Adele’s Munich run ‘a milestone in music history’

The team behind Adele’s historic German run have told IQ the acclaimed show represents “a milestone in music history” and debated whether it will inspire further residencies.

The singer broke numerous records with her 10-night stint at a giant pop-up stadium in Munich – the largest temporary arena ever built.

More than 730,000 tickets were sold for the exclusive European concerts, held between 2-31 August, which registered the highest attendance of any concert residency outside Las Vegas, according to promoter Live Nation.

Speaking in the latest issue of IQ, Adele’s agent Lucy Dickins and Live Nation GSA CEO Marek Lieberberg do not rule out the possibility of other acts staging similar productions down the line, but stress that it isn’t an easy template to follow.

“Not everyone is of Adele’s scale,” reflects Dickins, WME global head of contemporary music and touring. “I still have yet to see anyone greater than her live. She’s the most unbelievable professional I’ve ever, ever had the pleasure of working with. She’s super-smart, she always knows exactly what she’s doing.”

The “bespoke” outdoor venue boasted a 220m x 30m LED screen, supplied by Solotech, which has been certified by Guinness World Records as the Largest Continuous Outdoor LED Screen (temporary) ever built.

“Before this started, I said: ‘Never before and never again.’ Now, I would say, ‘Never before but maybe again”

Alongside the venue, the 75,000-square-metre Adele World – which included an authentic English pub, a fairground wheel, karaoke, Farmers Markets, merchandise and a typical Bavarian beer garden with live entertainment – attracted 500,000 visitors.

“It’s been very intense because something like this has never been done before. There is no precedent. We could not simply use a blueprint of another project – we had to start from scratch,” says Lieberberg, who co-promoted the residency with Klaus Leutgeb, CEO of Austria’s Leutgeb Entertainment Group.

“Before this started, I said: ‘Never before and never again.’ Now, I would say, ‘Never before but maybe again. We need to analyse the Munich residency thoroughly. All the shows have been spectacular and overwhelming, from Adele’s unique performances to the audience response, as well as the reaction of the media worldwide.

“It’s a milestone in music history, for sure. And it seems too good to waste. But if we ever did something like this again, it has to cater to the specific vision of the artist, like this one has.”

Leutgeb, who organised shows at Munich Messe with artists including Andreas Gabalier, Helene Fischer and Robbie Williams in 2022, had approached Dickins with a series of proposals in the past. However, an updated offer including the suggestion of a purpose-built stadium – illustrated by a sketch from production designer Florian Wieder – persuaded Dickins to take the concept to her brother Jonathan, Adele’s manager, last year.

“I knew questions would be asked, like, why Germany? Why Munich?”

“I knew questions would be asked, like, why Germany? Why Munich?” she says. “Well, she hasn’t played in Europe since 2016, and if you look at Munich, it’s slap-bang in the middle. But the main bit for me was the Oktoberfest is held here. So they have infrastructure to get a lot of people in and a lot of people out. I had all these ideas going around in my head, and I called Jonathan, and he was like, ‘Yeah, it’s interesting.’”

Lieberberg credits support from the very top of Live Nation with enabling the project to come to life – and reserves special praise for the production team.

“We had so many brilliant minds joining forces,” he says. “At these shows, we possibly experienced the greatest open-air sound ever – it was like sitting in a studio with B&O boxes and a Thorens player, and you put on the vinyl. And then you have a world-record LED wall in the shape of a wave, like a film scroll. A tailor-made stadium, all in black, no advertising at all, just with Adele signage. It’s really a piece of art.

“In German, there’s a word for it: Gesamtkunstwerk. A total piece of art, a composition of many parts creating an artwork in itself. And people realise that when they enter into a new environment that is so different from any other arena or stadium. This stadium was made for the show, and the show was made for the stadium.”

The full feature on Adele’s German residency can be read in issue 130 of IQ, which is out now.

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Adele’s ‘historic’ Munich residency collects records

Adele wrapped up her “historic” concert residency in Germany at the weekend, setting several new records.

The London singer performed 10 nights in August at a bespoke 73,000-capacity pop-up stadium in Munich – the largest temporary arena ever built.

With over 730,000 tickets, the Munich shows registered the highest attendance of any concert residency outside Las Vegas, according to promoter Live Nation.

The exclusive European concerts, which mark the first time Adele has played mainland Europe since 2016, were co-promoted by Live Nation GSA’s Marek Lieberberg and Austrian promoter Klaus Leutgeb. Adele’s team, including manager Jonathan Dickins and agent Lucy Dickins, have been instrumental in shaping the project.

“The flair of the unique Adele performances combined perfectly with the special atmosphere of this city,” says Lieberberg.

“It was trendsetting: the harmony of concerts in a never-before-seen visualization in an epic custom-built pop-up colosseum”

“Her music, the fans and Munich came together in a way that is rarely experienced. It was trendsetting: the harmony of concerts in a never-before-seen visualization in an epic custom-built pop-up colosseum with perfect open-air sound, created for Adele fans. A joyful, cheerful and peaceful pre-Oktoberfest.”

The “bespoke” outdoor venue, imagined by co-promoted Leutgeb and designed by Florian Wieder, boasted a 220m x 30m LED screen. The screen, supplied by Solotech, has been certified by Guinness World Records as the Largest Continuous Outdoor LED Screen (temporary) ever built.

Alongside the venue, the 75,000-square-metre Adele World – which included an authentic English pub, a fairground wheel, karaoke, Farmers Markets, merchandise and a typical Bavarian beer garden with live entertainment – attracted 500,000 visitors.

The residency gave a spending boost of more than €540 million to the Munich economy, according to the head of Munich’s economic department Clemens Baumgärtner.

“I believe that something historic has been created here in our fast-moving age that will have a big impact for a long time to come,” Lieberberg continues.

“I believe that something historic has been created here in our fast-moving age that will have a big impact for a long time”

Adele adds: “To the many people who helped organise these events and let me put on the most spectacular show, thank you for taking the chance on me and letting me go out with a bang. I’m so grateful.”

During the final night of her Munich residency, the 36-year-old announced that she will be taking an extended break from music when she concludes her Las Vegas residency in November.

During the 31 August concert in Munich, Adele told fans that she has 10 more shows to deliver to fans in Vegas “But after that, I will not see you for an incredibly long time.”

The Grammy-winner explained that she has been touring and performing non-stop for almost three years – the “longest” time she has ever performed for – and that’s she’s ready to get back to “living my life”.

The next edition of IQ magazine, due mid-September, will go behind the scenes of Adele’s Munich residency.

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Adele triumphs on Munich residency debut

Adele has launched her long-anticipated German residency to stellar reviews, with critics asking: “Is this the future of the big concert experience?”

The London singer is performing 10 nights at an 80,000-cap pop-up stadium at Munich Messe exhibition centre this month, with further dates to follow on 9-10, 14, 16, 23-24 and 30-31 August.

In a four-star review of Friday’s (2 August) opening show, Will Hodgkinson of The Times wrote: “Adele was met with hysterical cheers from fans who had come from all over Europe,” and suggested the model would serve as a template for other A-listers in the future.

“Rather than coming to the people in stadiums everywhere, will the world’s biggest artists expect us to catch a flight to see them in a specially built venue, dedicated to themselves, where they will remain as long as stamina, vocal issues and ticket sales allow?” he pondered. “The residency approach is common in the United States but rare in Europe. It suits a relative homebody like Adele, who has spoken in the past of her dislike of touring.”

The “bespoke” outdoor venue boasts a 220m x 30m LED screen – thought to be the largest screen ever assembled for an outdoor concert. Alongside the temporary stadium, a themed outdoor environment named Adele World includes an authentic English pub, a fairground wheel, karaoke, Farmers Markets, merchandise and a typical Bavarian beer garden with live entertainment.

The exclusive European concerts, which mark the first time Adele has played mainland Europe since 2016, are being co-promoted by Live Nation GSA’s Marek Lieberberg and Austrian promoter Klaus Leutgeb. Adele’s team, including manager Jonathan Dickins and agent Lucy Dickins, have been instrumental in shaping the project.

“Even the people in the cheap seats could feel up close and personal with Britain’s most relatable superstar”

“Yesterday marked the first of 10 nights in Adele World, a pop-up stadium-cum-festival in Munich complete with a pub modelled on one she went to in Kilburn before becoming a household name, a food court with the I Drink Wine bar, a 93-metre catwalk and a 220-metre-wide screen so huge, even the people in the cheap seats could feel up close and personal with Britain’s most relatable superstar,” added Hodgkinson.

Billboard, meanwhile, compiled a list of the 10 best moments from night one.

“Even in an era of over-the-top concert production, this was overwhelming,” wrote Robert Levine. “Rather than lean into that, though, Adele just remained her charming self. ‘What do you think of my screen?’ she asked the crowd at one point, as though she had just picked it up at a sale at Best Buy.

“After thanking the audience, as well as the promoters behind the show — ‘I’d only trust the Germans with this,”’ she said of the formidable logistics issues — Adele tore into a soaring cover of her most upbeat song. It was punctuated with more confetti, plus fireworks — not a quick burst of them, but a serious display. Most acts would have been buried under the sturm und drang, but Adele’s musicians and her voice seemed to go with it fine.

“By then, she had been moving, nervous, funny, touching and funny again. She was entitled to triumph and this was it.”

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€35 ‘Lucky Dip’ ticket offer for Adele Munich run

A limited number of €35 “Lucky Dip” tickets have been made available for Adele’s 10-night German residency, which begins this week.

Restricted to two per person, the tickets are being sold on a first come, first served basis and must be collected from the box office on the day of the show. They cannot be transferred or resold and the location of the ticket could be “anywhere from the back row to standing in the front”, and will not be allocated until the day of show.

According to Ticketmaster, “There are a very limited number of Lucky Dip tickets available each week, when they are gone, they are gone!”

The 36-year-old British singer will perform at a 74,000-cap pop-up stadium at Munich Messe exhibition centre on 2-3, 9-10, 14, 16, 23-24 and 30-31 August. The Lucky Dip allocation for the first two dates has already sold out, with further sales to take place on 5, 12, 19 & 26 August for two shows each week. The price points for the shows are otherwise set between €79 and €430.

The exclusive European dates will mark the first time Adele has played mainland Europe since 2016.

Live Nation GSA boss Marek Lieberberg, who is co-organising the run with Austrian promoter Klaus Leutgeb, recently told German media that the gigs were “95% sold out”.

“It is the most elaborate project in my 50 years in the music industry,” said Lieberberg.

While the overall costs have not been disclosed (estimates have exceeded €100 million), the residency will boast a 220m x 30m LED screen – thought to be the largest and priciest screen ever assembled for an outdoor concert. The “bespoke” outdoor venue will also host an “Adele experience” featuring an English pub, a covers band and stalls selling specially designed cocktails.

“Munich has excellent transport links and Munich has an incredibly enthusiastic audience”

Speaking to German broadcaster ZDF, the promoter elaborated on why Munich was selected as the host city.

“Munich is a city in Germany that combines modernity and tradition like no other,” he said. “Munich is a functioning metropolis. Munich has excellent transport links and Munich has an incredibly enthusiastic audience. Experience has shown that it is a metropolis that has the greatest interest in concerts, as we know from our decades of activity.”

Leutgeb, who has enlisted the help of renowned stage designer Florian Wieder, has previously organised shows at Munich Messe with artists including Andreas Gabalier, Helene Fischer and Robbie Williams in 2022.

“I have been in contact with management for two years; I had a vision that drove me forward,” Leutgeb previously told Krone. “I had to develop something very special, something that was 100 percent Adele.

“It’s a multifunctional arena, twice the size of a football stadium, with a diameter of 300 metres, the stage alone is 220 metres wide. But for me, it’s not about size or dimension. For me it’s about content, I want to realise my dreams and visions because that’s the only thing that makes me happy and I’m restless.”

Adele, who is represented by Lucy Dickins and Kirk Sommer at WME, announced she plans to take a hiatus from music upon the conclusion of her 100-night Weekends with Adele Las Vegas run at The Colosseum (cap. 4,100) at Caesars Palace is due to wrap up in November this year.

“My tank is quite empty from being on stage every weekend in Las Vegas,” she told ZDF. “I don’t have any plans for new music, at all. I want a big break after this and I think I want to do other creative things just for a little while.”

Adele is not the first A-list act to offer “Lucky Dip” tickets; the Rolling Stones have utilised the tactic in the past – most recently on their 2024 Hackney Diamonds tour – which had a limited number of tickets on sale for US$39.50.

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Achtung Maybe: Germany market report

Historically one of the most robust live music markets in the world, Germany is not immune to the challenges facing the industry in 2024. IQ talks to those on the front line in a territory where pressures of rising costs has never been more keenly felt.

Germany remains the third-biggest live market in the world, after only the US and Japan. Its turnover is huge – more than €6bn annually from 300,000 events, with over 115m tickets sold [source: BDKV]. It contains markets within markets – Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt: all distinct, all mighty – and a massive infrastructure of diversified promoters, modern venues, and household-name festivals.

This is the kind of territory where Taylor Swift finds the time for seven shows of her Eras Tour, and where Adele is dropping in for ten concerts in a bespoke 80,000-capacity Munich stadium across August – a plan the singer herself, who hasn’t played in Europe in eight years, calls “a bit random but still fabulous”.

On a genre-by-genre basis, there are successes all around. Country is booming, schlager remains strong, and Germany’s domestic artists, not least its locally grown hip-hop acts, are now good for multiple nights in arenas. Nine German promoters – counting Live Nation, which appeared as a combined group – ranked in Pollstar’s global Top 100 by ticket sales in 2023.

“All the traffic that was backed up after Covid is really just done now, and we’re looking at fresh new touring and fresh new on-sales in the market,” says Semmel Concerts head of international booking Sina Hall.

“There’s a lot of good things happening and a lot of very healthy sales going on right now”

“People are definitely out, and they want adventure and to experience live and all the different aspects of it, whether that is an exhibition or a musical or a show. There’s a lot of good things happening and a lot of very healthy sales going on right now.”

But while the pandemic seems to have engendered a rolling wave of demand for big-name live entertainment, its fallout, and that of other local and regional complications, is still being felt in numerous ways.

Germany was the only G7 economy to shrink last year, in the teeth of a painful energy crisis, sluggish productivity, low public investment, and an aging population. For the live business, the sector-specific challenges are crowding in, too, chief among them the soaring costs troubling the business.

“I think the market in Germany has all different aspects,” says DEAG CEO Detlef Kornett. “It is good, and it is tough at the same time. When you look at the big brand names out there touring on their own, from AC/DC to Adele, they can ask for almost any price and do experiments never seen before. On the flipside, I think it is tough for small- and medium-sized bands, because costs have increased so much that touring or individual shows become a challenge.”

Most promoters, while broadly upbeat, also draw a distinction between touring and festivals – the former essentially thriving, the latter particularly exposed to mounting labour, production, energy, and talent costs.

“Artists are looking at getting more money out of touring, and the competition between promoters is getting harder and harder”

Are promoters sending out frantic distress signals? Not necessarily – the engine is still firing, the tickets are still selling, Germany is still a muscular market. But in a world that has had some unpredictable shocks in the past few years, there are clouds in the sky even on sunny days.

“I think the market’s become quite tight,” says Wizard Live managing director Oliver Hoppe. “I think the artists are looking at getting more money out of touring, and the competition between promoters is getting harder and harder. Everybody has increased costs; people have less money in their pocket. I’m not complaining, we’re doing quite good. But it’s just a lot of variables that you have to factor in. It feels a lot more like work than it did before the pandemic, I guess.”

Promoters
Germany houses some of Europe’s strongest and most industrious promoters, and these days, they move in packs.

Of the local corporates, CTS Eventim holds weighty stakes in some of Germany’s biggest players, including Semmel Concerts, FKP Scorpio, DreamHaus, Peter Rieger Konzertagentur, and heavyweight regional promoters including ARGO Konzerte, Dirk Becker Entertainment, and Promoters Group Munich – to add to venues such as the Lanxess Arena in Cologne and the Waldbühne in Berlin.

DEAG likewise has promoters and festival properties the length and breadth of the country, from Frankfurt’s Wizard Promotions and Munich’s Global Concerts to I-Motion in Mülheim-Kärlich, whose electronic festivals include Nature One in Kastellaun, Mayday in Dortmund, and Ruhr-in-Love in Oberhausen.

Live Nation GSA launched in 2016 under the father-and-son leadership of Marek and André Lieberberg, since adding a majority stake in Goodlive to the group.

Elsewhere, there remain independents, including Berlin’s MCT Agentur, which bridges everything from clubs to Rammstein and Robbie Williams shows; Hamburg’s Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion, busy with Taylor Swift and its annual Stadtpark shows; and Berlin’s Landstreicher Booking, with its great strength in domestic artists.

“This whole industry is in flux and has become a lot more complicated”

But the landscape has changed, and in more ways than simply the push towards consolidation. Traditionally, Germany had a very specific way of doing things, involving national and local promoters, and while that setup remains in place, in a globalised world some of those market-specific conventions are gradually being chipped away.

“It has become very complex,” says Kornett. “The German market always had a unique structure of touring companies and local promoters, but the lines are blurring. More and more, tours go direct without really involving a local promoter, and then there are the local promoters that develop into production and touring companies. This whole industry is in flux and has become a lot more complicated, but we intend to take advantage of that development.”

The discombobulated days of the immediate post-pandemic period, when promoters’ instincts didn’t seem to match the new rhythms of the market, have settled down now, but German shows still require a lot of marketing.

“We’re getting better at predicting how people are going to react and how certain things are going to do,” says Hall. “But if I compare our on-sales, for example, to the UK or the US, it feels like we still have a very long on-sale period. It feels like in the other markets, it’s got very, very short notice, like sometimes our big tours have been pushed out like two or three months in advance. And I feel Germany still needs that long on-sale phase.”

Semmel’s business is nonetheless moving forward on numerous fronts, its domestic roster including stadium shows for Herbert Grönemeyer and outdoor concerts for Roland Kaiser, as well as the acquisition of 1,800-capacity Metronom Theater in Oberhausen and the launch, with industry veteran Ralf Kokemüller, of new shows and musicals company Limelight Live Entertainment.

“A lot of smaller and medium artists are facing lower demand and massively higher touring costs”

Live Nation is also seeing heavy traffic. In addition to tours by Billie Eilish, Janet Jackson, Metallica, and Justin Timberlake this year (not forgetting those Adele shows with Austrian co-promoter Klaus Leutgeb), Live Nation presides over Lollapalooza Berlin, Munich’s Superbloom, HipHop Open in Stuttgart, the outgoing MELT in Gräfenhainichen, and versions of the Deutschrap-specific Heroes festival in Hanover, Allgäu, Freiburg, and Geiselwind.

At FKP, this year is a big one on all fronts, as it expands its remit from one of “music-focused promoter to cultural organiser,” in the words of CEO Stephan Thanscheidt, having added exhibitions, family entertainment, comedy, and spoken word to its music portfolio. But the music remains strong.

“2024 surely is a special year for us,” says Thanscheidt. “We’re going strong with seven stadium shows from Taylor Swift and a concert series at the prestigious tech fair IFA in Berlin. Our summer festivals, headlined by Ed Sheeran and other legends, can also be considered top-class, resulting in high demand despite challenging times: Southside has just sold out and Hurricane is very close to its capacity as well.”

But as Thanscheidt is well aware, promoters can’t afford to just be about the big stuff, and there are plenty of challenges further down.

“Promoting the biggest names in the industry is a privilege but far from being the entirety of our work,” he says. “A lot of smaller and medium artists are facing lower demand and massively higher touring costs. Venues are also negatively affected by the explosion of costs in recent years. If we want to keep Germany among the biggest music markets worldwide, policymakers must take further steps to protect and foster the ever more important live sector.”

“Urban artists in Germany are doing a few things that are quite groundbreaking in the live business”

Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion is taking on the Taylor Swift shows in Hamburg, as well as its own 30-show Stadtpark series, this time featuring The Smile, Alice Cooper, Gossip, Sean Paul and others. But in other respects, managing director Ben Mitha believes we can expect a slightly quieter summer than in 2023 – partly due to the Euro football tournament and, less directly, the tour-dampening effect of the Olympics in France – and anticipates a notably busy autumn.

“The football starts middle of June and runs till middle of July, so you’re pretty much missing a full month,” says Mitha. “And also, once the tournament has started, public attention will be leaning very strongly towards it, so I think it’s better to stay away from that period with your bigger outdoor shows.”

Wizard Live celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, with a busy slate of shows by AC/DC, Toto, Bruce Dickinson, Scorpions, Judas Priest, and others. The company recently divided its operation into four divisions: shows and touring, marketing, brand & music connector, and artist development.

Managing director Oliver Hoppe says the business has changed in numerous ways, from weighing the importance of streaming for emerging acts to cutting through with cash-poor, choice-rich gig-goers. Meanwhile, he notes, artists require different things of their promoters. He points to Germany’s healthy, rule-breaking domestic urban sector as an example of the business in flux.

“Urban artists in Germany are doing a few things that are quite groundbreaking in the live business,” says Hoppe. “Some of them are even moving away from having a promoter at all and just saying, ‘Okay, we have so-and-so many followers, we know that if we press a button, we can instantly sell out. There’s literally no risk in putting on the shows, so what do we actually need a promoter for?’”

The opportunity for promoters, suggests Hoppe, is to market their expertise in new, modular ways. “Some artists need more help in marketing; some just need somebody to take care of logistics for them, like a production team would; some need help with legal or ticketing. It depends on where the artist is in their cycle. But I think the full package is not going to be relevant to everyone in the market, moving forward.”

“I think we are very fortunate that we are an independent. We are like a speedboat – we can make individual trips”

Max Wentzler of Berlin-based independent Z|Art also questions the popular conception that smaller shows necessarily struggle for an audience, putting the blame at the door of rigid promoting strategies.

“We have artists selling 100 tickets, 1,000 tickets, 5,000 tickets, and they are all doing well,” he says, pointing to a roster that includes Brakence, Bleachers, Lola Young, Olivia Dean, Ben Howard, and Jalen Ngonda.

“If you apply one way of working to so many artists, which is what I would say the big ticket-company-driven promoters do, then it’s difficult to innovatively come up with strategies for how and where to promote different artists. But that’s where I think we are very fortunate that we are an independent. We are like a speedboat – we can make individual trips. And the others are like the Royal Caribbean, which takes five days to turn around.”

Another promoter questioning the status quo is veteran event producer and talent booker Marc Kirchheim, who has made a career out of corporate and private events, from televised shows at the Brandenburg Gate with acts that include Bon Jovi, to last October’s show with Robbie Williams at Messe Essen for 10,000 employees of German multinational energy firm RWE. He believes too many international artists and their agents have priced themselves out of such shows, and is keen to engage.

“The German market is not only the tours, the ticketed shows, it is also a lot of corporate, private and public events,” says Kirchheim. “But after the pandemic, prices have exploded worldwide, and the big acts are demanding fees that no longer correspond to reality.”

The big tourers and their management should give more consideration to the corporate and private sector, even if their agents aren’t enthused, he suggests. “Corporate and private events are always valuable for international star acts,” he says. “When there are no record sales, just small payments from Spotify and co and indoor tour productions, they require new sources of income. But with the fees that have been asked for since Covid, the international top acts are no longer affordable.”

Festivals
For a bluntly revealing insight into the challenges facing European festivals, look no further than the announcement in late-May by Goodlive’s MELT festival that this year’s event will be the last, after a run that began in 1997.

“Despite our commitment and efforts in recent years, we recognise that the original MELT no longer fits into the German festival market and cannot withstand the developments of recent years without radically altering the festival concept,” said Goodlive director Florian Czok.

“The challenge, not only for Goodlive but all German festivals, is that we can’t raise the ticket price every year – we simply can’t do it”

Even amid a backdrop of well-founded fears for the wider festival business, the reaction among German promoters made it clear that, whatever we might think a doomed festival looks like, MELT – which takes its final bow in July at the Ferropolis open-air museum, near Gräfenhainichen, Saxony-Anhalt, with Sampha, James Blake, Sugababes, DJ Koze, and Romy on the bill – wasn’t it.

“For ages, MELT festival was like the go-to hipster, trendy, buzz-act festival in Germany – it was really like one of the GOAT festivals out there,” says Ben Mitha. “It’s such a lighthouse in the festival landscape, and now it has to close its doors forever. It’s quite shocking, and I hear from a bunch of festivals out there that they are really struggling this year.”

There’s no mystery to the problems festivals face this year, in Germany or anywhere else – costs have soared on all sides, big-hitting talent has been hard to nail down, and the market can’t support price rises that genuinely reflect the mounting cost of staging big events.

“Costs are rising, year-on-year, by at least 10% to 15%,” says Goodlive’s Fruzsina Szép. “The challenge, not only for Goodlive but all German festivals, is that we can’t raise the ticket price every year – we simply can’t do it.

“We all thought costs would go down after Covid, but they keep increasing. And sponsorship income is not rising by 10% to 15% every year. I think sometimes, as festival owners, people think there is always more juice in the lemon, but the lemon is totally dry.”

Germany boasts a giant festival scene that includes rock monoliths such as Wacken Open Air, Rock am Ring, and Rock im Park; electronic institutions such as Time Warp, Mayday, Love Family Park, and Nature One; and indie all-rounders including Lollapalooza Berlin and twin FKP festivals Hurricane and Southside; not to mention vigorous newcomers such as Munich’s Superbloom and small-but-beautiful indie darlings such as Appletree Garden in Diepholz and Watt En Schlick in Varel.

“We have seen cost increases up to 50% across all areas of live culture, mainly due to higher prices for energy, resources, and personnel”

Tricky conditions aside, the market is, in many respects, still a strong one. How optimistic are the big brands?

“My answer can only be two-fold,” says Thanscheidt, whose German festivals include M’era Luna in Hildesheim, Highfield in Großpösna, Elbjazz in Hamburg, and Deichbrand in Cuxhaven. “Of course, our team can’t wait for the festival summer, and given our lineups and commercial success, we’re sure to have set the right course for the immediate future.

“At the same time, we have seen cost increases up to 50% across all areas of live culture, mainly due to higher prices for energy, resources, and personnel. Anyone who compares this dynamic with actual ticket prices immediately realises that we cannot and do not want to pass on the enormous additional costs to our guests.

“Our size as a group currently allows us to produce in such a way that attending a festival remains as affordable as possible. Not excluding anyone from live culture for financial reasons is the most important challenge of our time, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult due to the small margins and high risk of our industry.”

DEAG’s Kornett is reasonably confident about demand, the group having recently announced sales of 4.9m tickets for its 2024 festivals across Europe, up 38% year-on-year. But he is concerned about the impact of increasingly unpredictable weather events on the summer months, which he regards as all but inevitable in 2024.

“Germany has been hit really hard by adverse weather, and it’s a matter of when, not if, there will be adverse impacts of the weather in Germany this year. It has become a common phenomenon,” he says, though on DEAG’s account, he strikes a positive note particularly for DEAG festivals.

“For festivals, the market has been relatively good,” says Kornett. “It has been harder to get a decent bill together, get the right acts for a given festival – it is a matter of acts being available and on the road. But there’s a massive amount of festivals in the summer months, and the consumer wouldn’t go if they didn’t like it.”

“A lot of the festivals, especially the big ones, seem to have been in a bit of an identity crisis, post-pandemic”

Some suggest that the complications and cancellations of the Covid years have left festivals struggling for direction. “A lot of the festivals, especially the big ones, seem to have been in a bit of an identity crisis, post-pandemic,” says Wentzler at Z|Art.

And as tastes shift, there is a strong case to be made for new concepts. Goodlive’s Superbloom, launched in 2022 under the stewardship of then-former (and recently returned) Lollapalooza Berlin festival director Szép, is a recent market entrant that has been widely embraced as offering something fresh.

The imperative, Szép suggests, is to create new and compelling propositions for a changing audience that might not be attracted to traditional festivals. While she stresses that the event is not aimed exclusively at women – Calvin Harris, Sam Smith, Burna Boy, and The Chainsmokers are on the bill – there is clear evidence that Superbloom is filling a new niche. Last year, it sold 50,000 tickets, and this year, three months out from its September slot, it was more than halfway there and selling faster than in 2023.

“With Superbloom, we have somehow created a live brand that people want, especially young women,” she says. “Last year, almost 70% of our audience was female, and when we communicate with our fans, we hardly receive any aggressive or negative feedback. They say they felt super-safe, and they really appreciated our programmes about awareness and inclusion. I never would have thought that this philosophy that was important for me would make such a huge impact already, in two years.”

Evidently, festival success stories aren’t defined by their genre. Stuttgart’s jazzopen celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, with headliners including Sam Smith, Sting, and Lenny Kravitz, plus jazz legends such as Lee Ritenour, Billy Cobham, and Marcus Miller in four venues across ten days, selling 55,000 tickets and bringing in another 10,000 for its open stages.

“About 30% of our €7m annual budget comes from sponsorship by brands”

“While unfortunately a number of European independent festivals cannot survive anymore, jazzopen is on a good track,” says promoter and director Jürgen Schlensog of Opus Live.

“Of course, we are faced with increasing price levels for artists and production costs. However, we have been able to build a strong sponsorship pyramid in the last ten years. About 30% of our €7m annual budget comes from sponsorship by brands such as Mastercard, Mercedes-Benz, Allianz, and more. We are cashless and climate-neutral, and we are proud to be independent and ready for the future.”

And a very different German festival with a clear appeal to its chosen market is Superstruct’s Wacken. The 34-year-old metal institution was plagued by bad weather in 2023 and still, days later, sold out 85,000 tickets for this year’s event in just four-and-a-half hours.

“We are more than grateful and humbled for your trust,” the festival’s promoters wrote in an open letter to fans. “Especially after the difficult start of the festival this summer… we really appreciate that the community stands by us and sticks together.” Other festivals will no doubt be hoping for the same.

Venues
Inevitably, the story of larger German venues is one of a balancing act between healthy demand and punishing increases in costs. Looking through the first lens, the rise and rise of mass live entertainment, especially at the volume end of the scale, is hard to deny.

“The market is constantly evolving and is highlighting new genres that can fill a venue of our capacity”

“The market is constantly evolving and is highlighting new genres that can fill a venue of our capacity,” says Ole Hertel, Anschutz Entertainment Group vice president and managing director, who runs Berlin’s freshly rebranded 17,000-capacity Uber Arena.

“A decade ago, gaming moved into the live event business, then K-Pop took over. Lately, we have international comedians touring German arenas, darts are played before 10,000 people, podcasters are selling out single shows, and German hip-hop acts are selling out consecutive shows – unthinkable a decade ago.”

But with big buildings, of course, come huge costs. The 20,000-capacity Lanxess Arena in Cologne is one of the cornerstones of the German circuit and reliably ranks as the best-attended arena in the country. The arena’s CEO Stefan Löcher reports a strong year so far, with the men’s handball final and 15 sold-out Cologne Carnival events of its own in the immediate rear-view mirror, and incoming shows including Justin Timberlake and Thirty Seconds to Mars.

“The year 2024 feels great so far,” says Löcher. “After the pandemic years and the numerous delayed tour starts due to the energy crisis, it feels like pre-Covid times since last year.

“But I think the entire industry is noticing the increased costs, especially in the tour business. And of course, with a venue of our size, we also have a huge new burden when it comes to energy costs. That’s why it’s important for us to become more efficient in all areas in good time. Of course, that won’t happen overnight.”

“German arenas are increasingly focusing on sustainability”

A new venue in Munich, greenlit in 2022 by the city council but not yet constructed, proposes to be Germany’s first climate-neutral arena, with all its energy generated and supplied onsite via solar panels, geo-thermal energy, and district heating.

Arena managing director Lorenz Schmid reports that the project is moving forward, its plans having been presented to the planning and design advisory committee in the nearby town of Freising in early June.

“The Design Advisory Committee is an official part of the approval process and plays a central role in ensuring urban planning and architectural quality,” says Schmid. “They praised the current planning and gave their approval to continue with these plans. This is a big step and another milestone for us.”

The Munich Arena is only the most notable exponent of a sector-wide trend towards green upgrades and energy initiatives.

“German arenas are increasingly focusing on sustainability, including the implementation of energy-efficient technologies, waste-reduction programmes, and sustainable sourcing of materials,” says Steve Schwenkglenks, VP and MD of Barclays Arena in Hamburg, which is in the process of switching to LED lighting and last year established its own in-house reusable cup-washing facility.

“These efforts are aimed at reducing the environmental impact and appealing to a more eco-conscious audience,” he says.

The Uber Arena, formerly the Mercedes-Benz Arena, is in the midst of its own LED transition programme, which currently stands at 90% complete. Also in the works are an application for AGF’s A Greener Arena certification, the installation of an EV charging station in July, a contract with an outside company to recycle the venue’s paper towels, and the return of bees to the arena roof after a two-year hiatus.

“Long term, we have to evaluate how we source our energy consumption to run a sustainable business”

And while such measures are clearly important, AEG’s Hertel acknowledges that major work remains to be done on the fundamental question of how to power arenas.

“Short term, we constantly look for ways to save energy in our day-to-day operation,” he says. “Long term, we have to evaluate how we source our energy consumption to run a sustainable business.”

In Düsseldorf, the D.LIVE group operates the Merkur Spiel-Arena (in fact a stadium, with a capacity of 52,500), the Mitsubishi Electric Halle (7,500), and PSD Bank Dome (13,500 or 11,000 seated, with the option to reconfigure to 5,500).

Acts and events playing across D.LIVE’s venues this year include Coldplay, Niall Horan, Disney On Ice, Ne-Yo, Bryan Adams, and Troye Sivan, and plans are afoot for the D.LIVE Open Air Park – a space for up to 80,000 spectators that will be up and running from summer 2025. “Over the last [few] years, we invested more than €30m in all our venues,” says Daniela Stork, D.LIVE executive director of booking, ticketing and special events.

“Among other things, we converted the lighting in all venues to LED. In the Merkur Spiel-Arena, we also integrated new full-colour upper- and lower-tier lighting. We have redesigned the VIP areas in the Merkur Spiel-Arena and the PSD Bank Dome, and we have renovated the backstage areas in the PSD Bank Dome and the Mitsubishi Electric Halle so that not only our guests but also the acts and production teams feel at home with us.”

There’s more to the German venue scene than just arenas and stadiums, of course, though it is apparent that the success of the larger rooms means there is less money in the market at other levels – especially the lowest ones. As in all Europe’s thriving cities, German clubs are under threat from landlords, developers, and energy bills, but they are also struggling to get a share of consumers’ entertainment budgets.

“Five years ago, if you put on a show that was not the hottest show in town, 100 or 250 people would still find their way to the show by accident,” says Hoppe. “And that is completely gone. Now, you either have really strong sales, or you have really bad sales, especially in that segment.

“First of all, people don’t have that kind of money anymore. Second of all, people that do have that kind of money have invested in premium shows that now cost 50% more than they did before. Also, I think people like their couch. And those are all the little bricks in the wall we have to navigate in our business at the moment.”

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Austria’s Racino to host two new 60,000-cap events

Live Nation and Leutgeb Entertainment Group are hoping to establish a new 60,000-cap concert venue in Austria with two huge events this summer.

The promoters are teaming up to stage Rolling Loud Europe – 2024’s only European edition of the hip-hop festival franchise – at Racino open-air venue in Ebreichsdorf, Vienna from 5-7 July, marking the brand’s debut in the country.

Rolling Loud Europe will be headlined by Nicki Minaj, Playboi Carti and Travis Scott, with other acts to include Ice Spice, Offset, Shirin David, Gunna, Lil Tjay, Don Toliver and NLE Choppa, among others. Remaining weekend tickets cost €259.

The same venue will also host the one-day Racino Rocks, starring Metallica, backed by a supporting bill including Five Finger Death Punch, Ice Nine Kills and Mammoth WVH. General sale tickets cost €149.00 to €223.70. Punters also have the option of arriving onsite a day early for €25.

Speaking at a press conference, Live Nation’s Marek Lieberberg, André Lieberberg and Matthias Rotermund, and Austrian promoter Klaus Leutgeb declared that both events are expected to welcome 60,000 fans per day.

“We are extremely satisfied with the response,” said Live Nation GSA head Marek Lieberberg, as per Vorarlberg Online and oeticket.

Lieberberg said he was “very happy and proud” that Leutgeb had secured a year-round contract for the location, which he described as “one of the most beautiful festival grounds in Europe… embedded in nature, close to the metropolis of Vienna”, after a decade of working with Racino.

Moving forward, the promoters plan to organise smaller 5,000 to 10,000-cap events at the Racino each year, as well as larger concerts

“We are here to stay,” he added. “We are putting the metropolis of Vienna and its charisma at the centre. The visitors come from Vienna, will go back there and spend the night there.”

André Lieberberg noted that 50% of the visitors to Rolling Loud Europe will come from Austria along with a significant from southern Germany, while almost 1,000 tickets have been sold in the US so far.

Moving forward, the promoters plan to organise smaller 5,000 to 10,000-cap events at the Racino each year, as well as larger concerts for up to 60,000 attendees.

Launched in 2015, the Miami-hailing Rolling Loud has also run events in Los Angeles, New York, Detroit, Sydney, Toronto, and is also plotting a debut event in Thailand for November this year. In Europe, most recently Rolling Loud has been staged in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, Portimão on Portugal’s Algarve and Munich, Germany.

Marek Lieberberg also played down reports that Rolling Loud’s 2023 German launch had been married by crowd trouble. Nine security staff were reportedly pelted by bottles and stones by festivalgoers on the event’s first day, as police described a “remarkably aggressive” mood among the audience.

“You should classify it,” Lieberberg told local media. “No people were hurt, no containers burned.”

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Adele adds final two shows to Munich residency

Adele has added two final concerts to her upcoming German residency after more than 2.2 million people registered to buy tickets, taking the total number of shows to ten.

Due to “unprecedented demand”, the British singer will now perform at the 80,000-cap pop-up stadium at Munich Messe exhibition centre from 2-3, 9-10, 14, 16, 23-24 and 30-31 August.

The 35-year-old’s 100-night Weekends with Adele run at The Colosseum (cap. 4,100) at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas is due to wrap up in June this year. Aside from the Vegas run, Adele has played only limited live dates in support of her most recent album, 2021’s 30 – performing two nights at the 65,000-cap BST Hyde Park in London, UK in July 2022.

The exclusive European performances, promoted by Live Nation, mark the first time Adele has performed in mainland Europe since 2016. After an initial four dates were announced, a further four shows were added before today’s confirmation of an additional two.

Tickets go on general sale on 9 February, with prices reportedly ranging between €74.90 to €419.90.

“There are already more registrations than for Adele’s concerts in Hyde Park and Las Vegas”

“There are already more registrations than for Adele’s concerts in Hyde Park and Las Vegas,” says organiser Marek Lieberberg, as per BR.

Austrian promoter Klaus Leutgeb, who is co-promoting the run, has enlisted the help of renowned stage designer Florian Wieder.

Speaking to Krone earlier this month, he said: “I have been in contact with management for two years; I had a vision that drove me forward. I had to develop something very special, something that was 100% Adele.”

“It’s a multifunctional arena, twice the size of a football stadium, with a diameter of 300 meters, the stage alone is 220 metres wide. But for me, it’s not about size or dimension. For me it’s about content, I want to realise my dreams and visions because that’s the only thing that makes me happy and I’m restless.”

Adele is represented by Lucy Dickins and Kirk Sommer at WME.

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A high note: Helene Fischer on tour

Currently undertaking one of the biggest European tours of the year, Schlager superstar Helene Fischer is thrilling audiences with her unique brand of entertainment, mixing her soaring vocals with daring acrobatic performances. Gordon Masson reports on her extraordinary Rausch Live tour…

With more than 715,000 tickets sold, Helene Fischer’s ongoing 71-date marathon around Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands is undoubtedly one of the standout tours of 2023, featuring a swathe of never-seen-before elements, both front of house and backstage.

In addition to singing and dancing, Fischer’s role in the extravaganza sees her performing aerial stunts, accompanied by nine musicians, and a Cirque du Soleil cast that includes a ten-strong dance troupe and ten acrobats, who contribute to a hit-laden show offering ticket holders a three-hour visual and aural feast.

Rausch Live is filling arenas throughout the GSA region, typically in week-long mini-residencies where the production loads in on a Monday, before Fischer and the rest of the cast take to the stage for five dates – Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday – to sold-out auditoriums where audience demographics cover everyone from kindergarten to great-grandparents.

The tour’s producer and promoter, Live Nation GSA chief executive Marek Lieberberg, is just one of those in awe of Fischer, with whom he is working for the first time.

“We were with our previous promoter for about ten years, but sometimes you need to shake things up, so that’s why we ended up going to Marek and Live Nation”

Indeed, Lieberberg admits he was initially cautious about getting involved in Fischer’s career, despite the fact she is one of Germany’s biggest stars. “German pop music is not my expertise, and I had really refrained from promoting artists in that genre, so I had to ask myself if this was the right thing – would it fit the later days of my career? And was Helene an artist that would match well with Live Nation whereby her career would benefit?” Lieberberg says.

“Contrary to the rumour mill in Germany, I did not approach them; Helene’s manager, Uwe Kanthak, and I met by coincidence. And then, basically, it was down to meeting Helene: getting to know her and allowing her to understand what I’m all about. It was not a matter of us pitching for it, nor putting in an offer.”

Kanthak confirms this, telling IQ, “We were with our previous promoter for about ten years, but sometimes you need to shake things up, so that’s why we ended up going to Marek and Live Nation.”

Having first spoken to Kanthak three years ago, Lieberberg says he and Fischer first met over an informal dinner in Hamburg to explore common ground and figure out if working together would be a good move. “I think it’s very important that the formula of characters and of interests mix well,” says Lieberberg. “Thankfully, we both felt good about it and decided to re-meet and meet again. And through the meals we grew closer and developed an understanding that we would get along well.”

Recalling his initial reticence about Kanthak’s approach, Lieberberg reveals, “I looked at Helene’s previous tours and her versatility, which is absolutely unique. Globally, I don’t see any other artist that combines the capacities of singing, dancing, and acrobatics in the way Helene does. And that mixes in with a genuinely mellow, pleasant, understanding character. Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean Helene is not one of the most demanding artists on Earth. But that’s in a good way: she is looking for the Olympic record – faster, wider, higher. And those demands are all directed toward herself.”

“She is one of a kind. She has the capacity to learn and be ramped up to an acrobatic performance level at a very rapid pace. The acrobats are super-impressed by her: she’s very daring”

Resident show director Gabriel Dubé-Dupuis has been working with Helene since 2017 and has been involved in more than 100 shows with the artist. He agrees with Lieberberg, noting, “One of the challenges is that Helene wants to be pushed to her limit and beyond. She is one of a kind. She has the capacity to learn and be ramped up to an acrobatic performance level at a very rapid pace. The acrobats are super-impressed by her: she’s very daring.”

Hitting New Heights
With spectacular pyro, an incredible water installation, a giant robot called Pauline, and breath-taking individual and ensemble performances by Fischer and the acrobats, the production that the artist, Cirque du Soleil, and Live Nation have produced is setting new standards, prompting creative directors from around the world to sit up and take notice.

“The show is exceptional,” states Lieberberg. “It’s a three-hour show, and costume changes aside, there’s not a moment that Helene isn’t present. And she takes her audience very seriously: there is no way she will perform to a click track. Even when she is on the trapeze or is hanging face down or doing a somersault, her singing is always live. And I think that’s why every- body in the entourage and all the acrobats from Cirque du Soleil have learned to respect her.

“It’s Helene who pushes everything and everyone forward. And she has been relentless in that way. Wherever we were – rehearsals in Antwerp or Montreal, it was always Helene asking Cirque du Soleil certain questions. It’s a quest for excellence. It’s a quest for beauty. And it’s a quest for entertainment in a wonderful way, be- cause she embraces the audience every night and makes them feel that they’re so special – that’s something she really cares about.”

Resident show director Dubé-Dupuis comments, “We are tweaking the show on a daily basis because Helene can see little things that she wants to improve. You can rehearse everything except the audience, so there are programming things where Helene wants to hold and pause at certain moments for her fans, for instance.”

“We went to Las Vegas – Helene and her boyfriend, and me with my wife – and when we saw the Cirque du Soleil shows that is what gave us the idea to do something a bit different”

Joining The Circus
Explaining how the concept of involving Cirque du Soleil evolved, artist manager Kanthak says, “We went to Las Vegas – Helene and her boyfriend, and me with my wife – and when we saw the Cirque du Soleil shows that is what gave us the idea to do something a bit different.”

Kanthak says that they arranged an initial meeting with Cirque du Soleil, and as a result, the Helene Fischer Live tour that straddled 2017- 2018 was created in collaboration with Cirque du Soleil Special Events Division.

On the current tour, the Cirque du Soleil elements have taken the show to the next level, necessitating a seriously complex and technical production that requires more than 100 crew members to build and operate.

“It’s our second collaboration with the Helene Fischer team,” confirms Marie-Hélène Delage, creative director for Cirque du Soleil. “Having worked with Helene back in 2017, we know that she’s really strong, and she likes to be challenged – she always wants to try something new. And because her music is at the core of the show, what we create has to be connected to the feeling and emotion of each song.”

In addition to Cirque du Soleil’s 20 performers in the show – split evenly between dancers and multidisciplinary acrobats – the resident show director, Dubé-Dupuis, is a long-time collaborator with the circus troupe, while the personnel can also count on a head coach and an athletic performance therapist “to make sure that everyone stays healthy and can offer the best performance every night,” says Delage. The tour also employs specialist acrobatic riggers, as there are no fewer than 14 automatic winches that Fischer and the other performers fly from during the show.

“We were literally ready to start the race and were waiting for the flag. But then that flag was red, so it was a real shocker”

An Unexpected Break
Despite close to seven weeks of rehearsals, the intricate timing, complexity, and danger of the show was highlighted in dramatic fashion when Fischer had an accident and fractured a rib during final preparations, throwing the entire project into jeopardy.

“It was devastating,” says Lieberberg. “We were literally ready to start the race and were waiting for the flag. But then that flag was red, so it was a real shocker.”

Nevertheless Helene and her team took a pragmatic approach to the setback. Delage reports: “It was just a few days before we were launching the tour. We made the best of a dire situation by analysing, reviewing, and improving the scenario with Helene to ensure flow and finesse when she was ready to perform again.”

Lieberberg recalls, “We quickly had to scramble to find substitute dates. Our best-selling city is Cologne, so the fact that we had to reschedule those dates and try to salvage that situation was incredibly challenging. But we kept our composure, analysed our options, and found a solution. I always had a plan B, but I don’t think too many people want to see Marek Lieberberg on the trapeze,” he laughs.

As a result, the tour was put on hold for two weeks, during which Fischer’s injuries quickly healed, meaning that Hamburg’s Barclays Arena became the first dates for the tour.

That enforced downtime gave everyone involved in the production a few days off, while the decision was made to schedule a further five-day rehearsal before the premiere show in Hamburg. “Everyone was a little bit more rested and super-energised, so it actually turned out to be a great way to launch the tour,” adds Delage.

“The postponement was a real challenge because we had to cancel hotels and reschedule everyone going home and coming back when Helene recovered”

Such an unexpected spanner in the works put the skills of tour manager Dave Salt and his team to the test, having to quickly arrange travel for all the international personnel on the road – a major task given that the tour party and crew hail from 23 different countries.

“We had 127 people touring, including the dancers, band, and Cirque du Soleil performers,” says Salt. “So, the postponement was a real challenge because we had to cancel hotels and reschedule everyone going home and coming back when Helene recovered. We use IBERA as our travel agent partner and can access part of their booking system so we can do the bookings directly on a daily basis, which helped,” he adds.

Fischer’s Army
Helping Fischer and the other performers to entertain hundreds of thousands of fans is a small army of live music professionals and experts, giving a very international feel to a production which is, to all intents and purposes, a national tour.

Lieberberg pays tribute to his colleague Robert Fülöp, managing director of Live Nation Theater GmbH and his team for taking the helm in getting the show on the road. “That’s the difference – we are not just the promoter, we are also the producer, who is employing 150 people, putting them on the road, and taking care of them. Anyone can buy a show, but to be part of the creative, organisational, and financial process all in one, is far more complicated.

“Thankfully, we have a wonderful group of international people – the best of the best in the mix. We’ve got the greatest people for video, we’re the first tour to use this fantastic new sound system that doesn’t need delays, and then of course there are the fire elements and the water elements that nobody has seen before. In that respect, we pitched for the best companies and people, and we got them.”

In charge of the various departments is production manager Sebastian Pichel, who is genuinely relishing taking such a ground-breaking show on the road.

“We need 31 trucks for the tour, but once we get to each venue, we maintain a core team of drivers, allowing the others to take on other duties during the week”

“We load-in to each venue on a Monday,” he says. “In the beginning, load-in was 12 hours, but that’s speeding up week to week. We have a core crew of 70 people assisted with up to 100 local crew for load-in at each venue and as many as 150 local crew for load-out.

“Then, on a Tuesday, every element has to be validated for safety, and there’s a full rehearsal with all of the performers, because we have A-, B- and C-trims for the production depending on the height of the roof for each arena.”

Those roof configurations mean that Fischer and the acrobats have to retrain for the different heights, while winches and other automation needs to be reprogrammed, along with the centrepiece water feature.

The mini residency feel to the tour also presents an alternative routine for Pichel’s drivers. “We need 31 trucks for the tour, but once we get to each venue, we maintain a core team of drivers, allowing the others to take on other duties during the week.

“However, we keep our buses and use them for shuttles to and from hotels, while the night-liners can be used by crew to rest during the day if they can find the time.”

Steven Kroon at trucking contractors Pieter Smit says, “We have four drivers that remain with the tour permanently, while the rest we re- call for the duration of the stay in each city and then have them return for load-out.”

“It’s a gigantic show, in many ways”

While all of the company’s trucks are the lowest emission – Euro 6 – Kroon says figuring out how to most efficiently use the fleet can become convoluted. “We try to minimise the empty kilometres, so we can opt to leave the truck and trailer behind and get the driver to travel back to base by train and then have them on another truck. Or they can drive the truck away to the next job if that makes more sense,” he says.

Kroon discloses that while the original plan for the production was 20 trucks, as the company’s drivers picked up equipment from the likes of WICreations and various other vendors, it became apparent that more of the Pieter Smit fleet would be required. “That’s how we ended up with 29 plus the two rigging trucks,” he says. “We have some stadium business this year, too, but Helene Fischer is definitely one of the biggest tours we’ll be working on in 2023.”

However, there could have been more vehicles involved had sound, lights, and video supplier Solotech not taken a chance to become the first tour to use L-Acoustics’ brand-new L Series speakers, which are smaller and lighter than anything else on the market according to the manufacturers.

“L-Acoustics are massively important to the show because we have weight issues everywhere we go – we’re flying 75 metric tonnes. The L-Acoustics speakers allow us to do that without compromising anything else,” says Pichel.

“It’s a gigantic show, in many ways,” says Germain Simon, head of product and technology marketing for L-Acoustics. “It’s gigantic in the technicality of the system, the way it’s deployed, but also involves a lot of acrobats – there’s a lot of things happening in the air, which brings a lot of restrictions, in terms of placement of product.

“It’s the first time that the L Series system has gone on tour in a real-life environment, and it’s started at the maximum – Helene Fischer is using the largest array that we can do, so it’s super-exciting and scary at the same time.”

“If, at the end of the day, the production can save one or two trucks, it’s drastic for them in terms of budget”

Noting that the speakers’ sound quality remains the number-one criterion, Simon notes that the smaller, lighter units – which are still in their pilot phase – offer huge benefits. “If, at the end of the day, the production can save one or two trucks, it’s drastic for them in terms of budget. But it also means that the show consumes less power and has lower emissions as well.”

Pichel notes that the innovative speakers allow better sightlines for the audience – a factor that was taken into account throughout the production design. “We also use robotic remote spotlights so that we don’t have to take out any seats in the arena for the spot operators,” he says.

Heavily involved in the production planning were set and automation wizards WICreations, whose equipment accounts for 14 trucks on the tour, while up to 16 staff from the company are working on the crew each week.

Among the show’s biggest features is a giant water feature that WICreations teamed up with French special effects pioneers Crystal to perfect for touring. Using 800 nozzles assembled in a ring above the stage, the water feature is a pixel-fall system that allows operators to create images with the cascading water – an effect Crystal has been honing in environments such as theme parks in recent years.

Crystal project manager Ysabel Vangrudenberg says, “It’s a 4,000-litre, closed-circuit system, which allows us to recycle the water. We use industrial quality pumps and nozzles to minimise the maintenance, while there’s also a heating system for the comfort of the performers, meaning the water temperature is a constant 33 degrees.”

“We use the water feature immediately before the interval so that we can clear up the splashed water from the rest of the stage”

Taking such an intricate system on tour is no mean feat. The water installation splits into five parts and takes one and a half trucks to transport. And while an onstage waterfall poses obvious hazards to the electricity powering the show, WICreations’ Raf Peeters highlights one of the main challenges that they had to overcome with Crystal’s designers.

“Some of the venues we use have ice rinks, but if there is any leakage at all from our production onto that ice, it would be catastrophic,” he explains. “We had to assume that we’d always have leaks on the seals between the units, so we included a series of gutters beneath the seals to negate that issue.”

Vangrudenberg notes that the installation, which also features a reflection pool, was designed with minimal connections but needed to be retrofitted with special filters to prevent confetti from blocking the water nozzles. “There’s a real danger of leakage when the unit is dismantled, but we’ve been able to meet that challenge,” she reports.

The results make all the effort worthwhile. “We have 40 different images we can show in the water to suit Helene’s thematic. But those images have to be altered and reprogrammed depending on the venue and the height restrictions we have to meet,” adds Vangrudenberg.

Production manager Pichel applauds those efforts, “Crystal had a steep learning curve to make their installation something that we could use on a tour, but I’ve been really impressed by the way they’ve worked with us to achieve those goals.

“We use the water feature immediately before the interval so that we can clear up the splashed water from the rest of the stage.”

“I am not exaggerating when I say that the concert and the acrobatic performance of Helene Fischer and her team was one of the best I have ever seen”

And embodying Fischer’s desire to pack in as many elements as possible to entertain her fans, the show’s interval sees her technical crew perform another unusual trick.

“The B-stage ‘sails’ into position through the audience during the interval, after it is detached from the main stage,” says Peeters. Not content with that impressive deed, the B-stage splits after its use by Fischer and slowly glides back through the audience to its original position as part of the main stage during Fischer’s visit to the C-stage – a giant industrial robot arm, named Pauline by the production crew.

Playing down the complexity of the automotive robot’s part in the show, Pichel notes, “Pauline is approved for industrial use, but she was not cleared for use in an entertainment role, so it was an interesting process getting that approval.”

Venue Delight
The tour is providing some welcome business for the cities and venues it is visiting, with arena bosses keen to highlight their part in the process.

Steve Schwenkglenks, managing director of the Barclays Arena in Hamburg, which hosted the tour’s first shows following the premiere’s postponement, says, “Helene Fischer is one of Europe’s most successful female pop stars, and we were the first to experience her new show live for the tour opener at Hamburg’s Barclays Arena – five shows that were sold out completely. Helene not only has an incredible voice, but the athletic performance of her at the age of 38 is absolutely admirable. I am not exaggerating when I say that the concert and the acrobatic performance of Helene Fischer and her team was one of the best I have ever seen here at Barclays Arena.”

“There aren’t many German artists left who can sell out five shows in a row”

Those sentiments are echoed by René Otterbein at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart. “It fills us with great pride that we are part of the selection,” he says. “There aren’t many German artists left who can sell out five shows in a row. It was thrilling from the beginning until the end, and we were very happy when we finally made the contract.

“It’s a great honour for the capital city of Stuttgart. The hotels and all the other tourism benefit from the shows and over 55,000 visitors. This encourages us even more that we absolutely need a new big arena for Stuttgart.”

Mirco Markfort of SMG Entertainment Deutschland comments, “We are thrilled to welcome one of Germany’s most successful artists for five amazing shows. Helene Fischer goes above and beyond in order to put on a phenomenal show for her fans, and we are expecting a [fantastic] stage spectacle that will leave everyone in awe. It makes us proud to be able to put Oberhausen on the map of such an extraordinary tour and contribute to increasing the occupancy rate of our city’s hotels and restaurants.”

And in Cologne, which Lieberberg refers to as “Helene’s special city,” Lanxess Arena boss Stefan Löcher underlines this status by noting that she has confirmed seven concerts at the venue. “Hosting the highest number of shows per city on the whole tour in Germany makes us very proud,” says Löcher. “For the arena and for the whole city of Cologne, her visit has a great cultural value since Helene’s shows are always unique and popular. Therefore, we will be welcoming a huge fan base in August and September. Our whole team is looking forward to this exciting time.”

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, promoter Rob Trommelen at Mojo Concerts is counting the days until Fischer’s 13 September show at the Gelredome in Arnhem for what will be the biggest date of her Rausch Live tour. With the stadi- um roof closed, the capacity for the concert has been set at 33,000.

“We sold 22,000 tickets in the first day, and we’re currently about 90% sold for the show,” Trommelen states.

“I did a lot of research on Helene Fischer back in 2017 and discovered that she has a massive following in Holland, mostly in the east and the south of the country”

Having missed out on Fischer’s last visit to his market, Trommelen reveals he’s delighted to be involved this time around, working with Live Nation colleague Lieberberg. “I did a lot of research on Helene Fischer back in 2017 and discovered that she has a massive following in Holland, mostly in the east and the south of the country,” he says. “In the end, the 2018 date went to Greenhouse Talent, so the date in September will be the first time I have promoted Helene – I’m really looking forward to it.”

You Let Me Shine
With several cities now complete, the production crew is steadily becoming more efficient, but on stage, the evolution of the show continues on a day-to-day basis, according to Dubé-Dupuis.

“We are still tweaking things, and I’m confident there are still some surprises to introduce,” he tells IQ. “We have eight weeks off in the summer, then five days of rehearsal before we resume.”

While Dubé-Dupuis believes the tour provides Cirque du Soleil with a platform to develop content for other live shows, he notes that Fischer’s unique talents mean a similar production to Rausch Live would be unlikely.

“Her ambition and work ethic are incredible – if she calls, I am here,” he says. “But if I need her on stage at 4pm, I tell her that I need her at 3:30, because she needs to hug everyone and have a chat with everyone on the crew before she gets to the stage. That’s created a strong bond and a very happy touring party.”

“I must say, in my short period of 50-plus years in this industry, I have not met an artist with such a unique attitude”

It’s also made a certain promoter ecstatic.

“Helene is on stage bang on eight o’clock every night, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And she’s the last person off stage, caring for her ensemble, the crew members, and so forth,” reports Lieberberg.

“I must say, in my short period of 50-plus years in this industry, I have not met an artist with such a unique attitude. She puts herself forward in every which way as the best example – the leader. And she will not ask anyone to do anything that she wouldn’t do herself.

Lieberberg has worked as Cirque du Soleil’s partner in the German-speaking territories for many years, while his history of promoting some of the biggest acts in the world dates back more of those 50-plus years.

Nonetheless, he states, “I don’t think there is a show that can rival this. I must say, I was blown away by Lady Gaga last summer. It’s tricky to make comparisons, but I would say that Helene has reached a new level.”

And harking back to some of the initial conversations he had regarding Rausch Live – and the very different ways that artist manager Uwe Kanthak wanted to market the tour, Lieberberg admits that he is beyond impressed by Fischer’s pulling power.

“We are not playing to Germans in the GelreDome – these are Dutch people who are coming to see the show. So, it definitely translates”

“It was a dogma of Uwe to play five shows per city and to put all the shows on sale at the same time – the Tuesdays and Wednesdays on sale alongside the Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. That was a hurdle, and I have to admit we would have liked to do it a little bit differently. But it was a precondition, so we were happy to go along with it. And, of course, it worked.”

Indeed, Lieberberg pays tribute to Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino for his faith in Fischer. “He was not really familiar with the artist, at first, but he trusted our opinion, and trusted our expertise, and completely endorsed the project.”

As for future plans beyond the 2023 tour, it’s evident that Lieberberg and Live Nation believe Fischer could take her talents to other countries – a fact backed up by September’s stadium show in Arnhem. “We are not playing to Germans in the GelreDome – these are Dutch people who are coming to see the show. So, it definitely translates,” says Lieberberg, noting that if Fischer had some more English-language repertoire, he has no doubt her superstar status could be replicated internationally.

But he concedes that what comes next is truly in the hands of the artist. “After 71 shows, Helene will take a very well-earned break and a leap back into privacy that she deserves (after devoting so much time to being on the road) with her family.”

He concludes, “I must say, this tour is one of the pillars and one of the highlights of my career. I’ve had the privilege of dealing with some incredible artists over the decades, and I’ve also had the great pleasure of falling out with some of the most incredible artist managers. But I’m so pleased that at this stage of my career there is something so unique and so successful to be involved with. That’s what we promoters live for. We work for success, and we strive for perfection. And I’m very, very proud of Helene, her whole entourage, and especially of my team here at Live Nation GSA.”

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Live Nation reveals details on Download Germany

Live Nation GSA (Germany, Switzerland, Austria) has revealed more details about the inaugural edition of Download Germany.

The promoter today (14 September) revealed that US heavy metal band Metallica will headline the 2022 event, which will be the band’s only concert in Germany next year.

Metallica will be joined by heavyweights Five Finger Death Punch and Sabaton, both of which will be a 2022 festival exclusive for Germany.

Up to 10 acts will perform on a huge double stage at Download Germany, according to GSA, and more than 70,000 guests are expected to attend.

Up to 10 acts will perform on a huge double stage at Download Germany and more than 70,000 guests are expected to attend

It was previously revealed that Download Germany will take place on 24 June 2022 at the Hockenheimring, a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim, which Live Nation GSA head Marek Lieberberg has prior experience with.

Advance ticket sales for Download Germany will start on 17 September at 12:00 CET, including passes for the interior of the racing track, as well as passes for the south stand.

The promoter revealed today that interior tickets cost €139 including parking and pre-sale fee and south stand tickets cost €159 including parking and advance booking fee.

Download Germany will be the UK brand’s fourth sister event. Other sites are Download Australia, which would have debuted in 2020, Download Madrid and Download France in Paris (both of which last took place in 2019).

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Live Nation GSA announces Download Festival Germany

Live Nation GSA (Germany, Switzerland, Austria) is launching a German edition of Download Festival, the UK’s premiere rock event.

Download Germany will take place on 24 June 2022 at the Hockenheimring, a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim, which Live Nation GSA head Marek Lieberberg has prior experience with.

Lieberberg’s former company Marek Lieberberg Konzertagentur (MLK) previously held Rock’n’Heim at the same location, in cooperation with Live Nation.

The festival took place annually from 2013 to 2015, welcoming around 40,000 fans across three days for the first two years. In 2015, the event was reduced to a one-day event.

MLK also housed both Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, started by Lieberberg in 1985 and 1993 respectively, the twin festivals that from 2022, will be programmed by eventimpresents and CTS Eventim-owned DreamHaus.

At the time of writing, Download Germany has not announced any artists or released tickets for the 2022 event

At the time of writing, Download Germany has not announced any artists or released tickets for the 2022 event.

Download Germany will be the UK brand’s fourth sister event. Other sites are Download Australia, which would have debuted in 2020, Download Madrid and Download France in Paris (both of which last took place in 2019).

The UK event, promoted by Festival Republic, this year took place over the 18–20 June weekend as part of the second phase of the UK government’s scientific Events Research Programme (ERP).

Download Pilot welcomed 10,000 metal fans to the hallowed grounds of rock in Donington Park, Leicestershire, to enjoy a fully-fledged festival experience with no social distancing, no masks and moshing allowed. The event was the UK’s first major camping festival of its kind since lockdown.

The flagship event is set to return to the UK between 10-12 June 2022 with a line-up that includes Deftones, Korn and Megadeath.

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