Lanxess Arena to reopen at 5% capacity
Cologne’s 20,000-capacity Lanxess Arena will reopen to visitors on Saturday (20 June) for the first time in over three months.
Live events have been banned in Germany since the country enteted into lockdown in March. Earlier this week, the German government extended its ban on large-scale events (+5,000-cap.) until the end of October, prompting some in the event industry to organise an upcoming protest to raise awareness for the challenges facing the sector.
Although unable to operate at anywhere close to its usual capacity, Lanxess is implementing the Arena Now! programme, a system that enables large event spaces to restart business in accordance with Covid-19 regulations, to welcome 895 fans at a time, equating to 5% of its full capacity.
Fans will be seated in “cubes” – blocks of four seats located on the arena floor with a distance of 1.5 metres between each – to view performances from acts including Wincent Weiss, DJ Don Diablo, Kasalla, Beatrice Egli, Nena and Rammstein tribute Völkerball.
“For the future, other concepts must be developed that are economically responsible for all parties”
The arena will also be divided into five different zones to prevent a build-up of visitors in any one area, with entry points for each visitor selected based on the distance to their event area.
Comprehensive hygiene and disinfection measures, distancing rules, mandatory mask wearing in communal spaces and the use of contact tracing are among other Arena Now! protocols.
“Arena Now! is about preserving people’s passion for events and giving the artists a platform through which they can finally perform in front of a live audience,” says Lanxess MD Stefan Löcher, adding that the current system has “no economic component” for promoters Boathouse Live and Chicos Event, or for the arena itself.
“I am very pleased that our interior will light up again from 20 June, even if under special conditions. For the future, other concepts must be developed that are economically responsible for all parties.”
Tickets for upcoming shows at Lanxess Arena can be purchased here.
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CTS boosts revenue, earnings for another record year
German live entertainment powerhouse CTS Eventim reported record revenue and earnings for the 2019 financial year.
Group revenue rose by 16.2% in 2019 to a total of €1.44 billion. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also grew substantially, increasing 25.6% from €228.1 million in 2018 to €286.5m in 2019.
Ticketing and live entertainment both contributed to the growth, with live entertainment revenue increasing 21.3% to 985.8m – over €170m more than in 2018 – and ticketing growing 7.7% from the year before to €481.6m.
Earnings in both sectors saw strong growth, with EBITDA more than doubling in live entertainment, increasing from €32.3m in 2018 to €66.1m last year. In ticketing, EBITDA increased 12.6% to €220.4m.
The company puts its growth down to major tours by the likes of Ed Sheeran and to the activities of those in its fast-expanding Eventim Live promoter network, which has grown from an initial 26 promoters across 9 countries to 34 tour operators in 15 markets.
Most recently, Eventim partnered with global touring pioneer Michael Cohl, signalling its intention to expand outside of Europe.
“We continued to grow significantly over 2019, while at the same time enhancing our market position at both national and international level”
Improvements to the company’s ecommerce operations facilitated a 5.6% increase in the number of tickets sold by webshops operated by the CTS Group, with 57.3m tickets sold over the year.
“In 2019 we delivered impressive proof of the successfulness and profitability of our integrated business model comprising ticketing services, live entertainment and content,” comments CTS Eventim CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg.
“We continued to grow significantly over 2019, while at the same time enhancing our market position at both national and international level. The venues we operate also showed encouraging growth and are among the best in the world.”
Eventim’s venue portfolio includes the 18,000-capacity Lanxess Arena in Cologne, the 22,000-capacity Waldbühne in Berlin and the 5,000-capacity Eventim Apollo in London.
“CTS Eventim has long been an integrated entertainment corporation that offers its customers a full and highly diversified range of live events,” adds Schulenberg. “The company is constantly developing and changing, adapting itself to the needs and requirements of new markets and a new age.”
The full CTS Eventim annual report will be published on 17 March 2020 and will be available for download here.
Photo: GEDANKENtanken GmbH/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) (cropped)
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Lana Del Rey cancels upcoming European tour
Lana Del Rey has called off upcoming arena dates in the UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy, in the latest in a series of high-profile acts to see tours hampered by illness.
The Primary Talent-repped singer was set to perform a run of dates starting tomorrow (21 February) at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome, and visiting the Accorhotels Arena in Paris, London’s O2 Arena, Manchester Arena, the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Birmingham Resorts World Arena, Berlin’s Mercedes-Benz Arena, before finishing at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne on 3 March. A ninth arena date is set for Italy’s Arena Di Verona in June, which is still going ahead.
The star is also due to make appearances at We Love Green Festival in Paris, Primavera Sound Barcelona and its Portuguese sister event, Nos Primavera Sound Porto in June. Last week, Glastonbury Festival director Emily Eavis announced that Lana Del Rey would also perform on the festival’s Pyramid stage this summer.
“It’s with regret that Lana Del Rey has announced that she has been forced to cancel her entire upcoming EU/UK tour due to illness”
The O2 Arena broke the news earlier this morning (20 February), stating: “It’s with regret that Lana Del Rey has announced that she has been forced to cancel her entire upcoming EU/UK tour due to illness.”
The singer released her own statement, apologising for the cancellation, saying, “Sorry to let everyone down so last minute but this illness has taken me by surprise and have totally lost my singing voice. Dr has advised 4 weeks off for the moment. I hate to let everyone down but I need to get well.”
Fans are advised to contact their original point of purchase for refund enquiries.
Photo: Beatriz Alvani/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0) (cropped)
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Metallica smash more attendance records with WorldWired tour
Not content with breaking Muse’s attendance record at The O2, Metallica have smashed box-office records across the continent with the first half of the European leg of their WorldWired tour.
The tour kicked off with two record-smashing shows at the Ziggo Dome (17,000-cap.) arena in Amsterdam in September, attracting 16,853 and 16,856 fans on 4 and 6 September, respectively, before continuing to break attendance records at Paris’s AccorHotels Arena (18,896), Cologne’s Lanxess Arena (18,446 and 18,483), London’s The O2 (22,211), Glasgow’s SSE Hydro (13,111), Manchester Arena (20,048), Birmingham’s Genting Arena (15,604) and Antwerp’s Sportpaleis (22,616 and 22,626).
A total of 262,690 people have attended so far.
The Live Nation-promoted European leg of the WorldWired tour – its 11th and last – continues until May 2018, resuming at Lisbon’s MEO Arena (20,000-cap.) on 1 February.
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Arena boss sets sights on 2m visitors goal
Staff at Lanxess Arena in Cologne have set their sights on breaking the 2million visitors barrier, after reporting the best half-year results in the venue’s history.
In the first six months of 2017, 1,448,823 visitors attended 135 events at the 18,000-capacity arena, including concerts by Bruno Mars, Phil Collins, Ed Sheeran and Kings of Leon. It ranked fourth in Pollstar’s global arena ticket sales, below London’s The O2, Glasgow’s SECC and Manchester Arena.
“I am proud of what our team has successfully achieved in these incredibly intense time,” says CEO Stefan Löcher.
“Now we want to crack the barrier of two million visitors. That would be a great success and a great way to end a fantastic year.”
“An estimated 10% of all tourist traffic in Cologne is caused solely by the Lanxess arena”
As a direct and indirect employer in the region, the arena contributes an economic value of €600million to Cologne and the region, according to a press release.
Visitor surveys show that 20% percent of people attending events at the venue spend at least one night in Cologne hotels. Half that number spend two to three nights in the cathedral city. That makes at least 600,000 hotel nights in Cologne for the year 2017.
“An estimated 10% of tourist traffic in Cologne is caused solely by the Lanxess arena,” notes Josef Sommer, managing director of the local tourist board.
The last record year, 2010, saw 1,247,736 guests attend 118 events between January-June.
Forthcoming events at Lanxess Arena in the second half of 2017 include Metallica, Lady GaGa, Shakira, James Blunt and Yello.