Live Nation attracts ‘5m fans’ to UKI fests in ’24
Live Nation says it will host nearly five million attendees across UK and Irish festivals this summer.
Highlights so far in 2024 have included Download, TRNSMT, Parklife and Isle of Wight Festival, which featured headline performances from the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Liam Gallagher, Doja Cat and Green Day.
Other standouts include Camp Bestival Dorset and Latitude, which both took place on the last weekend in July
Reading & Leeds (21-25 August) and Creamfields (22-25 August) are also on track to sell out, while Ireland’s Electric Picnic (16-18 August) has already sold out. And despite ongoing challenges for the sector as a whole, the company says it is on course for a successful season, with ticket demand remaining high.
“We’ll host a total of almost five million attendees at our UK and Irish festivals this summer, demonstrating that festivals remain vital to our cultural life”
“We’ll host a total of almost five million attendees at our UK and Irish festivals this summer, demonstrating that festivals remain vital to our cultural life,” says Live Nation UK & Ireland chair Denis Desmond.
LN festivals have showcased emerging domestic talent such as CMAT, Barry Can’t Swim, The Last Dinner Party, Myles Smith, Caity Baser, and English Teacher, and Glasgow’s TRNSMT provided a platform for Scottish acts like Dylan John Thomas, Katie Gregson-Macleod and Tallia Storm, as homegrown stars Gerry Cinnamon and Calvin Harris took headline slots.
The firm adds that diversifying its offering by opening new greenfield sites means that more people can attend music events closer to home.
According to UK Music research, UK music tourism increased by 33% in 2023 thanks to concerts from the likes of Beyoncé, The Weeknd, Harry Styles and Blur and festivals including Glastonbury, Boomtown and TRNSMT.
Around 19.2m music tourists (national and international) attended live music events across the UK last year, up from 14.4m in 2022. The total includes 1.014m foreign music tourists (roughly in line with 1.053m in 2022) and 18.2m domestic music tourists (an increase of 36% from 2022 when the total was 13.3m).
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Live Nation celebrates 75 years of Windrush
Live Nation UK and Ireland held a special event to celebrate 75 years of culture, music and influence bestowed on the UK by the first and subsequent generations of HMT Empire Windrush.
In recognition of the 75th anniversary of the landing of the Empire Windrush in the UK, the company invited first generation representatives and their families to O2 Forum Kentish Town in London last Thursday (22 June) for a performance by reggae legend Barrington Levy.
“We’re thrilled to have celebrated the incredible talent that arrived in the UK due to the first large groups of post-war Caribbean immigrants that arrived in the United Kingdom through Windrush,” says Funke Awoderu, Live Nation UK and Ireland director for diversity & inclusion.
“At Live Nation, live music is fundamental to everyone who works here, and these artists brought an explosion of jazz, blues, gospel, Latin and Calypso into the UK, which has continued to shape British Black music for many generations, from drum to jungle, to lovers rock, from roots and dub to ska, to reggae.”
“We cannot underestimate the impact Windrush has had on British music and culture”
Raye Cosbert, MD of Metropolis Music, part of Live Nation UK, adds: “We cannot underestimate the impact Windrush has had on British music and culture. UK live music culture has evolved with that influence at its heart, from Caribbean immigrants, influencing all styles, reggae to drum and bass to dubstep.
“Caribbean influences led to new musical genres like garage, jungle and grime, bringing together new forms and artists, introduced by children of the Windrush generation.”
Born in Jamaica in the mid ’60s, Levy shaped the evolution of reggae and steer it into sub genres like dancehall, fusion and ragga jungle.
“In the same way reggae Music was created from the fusion of the different African cultures who were brought to Jamaica by slavery, the same occurred when our Windrush generation emigrated to England to forge a better future,” he says. “The music provided a firm foundation and togetherness for our people to find refuge and give hope.”
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