Will Smith is set to perform in France for the first time as one of the acts at next year’s Positiv Festival.

The actor and rapper will star at UNESCO World Heritage Site Théâtre Antique d’Orange (Roman Theatre of Orange) in Orange, Vaucluse, on 31 July 2025.

Meanwhile, Nile Rodgers has accidentally confirmed that he and Chic will be performing at the UK’s Glastonbury Festival in 2025.

During last week’s Rolling Stone Awards at London’s Roundhouse, the musician accepted the award for Music Icon and let slip that he was already preparing to get up to some havoc with Rod Stewart at the Worthy Farm site.

Stewart was recently confirmed for the Sunday teatime legend slot at next year’s Glastonbury – his first performance at Worthy Farm since headlining the Pyramid Stage in 2002. It appears that Rodgers and Chic will play before him.

Elsewhere, Northern Europe’s largest festival, Denmark’s Roskilde, has confirmed 25 new acts for its next edition including Olivia Rodrigo, Deftones, Jamie xx, A. G. Cook, Anoushka Shankar, Saint Levant, Lambrini Girls, Body Void, Hitech, horsegiirL, and Landless.

Roskilde’s head of music, Thomas Sønderby Jepsen, says he is “immensely proud” that the festival will be Rodrigo’s only Scandinavian stop in 2025.

Acts previously confirmed for the 53rd edition, taking place from 28 June to 5 July, include Stormzy, Arca, Fontaines D.C., Magdalena Bay, Beth Gibbons, Electric Callboy, Jessica Pratt and Geordie Greep.

Roskilde’s head of music says he is “immensely proud” that the festival will be Rodrigo’s only Scandinavian stop in 2025

Dutch festival Down The Rabbit Hole has also announced a slate of acts including Massive Attack, Sam Fender, FKA Twigs, Beth Gibbons, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Tems, Amyl and the Sniffers and Ezra Collective.

The 12th edition of the MOJO-promoted festival will return to De Groene Heuvels near Ewijk between 4–6 July.

The 2024 edition sold all 45,000 tickets within 45 minutes of going on sale last December, setting a new record for the event.

In the summer, DTRH festival director Ide Koffeman spoke to IQ about the secret to the event’s success.

Portugal’s NOS Alive has confirmed Kings Of Leon as the latest headliner for its 10–12 July 2025 event – marking the band’s first performance in the country in 12 years.

Previously announced acts include headliner Olivia Rodrigo, as well as Artemas, Benson Boone, CMAT, Future Islands, Noah Kahan, St. Vincent, The Backseat Lovers, Amyl and The Sniffers, Girl In Red, Glass Animals, Mark Ambor and The Teskey Brothers.

AEG Presents’ Forever Now has confirmed its first wave of artists including Kraftwerk, Johnny Marr, The The and Billy Idol

Kings of Leon are the second headliner confirmed for TEG Europe‘s Come Together in Newcastle on 8 June, with special guests including Courteeners, and will also headline TK Maxx presents Lytham Festival 2025, slated for 2–6 July in Lancashire, UK.

Other headliners for the Cuffe & Taylor-promoted event include Alanis Morissette, Justin Timberlake and a double bill of Simple Minds and Texas.

Kings of Leon will also top the bill at Portsmouth’s Victorious Festival (22-24 August), alongside Queens of the Stone Age and Vampire Weekend.

Elsewhere in the UK, Latitude Festival has confirmed Maribou State, Elbow, Clean Bandit, Sigrid, and Public Service Broadcasting for its 2025 instalment.

They will perform at Suffolk’s Henham Park from 24–27 July, alongside previously announced headliners Sting, Snow Patrol, Fatboy Slim, and Basement Jaxx.

AEG Presents’ new UK festival Forever Now has confirmed its first wave of artists including Kraftwerk, Johnny Marr, The The, Death Cult, Billy Idol, The Cult (FKA Death Cult), The Jesus and Mary Chain, Happy Mondays, The Damned, Public Image Ltd and The Psychedelic Furs.

Dedicated to post-punk music, fashion and literature, the gathering will feature two music stages, as well as a third stage, The Echo Chamber, hosted by music journalist John Robb.

Another new UK event, Colchester Castle Summer Series, has lined up acts including Madness, Busted, Texas and James

The inaugural edition will launch on 22 June next year and will be the UK sister event of the US festival Cruel World.

Another new UK event, Chelmsford City Live, has announced Duran Duran as its third headliner.

The band will perform at Chelmsford City Racecourse on 5 July, with support from Nile Rodgers & CHIC, with whom they collaborated with on their UK number one single The Reflex.

They join previously announced acts Justin Timberlake and Olly Murs, who will headline the 30,000-capacity series on 4 July and 6 July respectively.

The 6 July concert will be Murs’s biggest-ever hometown show and will feature support sets from Blue, Lemar and DJ Mark Wright.

Yet another new UK event, Colchester Castle Summer Series, has lined up acts including Madness, Busted, Texas, James, Craig David’s TS5 and UB40 featuring Ali Campbell.

Superstruct Entertainment’s Y Not festival has added a raft of new acts including The Prodigy, Courteeners and Madness

The 10,000-capacity open-air series will launch at Lower Castle Park in 2025, becoming Colchester’s largest-ever music series.

Soundcrash, the promoter behind events like South Facing Festival and the Margate Summer Series, are spearheading the new event in partnership with Live Nation and Supermodified.

Superstruct Entertainment’s Y Not festival has added a raft of new acts to its 2025 offering, including The Prodigy, Courteeners, Madness, The Wombats, Primal Scream, The Last Dinner Party, Franz Ferdinand, Sigrid and Annie Mac.

The UK event will take place between 31st July and 3 August at Pikehall, Derbyshire.

France’s Garorock festival will play host to Black Eyed Peas, Biga Ranx, The Black Keys, The Last Dinner Party and J Balvin at next year’s event, set for 3–6 July in Marmande.

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CTS Eventim has completed its acquisition of Vivendi’s festival and international ticketing businesses in a €300 million deal.

The agreement includes See Tickets and a portfolio of 11 festivals including the UK’s Love Supreme and Kite, as well as Garorock in France. Vivendi concert halls including L’Olympia concert hall in Paris, plus See Tickets France and Brive Festival, are not part of the deal.

The French firm’s ticketing and festival activities acquired by CTS collectively produced €137 million in revenues in 2023. The ticketing division generated roughly €105m of that, with an EBITDA of €26m.

The UK market was responsible for the largest share of the revenues, followed by the US, while the festival business generated an additional €32m in revenues. Vivendi bought See Tickets for €96m in 2011. The UK-headquartered ticketing company, which operates in nine countries worldwide, sold around 44 million tickets in 2023.

The companies say the transaction offers new development opportunities to Vivendi’s festival portfolio and See Tickets’ international activities, while ensuring maximum continuity for all their partners. Both See Tickets and the festival business will retain their existing identities and management.

A put option agreement was signed on 2 April.

“The acquisition supports our internationalisation strategy and will also benefit artists and their managers, as we will be able to offer even more seamless services on a global scale”

“With See Tickets and its festival operations, Vivendi has established two notable players in the ticketing and live entertainment sector,” said CTS CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg at the time. “I’d like to thank Vivendi for the productive negotiations, which have created a strong foundation for success in an industry enjoying robust growth across Europe.

“The acquisition supports our internationalisation strategy and will also benefit artists and their managers, as we will be able to offer even more seamless services on a global scale. We look forward to collaborating with our new colleagues on shaping the future of live entertainment.”

Pan-European giant CTS’ share price currently sits at €80.45 and is up 28% for the year to-date. The German-headquartered company was among several parties to register interest in buying See Tickets, along with AEG.

In its recently published financial results for Q1 2024, CTS posted consolidated revenue of €408.7m, up 11.6% year-on-year. Ticketing revenue climbed by 23.3% year-on-year to €182.8m, while adjusted EBITDA rose by 24.9% to €83.3m. It acquired Punto Ticket and Teleticket, market leaders in Chile and Peru, respectively, in late 2023.

CTS, which recently confirmed its 18th record year of revenue since its IPO in 2000, also recently secured ticketing deals for several international handball tournaments and was appointed official ticketing service provider for the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics in partnership with AEG’s AXS.

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Three potential buyers have emerged for France’s Garorock after the festival was put on the market.

The 50,000-cap event, which launched in Marmande in 1997, was acquired by French-headquartered media giant Vivendi five years ago through its Olympia Production subsidiary.

However, according to a report by Le Républicain, a new owner could be in place by the summer.

“We have received at least three very positive offers,” says a Vivendi spokesperson. “But no decision has been made. The various proposals are under study for several more weeks.”

Garorock 2024 will be held from 27-30 June, headlined by Calvin Harris, Sum 41, Swedish House Mafia and The Offspring. Acts such as Josman, Paul Kalkbrenner, PLK, Timmy Trumpet, Yungblud and Ayra Starr are also lined up to perform.

“To buy Vivendi Village, it can only be a player of this scale”

It was first revealed last September that Vivendi was exploring the sale of parts of its Vivendi Village subsidiary, including its entire festival division – also comprising brands such as Brive and ODP in France and the UK’s Love Supreme and Kite – along with its ticketing firm, See Tickets.

The company reportedly concluded the businesses were not of sufficient scale to compete with the likes of Live Nation and AEG.

AEG and fellow live entertainment giant CTS Eventim were rumoured to have entered the race to acquire See Tickets in late 2023. The Financial Times reported that Vivendi is seeking up to £300 million (€351m) for the company, which it bought for €96m in 2011, with AEG and CTS among the first round of indicative bids

“To buy Vivendi Village, it can only be a player of this scale,” says Garorock founder Ludovic Larbodie, as per Le Républicain.

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Through its Olympia Production subsidiary, Vivendi has finalised its acquisition of Garorock, one of France’s most popular music festivals.

The deal was first reported by local media in late June, and sees Olympia Production add the 50,000-daily cap. event, held annually in Marmande in south-west France, to its portfolio of festivals, which also includes Festival les Déferlantes and Live au Campo in Perpignan and Brive Festival in Brive-la-Gaillarde.

According to Vivendi – the French parent company of See Tickets, Universal Music Group and Paylogic – each festival attracted record crowds in July, with audience sizes growing by 17%, 15% and 30%, respectively.

In addition to its festival business, Olympia Production – a sister company to the UK’s U-Live, which produces Love Supreme Jazz Festival and Sundown Festival, among others – produces and promotes a number of concerts, comedy shows and musicals.

Garorock, established in 1997, is one of France’s largest festivals, held annually over four days at the end of June. The 2018 event, headlined by Indochine, Marilyn Manson, DJ Snake and Macklemore, attracted more than 145,000 people. Its 2019 line-up will be released in December.

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Vivendi, the parent company of See Tickets, Digitick and Universal Music Group, is in talks to acquire Garorock festival, according to French media.

Le Républicain reports the French media giant, majority owned by Vincent Bolloré’s Bolloré group, is set to finalise the acquisition of the 50,000-daily cap. festival this weekend. Vivendi already owns Brive Festival in Corrèze and Festival des Déferlantes in in Argelès-sur-Mer.

Garorock 2018, scheduled to wrap up on Sunday, was headlined by Indochine, Marilyn Manson, DJ Snake and Macklemore. The fourth and final day, Sunday 1 July, was partially cancelled after the Marmande site was evacuated owing to inclement weather.

Vivendi acquired ticketing technology platform Paylogic earlier this year, in a deal that it said forms part of plans to create a “global ticketing network spanning Europe and US”.

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