Numbers of the Beast: Heavy metal in focus

Forged in steel and wrapped in denim and leather, to outsiders it can seem like there’s an admirable immovability about the world of live metal. Ear-rattling volume. Banged heads. An often bruised and bloodied fanbase willing to stick by their favourites through thick and thin.

Beyond the hairy, tattooed surface of the scene, however, there are changes afoot. With the post-Covid hangover of delayed tours and customer uncertainty finally fading, fans and festivals are looking to the future, with a boom in new bands, innovations, and market players not seen for decades.

“I think the metal scene is at its healthiest point right now,” says Andy Copping, executive president of touring at Live Nation UK and lead booker for Download Festival, which celebrated its 21st edition this year, with 75,000 attendees.

“Heritage acts like Metallica, Iron Maiden, and AC/DC are doing bigger business than they’ve ever done. The next generation of headliners – Bring Me The Horizon, Lamb of God, Trivium, Bullet for My Valentine, Parkway Drive, Ghost – are lining up. And there’s a whole other generation on the rise: Lorna Shore, Loathe, Spiritbox, and Sleep Token [see page 54], who are absolutely taking the world by storm.”

Indeed, Metallica’s M72 World Tour – delivering two unique shows in each of nine cities – grossed an impressive $125.8m across its first 18 dates in 2023, with 1.2m tickets sold. Iron Maiden saw their highest-ever sales, 45 years into their career, including breaking records for an international act in Colombia with 42,000 tickets for their 24 November show at El Campín Stadium snapped up in 21 minutes. Bring Me The Horizon’s largely sold-out January UK/Ireland tour, meanwhile, saw the Sheffield contenders follow a long-awaited Download headline with 137,000 tickets over 11 shows.

“The metal scene is at its healthiest point right now”

“People say that rock is dead,” Copping continues. “But rock is never really dead. This is a genre that just keeps pumping and pumping. If you look back at [Download’s predecessor at Donington] Monsters of Rock, that festival didn’t move with the times. In the early 90s, it should’ve embraced bands like Rage Against The Machine, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam but instead it just faded away.

“At Download, we’ve always been very conscious about keeping a finger on the pulse, and taking gambles on bands like Slipknot, who performed their first major festival headline in 2009, and Avenged Sevenfold, who first headlined in 2014 and will do so for a third time this year. Pushing the boundaries is important, whether that be booking ‘electronic’ acts like The Prodigy or Pendulum, or the ‘rock’ headliners we have for 2024. And we benefit from the fact that bands aren’t forced into pigeonholes anymore, like how it used to be that Motörhead fans couldn’t like Bon Jovi.”

Tomasz Ochab of Poland’s Knock Out promotions, whose annual Mystic Festival welcomed between 11,000 and 14,000 fans a day at the start of June, concurs. “There’s a growing openness from metal fans. We’re seeing black metallers Furia tour alongside techno act Zamilska, for instance, and audiences at festivals welcoming everything from punk and hardcore to dark folk and horror rap. That was unthinkable five years ago. Also, it’s possible to combine older and younger acts, like Megadeth and Enter Shikari, which may have to do with the increasingly multi-generational make-up of our audiences, with parents often alongside along their teenagers.”

“Fans are adopting a more genre-fluid attitude towards music consumption”

Breaking the Law
So-called ‘gatekeepers’ of the metal scene take pride in imagined exclusivity. True to Copping’s point, that cynicism has been replaced by excitement. With traditional genre boundaries continuing to blur, and even the heaviest and weirdest outliers engaged on social media, there is an increasing desire from metal fans to experiment and embrace acts outside the box.

“Fans are adopting a more genre-fluid attitude towards music consumption, pushing the boundaries of what we’ve historically witnessed among metal enthusiasts,” says Chamie McCurry, general manager of the United States’ Danny Wimmer Productions (DWP), who kicked off 2024 with Welcome to Rockville festival breaking company records with over 200,000 in attendance at Florida’s Daytona International Speedway May 9-12.

Their Sonic Temple showcase, which welcomed 138,000 fans across four days in Columbus, Ohio, took place on the following weekend. While tested headliners Foo Fighters and Disturbed were key, the prominent inclusion of acts like Tennessee rapper Jelly Roll, Texan instrumentalists Polyphia and London grime-punks Bob Vylan prove the trend.

“This shift is driving the creation of pioneering hybrid styles within the metal genre, melding disparate sounds in ways that profoundly connect with audiences,” McCurry stresses. “Culturally, it’s seen in unexpected [phenomena] like the integration of metal merchandise into conventional fashion and in groundbreaking collaborations that defy traditional genre constraints.”

“Metal audiences’ tastes are evolving significantly, driven by those new acts”

It’s not just in the festival sphere. After the viral success of 2020 single Hypa Hypa, ‘electronicore’ sensations Electric Callboy skyrocketed post-pandemic, with their synth-heavy sounds inspiring a completely sold-out 2023 German tour [60,000 tickets], including a landmark hometown show at Cologne’s 20,000-cap Lanxess Arena, and an equally packed circuit of the UK’s 1,500-5,000-cap Academy venues. Callboy’s recent collaborators BABYMETAL continued their ‘Kawaii-metal’ expansion with 94 performances across 25 countries and total headline attendance of 240,000.

Andrea Pieroni of Italy’s MC2 Live continues to see the success of tried-and-tested acts (34,000 tickets sold-out for Iron Maiden in Milan, 42,000 sold-out for Rammstein in Padova, and 15,000 for Pantera in Bologna in 2023), but those on the cutting-edge like Bring Me The Horizon (10,000 sold- out), Electric Callboy, Polyphia and Lorna Shore (3,500 each sold out) in Milan are closing in.

“Metal audiences’ tastes are evolving significantly, driven by those new acts,” he tells IQ. “It’s interesting to see how modern bands use their platforms to explore complex themes and social issues. For instance, Lorna Shore’s 2023 album Pain Remains delves deep into existential [rumi- nation] and mental health. Fans resonate with that emotional depth, which in turn drives their important support for the live music industry.”

Julia Frank, head of booking at Wizard Live (and head of Frankfurt’s Green Party), is unsurprised at the trend towards progressiveness in the genre. Citing the 30,000+ tickets sold by Judas Priest across dates in Frankfurt, Munich, and Dortmund earlier this year, and five further German arena shows this summer – twice the numbers done on previous tours – as their greatest recent success, she emphasises how the Birmingham icons are emblematic of metal’s often-hidden heart.

“Others see the long hair, denim and leather, and think nothing’s changed since the 1980s. But it has…”

“Outsiders struggle to see it sometimes but metal has always had the most diverse, inclusive crowd,” she observes. “There’s more queer representation, more women in prominent places. [Motorcycle-straddling Priest frontman] Rob Halford has been a gay icon for what feels like forever. It’s been almost 15 years since Life of Agony’s Mina Caputo and Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace came out as trans.

“In other genres, those things still feel like big developments, but they’ve been going on in this world for a long time. The same thing applies with metalheads’ approach to issues like mental health, climate change, and safe spaces for women. Yes, we have some problematic individuals, but it’s a genre where people tend to have more consideration for each other. Others see the long hair, denim and leather, and think nothing’s changed since the 1980s. But it has…”

Fabian Umiker of Switzerland’s Mainland Promotions confirms metal’s swerve toward the cultural cutting-edge is something that promoters have to be aware of. Fans are buying tickets later, with several recent examples of 30%+ being purchased on the week of the show, for instance. And there is an increased pressure to reach the relevant demographic with targeted marketing.

“Usually in metal, bands have had to work up slowly as an opener or club band and painstakingly climb towards top billing,” Umiker explains. “Now, new bands who work intensely on social media, can blow up very quickly, reaching a big audience all over the world. It feels like a very interesting evolution in this genre, rarely seen since nu-metal bands like Linkin Park in the early-2000s.”

“There’s always a risk that acts who blow up quickly become ‘disposable'”

Luuk van Gestel of Doomstar Booking echoes that caution: “There’s always a risk that acts who blow up quickly become ‘disposable.’ If you’re on TikTok, your album drops, you do a tour cycle, then a tour of way-too-big venues for way too much money. If you don’t draw a crowd, the moment’s already gone. And if you do draw one, you need to manage to pull off that trick again.”

Blood & Thunder
Increasingly, fans’ focus isn’t just on ground-breaking bands but the avenues through which they’re experienced. Events like France’s 60,000-capacity Hellfest and Germany’s 85,000-cap Wacken Open Air now routinely sell out in minutes, with the lure of reputation, onsite art installations, and online buzz ensuring fans’ interest.

Las Vegas’s Sick New World drew a reported 65,000 fans to a one-day event in 2023, with similar numbers in 2024 for a gathering of vintage nu-metal acts like System of a Down, Slipknot, and Korn, and bands influenced by that scene. Meanwhile, more boutique offerings like Norway’s multi-venue Inferno and Beyond The Gates black metal festivals and Czech Republic’s 20,000-cap Obscene Extreme continue to attract specialist crowds.

Scarborough’s Fortress Festival in the UK has been a remarkable recent success, transforming itself from a 650-cap startup to – at 1,750-cap – one of the biggest black metal gatherings in the world, in the space of two short years. “The UK black metal scene forced us into doing this, in a way,” offers Fortress organiser and booker for the UK’s Reaper Agency Gary Stephenson, of the sold-out 2024 event, which featured strong headliners Triptykon and Wolves In The Throne Room, alongside red-hot prospects Blackbraid and Gaerea. Almost 50% of available tickets for 2025 were sold the following day.

“The avenues for discovering new music are narrowing considerably”

“We’d booked numerous weekend black metal events around the UK, which sold out, so starting an event of this size and calibre was the only way to move forward. Our location is part of the appeal, reflecting a steer away from people’s appetites for multiple-day festivals in major cities. They’re crowded, expensive and, for many people, a chore to get to. In comparison, Scarborough is a quiet seaside town. Our venue is situated right on the North Sea, with beautiful views up to the town’s medieval castle.”

Tilburg’s revered (approx 4,500-cap) Roadburn Festival continues to build its brand as a brilliantly curated gathering all about discovery, originality and authenticity.

“The avenues for discovering new music are narrowing considerably,” says booker and head of publicity Becky Laverty. “Where there were once many magazines and digital outlets covering the music we programme, these are diminishing year-on-year. We receive lots of anecdotal feedback that Roadburn, and similar festivals, are replacing those traditional media outlets in terms of discovery and engagement with artists. Our audience is unusually invested in the music, art, and culture on offer.

“Bands and labels have embraced that appetite for the ‘different’ with merchandise offerings like Roadburn-only vinyl variants. Across the festival and band merchandise, and select label stalls, the average spend per attendee is around €75. There are high levels of loyalty to the event, too. Only 16% of attendees were ‘First-timers’ as per our post-festival survey for this year’s event. Comparatively, 57% had attended three or more editions, with half of those describing themselves as ‘Lifers’!”

“Roadburn is an integral part of the calendar now,” agrees Daan Holthuis of 3,000-cap main venue 013 Poppodium. “Thanks to the OFFROAD [local outreach] programme, every third week in April sees the whole city turned upside-down by a festival celebrating the cutting edge in heaviness!”

“Metal is struggling to attract new fans in Asia”

Warriors of the World
Promoters, booking agents, and bands everywhere will tell you that the greatest challenges facing metal’s live industry are not specific to metal: fuel costs following the war in Ukraine; inflation wreaking havoc where ticket prices are generally set a year before bills need to be paid; lack of confidence in a sector where the repeated failure of festivals has left customers sorely out of pocket; and a cost-of-living crisis that makes them reluctant to spend in the first place.

The inherently niche nature of the metal market does have its own pitfalls, though. And some specific solutions. Jesse Liu of Taipei’s ICON Promotions has been promoting heavy music in East Asia for 22 years but sees the genre struggling to compete with others in the region.

“Metal is struggling to attract new fans in Asia,” he says, frankly. “It’s hard to compete with genres like K-Pop, indie, and hip-hop here. As a result, it’s rare for tours here to break even. The fragmentation of the already limited metal fan- base here only adds to the problems for promoters. Suffocation fans won’t go to see a band like Tesseract. Tesseract fans won’t go to see a band like While She Sleeps. And so on. Having those pockets of a couple of hundred fans for each sub-genre means it can be very difficult for promoters to draw over 1,000 fans for a metal show – and, in turn, to attract bigger acts.

“We all do the same thing, around the same time, in different areas, so why not work together”

“For instance, our most recent shows saw Tesseract play to 200 fans, and Haken to 120. To maximise appeal, I’ll normally promote co-headline tours where possible, but in terms of the rewards reaped, it’s rarely the case that two plus two equals four. The recent Klash of the Titans co-headline between In Flames and Kreator at Beijing’s Fu Lang Live- House and the Bandai Namco Shanghai Base was a success, with more than 2,000 tickets sold across both shows. But that was helped by the fact that neither band has played China for over ten years – and it involved a cost of roughly €15,000 for visas to allow the touring party of 22 to enter the country!”

More conventional metal markets are seeing their own squeeze, too, with many promoters commenting on the seemingly excessive increase in band fees, while booking agents point to a combination of (sometimes unrealistic) expectations from band management, increased touring costs in Europe compared to the US, and a cut-throat need to recoup losses sustained over Covid.

The United Festival Force (UFF) is an alliance of seven independent European metal festivals in the month of August to present a united front to agents and bands working in the same market. “It’s been a phenomenal benefit,” says Vicky Hungerford, director of Bloodstock Open Air in the UK.

“We all do the same thing, around the same time, in different areas, so why not work together? It’s about transparency in what we do and what we want to pay. Some of the agents were terrified when it started, but they’ve come to appreciate the positives in just how quickly we get things done. We talk every day. We’ve got a WhatsApp group where we discuss upcoming bands. And we’re all indie promoters who don’t have 1,500 different people to run something past when we want to make a decision. Metal people are well-suited to that setup as we’re all always fighting to be heard. We’re all fans. We’re all united by our passion for this music!”

“It’s taken six or seven years to get to a point where the results really are about how good the bands are rather than how many friends they’ve brought along”

We Will Rise
As the UK’s biggest dedicated metal festival (25,000-cap), Bloodstock isn’t just passionate about tackling challenges in the industry, but also securing its future. Their dedicated Metal 2 The Masses competition has provided a show- case for emerging talent at local battle-of-the-bands-style heats, with every winner receiving a slot on the festival’s New Blood Stage. While older fans demanding luxury aren’t in short supply – Bloodstock’s 1,500 VIP and 300 camper tickets sell out on the day of release – it’s a canny move that not only maintains a feed of new acts, but also builds Bloodstock’s brand amongst younger fans regionally, simultaneously supporting the venues who host the heats.

“It’s about investing in the future,” smiles Hungerford’s sister and co-director Rachael Greenwood. “With social media and TikTok, there is such oversaturation. This is a chance for bands to be really heard, with the local shows generally sold-out at 150-500-capacity venues around the UK and now into Europe. People are buying those tickets to watch bands they’ve never heard before! It’s taken six or seven years to get to a point where the results really are about how good the bands are rather than how many friends they’ve brought along, but local promoters are fully onboard now they’ve realised how good it is for their venues – the type that are often going to the wall.

“Everything is done at the festival’s cost – big top, infrastructure, crew – but seeing bands like Evil Scarecrow going on to draw crowds of well over 10,000 on our main stage fuels the passion we continue to have for the project. It’s investing in metal to keep the industry alive!”

Nigel Melder, senior promoter for Live Nation Australia, echoes the importance of thriving local scenes even on the other side of the world. “There’s been a shift where we’ve seen cities and scenes really getting behind their own more so than for a very long time. That’s led to increased international recognition [and] a lot of eyes globally turning to us as an exporter of the genre.”

“There are the heavyweights whose potential has yet to be truly tested”

As everyone IQ speaks to underlines, nothing is more important than the artists that provide the spark to keep the scene rolling. And they’re continuing to hit bigger highs, harder than ever. Jonathan Almond of Scotland’s Triple G Events highlights the whole host of talent who’ve already lit up 2024 and have the juggernaut momentum to take the genre even further than before.

“Look at a band like Ice Nine Kills. They’ve grown exponentially from selling 90-150 tickets regionally to 1,500 to 2,500 locally and supporting Metallica in stadia. Polaris have gone from opening 700-cap rooms to easily selling-out 1,300. Some have a slower burn, like Counterparts or Stray From The Path, both of whom have put in so much work going slowly from 120-300-cap rooms but now feel the satisfaction as they sell out 700.

“Then there are the heavyweights whose potential has yet to be truly tested. Bad Omens went from Glasgow’s 300-capacity Cathouse to the 700-capacity Garage, selling out months in advance. They’ve since supported Bring Me The Horizon’s UK arena tour and just dropped out of a second stage headline at Download, but we’ve yet to find their ceiling. Likewise, Knocked Loose have made their way onto mainstream US mega-festivals like Coachella and Bonnaroo, and just sold-out Glasgow’s 1,300-cap SWG3 without even breaking a sweat – and that was before new album You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To catapulted them even further into the stratosphere. It’s impossible not to feel excited as new bands get that kind of reaction. So, yeah, the future’s bright. And it’s heavy as hell!”

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