Taylor Swift set to break Scotland’s stadium record
Taylor Swift is set to break the record for Scotland’s biggest-selling stadium show when she performs at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield on 7, 8, and 9 June.
On Monday (25 March), Edinburgh Council granted promoter AEG Presents permission to increase Murrayfield’s capacity by 8.73% from 67,130 to 72,990.
The concerts will see Swift unseat previous record holder Harry Styles, who performed to more than 65,000 fans at the same venue in 2023.
Prior to that, Styles’ band One Direction held the title for selling 64,000 tickets there in 2014.
Swift’s Scotland shows will be part of her highly successful Eras Tour, which has grossed more than $1bn (€927m) since beginning on 17 March last year.
“My dad is super proud of our Scottish heritage”
Swift last year described Scotland as “a really special place”. “Last time I was there the crowd were amazing and I felt like we really connected. My dad is super proud of our Scottish heritage – he told me that pretty much most of our family can be traced back to Scotland so of course it’s obviously very cool for me to get to perform there as part of the tour.”
Like many cities featured on the Eras Tour, Edinburgh has noted a boost in the local economy with more than 20 around the city centre sold out over the three dates.
Recently, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce calculated that Swifties attending three concerts at Friends Arena are expected to spend half a billion kroner (€43.6m).
The Eras Tour will resume in May with the European leg, which kicks off at LA Défense Arena in Paris. In the meantime, Swift’s next album, The Tortured Poets Department, is due out on 19 April.
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Young Fathers to headline and curate 15k-cap gig
Edinburgh hip-hop group Young Fathers are set to headline and curate a huge all-day concert in Scotland.
The 15,000-capacity event will take place on 29 June at Stirling City Park, which is located between Glasgow and Edinburgh and within an hour’s travel time for 50% of Scotland’s population.
The summer show will see the Mercury Prize winners – who have also won the Scottish Album of the Year Award three times – play their biggest headline show in Scotland to date.
DF Concerts is set to promote the event, having already announced that its Summer Sessions concert series would take place in Stirling to coincide with the city’s 900th anniversary.
The 15,000-capacity event will take place on 29 June at Stirling City Park
Shows by Tom Jones, Shania Twait, James Arthur and Busted have been confirmed for City Park between 27 June and 2 July. The Summer Sessions will also take place in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Tickets for the Young Fathers all-dayer will go on sale this Wednesday (27 March), with additional acts to be announced.
Ahead of the 29 June concert, the trio will head to the US for a string of shows in April.
An official announcement from DF Concerts said: “Since the release of their now-legendary mixtapes, Tape One in 2011 and Tape Two in 2013, the latter of which gave Young Fathers their first of three Scottish Album of the Year gongs, the Edinburgh-based band have honed their categorically evasive hybrid sound.
“Young Fathers aren’t like any other live band. Blessed by multiple voices, an eye-popping approach to performance and a four-album-and-two-mixtape-deep catalogue, the radical Afro-Scottish hip-hop group are true game-changers, tearing up the rulebook for what live music can be. Teeming with ideas, with influences from every corner of the musical – and actual – world, the most exciting thing is wondering what Young Fathers will do next on stage.”
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AEG Europe submits Edinburgh Park arena proposal
AEG Europe has submitted a planning application for its proposed 8,500-capacity arena project in Edinburgh.
If granted approval by the city council, the venue will support the regeneration of the Edinburgh Park area alongside master developers Parabola.
Spanning 18,500 square metres, the arena is estimated to attract more than 700,000 visitors per year, with the company hoping to receive planning permission by June 2024 with a view of appointing an external contractor to start work thereafter.
“We are thrilled to be progressing with our plans for a spectacular new arena for Edinburgh,” says AEG Europe president and CEO Alex Hill. “The city has long been renowned as a destination for global culture and one of the world’s best for the arts and live entertainment. We’re excited to build on this reputation and bring world-class live music and entertainment to Edinburgh, as well as investing in the wider Edinburgh Park community through the creation of 1,000+ employment opportunities.”
“It’s been fantastic to see such strong support for our plans, and therefore we are hopeful for a swift and clear decision following our planning application”
The application follows a series of in-person public consultation events, held in December 2023 and January 2024. AEG has previously stated it hopes to launch the venue in 2027.
“We’re delighted by the feedback and valuable insights we’ve received during the extensive consultation and public exhibition process,” adds Alistair Wood, EVP of real estate & development for AEG Europe. “It’s been fantastic to see such strong support for our plans, and therefore we are hopeful for a swift and clear decision following our planning application.
“If we were able to secure planning permission, our focus would then immediately turn to identifying a building contractor and naming rights partner to bring this exciting project to life on site.”
Edinburgh’s current largest indoor venue is the 3,000-cap O2 Academy Edinburgh.
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AEG Europe gives update on Edinburgh arena plans
AEG Europe has provided an update on the company’s plans for a new 8.500-cap arena in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The promoter and venue operator is seeking planning approval for the venue in Edinburgh Park, with hopes to launch it in 2027.
A second public consultation event took place in the Scottish capital earlier this week, which features more detail of the scheme, along with a replica model of the proposed arena.
“We did a gap analysis of the UK to see where the big gaps were in terms of arenas, and Edinburgh was the best place,” AEG Europe’s EVP for real estate and development Alistair Wood tells the Edinburgh Evening News.
“We are not planning to go head to head with the Hydro in Glasgow but perhaps see artists who play there also play here. So we are really excited. This should be a great thing for Edinburgh.”
Wood says that AEG plans to bring 150-plus events a year to the venue.
“We are not going to get Beyoncé playing in this arena. But we could attract the likes of the Kaiser Chiefs and other similar level music acts”
“It’s been a long time in the making, but it’s privately funded and in a great location with unbeatable transport links,” he continues. “Momentum is key for us, we don’t want the project to stall and these plans to be forgotten about, we want to get going and get the place open as quickly as possible.”
Wood also responds to concerns that the Edinburgh proposal is not of a sufficient scale to compete with Scotland’s biggest indoor venues, Glasgow’s 14,300-cap Hydro and the 15,000-cap P&J Live in Aberdeen. Edinburgh’s current largest indoor venue is the 3,000-cap O2 Academy Edinburgh. The Royal Highlands Centre, situated on the outskirts of the city, holds 10,500 and is occasionally used for concerts.
“It’s the size of the market,” says Wood. “If you look at the overall location of Edinburgh, it extends quite a long way north and south, but not west. So we had to be realistic.
“We are not going to get Beyoncé playing in this arena. But we could attract the likes of the Kaiser Chiefs and other similar level music acts as well as comedians like Michael McIntyre, and this capacity is perfect for them. A lot of shows at the Hydro don’t play to a full venue, so we think this is the perfect size for Edinburgh and the perfect size for our first venue in Scotland.”
Subject to planning permission, work is expected to begin on the project in early 2025.
“We have had a positive pre-application consultation with the public and planners,” adds Wood. “Generally the feedback has been very positive. People are delighted that we are planning to build an arena in Edinburgh, and we can’t wait to deliver it.”
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DF Concerts celebrates record-breaking summer
Scotland’s DF Concerts has heralded a record-breaking summer, having sold one million tickets between June and August.
The promoter says that, as a result, it has made an economic impact of around £72.4 million on tourism and hospitality businesses in its domestic market.
The Glasgow-headquartered company expects that, by the end of 2022, it will have welcomed over 50% of the population of Scotland to one of its concerts or events.
DF promotes some 1,000 concerts per year, as well as its festivals TRNSMT (Glasgow), Connect (Edinburgh) and Summer Sessions (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee). In addition, the promoter owns and operates grassroots music venue, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut (Glasgow).
This year’s sold-out edition of TRNSMT topped DF’s best-selling events of the summer, attracting 50,000 attendees on each of its three days.
Other highlights include two nights from The Killers at Falkirk Stadium (cap. 25,000), and Harry Styles performing to 50,000 people at Glasgow’s Ibrox football stadium.
“It’s looking like it will be more of the same next year”
This summer also saw DF revive Connect, a music festival that originally took place in Argyll, Scotland, in the mid-noughties.
The reboot took place at The Royal Highland Centre (RHC), an exhibition centre and showgrounds located near Edinburgh airport, between 26–28 August.
The Chemical Brothers, The National, Little Simz, Mogwai and Bombay Bicycle Club were among the artists that performed at the camping festival.
In total, DF Concerts had 33 days of outdoor shows from June to August, at venues including Slessor Gardens in Dundee, Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre Showgrounds and Princes Street Gardens, SWG3 Galvanizers Yard, Glasgow Green, and Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, plus Hampden Park, Ibrox and Falkirk Stadiums.
“This has been a really special summer season for all involved,” Geoff Ellis, CEO of DF Concerts, tells IQ. “It has seen a seven-figure investment in new events for music lovers across the country, diversifying the experiences available in Scotland.
“With two stadium shows, one greenfield and two festivals already announced for summer 2023 and more to come very soon, it’s looking like it will be more of the same next year.”
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DF Concerts reveals venue for Connect festival reboot
DF Concerts has announced the location for its revival of Connect, a music festival that took place in Argyll, Scotland, in the mid-noughties.
The reboot will take place at The Royal Highland Centre (RHC), an exhibition centre and showgrounds located near Edinburgh airport.
With more than 18,000m2 exhibition space and 110 acres of land, the RHC is said to be Scotland’s largest indoor and outdoor venue.
Festival manager Kate Lingard says the unique site will give them the opportunity to create a sustainable approach to the festival experience.
“One of the biggest attractions of our new home is the site’s permanent infrastructure and existing facilities. These play a crucial role in realising our sustainability ambitions for the festival,” says Lingard.
“One of the biggest considerations we had was around public transport and ensuring the event was accessible”
DF Concerts & Events CEO Geoff Ellis says the site’s accessibility by public transport will also feed into the festival’s green ambitions.
“One of the biggest considerations we had was around public transport and ensuring the event was accessible to festivalgoers from across the country,” he says.
“The Royal Highland Centre provides a purpose-built event site that is readily accessible by public transport for each of the three days. This not only makes it easy for festivalgoers to attend but hugely supports our ambition to deliver a more sustainable festival now and into the future.”
The festival, announced in November 2021, is slated to take place between 26–28 August 2022 but the line-up is yet to be announced.
DF says it will feature “the best in leftfield talent from grassroots through to the biggest names in the world”.
The promoter’s stable of events already includes Summer Sessions and TRNSMT, which will return to Glasgow Green in 2022 with headliners Paolo Nutini, The Strokes and Lewis Capaldi.
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Scotland gains new festival Otherlands Music & Arts
Scotland is set to gain a new three-day boutique camping festival boasting “some of the biggest names in live and electronic music”.
Otherlands Music & Arts will debut between 19–21 August at Scone Palace, a heritage site located in Perth.
The palace has hosted events such as Solas Festival and ’80s-themed weekender Rewind Scotland – part of a franchise owned by Live Nation’s LN-Gaiety Holdings and SJM Concerts.
The festival was created by the founders of Edinburgh-based events crew Fly – the team behind bi-annual dance festival Fly Open Air
Described as a “celebration of culture”, Otherlands will include six stages spread across the historic site. There will also be talks with industry leaders, “forward-thinking art” and boutique glamping on offer.
The festival was created by the founders of Edinburgh-based events team Fly which is behind bi-annual dance festival Fly Open Air.
Fly are due to release more information on the line-up and tickets for Otherlands later in the month.
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AMG announces 3,000-cap. venue in Scotland
Academy Music Group (AMG) has expanded in Scotland with the acquisition of the 3,000-capacity Edinburgh Corn Exchange.
A category B-listed building, the Corn Exchange – which under AMG’s ownership becomes O2 Academy Edinburgh – was built in 1909 and over the last two decades has become one of Edinburgh’s largest standing, multi-purpose venues. Its reputation for live music was cemented with a sell-out show with Blur in 1999, with performers since then including Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro, Oasis, Coldplay, Faithless, Arctic Monkeys, Garbage, Grace Jones, Radiohead, Paulo Nutini, Pulp and Calvin Harris.
“We’ve been keen to expand our O2 Academy brand in Scotland for some time and we’re delighted to now be in Edinburgh,” says Graham Walters, chief operating officer of Academy Music Group. “It’s an inspiring city with a thriving appetite for music and culture.
“We see huge potential with this venue: it fits with our ethos of investing in heritage buildings, with the right capacity of 3,000 to bring world-class entertainment to the city. It also has a number of diverse secondary spaces, flexible formats and configurations that we’ll be looking at over the coming months to complement programming and events in the main auditorium.
Gareth Griffiths, head of sponsorship for O2, adds: “The new O2 Academy Edinburgh is a brilliant addition to our O2 Academy estate. It’s a beautiful venue and as entertainment begins to return this further demonstrates O2 and Academy Music Group’s commitment to enhancing the live industry in Scotland, one of the best places to watch music in the UK.”
“We’re delighted to now be in Edinburgh. It’s an inspiring city with a thriving appetite for music and culture”
Paul DeMarco, managing director of former owner Marco’s Leisure, says: “When Marco’s Leisure bought the Corn Exchange in Chesser 22 years ago, we started with a plan to be Edinburgh’s go-to concert venue and ran over 300 live shows, as well as welcoming three million visitors to gigs, conferences, banquets, weddings, exhibitions and parties, creating one of the busiest and most successful venues in Scotland.
“We are happy to pass on the baton to the top professionals in the live music industry, who will ensure it continues to play a major role in Scotland’s events industry for many more years to come. Marco’s will continue to operate and expand its leisure business.”
Edinburgh Corn Exchange becomes O2 Academy Edinburgh from tomorrow (1 September), adding to the existing UK portfolio of now 20 venues owned and operated by Academy Music Group, including Scotland’s O2 Academy Glasgow and London’s O2 Academy Brixton and O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
Academy Music Group has already invested in brand-new in-house sound and lighting production facilities at O2 Academy Edinburgh ahead of forthcoming shows, which include Declan McKenna (3 September), Tom Grennan (9 September), Chic and Nile Rogers (21 September), Yungblud (11 October), DMA’s (18 and 19 October), Rag’n’Bone Man (26 October), the Snuts (28 October), Bullet for My Valentine (1 November), Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes (23 November), Bicep (7 December), The Charlatans (21 December), Chvrches (13 March 2022), Jake Bugg (21 March), the War on Drugs (18 April), Gary Numan (9 May), Marina (17 May) and Beck (14 Jun).
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Drive Nation: LN UK unveils 2,100-cap. drive-in shows
Live Nation has announced a series of live drive-in concerts across 12 venues in the UK this summer, featuring acts including Dizzee Rascal, Gary Numan, Beverley Knight, the Streets, Sigala, Lightning Seeds, the Snuts and Kaiser Chiefs.
Drive-in concerts have proved to be a popular feature of lockdown life, with concertgoers getting their live music fix from the safety of their cars in countries including Germany, Denmark, the US, Lithuania and the Netherlands.
Now, the format is allowing the UK live industry to step back into the driving seat. Live Nation’s Utilita Live from the Drive-in series, which kicks off in mid-July, is more live music-focused than previously announced UK drive-in events, hosted by the likes of Mainstage Festivals and Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster.
The 300-carpacity (© 2020 IQ) concerts will be able to accommodate up to 2,100 people, with tickets available for two to seven people per car. Standard or premium tickets, which include guaranteed location in the front three rows and priority exit at end of show, will be available, with prices reportedly ranging from £25 to £100 per car.
Differing from many other drive-in shows and in a similar vein to Italy’s proposed bike-in concerts, concertgoers will be able to enjoy the performance through the full sound system – rather than car radio – in a dedicated area next to their vehicle. Fans are encouraged to bring folding chairs if they wish to sit during the gigs.
“The drive-in format is a thoughtful and fun way to safely bring one million Brits out of ‘entertainment lockdown’”
The shows will take place across 12 sites, including in the grounds of venues such as Birmingham Resorts World Arena and the National Bowl in Milton Keynes; at sports complexes including the University of Bolton football stadium and Cheltenhem and Newmarket racecourses; at airports in Bristol (Filton Airfield), Leeds (Leeds East Airport) and Teesside (Teesside International Airport); and various other outdoor event locations including the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh, Lincolnshire Showground and Central Docks Liverpool Waters.
Live Nation also plans to announce the London venues, as well as more artists and dates in due course.
“We are excited to bring Utilita Live From The Drive-In to fans across the UK,” comments Live Nation’s Peter Taylor. “This outdoor concert series was created as a way to reimagine the live music experience during a time of social distancing by allowing fans to enjoy concerts in the safest way possible.
“Each event will comply with all official government guidelines in order to protect fans, artists, crews and staff. We look forward to announcing some of the biggest names across UK music and bringing these fantastic artists to a city near you.”
“As we find new ways to navigate today’s world of social distancing,” adds Utilita CMO Jem Maidment, “we believe the drive-in format is a thoughtful and fun way to safely bring one million Brits out of ‘entertainment lockdown’ this summer 2020.”
Tickets for Utilita Live from the Drive-in go on sale at 10 a.m. on 22 June here. Further information on performers, entry prices, on-sale dates and restrictions can be found here.
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BST Hyde Park 2020 cancelled
AEG Presents’ British Summer Time (BST) Hyde Park will not take place this year, as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic claims another UK summer staple.
The festival, which was to take place over two weeks from 2 to 12 July, was set to feature headline acts including Post Malone, Little Mix, Kendrick Lamar, Pearl Jam, Taylor Swift and Duran Duran.
The cancellation follows that of All Points East festival, which was called off at the end of March.
“It is with great sadness that we have made the difficult decision to cancel BST Hyde Park 2020,” reads a statement from organisers.
“After closely following government actions and statements during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as consulting with our partners The Royal Parks and wider agencies, we have concluded that this is the only possible outcome.”
“It is with great sadness that we have made the difficult decision to cancel BST Hyde Park 2020”
Ticketholders will contacted by ticketing agencies by 6 May with information on the refund process.
“We look forward to welcoming you back in 2021 and will be in touch about plans soon. In the meantime, please follow the advice and stay safe,” state organisers.
This year was to be the eighth outing for BST Hyde Park, combining two weekend of music with free-to-access midweek events. Over the years, BST has seen performances from acts including the Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Celine Dion, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, the Cure, Black Sabbath and Barbra Streisand.
Other UK events to be called off this summer due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic include Glastonbury Festival, Isle of Wight Festival, Download, Lovebox, Parklife, Womad, Cambridge Folk Festival, Country to Country Festival, Radio One’s Big Weekend and Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as well as industry conferences including The Great Escape and the Ticketing Professionals Conference.
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