Germany’s Full Force Festival called off for 2025
German festival Full Force will take a break in 2025 due to “several challenges [the organisers] cannot easily overcome”.
Launched in 1994, the Goodlive-promoted event brings some of the biggest metalcore, hardcore and punk acts to Ferropolis, Saxony-Anhalt, each year.
“Over the past weeks and months, we have made every effort to ensure that the festival can take place as usual, but the “most metal place on earth” will unfortunately have to remain silent next year,” reads a statement from organisers.
“The reasons for the cancellation are complex and confront our team with several challenges that we cannot easily overcome regarding the upcoming year,” it continues.
“We would like to offer you a festival that meets your needs, but the current circumstances unfortunately make it impossible for us to hold the festival as usual next year.”
Last year’s edition took place across three days in June and was headlined by Electric Callboy, Gojira and Papa Roach.
“The ‘most metal place on earth’ will unfortunately have to remain silent next year”
Organisers say they are currently working on preparing and implementing the 2026 edition of Full Force.
The news comes months after Goodlive announced that MELT – which also takes place annually at Ferropolis – would not return after 2024.
The decision to discontinue the 20,000-capacity festival, which has taken place since 1997, was partly due to “insurmountable changes in the festival landscape”.
The swansong edition took place in July with over 120 artists, including Sampha, James Blake, Sugababes, DJ Koze, Romy, Marlon Hoffstadt, Overmono and Skepta.
Goodlive, which was acquired by Live Nation GSA in 2022, also promotes festivals including Splash! Heroes Festival and Superbloom Festival.
Read IQ‘s recent interview with Goodlive’s Fruzsina Szép on the 2024 editions of Superbloom and Lollapalooza Berlin.
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Fruzsina Szép’s Lolla Berlin & Superbloom verdict
Goodlive’s Fruzsina Szép has reflected on an exhausting but triumphant weekend at the helm of Germany’s Lollapalooza Berlin and Superbloom festivals in an interview with IQ.
Topped by Sam Smith, The Chainsmokers, Martin Garrix, Burna Boy and Seventeen, Lollapalooza Berlin attracted 55,000 fans to Berlin’s Olympic Park, while Munich’s Superbloom drew 50,000 for the likes of Shirin David, Calvin Harris and OneRepublic. Both events ran from 7-8 September.
“We are tired, but very happy that that we succeeded,” says Szép. “Overall, we are very thankful and satisfied with both festivals. In Berlin, we had two days of absolute sunshine. And in Munich, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky on Saturday and it started to rain very slightly in the late afternoon on Sunday, but it didn’t change the atmosphere. People were celebrating and partying with a lot of emotion.”
Berlin-headquartered festival, booking and services agency Goodlive rejoined the organisation and production of Lollapalooza Berlin this year. C3 Presents, Festival Republic and Goodlive launched Lolla Berlin in 2015 with Szép part of the leadership team for the festival until 2020, when Goodlive launched Superbloom in Munich.
For the previous three years, Lolla Berlin was produced by C3 Presents and Live Nation GSA. With the latter now a majority shareholder of Goodlive, all three parties will work on the festival with Szép as festival director.
“On Saturday, I was in Berlin and on Sunday, I was in Munich, but during the whole build up week, I was between Berlin and Munich, which was just too much,” laughs Szép. “It’s always about the team. If the team is right, then the festival is bright and happy – and both teams are full of phenomenal people. It’s a gigantic puzzle and every person is a piece in that, which is why both festivals function so well.”
“It makes sense to move Lolla to the middle of the summer, when more artists are available. It’s a big move and we’ll see how it goes”
The fourth edition of Superbloom will take place on 30-31 August 2025, but Lollapalooza Berlin is switching to a midsummer date (12-13 July) for its 10th anniversary.
“It’s not easy to book the artists that we would like for the beginning of September,” explains Szép. “Many artists are finishing their tour period at the end of August so it makes sense to move Lolla to the middle of the summer, when more artists are available. Lolla Berlin has taken place in September for the last nine years, so it’s a big move and we are hopeful those dates will work well.”
Szép also shares her pride at how, after just three editions, Superbloom is already viewed as a part of Munich’s fabric.
“It’s something that is in the heads, and I hope also in the hearts of people,” she says. “I’ve heard it said many times that Superbloom is Munich, and Munich is Superbloom, and that means we have found a home, which I’m very thankful for, because it’s not easy to establish any brand nowadays and keep it going, but also become a loved brand.”
Szép puts some of that down to the festival’s inclusive approach, which is a key part of Superbloom’s philosophy. Its inclusion team also consists of employees who live with disabilities.
“Our mission was to become a very inclusive festival for people living with disabilities, and we are reaching that mission”
“Our mission was to become a very inclusive festival for people living with disabilities, and we are reaching that mission,” she notes. “I grew up with a blind father, and this year we had hundreds of disabled visitors from abroad for the first time and it was so uplifting.
“Of course, every festival has its own DNA, but I think we are creating very unique DNA at Superbloom and that makes me so proud. It also makes a gigantic difference onsite – it was a very calm festival because people were taking so much care and giving help if needed, so it’s a beautiful human reaction.”
The first batch of presale tickets for Superbloom 2025 are on presale now to loyalty customers, priced €144, whereas tickets for Lollapalooza’s 10th birthday edition can currently be purchased for €149.
“Generally, I’m a very optimistic person. It’s always important to see what went well, and where we have to make improvements or adjustments,” adds Szép. “We reached the numbers that we wanted to reach.”
And while Szép remains hopeful the wider European festival market is on the right track, she acknowledges the difficulties faced at all levels.
“The pandemic changed the industry a lot,” she finishes. “Not every festival that used to sell out before is selling out immediately now, and we have to have an eye on that. We have to curate great lineups and try to fulfil the needs and the visions of our audiences, so that they give us the trust to buy our tickets – because audiences today are more careful when deciding how much money to spend on on culture.”
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Achtung Maybe: Germany market report
Historically one of the most robust live music markets in the world, Germany is not immune to the challenges facing the industry in 2024. IQ talks to those on the front line in a territory where pressures of rising costs has never been more keenly felt.
Germany remains the third-biggest live market in the world, after only the US and Japan. Its turnover is huge – more than €6bn annually from 300,000 events, with over 115m tickets sold [source: BDKV]. It contains markets within markets – Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt: all distinct, all mighty – and a massive infrastructure of diversified promoters, modern venues, and household-name festivals.
This is the kind of territory where Taylor Swift finds the time for seven shows of her Eras Tour, and where Adele is dropping in for ten concerts in a bespoke 80,000-capacity Munich stadium across August – a plan the singer herself, who hasn’t played in Europe in eight years, calls “a bit random but still fabulous”.
On a genre-by-genre basis, there are successes all around. Country is booming, schlager remains strong, and Germany’s domestic artists, not least its locally grown hip-hop acts, are now good for multiple nights in arenas. Nine German promoters – counting Live Nation, which appeared as a combined group – ranked in Pollstar’s global Top 100 by ticket sales in 2023.
“All the traffic that was backed up after Covid is really just done now, and we’re looking at fresh new touring and fresh new on-sales in the market,” says Semmel Concerts head of international booking Sina Hall.
“There’s a lot of good things happening and a lot of very healthy sales going on right now”
“People are definitely out, and they want adventure and to experience live and all the different aspects of it, whether that is an exhibition or a musical or a show. There’s a lot of good things happening and a lot of very healthy sales going on right now.”
But while the pandemic seems to have engendered a rolling wave of demand for big-name live entertainment, its fallout, and that of other local and regional complications, is still being felt in numerous ways.
Germany was the only G7 economy to shrink last year, in the teeth of a painful energy crisis, sluggish productivity, low public investment, and an aging population. For the live business, the sector-specific challenges are crowding in, too, chief among them the soaring costs troubling the business.
“I think the market in Germany has all different aspects,” says DEAG CEO Detlef Kornett. “It is good, and it is tough at the same time. When you look at the big brand names out there touring on their own, from AC/DC to Adele, they can ask for almost any price and do experiments never seen before. On the flipside, I think it is tough for small- and medium-sized bands, because costs have increased so much that touring or individual shows become a challenge.”
Most promoters, while broadly upbeat, also draw a distinction between touring and festivals – the former essentially thriving, the latter particularly exposed to mounting labour, production, energy, and talent costs.
“Artists are looking at getting more money out of touring, and the competition between promoters is getting harder and harder”
Are promoters sending out frantic distress signals? Not necessarily – the engine is still firing, the tickets are still selling, Germany is still a muscular market. But in a world that has had some unpredictable shocks in the past few years, there are clouds in the sky even on sunny days.
“I think the market’s become quite tight,” says Wizard Live managing director Oliver Hoppe. “I think the artists are looking at getting more money out of touring, and the competition between promoters is getting harder and harder. Everybody has increased costs; people have less money in their pocket. I’m not complaining, we’re doing quite good. But it’s just a lot of variables that you have to factor in. It feels a lot more like work than it did before the pandemic, I guess.”
Promoters
Germany houses some of Europe’s strongest and most industrious promoters, and these days, they move in packs.
Of the local corporates, CTS Eventim holds weighty stakes in some of Germany’s biggest players, including Semmel Concerts, FKP Scorpio, DreamHaus, Peter Rieger Konzertagentur, and heavyweight regional promoters including ARGO Konzerte, Dirk Becker Entertainment, and Promoters Group Munich – to add to venues such as the Lanxess Arena in Cologne and the Waldbühne in Berlin.
DEAG likewise has promoters and festival properties the length and breadth of the country, from Frankfurt’s Wizard Promotions and Munich’s Global Concerts to I-Motion in Mülheim-Kärlich, whose electronic festivals include Nature One in Kastellaun, Mayday in Dortmund, and Ruhr-in-Love in Oberhausen.
Live Nation GSA launched in 2016 under the father-and-son leadership of Marek and André Lieberberg, since adding a majority stake in Goodlive to the group.
Elsewhere, there remain independents, including Berlin’s MCT Agentur, which bridges everything from clubs to Rammstein and Robbie Williams shows; Hamburg’s Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion, busy with Taylor Swift and its annual Stadtpark shows; and Berlin’s Landstreicher Booking, with its great strength in domestic artists.
“This whole industry is in flux and has become a lot more complicated”
But the landscape has changed, and in more ways than simply the push towards consolidation. Traditionally, Germany had a very specific way of doing things, involving national and local promoters, and while that setup remains in place, in a globalised world some of those market-specific conventions are gradually being chipped away.
“It has become very complex,” says Kornett. “The German market always had a unique structure of touring companies and local promoters, but the lines are blurring. More and more, tours go direct without really involving a local promoter, and then there are the local promoters that develop into production and touring companies. This whole industry is in flux and has become a lot more complicated, but we intend to take advantage of that development.”
The discombobulated days of the immediate post-pandemic period, when promoters’ instincts didn’t seem to match the new rhythms of the market, have settled down now, but German shows still require a lot of marketing.
“We’re getting better at predicting how people are going to react and how certain things are going to do,” says Hall. “But if I compare our on-sales, for example, to the UK or the US, it feels like we still have a very long on-sale period. It feels like in the other markets, it’s got very, very short notice, like sometimes our big tours have been pushed out like two or three months in advance. And I feel Germany still needs that long on-sale phase.”
Semmel’s business is nonetheless moving forward on numerous fronts, its domestic roster including stadium shows for Herbert Grönemeyer and outdoor concerts for Roland Kaiser, as well as the acquisition of 1,800-capacity Metronom Theater in Oberhausen and the launch, with industry veteran Ralf Kokemüller, of new shows and musicals company Limelight Live Entertainment.
“A lot of smaller and medium artists are facing lower demand and massively higher touring costs”
Live Nation is also seeing heavy traffic. In addition to tours by Billie Eilish, Janet Jackson, Metallica, and Justin Timberlake this year (not forgetting those Adele shows with Austrian co-promoter Klaus Leutgeb), Live Nation presides over Lollapalooza Berlin, Munich’s Superbloom, HipHop Open in Stuttgart, the outgoing MELT in Gräfenhainichen, and versions of the Deutschrap-specific Heroes festival in Hanover, Allgäu, Freiburg, and Geiselwind.
At FKP, this year is a big one on all fronts, as it expands its remit from one of “music-focused promoter to cultural organiser,” in the words of CEO Stephan Thanscheidt, having added exhibitions, family entertainment, comedy, and spoken word to its music portfolio. But the music remains strong.
“2024 surely is a special year for us,” says Thanscheidt. “We’re going strong with seven stadium shows from Taylor Swift and a concert series at the prestigious tech fair IFA in Berlin. Our summer festivals, headlined by Ed Sheeran and other legends, can also be considered top-class, resulting in high demand despite challenging times: Southside has just sold out and Hurricane is very close to its capacity as well.”
But as Thanscheidt is well aware, promoters can’t afford to just be about the big stuff, and there are plenty of challenges further down.
“Promoting the biggest names in the industry is a privilege but far from being the entirety of our work,” he says. “A lot of smaller and medium artists are facing lower demand and massively higher touring costs. Venues are also negatively affected by the explosion of costs in recent years. If we want to keep Germany among the biggest music markets worldwide, policymakers must take further steps to protect and foster the ever more important live sector.”
“Urban artists in Germany are doing a few things that are quite groundbreaking in the live business”
Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion is taking on the Taylor Swift shows in Hamburg, as well as its own 30-show Stadtpark series, this time featuring The Smile, Alice Cooper, Gossip, Sean Paul and others. But in other respects, managing director Ben Mitha believes we can expect a slightly quieter summer than in 2023 – partly due to the Euro football tournament and, less directly, the tour-dampening effect of the Olympics in France – and anticipates a notably busy autumn.
“The football starts middle of June and runs till middle of July, so you’re pretty much missing a full month,” says Mitha. “And also, once the tournament has started, public attention will be leaning very strongly towards it, so I think it’s better to stay away from that period with your bigger outdoor shows.”
Wizard Live celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, with a busy slate of shows by AC/DC, Toto, Bruce Dickinson, Scorpions, Judas Priest, and others. The company recently divided its operation into four divisions: shows and touring, marketing, brand & music connector, and artist development.
Managing director Oliver Hoppe says the business has changed in numerous ways, from weighing the importance of streaming for emerging acts to cutting through with cash-poor, choice-rich gig-goers. Meanwhile, he notes, artists require different things of their promoters. He points to Germany’s healthy, rule-breaking domestic urban sector as an example of the business in flux.
“Urban artists in Germany are doing a few things that are quite groundbreaking in the live business,” says Hoppe. “Some of them are even moving away from having a promoter at all and just saying, ‘Okay, we have so-and-so many followers, we know that if we press a button, we can instantly sell out. There’s literally no risk in putting on the shows, so what do we actually need a promoter for?’”
The opportunity for promoters, suggests Hoppe, is to market their expertise in new, modular ways. “Some artists need more help in marketing; some just need somebody to take care of logistics for them, like a production team would; some need help with legal or ticketing. It depends on where the artist is in their cycle. But I think the full package is not going to be relevant to everyone in the market, moving forward.”
“I think we are very fortunate that we are an independent. We are like a speedboat – we can make individual trips”
Max Wentzler of Berlin-based independent Z|Art also questions the popular conception that smaller shows necessarily struggle for an audience, putting the blame at the door of rigid promoting strategies.
“We have artists selling 100 tickets, 1,000 tickets, 5,000 tickets, and they are all doing well,” he says, pointing to a roster that includes Brakence, Bleachers, Lola Young, Olivia Dean, Ben Howard, and Jalen Ngonda.
“If you apply one way of working to so many artists, which is what I would say the big ticket-company-driven promoters do, then it’s difficult to innovatively come up with strategies for how and where to promote different artists. But that’s where I think we are very fortunate that we are an independent. We are like a speedboat – we can make individual trips. And the others are like the Royal Caribbean, which takes five days to turn around.”
Another promoter questioning the status quo is veteran event producer and talent booker Marc Kirchheim, who has made a career out of corporate and private events, from televised shows at the Brandenburg Gate with acts that include Bon Jovi, to last October’s show with Robbie Williams at Messe Essen for 10,000 employees of German multinational energy firm RWE. He believes too many international artists and their agents have priced themselves out of such shows, and is keen to engage.
“The German market is not only the tours, the ticketed shows, it is also a lot of corporate, private and public events,” says Kirchheim. “But after the pandemic, prices have exploded worldwide, and the big acts are demanding fees that no longer correspond to reality.”
The big tourers and their management should give more consideration to the corporate and private sector, even if their agents aren’t enthused, he suggests. “Corporate and private events are always valuable for international star acts,” he says. “When there are no record sales, just small payments from Spotify and co and indoor tour productions, they require new sources of income. But with the fees that have been asked for since Covid, the international top acts are no longer affordable.”
Festivals
For a bluntly revealing insight into the challenges facing European festivals, look no further than the announcement in late-May by Goodlive’s MELT festival that this year’s event will be the last, after a run that began in 1997.
“Despite our commitment and efforts in recent years, we recognise that the original MELT no longer fits into the German festival market and cannot withstand the developments of recent years without radically altering the festival concept,” said Goodlive director Florian Czok.
“The challenge, not only for Goodlive but all German festivals, is that we can’t raise the ticket price every year – we simply can’t do it”
Even amid a backdrop of well-founded fears for the wider festival business, the reaction among German promoters made it clear that, whatever we might think a doomed festival looks like, MELT – which takes its final bow in July at the Ferropolis open-air museum, near Gräfenhainichen, Saxony-Anhalt, with Sampha, James Blake, Sugababes, DJ Koze, and Romy on the bill – wasn’t it.
“For ages, MELT festival was like the go-to hipster, trendy, buzz-act festival in Germany – it was really like one of the GOAT festivals out there,” says Ben Mitha. “It’s such a lighthouse in the festival landscape, and now it has to close its doors forever. It’s quite shocking, and I hear from a bunch of festivals out there that they are really struggling this year.”
There’s no mystery to the problems festivals face this year, in Germany or anywhere else – costs have soared on all sides, big-hitting talent has been hard to nail down, and the market can’t support price rises that genuinely reflect the mounting cost of staging big events.
“Costs are rising, year-on-year, by at least 10% to 15%,” says Goodlive’s Fruzsina Szép. “The challenge, not only for Goodlive but all German festivals, is that we can’t raise the ticket price every year – we simply can’t do it.
“We all thought costs would go down after Covid, but they keep increasing. And sponsorship income is not rising by 10% to 15% every year. I think sometimes, as festival owners, people think there is always more juice in the lemon, but the lemon is totally dry.”
Germany boasts a giant festival scene that includes rock monoliths such as Wacken Open Air, Rock am Ring, and Rock im Park; electronic institutions such as Time Warp, Mayday, Love Family Park, and Nature One; and indie all-rounders including Lollapalooza Berlin and twin FKP festivals Hurricane and Southside; not to mention vigorous newcomers such as Munich’s Superbloom and small-but-beautiful indie darlings such as Appletree Garden in Diepholz and Watt En Schlick in Varel.
“We have seen cost increases up to 50% across all areas of live culture, mainly due to higher prices for energy, resources, and personnel”
Tricky conditions aside, the market is, in many respects, still a strong one. How optimistic are the big brands?
“My answer can only be two-fold,” says Thanscheidt, whose German festivals include M’era Luna in Hildesheim, Highfield in Großpösna, Elbjazz in Hamburg, and Deichbrand in Cuxhaven. “Of course, our team can’t wait for the festival summer, and given our lineups and commercial success, we’re sure to have set the right course for the immediate future.
“At the same time, we have seen cost increases up to 50% across all areas of live culture, mainly due to higher prices for energy, resources, and personnel. Anyone who compares this dynamic with actual ticket prices immediately realises that we cannot and do not want to pass on the enormous additional costs to our guests.
“Our size as a group currently allows us to produce in such a way that attending a festival remains as affordable as possible. Not excluding anyone from live culture for financial reasons is the most important challenge of our time, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult due to the small margins and high risk of our industry.”
DEAG’s Kornett is reasonably confident about demand, the group having recently announced sales of 4.9m tickets for its 2024 festivals across Europe, up 38% year-on-year. But he is concerned about the impact of increasingly unpredictable weather events on the summer months, which he regards as all but inevitable in 2024.
“Germany has been hit really hard by adverse weather, and it’s a matter of when, not if, there will be adverse impacts of the weather in Germany this year. It has become a common phenomenon,” he says, though on DEAG’s account, he strikes a positive note particularly for DEAG festivals.
“For festivals, the market has been relatively good,” says Kornett. “It has been harder to get a decent bill together, get the right acts for a given festival – it is a matter of acts being available and on the road. But there’s a massive amount of festivals in the summer months, and the consumer wouldn’t go if they didn’t like it.”
“A lot of the festivals, especially the big ones, seem to have been in a bit of an identity crisis, post-pandemic”
Some suggest that the complications and cancellations of the Covid years have left festivals struggling for direction. “A lot of the festivals, especially the big ones, seem to have been in a bit of an identity crisis, post-pandemic,” says Wentzler at Z|Art.
And as tastes shift, there is a strong case to be made for new concepts. Goodlive’s Superbloom, launched in 2022 under the stewardship of then-former (and recently returned) Lollapalooza Berlin festival director Szép, is a recent market entrant that has been widely embraced as offering something fresh.
The imperative, Szép suggests, is to create new and compelling propositions for a changing audience that might not be attracted to traditional festivals. While she stresses that the event is not aimed exclusively at women – Calvin Harris, Sam Smith, Burna Boy, and The Chainsmokers are on the bill – there is clear evidence that Superbloom is filling a new niche. Last year, it sold 50,000 tickets, and this year, three months out from its September slot, it was more than halfway there and selling faster than in 2023.
“With Superbloom, we have somehow created a live brand that people want, especially young women,” she says. “Last year, almost 70% of our audience was female, and when we communicate with our fans, we hardly receive any aggressive or negative feedback. They say they felt super-safe, and they really appreciated our programmes about awareness and inclusion. I never would have thought that this philosophy that was important for me would make such a huge impact already, in two years.”
Evidently, festival success stories aren’t defined by their genre. Stuttgart’s jazzopen celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, with headliners including Sam Smith, Sting, and Lenny Kravitz, plus jazz legends such as Lee Ritenour, Billy Cobham, and Marcus Miller in four venues across ten days, selling 55,000 tickets and bringing in another 10,000 for its open stages.
“About 30% of our €7m annual budget comes from sponsorship by brands”
“While unfortunately a number of European independent festivals cannot survive anymore, jazzopen is on a good track,” says promoter and director Jürgen Schlensog of Opus Live.
“Of course, we are faced with increasing price levels for artists and production costs. However, we have been able to build a strong sponsorship pyramid in the last ten years. About 30% of our €7m annual budget comes from sponsorship by brands such as Mastercard, Mercedes-Benz, Allianz, and more. We are cashless and climate-neutral, and we are proud to be independent and ready for the future.”
And a very different German festival with a clear appeal to its chosen market is Superstruct’s Wacken. The 34-year-old metal institution was plagued by bad weather in 2023 and still, days later, sold out 85,000 tickets for this year’s event in just four-and-a-half hours.
“We are more than grateful and humbled for your trust,” the festival’s promoters wrote in an open letter to fans. “Especially after the difficult start of the festival this summer… we really appreciate that the community stands by us and sticks together.” Other festivals will no doubt be hoping for the same.
Venues
Inevitably, the story of larger German venues is one of a balancing act between healthy demand and punishing increases in costs. Looking through the first lens, the rise and rise of mass live entertainment, especially at the volume end of the scale, is hard to deny.
“The market is constantly evolving and is highlighting new genres that can fill a venue of our capacity”
“The market is constantly evolving and is highlighting new genres that can fill a venue of our capacity,” says Ole Hertel, Anschutz Entertainment Group vice president and managing director, who runs Berlin’s freshly rebranded 17,000-capacity Uber Arena.
“A decade ago, gaming moved into the live event business, then K-Pop took over. Lately, we have international comedians touring German arenas, darts are played before 10,000 people, podcasters are selling out single shows, and German hip-hop acts are selling out consecutive shows – unthinkable a decade ago.”
But with big buildings, of course, come huge costs. The 20,000-capacity Lanxess Arena in Cologne is one of the cornerstones of the German circuit and reliably ranks as the best-attended arena in the country. The arena’s CEO Stefan Löcher reports a strong year so far, with the men’s handball final and 15 sold-out Cologne Carnival events of its own in the immediate rear-view mirror, and incoming shows including Justin Timberlake and Thirty Seconds to Mars.
“The year 2024 feels great so far,” says Löcher. “After the pandemic years and the numerous delayed tour starts due to the energy crisis, it feels like pre-Covid times since last year.
“But I think the entire industry is noticing the increased costs, especially in the tour business. And of course, with a venue of our size, we also have a huge new burden when it comes to energy costs. That’s why it’s important for us to become more efficient in all areas in good time. Of course, that won’t happen overnight.”
“German arenas are increasingly focusing on sustainability”
A new venue in Munich, greenlit in 2022 by the city council but not yet constructed, proposes to be Germany’s first climate-neutral arena, with all its energy generated and supplied onsite via solar panels, geo-thermal energy, and district heating.
Arena managing director Lorenz Schmid reports that the project is moving forward, its plans having been presented to the planning and design advisory committee in the nearby town of Freising in early June.
“The Design Advisory Committee is an official part of the approval process and plays a central role in ensuring urban planning and architectural quality,” says Schmid. “They praised the current planning and gave their approval to continue with these plans. This is a big step and another milestone for us.”
The Munich Arena is only the most notable exponent of a sector-wide trend towards green upgrades and energy initiatives.
“German arenas are increasingly focusing on sustainability, including the implementation of energy-efficient technologies, waste-reduction programmes, and sustainable sourcing of materials,” says Steve Schwenkglenks, VP and MD of Barclays Arena in Hamburg, which is in the process of switching to LED lighting and last year established its own in-house reusable cup-washing facility.
“These efforts are aimed at reducing the environmental impact and appealing to a more eco-conscious audience,” he says.
The Uber Arena, formerly the Mercedes-Benz Arena, is in the midst of its own LED transition programme, which currently stands at 90% complete. Also in the works are an application for AGF’s A Greener Arena certification, the installation of an EV charging station in July, a contract with an outside company to recycle the venue’s paper towels, and the return of bees to the arena roof after a two-year hiatus.
“Long term, we have to evaluate how we source our energy consumption to run a sustainable business”
And while such measures are clearly important, AEG’s Hertel acknowledges that major work remains to be done on the fundamental question of how to power arenas.
“Short term, we constantly look for ways to save energy in our day-to-day operation,” he says. “Long term, we have to evaluate how we source our energy consumption to run a sustainable business.”
In Düsseldorf, the D.LIVE group operates the Merkur Spiel-Arena (in fact a stadium, with a capacity of 52,500), the Mitsubishi Electric Halle (7,500), and PSD Bank Dome (13,500 or 11,000 seated, with the option to reconfigure to 5,500).
Acts and events playing across D.LIVE’s venues this year include Coldplay, Niall Horan, Disney On Ice, Ne-Yo, Bryan Adams, and Troye Sivan, and plans are afoot for the D.LIVE Open Air Park – a space for up to 80,000 spectators that will be up and running from summer 2025. “Over the last [few] years, we invested more than €30m in all our venues,” says Daniela Stork, D.LIVE executive director of booking, ticketing and special events.
“Among other things, we converted the lighting in all venues to LED. In the Merkur Spiel-Arena, we also integrated new full-colour upper- and lower-tier lighting. We have redesigned the VIP areas in the Merkur Spiel-Arena and the PSD Bank Dome, and we have renovated the backstage areas in the PSD Bank Dome and the Mitsubishi Electric Halle so that not only our guests but also the acts and production teams feel at home with us.”
There’s more to the German venue scene than just arenas and stadiums, of course, though it is apparent that the success of the larger rooms means there is less money in the market at other levels – especially the lowest ones. As in all Europe’s thriving cities, German clubs are under threat from landlords, developers, and energy bills, but they are also struggling to get a share of consumers’ entertainment budgets.
“Five years ago, if you put on a show that was not the hottest show in town, 100 or 250 people would still find their way to the show by accident,” says Hoppe. “And that is completely gone. Now, you either have really strong sales, or you have really bad sales, especially in that segment.
“First of all, people don’t have that kind of money anymore. Second of all, people that do have that kind of money have invested in premium shows that now cost 50% more than they did before. Also, I think people like their couch. And those are all the little bricks in the wall we have to navigate in our business at the moment.”
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Germany’s MELT festival to close after 27 years
Germany’s MELT festival has announced that this year’s edition will be its last, partly due to “insurmountable changes in the festival landscape”.
The 20,000-capacity festival, promoted by Live Nation-owned Goodlive, has taken place since 1997 and hosted artists including Jamie xx, Little Simz, Bonobo, Alt-J, Jon Hopkins, Mogwai, Justice, Hot Chip and Aphex Twin.
Last night, organisers revealed that they “could no longer continue the festival” after 2024.
“Despite our commitment and efforts in recent years, we recognise that the original Melt no longer fits into the German festival market and cannot withstand the developments of recent years without radically altering the festival concept,” director Florian Czok, a 2019 New Boss, added.
“It’s a difficult decision, but we believe it’s time to explore new paths and create space for fresh ideas.”
“We believe it’s time to explore new paths and create space for fresh ideas”
The swansong edition will feature over 120 artists, including Sampha, James Blake, Sugababes, DJ Koze, Romy, Marlon Hoffstadt, Overmono, James Blake, Obongjayar, Romy and Skepta. Several surprises are also due to be announced in the coming days and weeks, according to organisers.
The farewell edition will return to the Ferropolis open-air museum, near Gräfenhainichen, Saxony-Anhalt, where it has been held since 1999.
Over the years, MELT has won numerous international awards, including Best Festival, Artist’s Favourite European Festival, and Green ‘N’ Clean Festival Of The Year. It is thought to be one of Germany’s biggest open-air electronic events.
News of its closure comes days after Finland’s Sideways Festival announced that it won’t take place in its current form after 2024.
Organisers of the Helsinki festival, which is promoted by Fullsteam Agency, also cited difficult conditions in the festival landscape.
Goodlive’s festival portfolio now comprises Splash!, Full Force, Heroes Festival and Superbloom Festival.
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Goodlive rejoins operations for Lollapalooza Berlin
Berlin-headquartered festival, booking and services agency Goodlive is re-joining the organisation and production of Lollapalooza Berlin.
C3 Presents, Festival Republic and Goodlive launched Lolla Berlin in 2015 with seasoned festival pro Fruzsina Szép part of the leadership team for the festival until 2020 when Goodlive launched Superbloom in Munich.
For the last three years, Lolla Berlin has been produced by C3 Presents and Live Nation GSA (Germany Switzerland Austria). With the latter now a majority shareholder of Goodlive, all three parties will work on the festival with Szép as festival director.
“I loved Lolla Berlin,” says Szép. “Two weeks ago I went for a site visit in Berlin and it felt so great to be back on site and to feel the energy of the space again.”
With Superbloom and Lolla Berlin taking place on the same weekend (7-8 September) more than 300 miles apart, joint festival teams are set to be busier than ever.
“Two weeks ago I went for a site visit in Berlin and it felt so great to be back on site and to feel the energy of the space again”
Whether the festivals will act as twin events is yet to be seen, depending on football calendars, but there are advantages when it comes to synergies on production and booking, according to Szép.
The festival’s 2024 lineups share more than a dozen acts, including Sam Smith, Burna Boy, The Chainsmokers, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Loyle Carner, Nothing But Thieves, The Sacred Souls, Chappell Roan and Apashe with Brass Orchestra.
Another similarity between Superbloom and Lolla Berlin is their sites – both taking place in the Olympic Stadiums of their respective cities – but Szép stresses that both venues are “pretty different”.
“They both have their strong character and history to tell,” she says. “With Superbloom, even in year three, we are still learning how to adjust some of our stages and experience areas to have even more comfort, happiness and beauty for our guests.
“With Lolla Berlin, it is nice to be ‘back home’ in an area that I know well. We will make some changes and adjustments that are important for the customer journey to feel good on site.
“I’m a very visual person and also pretty emotional so in my heart I am already thinking about further developments for the future. In 2025 it will be the 10th anniversary of Lolla Berlin so we have some innovative ideas in our pocket that we’d love to realize.”
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The New Bosses 2023: Niklas Magedanz, Goodlive
The 16th edition of IQ Magazine’s New Bosses was published in IQ 121 this month, revealing 20 of the most promising 30-and-unders in the international live music business.
To get to know this year’s cohort a little better, IQ conducted interviews with each one of 2023’s New Bosses, discovering their greatest inspirations and pinpointing the reasons for their success.
Catch up on the previous interview with Michael Christidis, co-founder of Untitled Group (AU) here. The series continues with Niklas Magedanz, promoter at Goodlive (DE).
In his early teens, Niklas spent all his money and time on CDs and concert tickets. After he guest-listed his entire school for an open-air concert, where he also lost a shoe in a mosh pit, the only thing on his mind was how to get a foot in the door of the music industry. Niklas organised his first festival when he was only 15, prioritising the booking, stage management, catering, marketing and ticketing over school lessons.
Voluntary work during summer vacations at indie labels, radio stations and festivals led him to pursue a career in live music and consequently a degree in music business. During his college years, he spent his time studying just as much as being on tour with bands and booking shows.
In 2018 Niklas moved to Berlin and joined Goodlive Artists as a promoter/booker. With his understanding for sub- and pop-cultural trends and developments, he grew his network and roster and is now working with a diverse range of international and domestic artists from small club stages to arena levels.
Stylistically Niklas focuses on (off-)pop, indie as well as neo-Soul and jazz artists such as Moses Sumney, Sudan Archives, Robert Glasper, Biig Piig, Nation of Language, Billy Nomates and Marc Rebillet.
Besides his involvement in the touring department and being part of the Goodlive festival booking committee, he also works in the development of new event concepts like the most recent reissue of the “Introducing” showcase – a live format for artists on the rise, in partnership with Spotify.
You organised your first festival at the age of 15. What can you remember about that experience – and how did you persuade people to trust a teenager?
Looking back at it, it was quite adventurous, since all of a sudden I had a lot of responsibility for several fields I had hardly any experience in. Being very passionate and enthusiastic about the project helped getting support from all people necessary. Only the liquor license was revoked after authorities became aware of my age by then.
Where did you grow up? And as Germany has a number of music cities to choose from, what made you select Berlin as your new home?
I grew up around Cologne, which was a fortunate place to grow up in. Thanks to it’s size and location within Europe a lot of international tours stopped there and in addition to this I genuinely enjoy the optimistic and open mentality of the area. The move to Berlin was done after I got the offer to join Melt! Booking, which was worth re-locating to, given Berlin’s status as Germany’s music capital.
What did you study at college – and have these studies helped you in your career to date?
I did a degree in Music Business, which was basically economic classes with a focus on the music industry, where the focus was e.g. on licensing, marketing plans, accounting, artist development and pop music history. The biggest gain was the network I got through it, working on my own projects on the side and since a lot of alumni from this school are well established in the German music industry by now.
The ‘Introducing’ showcase with Spotify sounds interesting. Can you tell us more about it?
The showcase has been around quite successful in the past and artists such as Little Simz, Alt-J, Years&Years, Chvrches or Omar Apollo played some of their first German shows there. Already back then the aim was to introduce the most exciting new artists to a tastemaking audience in Germany upon a free entry base.
The pandemic forced a break from the showcase and gave us time to re-think the entire concept. As people’s approach to discovering new music has changed over the last years, we were able to bring it back with a more contemporary approach, creating an even more valuable asset for our artists to debut in Germany.
“I am very lucky to be working with a bunch of amazing young artists, that have a lot of potential for the years to come”
You’re now working as a promoter at a big company. What’s been the highlight of your career so far?
It’s always rewarding to see the development of artists and help them take the next career step within the German market. Out of the many amazing moments and stories one standing out is probably Marc Rebillet’s 2022 Berlin show I promoted, where he sold out Max Schmeling Halle with 9,000 tickets. It is also always special to take my parents to shows I book in Cologne, especially to venues they brought me to when I was little.
Which artist that you work with should we all be looking out for in the year ahead?
I am very lucky to be working with a bunch of amazing young artists, that have a lot of potential for the years to come. But UCHE YARA and ORBIT are two talented artists. I joined their teams early on and both artists are currently making their first steps on a continental level, with exciting perspectives for 2024.
What is your favourite venue, and why?
I have a soft spot for old venues that provide a unique charm to any show. In Berlin, there is the Delphi Theater, an old silent movie theatre from the 1920s, which is a stunning place. Less of a venue but a festival ground is Ferropolis, where Goodlive promotes Melt, Splash and Full Force Festival. A peninsula in a lake with old industrial charm and a little forest makes it one of the nicest festival sides I’ve been to.
As a new boss, what would you like to change to make the live entertainment industry a better place?
There is still a lot of potential to change things for the better all across the industry. I hope that my generation is able to leave a footprint behind by improving the lack of diversity, inclusivity and sustainability both across the stages, playlists but also in the offices of agencies and labels.
What advice would you give to anyone who is trying to find a job in live music?
Follow the dynamics of pop and subcultural developments and get an overview of players in the field you aspire to be part of. Be a team player, and open to innovation and mostly passionate about music. In the end, it’s a business focused on emotions and people rather than a manufactured product.
As a promoter, are there any particular events, forums or platforms that you visit to try to discover the next big act?
I try to attend several showcase festivals throughout the year. Eurosonic and Great Escape are the ones I visit most frequently.
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Fruzsina Szép on “almost perfect” Superbloom
Superbloom director Fruzsina Szép has spoken to IQ about the “almost perfect” second edition of the German festival.
The two-day event returned to Munich’s historic Olympic Park last weekend (2–3 September), featuring artists including Imagine Dragons, Martin Garrix, Peter Fox, Ava Max, Ellie Goulding and more.
Despite last year’s teething problems, the Goodlive-promoted festival continued its sell-out streak, with 50,000 attendees on each of the two days.
“We had so many learnings from 2022 and only one year to apply them but all the effort was worth it because we really succeeded in correcting the mistakes and failures,” says Szép.
One of the biggest issues with last year’s edition was crowd flow around the 70,000-capacity Olympic Stadium, which meant organisers were forced to halt entry to the main stage before it reached full capacity.
“I’ve never experienced a festival like this, that I’ve been involved with”
“This year, we moved the stage to the head of the stadium so it was much easier to get in and out and there was a constant flow, no backlogs,” she explains. “All the space was there to stand or sit and we had separate areas for our premium guests.”
Crowd flow around the festival was also relieved by increased signage: “We communicated with the audience beforehand and throughout to inform them about the challenges [of the festival site] and of the time it takes to walk between stages,” she adds.
The extreme weather at the debut edition, which forced Years & Years to forego their set on the main stage, was also a distant memory and the band returned to perform in 23-degree heat.
Also contributing to a successful edition was the lack of incidents at this year’s festival. “It was an absolutely beautiful and calm atmosphere throughout those two days. I’ve never experienced a festival like this, that I’ve been involved with,” says the seasoned festival pro, who has previously worked on Sziget (Hungary) and Lollapalooza Berlin.
“We did a lot of communication upfront about safety and security and how important that is for us,” says Szép. “We let our audience know that we doubled the inclusion and awareness teams this year. It’s about creating safer spaces all over the festival and having mobile teams.”
“People said they’ve never seen so many people with disabilities partying together with the crowd”
Szép believes the increased support teams, in combination with a diverse programme, is the reason for Superbloom’s majority-female audience, which has increased from 60% to 70% since last year.
Female representation on the lineup was also high – at 45% – though the director says the goal isn’t to achieve a gender-balanced bill. “The goal is to have a good bill that is also diverse, with plenty of queer artists and artists living with disabilities,” she says.
Accessibility was once again a top priority for Szép, who grew up with a blind father. For this year’s edition, Superbloom doubled the size of the wheelchair area in the stadium and increased the number of disabled toilets. The festival attracted three times more people living with disabilities than last year.
“Audience members said they’ve never seen so many people with disabilities partying together with the crowd and how amazing it was to see that,” says Szép. “Everybody should have the possibility to have the best time of their life at a festival.
“In our experience areas, we programmed a lot of content that was about inclusion, diversity and social issues – like what is it like to be living with a disability. And we had a German rapper, who creates ironic songs about his disability, perform and appear on a panel. These are small but important things for our mission.”
“I never want to organise a perfect festival – although this year was almost perfect”
Though Szép has been widely celebrated for Superbloom’s accessibility, including by the German government, it firmly remains top of her list for the next edition.
“For the 2024 edition, I’d like to develop more services for disabled people. I’d also like to work on more special partnerships with companies that represent global, local and social issues, and on the experience aspect of the festival, making more use of the lake,” she says.
“There’s always space for development. My expectations are pretty high but I know you have to improve step by step – I think it’s important to have a natural development and not to do everything at once. I never want to organise a perfect festival – although this year was almost perfect.
“It’s also a financial question anyway. In times like these, when prices are getting higher and higher, organising a festival or creating a new brand is a huge financial risk. It will take some time for Superbloom to be profitable – it’s an investment – but we already have a strong brand in year two.
“I’m really thankful to our audience that they trusted us and bought our tickets, despite the problems that we had last year. So many festivals in Germany and Europe struggled but we sold out again. I think after year three we can be sure Superbloom will have a very stable future.”
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Global Promoters Report 2022: Germany
The Global Promoters Report, a first-of-its-kind resource that highlights the world’s leading promoters and the 40 top markets they operate in, is now available to subscribers of IQ.
In an excerpt from the guide, IQ delves into the biggest touring market in Europe and the third-biggest in the world: Germany.
Germany is the biggest market in Europe and the third-biggest in the world, after the US and Japan. It generated revenues of around €5bn a year in pre-Covid times, though things are significantly tougher since the return of unrestricted shows in spring 2022, as energy prices and economic concerns squeeze sections of the market.
The German promoting business remains muscular and is largely steered by powerful consolidated groups – from local giants CTS Eventim, FKP Scorpio, and DEAG, to Live Nation – though there remain a number of hardworking independents.
Between them, the big groups account for a significant chunk of the nation’s national promoters. CTS Eventim, for instance, holds stakes in FKP Scorpio, Semmel Concerts, DreamHaus, and Peter Rieger Konzertagentur, accounting collectively for recent tours by Rolling Stones, Ed Sheeran, Muse, Måneskin, and others, as well as major festivals including Rock am Ring and Rock im Park and Hurricane/Southside.
Live Nation GSA entered the market in 2015 through its acquisition of Marek Lieberberg Konzertagentur (MLK). It brings all the expected superstar tours you would expect – Bruce
Springsteen, for one, arrives next July for four German stadium shows and another in Austria, while Sting, Lil Nas X, Bryan Adams, and Rosalía did the rounds before Christmas.
Live Nation bulked up further in September, adding longstanding independent Goodlive to its holdings. The festival, booking, and services agency brings events including Munich debutante Superbloom, electronic fest Melt!, and hip-hop and reggae event Splash! in Ferropolis; metal and punk festival Full Force in Löbnitz; and hip-hop event Heroes in Geiselwind.
“The majority of acts – especially those not in the top range or having a buzz right now – are struggling to sell tickets”
The Eventim-affiliated, Hamburg-based FKP Scorpio is, of course, a group in its own right, operating across the Nordics, Austria, Benelux, the UK, and Poland. In Germany, it has lately promoted stadium shows for Sheeran and the Stones, as well as a heavy slate of festivals – from the twin Hurricane and Southside indie events to M’era Luna in Hildesheim, Highfield in Großpösna, and Berlin’s Tempelhof Sounds.
Broadly speaking, festivals and blockbuster headline shows have remained strong in Germany this year. Cities like Berlin, Cologne, and Munich remain busy, affluent markets for live shows, with Hamburg not far behind.
But in a time of economic uncertainty fuelled by the war in Ukraine – combined with a perfect storm of post-Covid factors that have put a premium on material and staffing of all kinds – the softness of the everyday touring market is a major challenge for the German business. While the biggest acts sail on undaunted, all promoters have tales of smaller shows either half-filled or cancelled due to weak demand.
“Looking at this demographically, the younger people are going to shows more in comparison to older people, but in general it’s challenging,” says FKP Scorpio CEO Stephan Thanscheidt.
“Of course, there are some acts that sell all the time, but the majority of acts – especially those not in the top range or having a buzz right now – are struggling to sell tickets. A lot of acts are cancelling at the moment, and not for logistical or other non-transparent reasons. They are just saying, very openly: we can’t make this tour financially work with the ticket sales and the costs we have. They are potentially playing to half the people, with double or triple the cost.”
“You put great acts on, you put great support acts on, you really think about pricing, and still ticket sales are running at 50%”
All promoters have been forced to reckon with a very different market in 2022, even as they have scrambled to honour the previous two years’ worth of Covid-era tickets.
“You put great acts on, you put great support acts on, you really think about pricing, and still ticket sales are running at 50%,” says Scumeck Sabottka, founder of independent Berlin-based Robbie Williams and Rammstein promoter MCT Agentur, who, again, notes that his flagship shows have done very well.
“Maybe next year it gets better, but I think the new normal could easily be 70%, so we need to gauge our costings and offers on that. At the moment, I think we, as promoters, are carrying a lot of pressure on our shoulders.”
German promoters in the DEAG stable include Frankfurt veteran Wizard Promotions – now under the stewardship of Oliver Hoppe, son of legendary founder Ossy – which leans in a rock direction, with Iron Maiden, Def Leppard/Mötley Crüe, and Scorpions all on the schedule for 2023. Hoppe junior, (who in September added the title of DEAG executive vice president, product and innovation to his Wizard responsibilities), shares the mixed outlook, “All in all we managed to entertain over a half a million visitors in the summer, and that was tough work but also an exciting exercise. But it’s a struggle. Nobody knows where inflation, labour shortages, energy costs, and the ongoing pandemic will take us.
“There seems to be a pattern that high-demand shows are still high in demand, but I am very concerned about club shows and emerging artists. I am expecting every day for some grand-scale tour to hit the wall, but so far, from what we are hearing and seeing from the market, that isn’t happening – so I think there is hope.”
“We see strong sales on A+ talent and established festivals but soft ticket sales on everything else”
Also in the DEAG family – along with UK promoter Kilimanjaro Live, whose Stuart Galbraith recently ascended to the group role of executive vice president international touring – are Christian Doll’s Stuttgart-based C2 Concerts and the German arm of I-Motion. The former’s 2022 tours include German dates for the Harlem Globetrotters; the latter, part-acquired in 2019 from US promoter Randy Phillips’s LiveStyle, operates several long-established electronic music festivals including Mayday, Nature One, and Ruhr in Love.
Sina Hall, Semmel Concerts senior project manager, entertainment, says dialogue with agents and other stakeholders is ongoing, as the market adapts to a new set of conditions. “If you look at the situation for promoters or clubs that are not necessarily part of a group of companies, most of them most likely used their money to make it through the pandemic, so they have to be more risk-conscious when making decisions now,” says Hall.
Relatively few promoters have launched during Covid times, for obvious reasons, but one exception is DreamHaus, the CTS-Eventim-backed venture helmed by former Live Nation GSA managing director and COO Matt Schwarz, which landed in early 2021 with one significant advantage over the wider market. “The beauty of being a start-up during Covid times is that we didn’t have to deal with any aftermath of cancelled or multiple-postponed events,” Schwarz noted in IQ’s recent German market report.
In other respects, DreamHaus – which operates the blockbuster Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals, as well as Tempelhof Sounds and arena shows this year for Lewis Capaldi, Yungblud, Muse, Måneskin, and others – sounds a familiar note of caution.
“We see strong sales on A+ talent and established festivals but soft ticket sales on everything else,” says Schwarz. “Pushing down the increased costs of touring and local production to the customers via higher ticket prices is not a sustainable solution. The worst is yet to come, so we are more selective in our bookings and the M.O. is ‘less is more’ for now.”
“The worst is yet to come, so we are more selective in our bookings and the M.O. is ‘less is more’ for now”
In its structure, Germany is a unique market. Under its distinctive regionalised system, local promoters with strong local knowledge typically co-promote with national promoters in any given city.
The local promoting business these days also betrays a strong corporate interest. Eventim owns a number of such promoters, including Bavaria’s ARGO Konzerte, Cologne’s Dirk Becker Entertainment, Promoters Group Munich, and Vaddi Concerts in south-west Germany.
Other prominent local operators include DEAG companies ACT (Berlin), River Concerts (Hamburg), Rhein Main Concerts (Frankfurt), Global Concerts and KBK (both Munich) and Handwerker, based in Unna; Hannover Concerts, in the northern German city of the same name; and Undercover, based in Braunschweig and operating in northern Germany and beyond, which was acquired by BMG in 2020 to lay the foundations for a new live music and events unit.
Some local promoters have expanded well beyond their original regions: Semmel Concerts, now a major national player, focused on Bavaria and Eastern Germany when it first launched more than 30 years ago.
These days, its shows span Germany and Austria and its calendar includes three postponed Berlin dates on Elton John’s farewell tour next May, as well as concerts by Hans Zimmer, Céline Dion, John Cale, and others next year.
“It makes the business kind of boring if there are only three or four big corporates fighting each other”
In a globalised era where scale and network clout count more than ever, Germany is hardly the only market in which independent promoters have inexorably been absorbed into international groups. Ben Mitha, managing director of Hamburg-based Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion, the persistently independent promoter founded by his grandfather, doesn’t condemn any other company for doing so, though he maintains that the market needs indies for its all-round health.
“I totally understand those people, especially in these last two challenging years, who are seeking shelter under a corporate umbrella,” says Mitha. “At the same time, it makes the business kind of boring if there are only three or four big corporates fighting each other. I think you also need those independents out there doing it for the passion or investing in some niche that might not be interesting for the big companies.”
Karsten Jahnke’s forthcoming shows include a Hamburg appearance for Robbie Williams as well as dates for Avril Lavigne, Arctic Monkeys, Wolf Alice, Elton John, and numerous smaller acts. This year’s successes have included The Cure and 49 nights at Hamburg’s Stadtpark for the Open Air series, with Deep Purple, Sting, Joe Jackson, Michael Kiwanuka, and Olivia Rodrigo among those collectively selling 170,000 tickets.
Among the market’s other nationally focused indies, is Berlin-based booker and national promoter Z|ART, founded in 2014 by Max Wentzler and Hauke Steinhof. Wentzler says there are enthusiastic audiences out there for fresh talent but suggests spiraling costs can easily have a brutal effect on promoters, even when a show is an apparent success.
“We are used to suffering in the live business, but it is haemorrhaging a little bit,” says Wentzler. “Margins have been decimated, basically, and it feels like all the income is being eaten up by security, ticketing, and stagehand companies, and also venues, who have increased their rates in response to energy prices because they are going to get hit with a huge bill.”
“Margins have been decimated, basically, and it feels like all the income is being eaten up”
Other independents include Hamburg’s a.s.s. concerts & promotion. Part of the Mehr-BB Entertainment Company, a.s.s. has operated as a booking agency and tour promoter for German and international rock, pop, folk, jazz, and world music artists since 1979, presenting up to 1,200 concerts a year.
A Covid-era consolidation saw two more Hamburg-based concert promoters, Funke Media and Neuland Concerts, merge to form what the company describes as “one of the largest owner-managed concert agencies in Germany.”
Operating as Neuland Concerts and working as both promoter and agency, Neuland’s current schedule includes dates for German stars Ina Müller and Max Mutzke. In Munich, Astrid Messerschmitt’s United Promoters has a superstar pedigree, having worked shows for Eric Clapton, AC/DC, and others, as well as maintaining a longstanding relationship with legendary veteran Marcel Avram.
Hamburg’s Music Minds Productions has also seen it all and has recently staged shows for 50 Cent at Cologne’s Lanxess Arena and The Police’s Andy Summers in Hamburg and Berlin. Of the market’s standalone festival promoters, Cosmopop is responsible for the 28-year-old Time Warp electronic festival in Mannheim and its international editions in Brazil, Chile, and the US; Opus produces the renowned Jazzopen Stuttgart; while ICS (International Concert Service) controls Wacken Open Air in Schleswig-Holstein, which remains one of the world’s biggest and most-esteemed rock festivals.
“I would wish that in many cases solution-oriented thinking could come forward instead of ego-driven thinking”
The market is competitive and tough, with even the winners licking their wounds after a bruising year. Superbloom managing director Fruzsina Szép – recently profiled in the German editions of Rolling Stone and Vogue as the one and only woman in charge of a German festival – believes more collaboration would benefit all.
“I don’t see any other festivals as competitors,” she says. “I’m really happy to have many great festivals in Germany, in Europe, in the UK. And if we have to tackle the same problems, then why not learn from each other to make it better?
“I’m very much in balance with my own ego, and I would wish that in many cases solution-oriented thinking could come forward instead of ego-driven thinking. People shouldn’t be afraid to say, ‘Well, we had problems, we had challenges.’”
The Global Promoters Report is published in print, digitally, and all content is also available as a year-round resource on the IQ site. The Global Promoters Report includes key summaries of the major promoters working across 40+ markets, unique interviews and editorial on key trends and developments across the global live music business.
To access all content from the current Global Promoters Report, please click here.
Stefan Lehmkuhl to book BMG’s Theater des Westens
Goodlive co-founder Stefan Lehmkuhl has been appointed to the top booker role at BMG’s Theater des Westens in Berlin.
Lehmkuhl is best-known for his two decades of success curating and producing festivals such as Melt Festival, splash!, and Lollapalooza Berlin.
He, along with co-founder Thomas Resch, stepped down from Germany’s Goodlive in July 2021, making way for a new management structure.
After a two-year hiatus from the live industry, Lehmkuhl will now book concerts, residencies and theatre productions for the historic 1,7000-capacity theatre, which BMG recently took a two-year lease on.
Working alongside him at the venue will be event producer Parker Tilghman, known in Berlin and beyond by their alias Pansy. For the last decade, they have created acclaimed underground performance events and club nights in some of the city’s most prominent institutions like SO36, Deutsche Oper, Volksbühne, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, and more.
BMG Chief Content Officer Dominique Casimir says: “Taking a two-year lease on the Theater des Westens was a statement of intent. The appointment of Stefan and Pansy shows the extent of our ambition. Stefan is known for his creative booking and for producing events with visual flair and artistic integrity. With his help we will take the Theater des Westens to an entirely new level and make it a premier entertainment destination in Berlin.”
“Early feedback from artists and managers has been positive, with particular interest in the residency format”
Lehmkuhl adds: “I am excited to join in collaboration with BMG as my first consultant and curation project after a two-year hiatus from the industry. We are offering artists completely new opportunities that have not existed in Berlin before in a truly gorgeous setting.
“We are open to collaborating with agents, managers and event organisers, internationally and nationally, even beyond music, and welcome inquiries. I am grateful for Dominique’s trust and look forward to working with her, Pansy and the team at BMG. Early feedback from artists and managers has been positive, with particular interest in the residency format.”
Pansy comments: “The new format will be of particular interest to established artists who want to present a high-end show at a beautiful venue in the heart of Berlin rather than embarking on a regular tour. We look forward to pairing them with local, underground performers that keep our city so special and unique.”
Michael Schacke, Undercover CEO and responsible for BMG’s live strategy in GSA, said: “With the opening of Berlin’s Theater des Westens for live concerts, residencies and performances, the next piece of the puzzle of BMG’s live strategy falls into place. With Undercover as tour and local promoter in GSA and the Taubertal Festival, TDW now adds one of the most beautiful and exciting live venues in Europe that gives us more opportunities to work with artists and their management in the live segment.”
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2023 lineups take shape: Superbloom, Sziget and more
Superbloom, Standon Calling, Sziget, Shaky Knees and Kite’s 2023 lineups are taking shape, with rafts of new additions announced.
After its successful debut this year, Goodlive’s Superbloom returns to Munich’s Olympiapark on 2 and 3 September, 2023.
Imagine Dragons, Martin Garrix, Ellie Goulding, Marteria, Badmómzjay, Zara Larsson, Ofenbach, Aurora, LostFrequencies, Giant Rooks, Years & Years and Cat Burns are among the first wave of confirmations for the second instalment.
The inaugural edition sold out, welcoming 50,000 fans each day. Goodlive director Fruzsina Szép reflected on the successful launch in an IQ inteview.
Standon Calling has announced Years & Years, Self Esteem, Bloc Party and The Human League
Elsewhere, the UK’s Standon Calling has announced that Years & Years, Self Esteem, Bloc Party and The Human League will headline the 2023 offering.
Anastacia, Confidence Man, Dylan, Squid, Katy B, KT Tunstall and Melanie C will also perform at the 17th edition of the boutique music and arts festival.
Festival founder and director Alex Trenchard says “We’re so proud of this year’s progress in booking a gender-balanced headline bill.”
The Broadwick Live-owned festival will return to the Hertfordshire countryside between 20 and 23 July 2023.
Across the Atlantic, Shaky Knees has confirmed headliners The Killers, Muse and The Lumineers for the 10th-anniversary edition.
Shaky Knees has confirmed headliners The Killers, Muse and The Lumineers for the 10th-anniversary edition
More than 60 bands will perform across four stages during the 2023 festival, slated for 5–7 May at Central Park, downtown Atlanta.
Greta Van Fleet, Tenacious D, Hozier, The Mars Volta, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Flaming Lips performing “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots,” Cypress Hill performing “Black Sunday” have also been announced.
The festival is promoted by Live Nation subsidiary C3 Presents, who today announced new festival Palm Tree in Aspen.
Elsewhere, Hungary’s Sziget festival has unveiled the first wave of artists for next year, including headliners Billie Eilish, Florence & The Machine, David Guetta and Imagine Dragons.
Other confirmations include Sam Fender, Foals, Niall Horan, Yungblud, Jamie xx and Nothing But Thieves.
Tinderbox has lined up Maroon 5, George Ezra, Jada, bbno$ and Oliver Malcolm
Europe’s biggest festival will return to Óbuda Island in Budapest between 10 and 15 August 2023.
In Denmark, Tinderbox has lined up Maroon 5, George Ezra, Jada, bbno$ and Oliver Malcolm for the 2023 event, between 22–24 June in Odense, Funen.
Last year, the festival broke records when a daily number of 48,000 people visited the festival again after two years of cancellations.
The UK’s Kite festival today announced it will return for a second year, with musical artists including Hot Chip, Suede, Candi Staton, Lynks and Sarathy Korwar.
Hailed as a “festival of ideas and music,” the Oxfordshire event will also feature authors, actors, comedians, journalists, motivational speakers and more. The festival is set for 9–11 June at Kirtlington Park.
See more festival lineup announcements from the likes of Roskilde, Primavera and Nova Rock here.
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