Scoremore Holdings, along with several other defendants.

A second also names Scott and Live Nation, but adds Drake, who appeared as a special guest during the headline set.

Scott made statements on his social media accounts, speaking of his devastation.

“I’m absolutely devastated by what took place,” he said in an Instagram video. “My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened.

“Anytime I can make out anything that’s going on, I stop the show and help them get the help they need. I could just not imagine the severity of the situation.”

In 2018, the rapper reportedly pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after being accused of inciting a riot at a 2017 concert in Arkansas’ Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion.

We still don’t know what caused the initial surge of the crowd

Meanwhile, Houston fire chief Sam Pena has warned the final death toll from Astroworld could rise.

“At this moment what we know is that we have eight people who have died as a result of the injuries suffered at that event,” he told MSNBC. “That number may rise because we did transport more people in critical condition, we took 11 that they were performing CPR en route to the hospital.

“A total of 23 patients were transported after the mass casualty incident was initiated, so that number, hopefully it doesn’t, but it may rise.”

Pena stressed that the cause of the “unspeakable tragedy” was still being investigated.

“We still don’t know what caused the initial surge of the crowd up towards the stage but the Houston police department is looking at video that was taken from cameras that were present there for security purposes and other reasons so that’ll be part of their investigation,” he said. “They’ll be dissecting exactly what the issues were and what caused the surge and if there was anything else that contributed to this tragedy.

“We don’t know what caused it but we had and estimated 50,000 people in that venue. It was just a matter of people trying to push towards the front and get towards the front, that’s what I anticipate, but again that will be determined after they review the film and they review the video that they have from those cameras.

“From the Houston fire department’s perspective, we’ll be looking at the layout of that venue itself and considering items as far as was there enough means of egress, what caused the inability for people to escape that situation so again we will be dissecting this thing in its entirety.”

We want to make sure that this does not happen again and we learn from this

Video footage shows Scott pausing his 75-minute set when medical emergencies became apparent.

Asked whether the show should have been halted earlier, Pena added: “That’s all going to be part of the investigation. Police with Live Nation did decide to, in essence, pull the plug when situation started to escalate.

“It was a chaotic and really tragic event but they did an outstanding job to get resources in there and try to disperse the crowd as quickly as they could. But we’re going to be looking at this thing from top to bottom because we want to make sure that this does not happen again and we learn from this.”

Pena also addressed accounts of a concert-goer injecting other people, including a security guard, with drugs.

“We did hear the same thing,” he said. “Again, we are going to wait for the medical examiner’s determination on the cause of deaths of these individuals so we’ll get a better picture as soon as the investigation progresses.”

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Twenty five million tickets have been sold for shows at London’s O2 Arena since 2007, the venue team announced today (22 October), following a busy summer with concerts by Ariana Grande, Travis Scott, Muse and more.

The 20,000-capacity O2 Arena, which was crowned the world’s busiest venue for the 11th consecutive year in 2018, has this year seen performances from the likes of Daddy Yankee, George Ezra, Post Malone, Cher and Khalid.

Bjork, the Chemical Brothers, Liam Gallagher, Krept and Konan, Little Mix and the Lumineers are all set to perform at the arena before the end of the year.

Since opening in 2007, the O2 has hosted over 2,000 individual performances and now holds an average of 200 events per year, covering music, sport, comedy, family entertainment and esports.

“To reach the 25 million ticket milestone is a huge achievement and we’re so grateful to have hosted so many artists for the first time this year”

“To reach the 25 million ticket milestone is a huge achievement and we’re so grateful to have hosted so many artists for the first time this year,” comments Emma Bownes, vice president of programming.

“London has the best fans in the world, and we’d like to thank promoters, agents, managers and our partners for continuing to work with us to help bring the very best performers from the worlds of music, comedy, sport and entertainment to the O2”.

Canadian rapper Drake was this year inducted into the venue’s ‘21 Club’, joining acts including Prince, One Direction and Take That to have performed at the London arena 21 times.

Take That hold the record for the most number of shows played at the O2, whereas the attendance record belongs to Metallica, who played to a 22,211-strong crowd in 2017.

Tickets are not the only thing being sold in large quantities at the O2. In 2018, the venue sold over 172,000 portions of chips, 72,500 hot dogs and more than 993,000 pints of beer.

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Drake has been inducted into the O2’s ‘21 Club’, after reaching the milestone of 21 shows at the London venue on Thursday 11 April.

The Canadian rapper joins previous honourees including Prince (whose 21-night residency in 2007 inaugurated the tradition), One Direction, Take That and Michael McIntyre, all of whom, like Drake, have been presented with the keys to the venue.

Drake’s seven-night run in April brought his total performances to 21. The Grammy- and Brit Award-winning artist first performed two nights at the venue on the Club Paradise tour in 2012, before returning in 2014 for three nights in support of his number-one album, Nothing Was the Same. He last played the O2 in 2017 for the Boy Meets World tour, during which he performed eight headline shows.

The key, designed by The O2 team, was inspired by the latest Assassination Vacation tour artwork. Mounted on black velvet and finished in gold, it will join the rest of the 21 Club accolades backstage, “to serve as inspiration for future artists”, says the venue.

Drake’s reference to the venue in the song ‘God’s Plan’ (“You know me/ Turn the O2 into the O3”) was also celebrated during the latest residency, with the venue rebranding as the O3 for two weeks (pictured above).

Commenting on the accomplishment, Emma Bownes, AEG Europe’s vice-president of venue programming, says: “Drake has consistently brought us incredible shows and our congratulations go to Drake and his team for this achievement.”

Drake is co-managed by Noah ‘40’ Shebib and Adel ‘Future the Prince’ Nur and represented by WME worldwide.

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Data presented by online statistics portal, Statista, has shown that women generated the majority of traffic to ticketing sites on the first day of ticket sales for a variety of high-profile world tours.

Female fans drove around 73% of traffic to Vivid Seats on the morning that tickets went on sale for K-pop group BTS’ first world stadium tour, Love Yourself: Speak Yourself.

The band sold out five major stadiums across the United States and Europe, including the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles (90,888-cap.), London’s Wembley Stadium (90,000-cap.) and the Stade de France in Paris (80,000-cap.).

Women generated an even higher percentage of traffic for Ariana Grande’s Sweetener world tour (75%), which sees the star perform across Europe and North America.

Female fans also drove more traffic to ticketing pages for Ed Sheeran’s ÷ world tour (64%), Taylor Swift’s Reputation tour and Drake’s Aubrey and the 3 Migos tour.

Only for the Rolling Stones No Filter tour did men have a bigger presence on the ticketing site than women, driving 56% of the traffic.

The data corresponds with information collected by event discovery guide and ticketing outlet, Skiddle, that shows women now buy 13% more live event tickets than men.

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