The Rolling Stones announce North American tour
The Rolling Stones have announced a 16-city stadium tour of the US and Canada for 2024.
The legendary band, who released Hackney Diamonds – their first album of original material since 2005 – last month, say they will perform their most popular hits and “fan favourite deep cuts” on the run, along with music from their new LP.
Presented by AEG/Concerts West, the tour will stop at Houston’s NRG Stadium (28 April), New Orleans Jazz Fest (2 May), State Farm Stadium in Glendale (7 May), Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas (11 May), Lumen Field, Seattle (15 May), MetLife Stadium, New Jersey (23 May) and Gillette Stadium, Foxborough (30 May).
It will then continue on to Orlando’s Camping World Stadium (3 June), Mercedes-Benz Arena, Atlanta (7 June), Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia (11 June), Cleveland Browns Stadium (15 June), Empower Field at Mile High, Denver (20 June), Chicago Soldier Field (27 June), BC Place, Vancouver (5 July), Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium (10 July) and Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara (17 July).
“It’s crazy how good they are and how they just bring it every single time”
Speaking to IQ last year upon the conclusion of the group’s 60th anniversary tour, Concerts West boss John Meglen said: “I haven’t heard anybody say anything’s stopping, so we’re always there and ready. It’s for Joyce [Smyth, manager] and the guys to figure that out and, if and when, it’d be a blessing again.
“A lot of what makes it work is when you have guys like Opie [longtime Stones production manager Dale Skjerseth], a tremendous, amazing band and then the guys playing better and better. It’s crazy how good they are and how they just bring it every single time.”
AEG/Concerts West worked with a host of local promoters on the 2022 Sixty European tour, including Doctor Music/Live Nation Spain (Wanda Metropolitano, Madrid); FKP Scorpio (Olympic Stadium, Munich/Veltins Arena, Gelsenkirchen/Waldbühne, Berlin); Di and Gi/Live Nation Italy (San Siro, Milan); Mojo Concerts (Johan Cruyff Arena, Amsterdam); Greenhouse Talent (Kingbaudoin Stadium, Brussels); Barracuda Music (Ernst Happel Stadium, Vienna); Live Nation France (Hippodrome de Longchamps, Paris) and Live Nation Sweden (Friends Arena, Stockholm).
The run grossed US$121,326,763 at the box office from 712,641 ticket sales.
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AEG Presents/Concerts West celebrate 20 years in Vegas
AEG Presents and its subsidiary Concerts West are marking 20 years of events and residencies in Las Vegas, US.
Two decades ago, AEG Presents and Concerts West (founded by Tom Hulett in 1967) launched the first-ever modern-day residency with superstar Celine Dion, whose 16-year run at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace remains the most successful Las Vegas residency of all time.
Dion performed 1,141 shows for over 4.5 million fans, paving the way for artists including Elton John, Cher, Bette Midler, Mariah Carey, Shania Twain, Reba and Brooks & Dunn and Rod Stewart.
Concerts West booked and operated The Colosseum from 2003 to 2019, and welcomed over 10.3 million fans to the venue which exceeded $1.4 billion in ticket revenue.
In 2009, the promoter launched the first-ever rock ‘n’ roll residency in Las Vegas with Santana at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, for 71 performances at the venue through 2011.
In the decade that followed, they welcomed a number of extended rock engagements to the legendary venue, including Guns N’ Roses, Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe, before becoming the exclusive booker and operator of the rebranded Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas (established Sept. 2021).
In 2019, AEG Presents extended the residency model at Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas, with marquee artists such as Lionel Richie, Bryan Adams and Sebastian Maniscalco helping to put the venue on Billboard’s annual list of highest-grossing venues in the world in its category.
“We’re so grateful to have been such a part of the long history of entertainment in this remarkable city”
In 2021, in a joint development with Resorts World Las Vegas, Concerts West/AEG Presents became the exclusive booker and operator of the Resorts World Theatre, the newest and most technologically advanced venue on the Las Vegas Strip. It has since launched the residencies of Carrie Underwood, Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and David Blaine.
In 2022, Resorts World Theatre was named the highest-grossing venue in the world for a capacity of 5,000 or less in Billboard’s year-end boxscore charts.
In addition to opening these venues, Concerts West/AEG Presents has also consistently booked performances at several other popular Las Vegas Strip venues, including properties such as Wynn Las Vegas, Paris Las Vegas, Bally’s Las Vegas, Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, Park MGM/ Dolby Live, Venetian Las Vegas, the Michelob ULTRA Arena, the MGM Grand Garden Arena, The Beach at Mandalay Bay and others.
“We’re so grateful to have been such a part of the long history of entertainment in this remarkable city,” says John Meglen, president and co-CEO of Concerts West. “We’re thankful to all of the artists who have trusted us to help them build such an important part of their performing careers, and we are proud of all of our employees who have helped us achieve this…many of them from the very first day, twenty years ago.”
In celebration of their 20th anniversary in Vegas, entertainment fans will have the opportunity to enter to win a Grand Prize to win a pair of tickets to twenty shows playing now through April 1, 2024. That includes concerts from the likes of Katy Perry, Brad Paisley, Sabrina Carpenter, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan.
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ILMC 35: Industry heads tackle big topics
ILMC 35 kicked off with the traditional Open Forum session with this year’s host, Maria May from CAA, addressing a swathe of issues, while looking back on a monumental year for live music around the world.
May noted various statistics about the growth of the business in 2022, including the fact that ticket prices for Pollstar’s top 100 tours had increased by more than 10%, before posing a question to her guests about whether those biggest-selling productions should be doing anything to support the grassroots side of the business.
Obi Asika from United Talent Agency noted that the year ahead was looking like it would be the strongest he has ever had, reporting that his dance music and afrobeat acts were doing great business. And answering a question about the stadium business harming grassroots, he stated, “I’m more worried about the stadium effect on festivals. But I don’t see it as an issue; it’s just different.”
“We have to be brave and inclusive if we want to have new headliners”
When it comes to helping grassroots acts, he added, “We have to be brave and inclusive if we want to have new headliners.”
Q Prime Management’s Tara Richardson contested: “There’s a whole generation of ticket buyers who have skipped [going to] sweaty clubs because they have been stuck indoors during the pandemic.”
But she agreed that perhaps stadiums could support grassroots venues through sponsorship or some other system. “The record labels and publishers develop talent, but the live side seems to be the only part that does not throw money back toward grassroots,” she observed.
Addressing the issue of spiralling costs, Herman Schueremans of Live Nation Belgium admitted that most people in the business had not expected such big rises. “The bottom line is that it’s a thing of give and take – listen to each other and be nicer to each other,” Schueremans pleaded. Looking back at 2022, he reported, “By respecting people and paying part [of the money] in advance and the balance the day after show, it worked really well.
“You cannot avoid rising costs – you have to live with it and deal with it. It might mean we have to work harder but earn less. Making a profit is important, but it’s not the most important.”
“The live side seems to be the only part that does not throw money back toward grassroots”
On a related note, talking about all the various challenges that the live sector is facing, Asika pointed to the example of some of his African artists who have had all kinds of obstacles to overcome to establish careers outside of their own countries. “However complex it is, we can figure it out,” he said. “There are enough ideas and enough good people to figure it out – it’s part of the fun.”
Tackling the controversial topic of dynamic pricing, John Meglen from Concerts West noted, “Most shows do not sell out, but at the very high end it’s a very simple supply and demand issue [and] dynamic pricing is a business decision. If you sell a ticket for $100 but then watch it be resold for $500, the artist should be receiving that money, not the tout.”
Meglen suggested that blaming the ticketing system for any issues was a cop-out. “It’s up to us to set those business rules – we cannot be blaming the ticketing systems, he said. “We have an issue of pricing, and we have a resale issue. We need to make sure that the money [remains] in our business. If we’re getting market value for our tickets, the artists are going to earn more and it’s not someone outside business making the money.”
Q Prime’s Richardson drew comparisons with the price of theatre tickets when it comes to tour pricing, but also had a pragmatic idea on how the teams involved in tour planning could better handle the subject. “Maybe there needs to be a middle ground where we involve tour accountants before we route – and we have a plan A, plan B, and plan C for the tour and the production, depending on the ticket price.”
“We have an issue of pricing, and we have a resale issue”
The session also looked at how the live music industry can attract a more diverse workforce, with the speakers agreeing that more needs to be done – from the top of the business downwards – to make true and meaningful progress.
Engaging in a debate regarding the environmental impact of the live music sector, Schueremans revealed, “At Rock Werchter 2022 we recycled or recouped 95% of our plastic. It was a hell of a challenge, but we did it and we should not just be doing it as festivals, we need to do it at all shows.”
However, Richardson concluded that rather than beat up the festivals and tours, “We’d be better off having a huge industry lobby to do something about the six big companies who are contributing most to carbon emissions.”
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John Meglen: ‘Live is never going away’
Concerts West president and co-CEO John Meglen has discussed the state of play in the global touring industry in a new interview.
Speaking to IQ, the veteran promoter acknowledges the difficulties for the business since the post-Covid restart but seeks to accentuate the positives.
“I’m hoping we’re coming out of a difficult period that was created by the pandemic, which included the loss of vendors, [challenges] trying to find trucks and buses and rescheduling shows,” he says. “The business is good if you’re doing it right. But at the same time, I’ve seen people out there that just aren’t doing it right.
“There is tremendous amount of inventory this year and big numbers coming out of things like K-pop that we didn’t have not that long ago. I’m pleasantly surprised at how well a lot of things are selling.”
Los Angeles-based Meglen has worked with the likes of the Rolling Stones, Roger Waters, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry, and was instrumental in the creation of the modern Las Vegas residency model with Celine Dion’s A New Day show in 2003.
AEG/Concerts West recently presided over the Stones’ sold-out Sixty anniversary tour, which ran from 1 June to 3 August, generating US$121,326,763 from total ticket sales of 712,641. Meglen has also overseen Roger Waters’ North American tour, which comes to a close this weekend at the 20,000-cap American Airlines Center in Dallas.
“People still want to go out and see great shows and great artists, and our job is to make that environment and that situation comfortable”
“We’re in the process of finishing Roger Waters’ North America tour right now and they’ve had a very strict [Covid] protocol. They’ve stuck to it, but it’s not easy right now – you really have to be prepared,” he says.
And echoing comments by AEG Presents UK boss Steve Homer, Meglen highlights the need for restraint in the market.
“I think we’re all being a little cautious right now,” he says. “You’re coming out of the pandemic and then with what’s going on in the economy and politically in the world today, you’re trying to be as smart as you can.”
Concerts West appointed a new VP of touring earlier this week in Jesse Stoll, who is tasked with identifying touring opportunities and building touring relationships and partnerships. And Meglen finishes on an upbeat note for the future.
“People still want to go out and see great shows and great artists, and our job is to make that environment and that situation comfortable for both the public and the artists,” he concludes. “So as long as we can keep doing that, we’ll be okay. Live is live and it’s never going away. You can’t print more of it – you’re either there or you’re not there, so we work on the ‘you’re there’ part.”
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Concerts West names Jesse Stoll as VP of touring
AEG Presents subsidiary Concerts West has appointed Jesse Stoll as VP of touring.
Based in Los Angeles, Stoll’s duties will include identifying touring opportunities and building touring relationships and partnerships.
“I am incredibly excited and hungry to dive in full force to the global touring space with Concerts West,” says Stoll, “I have grown up with the AEG family and there aren’t many companies that drive home the toughness, drive and true grit spirit of what embodies an all-around concert promoter. John and Paul’s close attention and treatment of their touring artists as real partners on all cylinders is unmatched at the highest level of service.”
“Jesse brings 14 years of booking experience, deep relationships, and a passion for live entertainment”
The son of late concert promoter Jon Stoll of Fantasma Productions, Jesse Stoll joined AEG Presents in 2008 as an operations coordinator, producing and organising numerous festivals and shows across the Southeast region, and went on to become a full-time talent buyer.
“We are thrilled to welcome Jesse to the Concerts West team,” adds Concerts West co-CEO John Meglen. “Jesse brings 14 years of booking experience, deep relationships, and a passion for live entertainment. I worked with Jesse’s father Jon Stoll for many years, he was a close friend. Jon would be proud to see his son follow in his footsteps and build upon the family legacy.”
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John Meglen on the Rolling Stones’ Sixty tour
Promoting heavyweight John Meglen has given IQ the inside track on the Rolling Stones’ 60th anniversary tour.
Running from 1 June to 3 August, the 14-date AEG/Concerts West-promoted Sixty European stadium tour was a complete sell-out, generating US$121,326,763 from total ticket sales of 712,641.
With the exception of a scheduled stop in Switzerland at Bern’s 45,000-cap Wankdorf Stadium being cancelled due to Mick Jagger testing positive for Covid, Meglen considers the tour to have been a roaring triumph in the face of well-documented challenges.
“I won’t say it was the easiest show we ever did, it was tough out there, but I would call it a total team effort,” says the Concerts West boss. “We had very well planned out Covid protocols that everyone stuck to. We had one hiccup, but considering that we were running from country to country to country with different policies, regulations and procedures that you have to stay constantly updated on, you’ve got to give credit to every single person on the tour for sticking to those plans. That’s what really helped us out.”
He continues: “We’ve all seen recently, post Covid, where you [sell] the show out in the last few days because people want to make sure it’s going to happen and that it’s not going to get rescheduled or cancelled. Unfortunately, we’ve had much more of that than we’ve had in the past. But the business was amazing.”
“They absolutely are the greatest in the world, there’s no question about it”
AEG/Concerts West worked with a host of local promoters on the tour, including Doctor Music/Live Nation Spain (Wanda Metropolitano, Madrid); FKP Scorpio (Olympic Stadium, Munich/Veltins Arena, Gelsenkirchen/Waldbühne, Berlin); Di and Gi/Live Nation Italy (San Siro, Milan); Mojo Concerts (Johan Cruyff Arena, Amsterdam); Greenhouse Talent (Kingbaudoin Stadium, Brussels); Barracuda Music (Ernst Happel Stadium, Vienna); Live Nation France (Hippodrome de Longchamps, Paris) and Live Nation Sweden (Friends Arena, Stockholm).
Meglen paid tribute to the wider Stones’ team, which is headed by manager Joyce Smyth.
“They’re all wonderful,” he says. “Joyce Smyth is absolutely amazing and has a tremendous team around her. Our Concerts West team has now worked with them for years and years; there’s a sense of family when we’re out on the road and we take care of each other. That goes all the way from Mick, Keith [Richards], Ronnie [Wood], all the way down through everybody else on the tour.
“It’s a blessing of working with these guys. They absolutely are the greatest in the world, there’s no question about it.”
UK dates comprised a 36,917-cap concert at Liverpool FC’s Anfield Stadium and two 65,000-cap nights at London’s BST Hyde Park. Each show began with a video tribute to the Stones’ legendary drummer Charlie Watts, who died last year aged 80.
“I haven’t heard anybody say anything’s stopping, so we’re always there and ready”
“I get chills and teary-eyed virtually every time I watch it,” says Meglen. “I can only speak for myself personally, but I miss that man tremendously. He was such a gent, such a talent and an incredible guy.”
He adds: “[Replacement drummer] Steve Jordan is amazing. He just came in and didn’t miss a step. He provides a different energy, but I think he very much respects how Charlie played and tries to represent that.”
The band’s previous No Filter tour was comfortably the highest-grossing of 2021, garnering $115,498,182 – almost $30m clear of their nearest contender, Harry Styles. And despite reaching their diamond anniversary, there has been no suggestion that Sixty marked the end of the Stones’ touring years.
“I haven’t heard anybody say anything’s stopping, so we’re always there and ready,” says Meglen. “It’s for Joyce and the guys to figure that out and, if and when, it’d be a blessing again.
“A lot of what makes it work is when you have guys like Opie [longtime Stones production manager Dale Skjerseth], a tremendous, amazing band and then the guys playing better and better. It’s crazy how good they are and how they just bring it every single time.”
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