Lucca Summer Festival ticket sales up 53%
More than 200,000 tickets have been sold for this year’s Lucca Summer Festival (LSF) concert series in Italy.
Promoted by D’Alessandro e Galli (Di & Gi), the long-running Tuscany festival commenced its 2024 edition on Sunday (2 June) with a show by Eric Clapton. The event, which concludes in late July, will feature a record 19 events, with nine featuring exclusively domestic artists.
Staged in the Mura Storiche area, next to the Lucca City Walls, the 40,000-cap event also utilises a second, 8,000-cap venue. This year’s sales represent an increase of 53% on last year, according to Breaking Latest News, boosted by two gigs with Ed Sheeran on 8-9 June. Seven percent of tickets for Sheeran’s concerts have been bought by overseas fans.
Other performers lined up include Swedish House Mafia, Rod Stewart, the Smashing Pumpkins, Lenny Kravitz, Diana Krall, John Fogerty, Mika, Sam Smith, Duran Duran and Toto.
“What we are about to experience will be the best edition of LSF ever”
“After more than 25 years of activity it now seems impossible to improve and instead I think I can say that what we are about to experience will be the best edition of LSF ever,” said Mimmo D’Alessandro, artistic director of the festival and CEO of Di & Gi, ahead of the event. “It will be a joy for us to welcome music legends and big names from the new international scene to our stage. Each musical genre is represented with excellence and this will give a vast audience the opportunity to enjoy great evenings of music in Lucca.”
First held in 1998, LSF celebrated its 25th anniversary last year with acts such as Blur, Kiss, Robbie Williams, Bob Dylan, Norah Jones and Lil Nas X. Di & Gi extended its agreement with the municipal council to 2028 earlier this year.
Sister event La Prima Estate, meanwhile, returns to the Tuscan coast this month for its third edition. Taking place across the weekends of 14-16 & 21-23, it will star the likes of Peggy Gou, Paolo Nutini, Fontaines DC, Kasabian, Phoenix, Jane’s Addiction, Dinosaur Jr and Michael Kiwanuka.
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2024 fests: Superbloom, Pinkpop, La Prima Estate
With the 2024 festival season now upon us, a number of forthcoming events are unveiling their completed bills.
Germany’s Superbloom Festival has announced OneRepublic as its final headliner, joining acts such as Sam Smith, Calvin Harris and Shirin David at Munich’s Olympic Park on 7-8 September. The 50,000-cap festival debuted in 2022 and will also feature The Chainsmokers, Burna Boy, Louis Tomlinson, Nothing But Thieves, RIN, Tokio Hotel, Niall Horan, Jorja Smith and Kenya Grace, among others.
In Portugal, Super Bock Super Rock will be headlined by Måneskin, 21 Savage and Stormzy, backed by the likes of Royal Blood, Tom Morello, Black Coffee, Slow J, Mahalia, Fisher, Vulfpeck and Will Butler on Meco Beach, South Lisbon, from 18-20 July.
Måneskin and Royal Blood will also grace legendary Dutch festival Pinkpop, which will also welcome superstars such as Calvin Harris, Ed Sheeran, Keane, Nothing But Thieves, Avril Lavigne, Hozier, Greta Van Fleet, Louis Tomlinson, Yungblud, Pendulum, Babymetal, James Arthur, Oliver Heldens, Corey Taylor and Jane’s Addiction to Landgraaf between 21-23 June.
Plus, the third edition of La Prima Estate in Tuscany, Italy, will star Peggy Gou, Paolo Nutini, Fontaines DC, Kasabian, Phoenix, Jane’s Addiction, Dinosaur Jr and Michael Kiwanuka across two weekends – 14-16 & 21-23 June.
Multi-day London open-air concert series South Facing Festival will host headliners Grace Jones (26 July), Future Islands (27 July), Popcaan’s Unruly Fest (28 July), The Roots, De La Soul and The Pharcyde (1 August), Cloud X (2 August),Major League DJz (3 August), Yussef Dayes presents Summer Dayes (4 August), Jess Glynne (9 August) and Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley (10 August).
Meanwhile, the 12th Elbjazz Festival in Hamburg, Germany, will be topped by Faithless, Jungle, The Streets and BADBADNOTGOOD from 7-8 June.
Taking place in creative hub Nuanu City, 15 minutes outside of Canggu, from 26-28 July, Bali’s Suara Festival has dropped its phase two lineup with talent including Neil Frances, Youngr, Brandt Brauer Frick, Ramengvrl, Yung Raja and Aussies Angus and Julia Stone. Previously announced acts include LP Giobbi, HVOB (live), Rodriguez Jr. (live), Mansionair and Lastlings, as well as Geju, Deer Jade and Sainte Vie (live).
Elsewhere, Oasis Festival returns to the The Source in Marrakech, Morocco, from 6-8 September. Its first wave of acts includes Laurent Garnier, Jungle, Amine K, HAAi, Jyoty and TSHA.
And Latin music spectacular Besame Mucho Festival will return to Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium on 21 December, topped by Shakira. It will showcase more than 65 artists including Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull, Los Tigres del Norte, Juanes, Banda MS, Enanitos Verdes.
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Di & Gi primed for historic festival summer
Italian promoter D’Alessandro e Galli (Di & Gi) is all set for a historic season as its flagship Lucca Summer Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary.
The month-long Tuscany concert series, which kicks off later this month, has welcomed the likes of the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Roger Waters, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Tom Jones, Van Morrison, Roger Waters, Stevie Wonder and Ennio Morricone since launching in 1998.
Staged in the Mura Storiche area, next to the Lucca City Walls, the 40,000-cap event also utilises a second, 8,000-cap venue and has already sold out its opening two nights by KISS (29 June) and Simply Red (1 July). Other artists include Bob Dylan, Norah Jones, Lil Nas X, Blur and Robbie Williams, who headlines the closing night on 28 July.
“I think it’s one of the best line-ups we’ve ever had, we are all convinced about this,” Di & Gi’s Enrico D’Alessandro tells IQ. “We have legends of music like KISS – who have chosen Lucca for their very last show in Italy – Simply Red and Blur with their reunion tour.
“We also have Robbie Williams coming back, the Chemical Brothers and newer acts like One Republic or Lil Nas X, so we are very happy. It is selling very well – KISS and Simply Red are already sold out and other shows are close to selling out.”
“The major change is that we are no longer going to have six nights in a row, we are splitting the six nights over two weekends
He continues: “Lucca Summer Festival is very established. It took 25 years because the first edition was 25 years ago. But I think it is now established among the European festival field.”
Meanwhile, Di & Gi’s 10,000-cap La Prima Estate, which debuted in 2022, is returning for its second year with a slightly tweaked format. The festival will be held over two weekends from 16-25 June in Lido di Camaiore on the Tuscan coast, an hour from Florence.
Targeting a younger demographic to Lucca, weekend one will be headlined by Nas, Bon Iver and Bicep, with the second weekend topped by Alt-J, Jamiroquai and Metro Boomin.
“The major change this year is that we are no longer going to have six nights in a row in one week, we are splitting the six nights over two weekends,” explains D’Alessandro. “But the concept is still the same: to try to offer the audiences something more than a live concert because, that’s what people are demanding now. And right now, 75% of the tickets have been sold outside Tuscany, so people are coming to experience a vacation.”
La Prima Estate has been designed to combine the festival and holiday experiences, with the beach and stage just a few minutes walk away from each other, yoga and mindfulness courses on offer in the morning, as well as sailing and windsurfing lessons, and cycling trips with professional cyclists up into the Versilia hills.
“The Italian audience has a different conception of a festival. They prefer a more comfortable situation”
“We announced it [last year] while the country was still in a state of emergency because of Covid, so we had only three months to promote such a new festival with such a different format, but we had a good result in the end,” notes D’Alessandro. “We did something like 20,000 people and we ended up being the most mentioned festival in the Italian media. The idea of a festival that could be associated with a vacation was something that caught their attention.”
The event will also feature domestic talent including Dardust, Nation of Language, Elasi, Ele A and BigMama, as well as international acts like Japanese Breakfast, Chet Faker and Kings Of Convenience.
“I think that the Italian audience has a different conception of a festival,” suggests D’Alessandro. “It wouldn’t work to have a multi stage festival with music starting at noon, because they prefer a more comfortable situation, so we’ve kind of created a hybrid with more artists, but only one stage and starting at sunset. We saw some [Italian] festivals trying a format more similar to the European kind in the past, but it didn’t really work.”
D’Alessandro adds that ticket prices for both Di & Gi festivals have been kept as low as possible.
“I think our ticket prices are lower than the average for concerts in Italy right now,” he says. “We think it’s the right thing to do, even if costs are increasing. The post Covid situation is very difficult; it’s difficult to find personnel and it’s difficult to find all the material you need to build the venue. Because of that, we had a different strategy this year: we actually started to set up the stage on 8 May – 40 days before kickoff – because we were worried about the risk of not being ready in time.”
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Inside Di and Gi’s new La Prima Estate festival
Italy’s D’Alessandro e Galli (Di and Gi) is targeting a younger demographic with its new 10,000-cap Tuscany festival La Prima Estate, according to organisers.
The six-day festival will debut in Bussola Domani Park in Lido Di Camaiore, Versilia from 21-26 June, with headline acts including Duran Duran, The National and Bonobo.
Di and Gi, which also runs the region’s established, month-long Lucca Summer Festival, is billing La Prima Estate – which translates to “the first summer” – as “the ultimate festival holiday destination”, combining live shows with a series of unique experiences drawing on the beauty and culture of the local area. Activities will include art, wine and culinary experiences, as well as mindfulness and sports.
“We have an unbelievably beautiful venue, a brand new park, just 50 metres from the beach. It’s the perfect place for a festival,” promoter Enrico D’Alessandro tells IQ. “We’re going to have six consecutive nights, with four artists on stage every night. But we’re also going to sell packages that include not only a hotel, but also a beach cabana, and we’re going to plan activities all day for the audience. This place is a natural paradise, so you can do cooking events with major chefs on the beach, cycle events with professionals, meet and greets and yoga at dawn.
“We want to give the full package to the audience. The event itself is no longer enough, we have to provide a full vacation experience and this festival will be all about that.”
“For audiences today, just attending a conference is no longer enough”
With other artists on the bill including Courtney Barnett, Easy Life, Jungle, Mura Masa and Beabadoobee, with more to be announced this month, D’Alessandro says the musical direction is along similar lines to Primavera Sound and Sonar.
“We’re looking for a younger audience, although not so young,” he says. “The park is huge, but it is going to be split between a concert area and a big food and beverage and leisure area because we want to create a very relaxed atmosphere,” he says. “We want people to enjoy the full experience – that’s what we think the future of live music will be and that’s what we think the offering of live events should include.”
The festival will take over the whole town of Lido Di Camaiore and will be topped off by aftershow parties at nightclubs, hosted by the Apollo Club from Milan, each night.
“Our impression as promoters of live music is that for audiences today, just attending a concert is no longer enough,” adds Di and Gi CEO Mimmo D’Alessandro. “La Prima Estate wants to build on this desire, accelerated by the post-pandemic euphoria to fully enjoy free time, and combine an evening of live music with a series of experiences related to sport, the sea, food and other incredible activities during the rest of the festival goers’ stay. A new concept of a festival for which we consider Versilia and Tuscany to be the ideal place.”
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