AEG Presents has named Angie Rho senior vice president of global touring.

Rho joins the company from Creative Artists Agency (CAA), where she has spent almost 20 years, most recently serving as head of business affairs.

Her responsibilities will include operational oversight of the division, global strategy, team development, and business affairs, reporting to president of global touring, Rich Schaefer. Rho will be based out of AEG Presents’ headquarters in Los Angeles.

“I’ve been incredibly lucky by being in the right place at the right time, to experience unprecedented growth in live music and touring,” said Rho. “I feel just as lucky to be joining Rich Schaefer in Global Touring and the talented family at AEG Presents. I’m very excited about what’s ahead of us and look forward to contributing meaningfully to the continued success of AEG’s Global Touring group.”

“I’ve been incredibly lucky by being in the right place at the right time, to experience unprecedented growth in live music and touring”

Schaefer adds: “Angie brings a wealth of expertise and keen insights to the Global Touring division and AEG Presents as a whole, and I couldn’t be more pleased to welcome her to the team. She will play a key part in aligning our company to be best positioned as we continue to build and grow.”

Rho’s most recent role as an executive at CAA involved guiding and managing operations including functional expertise in structuring operational divisions, M&A activities from negotiations to post-deal integration, personnel matters, and various legal issues.

Rho began her career at the music start-up LAUNCH, which was subsequently acquired by Yahoo! Music.

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Arthur Fogel, Live Nation’s chairman of global music and president of global touring, has spoken to IQ’s Global Promoters Report 2024 about the evolution of the business.

Known for building the planet-spanning industry we see today, Fogel’s regular clients include Beyoncé, Sting, Madonna, Peter Gabriel, and Lady Gaga.

Having started his promoting career at a Toronto club called The Edge, he joined Michael Cohl’s Concert Productions International (CPI) in 1981. Just a few short years later, he was behind The Rolling Stones’ 1989 Steel Wheels Tour, which spanned 20 countries, grossed $170m, and became the biggest tour of all time (at the time).

Since then, he’s organised top-grossing tours such as Madonna’s 2008-2009 Sticky & Sweet Tour, U2’s 360° Tour from 2009-2011 and Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour in 2023. He was even involved with one of the game-changing shows of recent years – U2’s residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

Fogel shared his perspective on the future of global touring in an extensive interview with GPR editor James Drury.

“I think next year is going to be another banner year”

“We’re just on our way,” he says. “I don’t think we’ve hit a peak by any means. There are still other parts of the world to open up. There’s no end to the accessibility that people have to artists and music, and so I think that it will continue to develop and will get stronger than it currently is.

“If you look broadly over the period of coming out of Covid, I think what we’ve all seen is the development of multiple new genres and a new generation of fans, and it’s all led to a perfect storm of a very healthy business that shows no signs of slowing down. That’s great for all of us. Can it get a bit crowded at times in certain places? Yes. There’s certainly a very high volume of activity, but at the end of the day, I think that certainly the top end of the business has hit a level that I don’t think any of us could have imagined. It’s really quite astounding. It’s a testament to how our world has embraced live shows and the ease of which that can be accessed around the world.

“Last year, the stadium-level activity was unprecedented. This year, there’s been a bit of a decrease in terms of stadium volume, but the arena-level volume is extremely, extremely high. Looking to 2025, I think it will shift back to unprecedented levels of stadium business globally. But at the same time, I don’t really see the arena business falling back particularly, so I think next year is going to be another banner year.”

Fogel also shared his perspective on dynamic pricing, new touring territories and the top end of the business.

Read the full interview in the Global Promoters Report 2024, available in print, digitally, and on this dedicated year-round mini site. A preview version is below.

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