Messina Touring Group boosts Rachel Powers to VP

AEG Presents’ Messina Touring Group (MTG) has upped Rachel Powers to vice president from director of marketing.

An MTG veteran, Powers has worked at the Austin-based company for eight years.

According to MTG, she will take on added responsibility in her new role as she spearheads tour marketing and promotion for CMA Entertainer of the Year Eric Church and country superstar Blake Shelton.

“Her marketing expertise is key to the success of our tours”

“Rachel has been an incredible leader within our company and deserves this promotion,” says CEO Louis Messina. “Her marketing expertise is key to the success of our tours, and she adds immense value to both the artists she works with and our internal team at MTG daily.”

She has been at the helm of tour marketing with Church’s The Gather Again Tour, which so far has reported over 547,000 in ticket sales, following his 2019 Double Down Tour that reported over 770,000 in ticket sales and set the attendance record at Nissan Stadium. That concert saw Church become the first artist in the venue’s history to headline a solo stadium show.

Powers has also led tour marketing at MTG for Shelton since his 2017 tour, including his latest Friends and Heroes 2021 Tour, which sold over 152,000 tickets across 14 sold-out markets.

MTG has also worked with stars including Shawn Mendes, Little Big Town, Kenny Chesney, The Lumineers, George Strait, Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.

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Sheeran wraps up Divide tour with hometown return

Ending where it all began, Ed Sheeran is performing the final concerts of his record-breaking ÷ (Divide) tour in his hometown of Ipswich, UK.

After spending 893 days on the road, performing at 166 venues in 43 countries and breaking attendance records in Iceland, Finland and South Africa, the end of Sheeran’s Divide tour – the highest grossing concert tour ever – is finally in sight.

Sheeran is closing the tour with four homecoming gigs at a specially erected 40,000-capacity arena in Chantry Park, Ipswich, from Friday 23 to Monday 26 August. The shows follow two UK tour dates in Roundhay Park, Leeds, last weekend.

After spending 893 days on the road, performing at 166 venues in 43 countries and breaking attendance records in Iceland, Finland and South Africa, the end of Sheeran’s Divide tour is in sight

According to local paper, Ipswich Star, fans have been queuing from as early as 5 a.m. to secure the best spot at today’s (23 August) show.

Fellow Suffolk-hailing act the Darkness will support Sheeran at all four shows, with Passenger warming up crowds on Friday and Saturday and Lewis Capaldi kicking things off on the other two nights.

Sheeran’s team includes his manager, Stuart Camp, agents Jon Ollier (CAA) and Marty Diamond (Paradigm), tour manager Mark Friend and a roster of promoters that includes FKP Scorpio in Germany, AEG Presents, DHP Family and Kilimanjaro Live in the UK, Frontier Touring down under and Messina Touring Group in North America.

Tickets for the concerts are priced at £82.50, with only tickets for the Monday evening show remaining at press time.

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