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Valentine’s Day marked one of the biggest mornings of UK onsales in living memory, as fans rushed to snag tickets for stadium outings for the likes of Beyoncé, Black Sabbath and Kendrick Lamar & SZA.
The shows have added to an already jam-packed summer schedule of outdoor shows in 2025, with superstars such as Coldplay, Oasis, Dua Lipa, AC/DC, Lana Del Rey, Imagine Dragons, Guns N’ Roses and Sam Fender also lining up to perform at the biggest venues.
The latest scramble has reignited fan and media chatter about the price of entry for major concerts, with some ticket types for Beyoncé’s upcoming Cowboy Carter Tour seeing hikes of up to 50% from her last outing two years ago.
The superstar returns to London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (cap. 62,850) this June for a six-show run in support of the Award-winning album, with ticket prices ranging from £71-£950. Beyoncé sold out five shows at the same venue two years ago during her Renaissance World Tour (RWT), the second highest-grossing tour of 2023 after Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
The run grossed $579.8 million and sold 2.8 million tickets across 56 shows in North America and Europe, according to Billboard Boxscore. That venture took the Grammy Award-winner to 39 cities across 10 countries, while the upcoming trek will only visit eight cities in three countries, seeing Beyoncé play 29 total shows.
While the touring route has tightened up, ticket prices have predictably risen from her outing two years ago. Prices for seated tickets have risen by at least 20%, with the cheapest option available for these dates starting over £71.
Standing tickets took a greater hike, rising by up to 50% from 2023 prices. Fans looking to stand at the Cowboy Carter Tour can expect to pay a minimum of £220, and almost £500 to stand nearer the stage in the ‘club’ option. General standing tickets for RWT ranged from £106.80-£177.50.
“This expansion is driven by increasing consumer demand for live experiences”
Ticket prices are on the rise across all levels of touring, with Pollstar reporting average ticket prices rose 3.91% in 2024 to $135.92 (£107.80), and momentum is showing no signs of slowing.
“This expansion is driven by increasing consumer demand for live experiences fuelled by flagship concerts and residencies of global superstars and the proliferation of large-scale events in general,” said FKP Scorpio CEO Stephan Thanscheidt in a recent interview with IQ.
Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) boss David Martin credits past research by former Spotify economist Will Page for signalling the direction of travel.
“Even back in 2022, it was evident that much of the ‘boom’ that was being witnessed in live music was due to high value, major, large-scale shows,” Martin tells IQ. “Add inflation which impacts both artists’ costs and fans’ wallets, along with the lasting audience impacts of the pandemic and the trend for the biggest artists to host their own events and residencies and it’s easy to see the drivers of increased prices.
“While it is positive to see demand at that level, I’m concerned about the impact on mid-level and grassroots artists. If fans are spending huge sums on one-off events, it appears that there is a real danger that they’ll attend fewer shows elsewhere.”
Some artists are seeking ways to keep costs down for fans. Coldplay have offered a limited number of Infinity Tickets, priced at £20/$20/€20 each plus taxes and fees, across their record-shattering Music of the Spheres World Tour. For their return to Wembley Stadium for a historic 10-night stand in autumn, the band’s second London stint on the same tour, fans could score standing tickets for £112.75.
The rise in general ticket prices for top stadium shows has also been more than matched across premium offerings — Beyoncé’s VIP pit sections in front of the stage come at the price of £850, while Black Sabbath fans seeking a side-stage premium experience could fork out just under £3,000.
“Clearly there’s some quite fascinating trends in our culture right now”
The cheapest tickets available for the “greatest heavy metal show ever” start at £197.50, while general admission standing starts at £262.50. The July reunion will see Black Sabbath’s original lineup – Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward – top the bill, marking Osbourne’s final performance and the first time the quartet have played together in 20 years. More than 150,000 fans reportedly joined the queue for tickets when they went on general sale at 10am today.
Meanwhile, those looking to see Kendrick Lamar & SZA’s UK/EU outing this summer can expect to spend £75-£750 for tickets, with GA standing starting at just under £160. Other tours set to descend on stadiums across the UK this summer include Linkin Park, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, and Robbie Williams, to name a select few.
“Clearly there’s some quite fascinating trends in our culture right now,” observes Martin. “On one level, there’s an inexhaustible supply of new music, film, video, podcasts, books, substacks, and a whole mass of interesting niches and genres. It’s a complete cultural sprawl. On the other hand, there’s also that kind of ‘Barbenheimer’ effect, where audiences want to participate en masse for events by the likes of Coldplay, Oasis, Taylor Swift or Beyoncé. And they’re prepared to pay a premium for those experiences, even if it’s at the cost of others.”
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Lana Del Rey has become the highest-selling solo artist so far for 2025 across the UK and Ireland, according to Live Nation.
The New York-born singer has sold over 300,000 tickets for her first-ever run of headline stadium dates in the two markets.
The Live Nation-produced outing will stop at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium (23 June), Glasgow Hampden Park (26 June), Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium (28 June), Aviva Stadium in Dublin (30 June) and London Wembley Stadium (3 and 4 July).
The first five dates sold out during the on-sale. A second show at the 90,000-capacity Wembley Stadium was added later and also swiftly sold out.
It was announced today that AC/DC will also embark on a stadium run in North America
It follows Del Rey’s series of 2024 headline performances, including slots at Coachella, Reading & Leeds and Rock en Seine, as well as her first stadium concert at Fenway Park, Boston, in the US. She also headlined BST Hyde Park in London in 2023.
Del Rey is represented by CAA’s Marlene Tsuchii for Europe, Asia and South America, CAA’s Carole Kinzel for North America and WME’s Brett Murrihy for Australia and New Zealand.
Other acts to have confirmed stadium gigs in the UK for next year so far include Oasis, Dua Lipa, Robbie Williams, Coldplay, Linkin Park, Imagine Dragons, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Stereophonics, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Stray Kids, Sam Fender, Iron Maiden.
My Chemical Romance, Olivia Rodrigo, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Imagine Dragons and Robbie Williams are also set to hit some of the world’s biggest venues next year.
It was announced today that AC/DC will also embark on a stadium run in North America – their first in nine years. The Live Nation-produced outing will visit 13 stadiums between April and May 2025.
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Lana Del Rey has unveiled her first ever UK and Ireland stadium shows, as 2025’s wave of huge tour announcements continues.
The New York-born singer will stop at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium (23 June), Glasgow Hampden Park (26 June), Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium (28 June), Aviva Stadium in Dublin (30 June) and London Wembley Stadium (3 July), produced by Live Nation.
It follows Del Rey’s series of 2024 headline performances in 2024, including slots at Coachella, Reading & Leeds and Rock en Seine, as well as her first stadium concert at Fenway Park, Boston, in the US. She also headlined BST Hyde Park in London in 2023.
Other acts to have confirmed stadium gigs in the UK for next year so far include Oasis, Dua Lipa, Robbie Williams, Coldplay, Linkin Park, Imagine Dragons, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Stereophonics, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Stray Kids, Sam Fender and Iron Maiden.
Adele wrapped up her Weekends with Adele Las Vegas residency on Saturday
Meanwhile, Adele wrapped up her Weekends with Adele Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on Saturday (23 November). The 100-show run launched in November 2022.
Having said earlier this year that she would take a “big break” from music following the conclusion of her latest run of concerts, the star told the 4,000-cap audience she did not know when she would return to the live stage.
“It’s been wonderful and I will miss it terribly and I will miss you terribly,” she said. “I don’t know when I next want to perform again.”
Aside from her Vegas commitments, WME-represented Adele played only limited live dates in support of her most recent album, 2021’s 30. She performed two nights at the 65,000-cap BST Hyde Park in London, UK in July 2022 and 10 nights at a bespoke 73,000-capacity pop-up stadium in Munich, Germany – the largest temporary arena ever built – in August 2024.
Read the full feature on the record-breaking German run here.
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Primavera Sound’s Marta Pallarès has spoken to IQ about the 2024 edition, which kicks off today in Barcelona.
This year marks a return to form for the Spanish festival, which took place in both Barcelona and Madrid in 2023. Organisers described the latter as “one of the most complicated” editions of Primavera Sound and chose not to proceed with a sequel.
The flagship event returns to Parc Del Fòrum for a 22nd edition, headlined by Pulp, Vampire Weekend, Justice, Lana Del Rey, The National, Disclosure, SZA, PJ Harvey, Mitski and Charli XCX.
Having set a precedent for gender-balanced lineups in 2019, the 75,000-capacity flagship has once again delivered a diverse and heavy-hitting bill, leaving ‘pale, male and stale‘ festivals in the dust.
In the following Q&A, Pallarès reveals the festival’s progressive booking strategy, discusses its pressing challenges and mulls the brand’s expansion opportunities…
How have ticket sales been for Primavera Sound 2024?
MP: We are selling wonderfully. We typically have really strong sales in the last week before the festival so we’re expecting 65–70,000 fans on Thursday and Saturday, and up to 75,000 on Friday – that’s the ‘Lana’ [Del Rey] effect.
Despite reports of a ‘headliner drought‘ Primavera has secured a raft of big-name acts for 2024. How has the booking process been for this edition?
We work very far in advance. We have been doing that for years but it’s very crucial now. Bookings like Lana’s might take 35 months, for example. So now, we are talking to artists for the next edition but also some headliners for 2026. That’s the way to secure big names before they decide to do stadium shows or organise a tour. But there’s also a risk [with this approach]. How do you know if an artist will still be relevant in two years? How do you know that the budget you have for them is going to be appropriate in two years? It’s very difficult to [take this approach] unless you have a very solid relationship with agents and agencies. And you have to have a strong taste of what you are programming because otherwise, you might find yourself in two years with something that’s a complete flop. So we are very happy this hasn’t happened to us.
“Gender balance is not only about numbers, it’s also the position or the spotlight you’re giving those artists”
How’s the gender balance looking for this year’s festival?
When we released we were 42% female, 42% male and 18% mixed acts but [after last-minute changes], I think we might have more female than male artists now. This is if you’re counting [binary] genders only. We started counting non-binary artists last year. In that way, the lineup is even more diverse because we have a small percentage of non-binary artists.
Gender balance is not only about numbers, it’s also about the position or the spotlight you’re giving those artists. It’s not okay if you just say, ‘I have 50 female acts but none of them is a headliner’. If you take a look into Saturday, it’s almost exclusively women: SZA PJ Harvey, Mitski, Charli XCX, Bikini Kill, Roisin Murphy, Romy, 070 Shake, Atarashii Gakkoi, Dorian Electra and Earth Eater. It’s three lines of women at the top of the bill. We truly believe that they are there because they deserve to be there.
“We are a ‘full festival ticket’ festival… that means we need to programme really strong days every day”
How does Primavera’s booking team manage the bill diversity?
Everything is colour-coded so we can see if we are lacking different ethnicities – if we don’t have enough artists from Asia for example, we are also looking at that. Gender-wise, we also code artists so the moment you see too much of one colour, we’re not doing well. And then our motto is “think more” – that’s what the bookers say all the time.
What are the other challenges with booking, in the current climate?
We are a ‘full festival ticket’ festival; we don’t rely that much on day tickets. That’s what we have always been. That means we need to programme really strong days every day. It’s not just okay to have your big headliner on Friday and that’s it. We know that typically people come for the full festival experience and that’s not that common for our intel from other festivals.
We are very well aware of the fact that it’s not easy times for anyone financially. People are choosing to spend their time and money with us so we have to work till we can give them the best experience. I always like to say that we work all year long to give the audience the best weekend of that year.
“Technical riders are more complex than ever”
Has Primavera made any changes to ticket prices this year?
We are still one of the cheapest festivals compared to our direct competitors. The median price is around €280 if you compare early bird up to the last batch of tickets – €5 cheaper than last year. Taking into account recession and inflation, it’s quite impressive.
Tell us about some of the challenges Primavera is experiencing.
Technical riders are more complex than ever. A lot of artists are coming to the festival and bringing shows that before would be only for stadiums, like Dua Lipa in 2022 who brought with her a catwalk and everything. But our biggest challenge is securing stability in our venue. We work with contracts that are four-year leases and now we are in the middle of one of those. We need to work with stability because we’re booking two years ahead. We really need to know that we can continue our festival here because Parc Del Forum is something that you can’t find anywhere else. Fortunately, we are on excellent terms with Barcelona Town Hall. Another challenge that we might face is accommodation in Barcelona. Right now Primavera Sound is the biggest event in our city – maybe even in Spain – and we have to accommodate 1,200 artists and crew members for the week, as well as our staff.
“Weather is becoming an issue [in the sector] but we are lucky to be in Barcelona”
Primavera Sound Madrid’s first day proper was called off due to adverse weather, which is an increasing issue in the festival sector. Is it a concern for the Barcelona event?
We are lucky because of the time of the year. You don’t usually see extreme weather in Barcelona at the end of May/the beginning of June. Of course, anything can happen but we are monitoring that. We have meteorologists on our payroll and receive daily reports so production can know that if we’re expecting winds this afternoon, then we should switch the order of the production so everything runs smoothly. Weather is becoming an issue [in the sector] but we are lucky to be in Barcelona.
Primavera’s global footprint has rapidly expanded in the last few years. Do you have any new editions or markets in the works?
Latin America is working beautifully and has always been an ongoing plan. We have two full festivals, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires, and some one-day festivals and headline shows. In order to be competitive as an independent festival, we need to be able to offer several cities for those big headliners, otherwise it’s unaffordable for us and the act. So that’s the idea behind the headline shows, but they also act as a test: if we find the right partners, the right venue, the right suppliers and the right audience, we could launch a full festival in that city as well. The seven dates in Latin America are pretty much fixed right now but that might change in the future. With Montevideo [Uruguay] for example, if we sell out what we are planning there, then maybe we can decide to organise something bigger. We are always on the lookout if something cool comes up. Slow and steady is key here.
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Coachella is reportedly facing a fine after Lana Del Rey’s weekend two headline set ran over curfew.
The 2024 edition of the Goldenvoice-promoted festival concluded at Empire Polo Club in Indio, California from 19-21 April, topped by Del Rey, Tyler, the Creator, Doja Cat and No Doubt.
A City of Indio representative tells TMZ that Del Rey’s Friday night (19 April) performance, which included guest appearances by Camila Cabello, Jon Batiste and Jack Antonoff, overran by 13 minutes, triggering a US$28,000 (€26,200) fine.
Last year, deputy city manager Scott Trujillo told the Desert Sun that organisers were fined $117,000 after three sets – by Frank Ocean (25 minutes over), Calvin Harris (22 minutes) and Bad Bunny (25 minutes) – broke the city-mandated curfew on 2023’s opening weekend.
Arrests on weekend one were down 20% on last year, with the Indio Police Department reporting a total of 81 arrests
It reports that a 2013 city permit states that all shows must finish by 1am on Friday and Saturday and midnight on Sunday. The conditions state that Goldenvoice will be fined $20,000 each time a performance breaches that curfew, plus $1,000 a minute starting at the sixth minute after that cutoff point.
Arrests on weekend one were down 20% on last year, with the Indio Police Department reporting a total of 81 arrests compared to 102 during its first weekend in 2023. Hospitalisations also decreased from 12 months ago.
This year’s bill also features the likes of Blur, Peso Pluma, Lil Uzi Vert, Justice, Bizarrap, Deftones, ATEEZ, Everything Always, Peggy Gou, Ice Spice, Gesaffelstein, Sublime, Jungle, Dom Dolla, Bleachers, Grimes, Jon Batiste and Le Sserafim, J Balvin, Jhené Aiko, Khruangbing, Carin León, Anyma, John Summit, Lil Yachty and DJ Snake.
Coachella 2025 is set for the weekends of April 11-13 & 18-20, with advance sales beginning on Friday 3 May.
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Tickets for Lana Del Rey’s surprise shows in Dublin, Paris and Amsterdam have flown off the shelf.
The singer announced the shows last Tuesday (27 June), just three days before tickets went on sale: “I love Europe and after playing at Glastonbury I’ve decided to play a few more shows around my Hyde Park London concert.”
General sale for Del Rey’s concert at the Ziggo Dome (cap. 17,000) in Amsterdam – the largest of the three shows – took place last Friday (30 June) and sold out within 10 minutes. A pre-sale exclusive to subscribers of MOJO’s newsletter launched a day prior.
At present, 1,440 tickets are wanted on the resale platform Ticketswap and 849 have been sold since the general sale.
“I love Europe and after playing at Glastonbury I’ve decided to play a few more shows”
The 4 July concert will mark the first time in a decade that Del Rey has performed in the Netherlands, after a sold-out show at the 6,000-capacity AFAS Live (then known as Heineken Music Hall) in 2013.
The 38-year-old will also visit the 3Arena (13,000) in Dublin on 7 July and the Olympia Music Hall (1,996) in Paris on 10 July. Both shows are sold out.
The New York-born singer, represented by WME worldwide excluding North America, also played Italy’s La Prima Estate festival on 2 July and is due to close BST Hyde Park (AEG Presents) this Sunday (9 July).
It comes after Del Rey’s headline slot at Glastonbury was cut short as a result of appearing on stage 30 minutes late.
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Lana Del Rey has unveiled a slate of surprise European shows around her sold-out headline slot at BST Hyde Park next month.
The US singer-songwriter, who topped the bill on Glastonbury’s Other Stage last Saturday (24 June), will close the 2023 edition of the AEG-promoted London concert series on Sunday 9 July, and has now announced an extra run of dates at short notice.
The 38-year-old will play Italy’s La Prima Estate festival on 2 July, followed by gigs at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome in the Netherlands, Dublin’s 3Arena in Ireland and the Olympia in Paris, France.
“I love Europe and after playing Glastonbury, have decided to play a few more shows in various countries around my Hyde Park Show in London on July 9th,” she says. “Today I am announcing shows in Amsterdam on July 4th, Dublin on July 7th and Paris on July 10th. I look forward to seeing you all.”
The American’s Glastonbury’s set was curtailed by a curfew after she took to the stage 30 minutes late
The American’s Glastonbury’s set was curtailed by a curfew after she took to the stage 30 minutes late.
“I was so fucking late that I am about to rush this set today,” she told the crowd. “If they cut power, they cut power. I’m super fucking sorry. My hair takes so long to do. I love you to death. Let’s keep on running the set as it’s supposed to go.”
Del Rey is also due to perform North American festival slots at Festival d’ete in Quebec, Canada (15 July), Lollapalooza in Chicago, Illinois (6 August), Outside Lands in San Francisco, California (12 August) and All Things Go in Columbia, Maryland (1 October).
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Lana Del Rey is the final headliner to be announced for this year’s BST Hyde Park, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
The singer-songwriter is due to perform on the last day of the AEG-promoted London concert series’ 2023 edition (Sunday 9 July), with special guests to be announced.
Tickets go on general sale at 10 am BST next Thursday (27 April) and pre-sale for American Express cardholders went live at 10 am today (21 April).
The gig will mark Del Rey’s debut appearance at BST Hyde Park
The gig will mark Del Rey’s debut appearance at BST Hyde Park, which is also set to welcome Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band, Guns N’ Roses, Billy Joel, Pink, Blackpink and Take That this year.
Del Rey’s BST Hyde Park date takes place just over two weeks after she delivers a headline set on the Other Stage at Glastonbury 2023.
The US star recently returned to music with her latest album, “Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” which she will include in her Hyde Park set.
Del Rey is also set to perform at festivals including Music Is The Answer (Brazil), Lollapalooza (US) and All Things Go (US).
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A year to the day before Dubai hosts a six-month long World Expo event, Mariah Carey is due to perform in a free concert at Burj Park.
The concert, dubbed One Year to Go, will take place on 20 October, with local singer Hussain Al Jassmi, as well as acts DJ Bliss, Abri and the Funk Radius and Khalifa also billed to perform.
The Expo, which was awarded to Dubai in 2013 by the International Exposition Bureau in Paris, will take place on a main 438-hectare site enclosed by three thematic districts – opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
A variety of live performances, cultural activities, business presentations and global celebrations will occur during the Expo.
The United Arab Emirates is also hosting live performances at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Formula One race from 28 November to December 1. Lana Del Rey will perform in the Middle East for the first time at the event, alongside EDM star Marshmello, the Killers and rapper Travis Scott.
In December, British singer Dido will perform and Dubai’s Media City Amphitheatre (15,000-cap.) and Bruno Mars will close out the year with a headline New Year’s show at the du Arena (25,000-cap.) in Abu Dhabi.
Last month, AEG Ogden, the operator of Dubai’s 17,000-capacity Coca-Cola Arena, celebrated the role the arena was playing in placing the UAE – and the wider region – on the international touring map.
Read more about the Middle East’s growing live events market below.
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After initially defending her decision to play the inaugural edition of Meteor Festival, stating her performance would “not be a political statement,” Lana Del Rey has pulled out of the Israeli event.
In a statement uploaded to her Twitter, Del Rey explained it was important to her to be able to play both Israel and Palestine so she could “treat all [her] fans equally”. In the run-up to the festival – scheduled for this weekend in Tel Aviv (6-8 September) – a Palestinian show couldn’t be organised in time, and so her performance has been postponed “until a time when [she] can schedule visits for both”.
The statement comes 11 days after Del Rey initially defended her decision to play the festival. A previous series of tweets explained she “understood” why fans were upset, but stated “I’m doing my best to navigate the waters of the constant tumultuous hardships in the war-torn countries all over the world that I travel through monthly.”
“Affiliating us with that is nothing short of absurd – as in fact, we’re pretty much the only festival in the world who’s 100% politics free.”
Much of the pressure to drop out of the festival came from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS), which has so far convinced a number of other artists to cancel their performances. Many American, British, South African and Australian acts have all pulled out, including electronic music producer Shlohmo, DJ Volvox, duo Black Motion, DJ Shanti Celeste, DJ Seinfeld and DJ Leon Vynehall.
The news of Del Rey’s decision was met with a cold reception from event organisers. A statement published on the Meteor Festival website shortly after the news broke accused the “no-show” singer of using her performance to “score some press attention” – something that has since been deleted.
Organisers have previously emphasised in the statement that Meteor Festival is “an independent, private project… receiving no support, funds or benefits from any governmental or political entity.” It continues: “Therefore, affiliating us with that is nothing short of absurd – as in fact, we’re pretty much the only festival in the world who’s 100% politics free.”
Del Rey’s decision is not the first high-profile cancellation; last year, New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde cancelled shows in Tel Aviv, prompting heavy backlash from anti-BDS campaigners.
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