Ed Sheeran to launch Apple Music Live series two
Live performance series Apple Music Live is launching its second season with an exclusive show by Ed Sheeran from London’s Eventim Apollo.
The 32-year-old will showcase his new album – (Subtract) in full for the first time alongside a 12-piece band including Aaron Dessner of The National, who produced the LP.
During the performance, which debuts today (10 May) at noon PST, Sheeran will hone in on the series of life events that inspired him to pen the record.
“I’m delighted to share my Subtract album show with you,” Sheeran said. “I was really nervous on the day, as it was my first time performing the new album tracks. The show was brought to life by Aaron and the incredible band, and it was an honor to stand beside them. It was an emotional night, but I’m so pleased we got to document it.”
“It’s an emotional, soul-searching ride – but also extremely fulfilling”
The gig will also be available to stream on Apple TV+ alongside all subsequent Apple Music Live concerts.
“We’re excited to present this Apple Music Live show, which offers an utterly unique perspective into how one of the world’s most popular musicians is dealing with some of the heaviest traumas imaginable,” adds Apple Music 1 host Matt Wilkinson. “It’s an emotional, soul-searching ride – but also extremely fulfilling.”
The inaugural season of Apple Music Live kicked off in May 2022 with an exclusive livestream of Harry Styles’s One Night Only in New York performance to celebrate the release of his Harry’s House album. Additional standouts included Billie Eilish’s Live at the O2 performance, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Film; Alicia Keys’s first-ever Holiday Masquerade Ball; and performances from Lil Durk, Mary J. Blige, Luke Combs, and Wizkid.
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Ed Sheeran announces intimate N.American shows
Ed Sheeran has announced a series of intimate North American tour dates, which take place amid his forthcoming stadium tour.
The British singer-songwriter is due to kick off the North American leg of his + – = ÷ x (Mathematics) tour this week.
Alongside the 21-date outing, Sheeran will deliver intimate performances at 14 theatres and auditoriums across the US and Canada.
The small-scale shows will see the 32-year-old perform his 2023 album Subtract in its entirety, with Ben Kweller providing support for the majority of the run.
The Mathematics Tour’s North American run is set to kick off on 6 May at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It wraps up on 23 September at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
Support comes from Khalid, Dylan, Rosa Linn, Cat Burns, Maisie Peters and Russ on differing dates (see below).
The tour marks Sheeran’s first return to North America since his 2018 Divide outing, which became the highest-grossing concert tour of all time.
Sheeran is represented by Marty Diamond and Ash Lewis at Wasserman for US and Canada, and Jon Ollier at One Finiix Live for the rest of the world.
See Ed Sheeran’s intimate North American tour dates 2023 below:
MAY
19 – Clearwater, FL @ Ruth Eckerd Hall*
26 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle*
JUNE
02 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met*
16 – Toronto, ON @ History*
29 – Boston, MA @ Boch Center Wang Theatre*
JULY
14 – Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
21 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium*
28 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre*
AUGUST
11 – Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre*
18 – Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre*
25 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
SEPTEMBER
01 – Vancouver, BC @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre*
15 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater*
22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Auditorium*
*Ben Kweller support
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Ed Sheeran breaks own Melbourne record
Ed Sheeran has broken his own attendance record at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) by playing to more than 100,000 fans on consecutive nights.
The superstar singer-songwriter performed to a 107,000-strong crowd last Thursday (2 March), topping that 24 hours later when he attracted a 109,500-strong crowd to Friday’s Frontier Touring-presented show. Eminem previously pulled in more than 80,000 punters at the venue in 2019.
“Ed loves to break a record and he’s smashed this one,” says Mushroom Group CEO Matt Gudinski, who describes the feat as “phenomenal”.
Earlier in the week, Sheeran paid tribute to his former Australian promoter, Gudinski’s father, Michael Gudinski, after visiting the statue of the late Mushroom Group founder outside Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena.
The largest concert ever held in Australia was a free admission show by The Seekers in 1967, which had an estimated 200,000 in attendance
“Toasting a 707 to the big man ahead of playing the biggest ticketed shows ever in Australian history this weekend,” wrote Sheeran on Instagram. “We miss you, you finally got me playing MCG in the round.”
According to Noise11, the largest concert ever held in Australia was a free admission show by The Seekers at Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne in 1967, which had an estimated 200,000 in attendance.
Sheeran’s opening night at MCG suffered a technical hitch, however, with some fans initially unable to access their tickets after buying them through Ticketek.
“Ticketek apologises to those fans who experienced a delay in entering the MCG for Ed Sheeran’s concert,” a spokesperson tells the Daily Mail. “A small number of Ticketek App users, who had valid tickets, were unable to retrieve their entry barcode until the issue was resolved.
“We thank fans for their patience whilst Ticketek enabled a solution, which saw all fans admitted prior to the start of the concert.”
Last month, Sheeran also smashed the attendance record at New Zealand’s Sky Stadium, with 48,000 fans flocking to the singer’s sold-out concert, again outselling the previous record-holder Eminem, who attracted 46,474 fans to his March 2019 date.
The Australia/New Zealand leg of the 32-year-old’s +–=÷× Tour (AKA the Mathematics Tour) wraps up this month with nights at Adelaide Oval (7 March) and Perth’s Optus Stadium (12 March).
Last week, Sheeran – who is represented by Marty Diamond of Wasserman Music in North America and Jon Ollier of One Fiinix Live for the rest of the world – announced a slate of European indoor shows in support of his upcoming fifth studio album, − (Subtract), out 5 May. He will visit Manchester’s AO Arena (23 March), The O2 in London (24-25 March), Glasgow’s OVO Hydro (28 March), 3Arena Dublin (30 March) and Accor Arena, Paris (2 April).
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Ed Sheeran to break New Zealand stadium record
Ed Sheeran is set to break the attendance record at New Zealand’s Sky Stadium this week, with 48,000 fans expected at the singer’s sold-out concert.
The 31-year-old brings his +–=÷× Tour (AKA the Mathematics Tour) to the Wellington venue tomorrow (2 February) ahead of two shows at Auckland’s Eden Park next week.
Stuff reports the Sky Stadium concert is on track to top the venue’s current record set by Eminem, who attracted 46,474 fans to his March 2019 date. A Guns ‘N Roses performance at the stadium drew more than 25,000 in December 2022.
“This is the first show of Ed’s Australia and New Zealand tour, and the single largest day event the stadium has ever held”
“This is the first show of Ed’s Australia and New Zealand tour, and the single largest day event the stadium has ever held,” says Sky Stadium chief executive Shane Harmon.
The Frontier Touring-presented gig is scheduled to go ahead despite the recent flash floods and landslides that hit the north island. The “biblical” weather saw a number of major concerts and festivals in New Zealand cancelled, including Laneway Festival and stadium shows by Elton John after Auckland declared a state of emergency.
According to Newshub, bosses at Auckland’s 50,000-cap Eden Park say they are “100% focused” on making sure the venue is “fit for purpose” for Sheeran’s 10-11 February dates after the cricket ground was submerged by heavy rain.
The tour, Sheeran’s first visit to the region since 2018, switches to Australia next month for stops at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium (17-19 February), Sydney’s Accor Stadium (24-25 February), Melbourne Cricket Ground (2-3 March), Adelaide Oval (7 March) and Perth’s Optus Stadium (12 March), before heading to the US in May. Sheeran is represented by Wasserman Music’s Marty Diamond in North America and One Fiinix Live’s Jon Ollier for the rest of the world.
Click here to read IQ‘s in-depth feature on The Mathematics Tour.
Sheeran’s previous 255 show ÷ (Divide) run from 2017-19 surpassed U2’s 360° as the highest-grossing tour ever, with a gross of US$776.2 million. It also set a new record for total attendance, at 8,796,567, according to Pollstar data.
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IQ Tour of the Year 2022: Ed Sheeran + – = ÷ x
It’s 8.29 pm at Dublin’s Croke Park, 23 April 2022. The sense of anticipation among the 82,000 fans present – here to see Ed Sheeran kick off his fourth world tour, the +–=÷× Tour (AKA the Mathematics Tour) – is building to fever pitch; a giant red and yellow screen in front of the stage has been displaying a ten-minute count down, and there’s just one minute to go.
When it hits zero, the screens go up and Sheeran launches into Tide, the opening track of his fifth studio album, 2021’s =; a joyous frenzy and outpouring of celebration ensues.
“Magic” is how the Irish Examiner describes it; “a show that will live long in the memory,” adds the Independent. “When the music started, to hear and see the audience’s reaction and share their excitement, was really emotional,” says Helen Himmons, +–=÷×’s production manager. “To be standing there experiencing so many original, custom-designed elements all coming together for the first time in front of 82,000 people was exhilarating,” adds Bren Berry of Aiken Promotions, who was responsible for all ten of Sheeran’s Irish dates.
But that night was just the start; over 53 more shows in 2022 Sheeran wowed fans and critics alike and truly put on a show for the ages. From the sheer number of fans that he entertained to some of the groundbreaking production elements and the success of touring such a mammoth show in the challenging post-Covid environment, it’s no surprise that we have awarded Sheeran and his team IQ’s Tour of the Year award for 2022.
Galway Girl(s and Boys)
The anticipation in Dublin wasn’t just because Sheeran is one the world’s biggest pop stars and musical icons or that he has a particularly passionate fanbase in the Emerald Isle (in total he sold 410,000 tickets in Ireland, incredible for an island with less than 7 million inhabitants). It was also the first major outdoor concert in Ireland in three years, following the Covid-19 pandemic. “We sold 225,000 tickets in the first hour,” says Berry, “and if the dates had been available, we could have sold extra shows in Limerick and Belfast.”
But being the first large, outdoor event post-Covid also brought challenges. “The venue, local council, and suppliers all had different opinions about what should happen regarding Covid-19,” adds Berry. “There was also quite a bit of debate in the media about conditions that should be applicable for what was really the first big show in Ireland for three years.” The show – and the tour so far – went off without a hitch though; no mean feat considering its scale.
“We sold 225,000 tickets in the first hour and if the dates had been available, we could have sold extra shows”
And the numbers themselves are mind-boggling. Over 3.1m tickets sold, generating over £200m in revenue. 125 crew spread over three separate teams (plus 80 local crew at each venue); 84 trucks hauling over 56 tonnes of gear; a unique, custom-built stage design that had never been toured before; brand-new, state-of-the-art pyro effects; and even discussions with the UK government at Cabinet level.
Chief architects behind the tour, alongside Sheeran, are artist manager Stuart Camp and agents Marty Diamond from Wasserman Music for North America and Jon Ollier from One Fiinix Live for Europe and the rest of the world.
Revealing the detailed planning for the Mathematics production, Camp says, “We were talking about this show before we completed the Divide tour in the summer of 2019. The in-the-round idea has been knocked back and forth for several years, but this was the time to take the plunge – although the pandemic did throw a curveball, so we did consider going to a more standard end-on show given the uncertainties regarding what touring would look like.”
Explaining why the tour visited the markets and venues that it did across Europe, Ollier tells IQ, “You can only do what you do in the short season of weather window for stadium shows, and that’s sort of what dictated our tour routing in 2022. Certainly, there were no ‘filler’ dates or markets on the European tour leg.”
Turning to the actual show itself, Camp says, “We just wanted to do something that we hadn’t done before…to make the show as special and unique as we could.”
That remit fell upon the shoulders of production designer Mark Cunniffe, who notes, “It’s a huge show in terms of industrial presence, but it has a very theatrical feel and attention to detail that give it its unique look.”
But the complexity of the production was daunting, and Sheeran’s agent discloses that the core team initially worked on two concepts, just in case the more ambitious option would not work. “The caution on our part was in our expectations as we emerged from the pandemic,” says Ollier. “Our attitude was simply to have a good crack at it to see what we could achieve.
“We just wanted to do something that we hadn’t done before…to make the show as special and unique as we could”
“We worked on the ‘plan B’, involving a traditional end-on stage, in parallel, flipping between the two concepts as we worked out what was feasible financially as well as logistically and from an engineering perspective. The watershed moment was when Ed decided that he had to deliver the best show possible to the fans because everyone had endured such a lot during the pandemic, and he wanted to give them something they could remember for the rest of their lives. So that’s the moment we dumped the idea of the end-on stage and put all our efforts into the show being in-the-round.
“What everyone has put together is the most ambitious tour I’ve ever worked on; the fact we were trying to pull it off while we were in the pandemic made it all the more complicated but also all the more satisfying.”
And hinting at the groundbreaking nature of the setup, artist manager Camp adds, “By far the most extraordinary feature of the show is the structural cable net system. Whist it’s an existing architectural principle, it has never been toured before and is rightly considered to be the first of its kind in the touring entertainment industry.”
Beautiful People
The complexity of that system was developed over the course of 12 months, with Sheeran’s team working with Cunniffe and Himmons to come up with the initial concept before approaching Jeremy Lloyd at Wonder Works to see if it was possible from an engineering perspective. They then engaged Stage One to see if it could be constructed in such a way to make it tourable – could it be put together in the four days they had at each venue prior to the show, then dismantled and removed within 24 hours?
It was a tough challenge.
“I’ve always wanted to present Ed in the round, as I believe that’s the perfect way to get him closer to as many people in the audience as possible,” says Cunniffe. “Once he was happy with that concept, I busied myself designing a show that didn’t have the obligatory use of a four-post roof system, as that would have obscured the artist’s view of the audience. After a great deal of blue-sky thinking, I came up with a structural support with a cable net system that was as aesthetically pleasing as it was functional. It was also a unique design that hadn’t been toured before.”
Such cable net systems are usually supported by some form of permanent structure, typically a roof. Team Sheeran’s challenge was creating an in-the-round setup with no supporting pillars for the stage, screens, or PA – essentially trying to suspend 56 tonnes of equipment on a temporary rig, and one that was relatively quick to build and dismantle. Thanks to some clever engineering, a lot of innovation, and the construction of many custom elements, Cunniffe and co. made it a reality.
“The watershed moment was when Ed decided that he had to deliver the best show possible to the fans because everyone had endured such a lot during the pandemic”
“What we have is a central round stage with a circular ‘halo’ of video and lighting that rises up from the stage floor and suspends in the air,” says Himmons. “It’s held there by a complex cable net system, which is tensioned between six red ‘masts’ – these masts provide a rigging opportunity for plectrum-shaped IMAG video screens and audio hangs and the bases of them are also used as satellite stages for the band members.”
“To make the show efficiently tourable, an important part of the production design was to ensure that as many processes as possible could occur concurrently,” adds Lloyd. Thus, once the masts and cables were installed, along with some advance equipment, production worked in two teams, on opposite masts, ensuring the structure was loaded as evenly – and as quickly – as possible. Similarly, while all this was going on, the stage was constructed off to one side; when the cable net was done, the stage was simply rolled into place.
The resulting show was the event of the summer for millions of fans – and that will be the case for millions more in 2023, 24 and 25, according to Camp.
“2023 will see us go to Australia and New Zealand – a place so close to our hearts and always a joy to tour in – though also the first shows we have done there since the passing of Michael Gudinski, so it will be very poignant,” states Camp.
“Then we are onto the Americas: North America from April to September before we go for some shows into Central and South America. 2024 will hopefully see us go through southeast Asia and the European markets we weren’t able to visit this year, and I envisage the tour coming to a close in summer 2025.”
That’s music to the ears of the many promoters and partners involved in Sheeran’s career.
Afterglow
Salomon Hazot, of Saloni Productions, has worked with Sheeran “since his first show in a club” and is constantly impressed by how “he does all that is required to make things work.”
His two shows at the Stade de France could have been three, he says, but adding another was logistically impossible – the stadium was booked. But the show was, Hazot says, “really unbelievable. There was such a buzz, many French industry people came to the show to see how it worked.”
Steve Tilley of Kilimanjaro Live first promoted Sheeran back in 2009, and says, “The production was next level and really spectacular – they rewrote the rules on what can be achieved in terms of the way they designed and built the whole setup. Every night, I stood and watched in awe.” He adds that it’s an “absolute joy and an honour to be part of the team and work with Ed – everyone involved behaves with pure class and professionalism.”
“They rewrote the rules on what can be achieved in terms of the way they designed and built the whole setup”
FKP Scorpio chief Folkert Koopmans notes that despite Covid and “the extreme circumstances our society and economy find themselves in, this was probably his best-selling tour ever. The enormous ticket demand ensured the list of concert dates grew longer and longer – there was at least one extra show in almost every tour city.” He adds that the tour was “really something very different and special – working with him and his team feels like travelling with family. He’s never stopped being ‘just Ed,’ which is why his story as an artist is relatable – and he’s worked very hard to be where he is right now.”
In Switzerland, Johannes Vogel, owner and director of AllBlues Konzert AG, says that within hours of the first show going on sale, they announced a second – both sold out incredibly quickly (47,500 for both nights). “The production was not just huge and spectacular – it was made to help Ed deliver the best shows possible,” he says. “The level of intimacy for a stadium show and how close he was to the fans was extraordinary – it felt like being in a club with 50,000 others!”
In Austria it was a similar story – 130,000 over two nights, with 70% of the fans in Vienna being female. “The whole concept was incredible,” says Ewald Tatar of Barracuda Music, “and he’s one of the friendliest artists we have ever met. It’s always very professional working with Ed and his team, and we are very proud to be part of this ‘family’ for Austria.”
“It’s quite extraordinary how Ed beats his own sales records every time, and these shows were no exception, with four shows gone in about 48 hours,” says Xenia Grigat of Denmark’s Smash!Bang!Pow! “It’s spectacular to do an in- the-round show – it’s a treat for fans – but this one was in a different league. And the fact that there’s a lot of the same people working with Ed as when he first started out says a lot about the artist and the work environment he has created – everyone on the team is a pleasure to work with.”
“The production was genuinely incredible,” adds Simon Jones of AEG, who has worked with Sheeran for over 11 years. “It’s an engineering masterpiece, and by going to an in-the-round setup, he reached more people – it lent itself so well to the way he performs, which is so inclusive.” Jones also touches on another important element for the +–=÷× Tour – ticketing. “Ed’s main mantra is to protect his fans from unscrupulous touting and from being taken advantage of. So, we always put stringent anti-secondary measures in place, which require an extra couple of layers prior to purchasing.”
“It’s quite extraordinary how Ed beats his own sales records every time, and these shows were no exception, with four shows gone in about 48 hours”
“I think there’s a real legacy to this tour in terms of the ticketing strategy,” says FKP Scorpio’s Daniel Ealam. “We felt that in a post-pandemic world, there really needed to be a way of doing ticketing at this level in a regimented digital way, so we set about writing a comprehensive Ticketing Principles document with various rules for our ticketing partners to adhere to, to protect Ed’s fans. Our ticketing partners in the UK at Ticketmaster, Eventim, See, Gigantic, and AXS really bought into the idea that our tickets needed to stay with the person who bought it, unless sold through an official face-value reseller. This was rolled out throughout Europe and ran really smoothly.”
To fulfil that wish, CTS Eventim’s EVENTIM. Pass was put to the test, with its digital and personalised ticket abilities. “We used EVENTIM.Pass exclusively for the first time in ticket sales for Ed Sheeran’s European tour,” says Alexander Rouff, CTS Eventim’s COO. “After the start of presales, more than 1m digital tickets for the tour were sold in eight countries within a very short time.”
He explains, “The ticket purchased via EVENTIM.Pass can only be accessed on the smartphone using the EVENTIM.App – it is securely stored there, and the associated individual QR code for admission authorisation is only displayed shortly before an event. This and other security features largely prevent unauthorised resale, forgery, and misuse.”
The new system worked “100%” claims Rouff.
Indeed, there was only one attempt at fraud, and “it was detected and prevented by the missing security features of the ticket.” For fans of paper tickets, the company also offered EVENTIM. Memory Tickets. “The Memory Ticket for Ed Sheeran’s tour design was very well received by fans,” adds Rouff.
The A Team
Taking such a mammoth production on the road demands that Sheeran has two advance systems – basically the six red masts, cable net systems, and the satellite stages for the band. These leapfrog each other, so each advance team prepares every other venue. “But there was only one version of the universal production – sound, lights, video, automation, performance stage – so that was loaded in and out for every show,” adds Himmons.
Making sure the production equipment gets from A to B to Z is Global Motion who have been working with Sheeran since he first started playing arenas a decade ago.
“Getting back to work, post-Covid, has been great, but it’s been a bit of a nightmare in terms of finding people who want to work – it’s still not back to normal,” says Global Motion director Adam Hatton. “However, for a huge tour like this, the solution is all in the planning and thankfully team Sheeran are fantastic at that.”
Hatton reports that while for most clients concerned about sustainability, the advice is to simply take less gear on the road, for the huge spectaculars, like Mathematics, that isn’t always possible. “We decided to sign up to DHL’s sustainability programme which offers ways to offset carbon, as well as using electric trucks, etc, where possible.”
“For a huge tour like this, the solution is all in the planning and thankfully team Sheeran are fantastic at that”
And applauding the brains behind the Mathematics Tour, Hatton adds, “The show is extremely impressive – seeing a stadium show in the round is amazing. There were huge logistical issues to overcome to get this show on the road, but when you see the result, it makes everything worthwhile, and it’s been a pleasure to be involved with everyone who has made the tour possible.”
Working hand-in-hand with Global Motion were the trucking partners, who arguably faced the tour’s biggest dilemmas thanks to Brexit making the landscape even more complicated in what was already a Covid-challenged environment.
For the universal production element, KB Event were once again entrusted – the company has been working with Sheeran since 2012. In total, 27 Mega Box Artics and 5 Mega Curtain Side Arctics were required, each with a lead driver and two support leads. But with the tour starting in the Republic of Ireland, moving into the UK, and then touring for three months in mainland Europe, registrations and permits proved tricky to coordinate.
“Because of the Cabotage issues and the solutions we managed to agree with the UK government, all of the trucks on the tour had to be EU-registered vehicles,” says KB Event CEO, Stuart McPherson. “This gave the added complication that all the experienced UK drivers that had worked on previous Sheeran tours had to be sent to Ireland to sit their EU DCPC qualifications before the tour started. This also meant that replacement, standby, and substitute drivers all had to hold EU qualifications, too. This is an issue we have never had to deal with before and presented serious challenges and expenses getting everything in place before the tour started up.”
The proposed routing and show schedules also presented numerous logistical issues, again due to Brexit and the many new rules and regulations now in force regarding cross-border working. To get around this, KB engaged with the UK government and DfT, alongside trade association LIVE and the Road Haulage Association.
After months of negotiation, the UK government decided they would consider a duel registration option, where a company that has registered businesses in the EU and the UK (as long as both held a valid operator’s licence) could switch their EU trucks onto and off a UK operator’s licence. But with this not coming into law until August or September 2022, and the tour starting in April, things looked bleak.
“It’s an engineering masterpiece, and by going to an in-the-round setup, he reached more people”
The power of Sheeran – and the hard work of his transport suppliers – prevailed when a solution was proposed that would see the UK authorities adopt a short-term, temporary fix to get the industry through the summer. “This was accepted and pushed through cabinet just four weeks before the tour started,” says McPherson. “And I can tell you, we all slept a lot better that night!”
With KB Event handling the universal production, the two advanced systems were transported by Pieter Smit. They also faced challenges. “It was extremely difficult to get new trucks in Europe,” reports Steve Kroon, head of sales and relations. “We were lucky that through our extensive network, we found several brands that could deliver trucks with the highest emission class (Euro 6) – we had DAF, MAN, Ford, and Mercedes-Benz.” Kroon reveals it’s the first time the company has toured such a big production using renewable diesel. He adds, “We’re proud to be the first trucking company to have actually entered Sunderland’s Stadium of Light by truck and trailer combination – it was close and narrow, but we did it.”
There were plenty of other issues to solve for an outdoor, temporary, in-the-round setup. To ensure that no waterproofing or covers were required, everything – be it video, lighting, staging, or special effects – had to be IP65 rated. “A lot of time was spent sourcing, and in some cases, manufacturing from scratch, equipment that fulfilled this particular brief,” says Cunniffe.
Furthermore, the nature of stadium pitches or open, soft ground provided another challenge to overcome. “With the outer perimeter of the stage revolving, the entire performance stage has to be completely level in order for it to move,” says Himmons. “As we were not working on flat arena floors this was a challenge, specifically on the greenfield sites we played. And the floors also had to be able to take the weight of the show – some stadiums had underground car parks, directly beneath the pitch, so we had to look at our build process and crane movements, making sure we kept weight evenly distributed during the build, as well as consulting on how to support the floor from below because of the void underneath.”
I See Fire
Pyro was another element where the production and design team wanted to add something new. Tim Griffiths of Pains Fireworks was brought in to create some exciting effects; he didn’t disappoint. The brief, he says, was to “create something spectacular that could be repeated each night within the confines of the set. The incredible floating LED halo was the obvious place for us to mount close-proximity pyros, but the most exciting idea was trying to create a moment at the beginning of the concert using daylight effects. We decided to go for coloured, daylight smoke mines, which are the latest innovation of the past few years. They look stunning when fired in bright daylight and created an incredible rainbow feature four times at the start of each show.”
“Ed has set the bar high now, and I genuinely believe this is the most spectacular and ambitious live show on Earth”
Griffiths also utilised eleven of the latest liquid flame heads from German manufacturer, Galaxis. “The new Galaxis L-Flame was only released last year, and we had ordered the first batch in the UK, used them last summer, and knew that they would look fantastic built into the revolving stage,” he says. “The flame pumps sit under the stage and feed the heads with liquid IPA. The biggest challenge initially was to refine the flame heights and get a consistent flame using smaller nozzles than those supplied to reduce the height and avoid burning the lighting rig.”
Perfect
Although the sell-out tour could have added extra dates in key cities, Camp admits the approach was a little more cautious than it may normally have been. “The live industry was still re-finding its feet when we put our shows on sale for ’22,” says Camp. “I think it was the first stadium tour to go up post pandemic, and we did the same level of business here in Europe as the last tour.”
Confirming the total of 3.1m ticket sales across Europe during 2022, agent Ollier reveals the next tour leg in Australasia will account for another 700,000 tickets. He says, “Of course, a production of this size doesn’t come without its challenges and there are always going to be bumps on the road and nuances, but Ed has set the bar high now, and I genuinely believe this is the most spectacular and ambitious live show on Earth.”
Talking of Sheeran’s development as an artist, Camp adds, “He really has just simply grown in ability and confidence. This is the first tour we have used a band – albeit only for a quarter of the set – but it has bought another dimension and enabled Ed to perform songs that were previously tricky with just one man and a loop pedal.”
Mathematics’ added element of supporting musicians was just one of multiple surprises to entertain and enthral millions of fans.
The emotion and ambition of that opening show in Dublin rolled all over Europe and is set to be repeated across four additional continents before returning to Europe in 2024. As Bren Berry says of that opening night: “You go all in, roll the dice, hold your breath, and hope you hit the jackpot, which of course Ed and his brilliant team have done with this incredible, ground-breaking show. The opening night worked like a dream – the in-the-round atmosphere was electric, and Ed absolutely smashed it out of the park. I can still see the utter delight on his face coming off the stage.” It’s a sight that sets to be replicated a few more times as the rest of the world gets to experience the +–=÷× Tour in all its brilliance and glory.
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IQ 116 out now: Ed Sheeran, Gaffer Award, Spain
IQ 116, the latest issue of the international live music industry’s favourite magazine, is available to read online now, with the print edition to land on desks between Christmas and New Year.
Our January 2023 issue is headlined by a special feature on the runaway winner of IQ’s Tour of the Year – Ed Sheeran‘s remarkable Mathematics Tour – as Derek Robertson speaks to some of the dedicated army of professionals who helped the superstar hitmaker realise his artistic ambitions.
We also turn the spotlight on Billie Eilish’s production manager Nicole Massey, who becomes the first woman to collect The Gaffer Award. Massey talks to Gordon Masson about her professional path and her hopes to see more women attaining positions of power in live music.
Elsewhere, The Architects sees some of the industry’s most visionary professionals reveal their blueprints for the future of live music, and we provide an update on the various events and partners preparing for the 35th edition of the International Live Music Conference, which will be held at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel from 28 February – 3 March 2023.
As well as all that, Adam Woods travels to Spain for his latest market report, while a bumper comments section features ticketing expert Tim Chambers, who gives a different perspective on the incredible presale demand for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. In addition, James Fieldhouse gauges the desire for more merger and consolidation action in 2023 and Attitude is Everything’s Suzanne Bull urges more events to sign up to the organisation’s accessibility programme.
As always, the majority of the magazine’s content will appear online in some form in the next four weeks.
However, if you can’t wait for your fix of essential live music industry features, opinion and analysis, click here to subscribe to IQ from just £6.25 a month – or check out what you’re missing out on with the limited preview below:
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Bad Bunny breaks Ed Sheeran tour record
Bad Bunny has usurped Ed Sheeran as the highest-grossing touring artist in a calendar year.
The Puerto Rican rapper generated $435,388,660 for 81 shows in 2022, according to Pollstar data, surpassing the $432.4 million box office takings of Sheeran’s 94 ÷ (Divide) tour dates in 2018.
Real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, Bad Bunny sold 574,000 tickets for his El Último Tour del Mundo arena run from February to April, and 2,478,876 tickets for the World’s Hottest Tour, which hit stadiums in August and wrapped up with two nights at Azteca Stadium (cap. 87,523) in Mexico City this past weekend.
“I think we all feel very proud of what he’s accomplished,” Hans Schafer, Live Nation’s, SVP of global touring, tells Pollstar. “It’s a feat that is remarkable. It is huge for Latin music and unprecedented and a remarkable accomplishment on its own, regardless of genre to see an artist of his age reaching those heights is just something that makes it very promising for us, of what the future holds.”
Bad Bunny’s agent Jbeau Lewis of UTA adds that the artist and his manager Noah Assad of Rimas Entertainment deserve “all the credit in the world” for masterminding the success.
“What we saw from a numbers perspective was indicative of demand being off the charts”
“In April 2021, when we put El Último Tour del Mundo arena tour on sale, which ultimately started in February of ‘22, what we saw from a numbers perspective were indicative of demand being off the charts,” says Lewis.
“The plan to go on the arena tour, release the album a month after that tour ended and have a stadium tour that would start a couple of months after that was hatched 18 months ago at this point. We’ve just been working toward the execution of it.”
Ticketmaster has apologised, meanwhile, after an “unprecedented” number of fake tickets caused hundreds of fans with legitimate tickets to be denied entry to Friday’s (9 December) opening Mexico City show.
Elsewhere, Sheeran’s 255-show ÷ (Divide) run from 2017-19 remains the highest-grossing tour ever, with revenue of $776.2m. The British singer-songwriter sold more concert tickets this year than any other act, according to Billboard’s end-of-year box office scores, shifting over three million tickets for 63 concerts.
Harry Styles led the way last year as 2021’s top worldwide ticket seller, with the Rolling Stones claiming the highest-grossing tour.
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Ed Sheeran sold the most concert tickets in 2022
Ed Sheeran sold more concert tickets this year than any other act, according to Billboard’s end-of-year box office scores.
The English singer-songwriter, who is represented by One Fiinix Live boss Jon Ollier, sold more than three million tickets to 63 concerts on the European leg of his + – = ÷ x (Mathematics) stadium tour.
The outing was also the third highest-grossing tour of 2022, raking in US$246,287,916 (around £202m). Bad Bunny claimed the top spot, grossing $373,463,379 for 65 shows, while Elton John came in second with $334,385,023 for 84 concerts.
Of Sheeran’s 63 concerts, the five-date run at London’s Wembley Stadium in June/July charted highest on Billboard‘s Top Boxscores, coming second after Harry Styles’ 15-date run at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
The Wembley shows, promoted by FKP Scorpio and Kilimanjaro Live, grossed US$37,232,300 (around £30m) from ticket sales alone and drew 420,269 attendances.
“The success of the + – = ÷ x Tour is simply unprecedented”
A further eight entries for the Mathematics tour can be found in the Top 50 Boxscores, including runs at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium, Munich’s Olympiastadion and Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
“Superlatives are the order of the day with Ed Sheeran, but the success of this tour is and remains simply incredible,” FKP Scorpio CEO Folkert Koopmans previously told IQ. “The success of the + – = ÷ x Tour is simply unprecedented.”
While Smash!bang!pow, which promoted Sheeran’s record-breaking shows in Denmark, said the ticket sales are “beyond comparison” in Danish music history.
The Mathematics is the follow-up to Sheeran’s 255-show ÷ (Divide) run from 2017-19 which surpassed U2’s 360° as the highest-grossing tour ever, with a gross of $776.2m. It also set a new record for total attendance, at 8,796,567.
Sheeran will continue the Mathematics tour in 2023 with a trip to Australia in February and March and his first North American stadium tour in five years, next summer.
IQ will be publishing an in depth report on Sheeran’s tour in its bumper year-end issue – out shortly.
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Kili’s Steve Tilley: ‘The market is unpredictable’
Kilimanjaro Live’s Steve Tilley has told IQ he hopes the live business returns to something approaching normality next year following a “rollercoaster” 2022.
DEAG-owned Kili sold 1.5 million tickets for its summer shows, which included co-promoting Ed Sheeran’s UK stadium tour with FKP Scorpio UK, stadium dates with Stereophonics and further outdoor concerts including the Kew the Music and Live at Chelsea series.
Tilley’s run of successes have also included four sellout nights with Phoebe Bridgers at O2 Academy Brixton, and he already has two hometown stadium shows by Sam Fender at Newcastle’s St James’ Park to look forward to in 2023. But the Arthur Award-winning promoter says the post-pandemic market is proving increasingly unpredictable.
“The calls we made on Sam Fender and on Phoebe were obviously spot on, but a lot of that is just a combination of management, agent and promoter reading the room, and understanding what’s going on right now and who’s connecting in a big way,” Tilley tells IQ. “But equally, there have been some things that haven’t performed. I don’t want to name names, but there are a few things have taken us a little bit by surprise, so it’s very unpredictable.
“Breaking bands is always difficult, but there’s some stuff in the middle that is established but just hasn’t quite hit the sales levels you would have expected based on previous shows. The answer for that, in my opinion, is two things: there’s just too much stuff on generally this year so people are going to have to make choices based on what they’ve seen and what they’ve not seen already. And then if you had tickets in hand from the last two years, you may have been going out to see the things you’d got rescheduled tickets for, rather than buying a ticket for something else.
“Ever since Freedom Day last year, it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster. Looking forward to ’23, I’m hoping that we’ll see a little bit more of a stabilisation and a return to a more regular cycle of gigs.”
“I don’t think it’s possible as a promoter to say you’re confident of anything, especially in post-Covid times”
Fender, who is booked by CAA’s Paul Wilson, will become the first Geordie artist to headline St James’ Park next June, following in the footsteps of the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Sheeran in starring at the 55,000-cap stadium.
“I don’t think it’s possible as a promoter to say you’re confident of anything, especially in post-Covid times, but you look at the metrics and have a gut feeling,” notes Tilley. “The best phrase I can come up with is you hope for the best and plan for the worst and I apply that logic to virtually everything I do.
“If we’d have only sold out one night, it wouldn’t have been a problem, that would still have been amazing, but it went like nobody’s business. In fact, the demand for the second show didn’t appear to slow down at all from the first show, so it’s a strength of just how big Sam Fender is right now.”
For Newcastle-born Tilley, who first worked with Fender in 2014 and took over as his North East promoter last year, the shows have added personal significance.
“Because my Geordie accent is virtually non existent, not a lot of people realise I was born and raised in the North East and left when I was 18,” he laughs. “And I’m a lifelong Newcastle United supporter, so to get to put Sam on at St James’ Park – to use a football analogy – is Roy Of The Rovers stuff for me.”
“The shows were spectacular and the ticket sales were off the charts”
Tilley also details the process that saw Phoebe Bridgers’ initial one night Brixton Academy date in July morph into a four-night residency.
“We had a feeling that she’d got extremely big during the pandemic, but because she hadn’t done a London show for so long it involved educated guesses about where are we at,” explains Tilley. “Josh Javor from X-ray Touring and I agreed that it was definitely a Brixton and we wanted to hold the option on a second night.
“As we were setting it up, Brixton said, ‘You know you can hold an option on a third if you like?’ So we said, ‘Go on then, hold it, just in case.’ And then we went on sale and sold out the three effortlessly. I then got a call off Brixton going, ‘Are you aware the Friday’s free?’ So quick phone call to Josh and the next thing you knew we were setting up a fourth show. We put it on sale and it sold out in an hour.”
Tilley also resumed his longstanding association with Ed Sheeran on the UK leg of the singer-songwriter’s + – = ÷ x (Mathematics) stadium run earlier this year, staged by Kili, FKP Scorpio UK and AEG Presents.
“The shows were spectacular and the ticket sales were off the charts,” says Tilley. “The gigs were in the round, so the capacities were much bigger than any end-on configuration, which allowed us to sell more tickets and get more people in to see Ed live. I don’t think there was a bad seat in the house; it was triumphant on every level.”
Tickets went on sale in late September 2021.
“We got in just before the change in the VAT rate from 5% to 12.5%,” remembers Tilley. “There was uncertainty, yes, but there was also confidence in the levels of business we could achieve by the summer of ’22 – whatever the autumn of ’21 threw at us. We did a Saturday onsale again and it again proved to be very, very successful. We were rolling into multiple nights everywhere.”
London-based Kili has a busy and varied slate of concerts coming up by acts such as Don Broco, Cat Burns, The Snuts, Hans Zimmer, Sea Girls and Stromae, who headlines the 12,500-cap OVO Arena Wembley in London next May.
“It’s an extremely competitive market to operate in and it doesn’t get any easier,” adds Tilley. “But we just maintain our focus on trying to be the best at what we do and give our artists a really good service. We know we’re not going to win everything, but we try and do a great job on stuff that we have got and I’m proud of the team that Stuart [Galbraith, CEO] and I have working with us. The one thing I can say about this place is that everyone who works here really gives a shit.”
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Ed Sheeran details first N.America tour in five years
Ed Sheeran has announced details for the North American leg of his + – = ÷ x (Mathematics) tour, visiting stadiums across the continent for the first time in five years.
The 21-date tour will kick off on 6 May at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, before wrapping up on 23 September at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
Support comes from Khalid, Dylan, Rosa Linn, Cat Burns, Maisie Peters and Russ on differing dates (see below).
The tour marks Sheeran’s first return to North America since his 2018 Divide outing, which became the highest-grossing concert tour of all time.
The British singer-songwriter recently wrapped up the European leg of the Mathematics tour, in support of his album of the same name.
The 31-year-old is represented by Marty Diamond and Ash Lewis at Wasserman for US and Canada, and Jon Ollier at One Finiix Live for the rest of the world.
See Sheeran’s Mathematics North American tour dates below.
MAY
06 – AT&T Stadium Arlington, Texas, US *
13 – NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas, US *
20 – Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida, US *
27 – Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia, US *
JUNE
03 – Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US *
10 – MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, US *
17 – Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada ^
24 – FedExField, Landover, Maryland, US ^
JULY
01 – Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts, US ^
08 – Acrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US ^
15 – Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan, US ^
22 – Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tennessee, US @
29 – Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois, US @
AUGUST
05 – GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri, US @
12 – U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota, US @
19 – Empower Field at Mile High, Denver, Colorado, US @
26 – Lumen Field, Seattle, Washington, US #
SEPTEMBER
02 – BC Place, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada #
09 – Allegiant Stadium Russ, Las Vegas, Nevada, US +
16 – Levi’s® Stadium, Santa Clara, California, US +
23 – SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California, US +
* = w/ Khalid and Dylan
^ = w/ Khalid and Rosa Linn
@ = w/ Khalid and Cat Burns
# = Khalid and Maisie Peters
+ = w/ Russ and Maisie Peters
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