Dua Lipa has been given the crown for the top-selling tour of 2024 on O2’s Priority Tickets platform.

The telecoms giant declared a record-breaking year for its customer reward scheme with 1.54 million tickets sold January to November – a 12% increase on the same time period in 2023. The platform offers exclusive early access to events and venues in the UK for O2 and Virgin Media broadband customers.

Tours by Dua Lipa, Peter Kay and Lana Del Rey topped this year’s biggest-seller list, which spans pop, comedy, R&B and heavy metal.

Lipa topped the list with her 2025 Radical Optimism tour, after partnering with O2 for an exclusive pre-sale and brand new ‘Walk’ ad to celebrate – the first of its kind in six years.

The pop star is closely followed by British comedian Peter Kay, whose first tour in over a decade included a residency at The O2 arena in London and was recently expanded due to popular demand.

Lana Del Rey claimed third position on the list with her first-ever UK stadium shows for the summer of 2025, R&B star Usher came in fourth with his ten-show residency at The O2 arena in London, while Billie Eilish’s tour came in fifth place.

“There have been massive tours announced this year, ones that will go on to define an entire generation of music and entertainment,” says Gareth Griffiths, director, partnerships and sponsorship at Virgin Media O2.

“Our Priority campaign starring Dua Lipa was a huge success, selling out Wembley Stadium. With a relentless demand from O2 and Virgin Media broadband customers for access to live shows, we’re now seeing Priority Tickets smash its own sales records again this year. Our best-sellers list shows the variety of live entertainment the UK has an offer – here’s to an even bigger 2025.”

Between 1 January and 30 November 2024, O2 has offered access to tickets to shows from over 2,000 artists and performers, at more than 650 venues across the UK. It has also hosted three exclusive ‘Priority Gigs’ for customers, which saw D-Block Europe, Girls Aloud and RAYE each play their own free and intimate shows for customers at O2 venues.

In a recent interview with IQ, Griffiths discussed the company’s Priority Tickets platform, its gigs, and its quest to clean up secondary ticketing.

O2 revealed it had stopped more than 50,000 suspected bots from entering its Priority platform over a six-week period.

“We are a customer-centric brand, and if our customers have signed up to Priority to get exclusive access to tickets, then they get into a ticketing journey where there are 30,000 bots in front of them, that’s just not fair. So genuine fans are missing out and this is why we’ve been on a mission to try and sort it out.”

Read the full interview here.

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With on-sales for hot shows regularly making headlines, sometimes for the wrong reasons, a debate has ignited among experts as to whether the live business should switch from online queues to ballots for the most in-demand concerts.

Glastonbury unveiled a revamped online queuing system for yesterday’s (17 November) general sale, whereby fans were “randomly” assigned a place in the queue at the start of the sale, rather than having to refresh the page like in previous years. While the system was a novelty for Glastonbury, it has been the standard path for most high-demand shows for a number of years.

Speaking to presenter and DJ Annie Mac ahead of this summer’s festival, Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis explained why the event had decided against distributing tickets via a ballot.

“I think if we did a ballot, we’d end up with some people who weren’t necessarily as bothered about coming,” she claimed.

Elsewhere, however, Oasis held a special invitation-only ballot for their two additional shows at Wembley Stadium next September, limited to fans who had been unsuccessful in the initial on sale for their 2025 reunion tour despite queuing for hours.

And Sam Fender made tickets for his upcoming hometown show at Newcastle’s 11,000-cap Utilita Arena available by ballot to customers with North-East postcodes only.

“I use the analogy that if you entered the lottery and you didn’t win, you wouldn’t complain to the National Lottery that you didn’t win”

Steve Tilley of Kilimanjaro Live, promoter of the 20 December concert, explains the thinking behind the method.

‘’It’s an attempt to try and manage the demand and introduce some kind of element of randomness/luck into the equation when you’re very very confident that there’s no way the supply is going to be able to meet expected demand,” he tells IQ. “I use the analogy that if you entered the lottery and you didn’t win, you wouldn’t complain to the National Lottery that you didn’t win. And we don’t even charge you for entering our lottery unless you get the chance to buy a ticket.”

Sam Ricketts, head of business development & artist services at AXS, says that ballots have become an “increasingly popular solution for measuring demand and getting tickets into the hands of real fans”, while Gigantic Tickets co-CEO Simon Carpenter deems them “the fairest way to go” when demand for a show is sky-high.

“The Sam Fender show in Newcastle at the arena is a perfect example, where you’ve got hundreds of thousands of people wanting to go to a show with a 10,000 capacity,” notes Carpenter.

Ed Sheeran agent Jon Ollier of One Fiinix Live points out that ballots are commonplace in certain parts of the world, such as Japan.

“Anything that we can do to try and reimagine and make the ticket purchasing process more fair [is for] the better,” he adds.

“They are probably not the right solution for most on sales. But for the ones that are going to see high demand, they are absolutely the way to go”

Ticketing executive and former STAR Council member Richard Howle advises that ballots aren’t right for every on sale, however.

“In fact, they are probably not the right solution for most on sales,” he asserts. “But for the big ones – the ones that are going to see high demand – they are absolutely the way to go.”

Howle believes there are numerous benefits from an industry perspective, particularly around data and pricing, in addition to gauging demand.

“During a typical on sale we only manage to collect data from those who successfully book a ticket,” he suggests. “By running a ballot we have the opportunity to collect data from everyone who is interested in buying a ticket. And I don’t just mean marketing data which relies on people opting in – huge amounts of insight can be gleaned about potential audiences.

“Balloting also provides an idea of demand in advance: London has the demand for four dates, Birmingham three, Manchester two, etc. This certainty of demand will make scheduling routing and deal-making so much clearer.”

He adds: “By running a ballot, by receiving information in advance about what audiences are prepared to pay, promoters can optimise their manifests to deliver the maximum returns as well as preserving any wishes that an artist may have about preserving a percentage of tickets at accessible prices.

“Whilst prices can be set in advance, the number of tickets available at each price band does not have to be decided until the balloting process is complete and customers have indicated which price they wish to pay. Tickets can be truly priced based on demand, without upsetting customers.”

“Ticketing systems are built to cope with high demand, but sometimes technology breaks and on sales can go horribly wrong”

Furthermore, Howle notes there are technological advantages, both in terms of handling demand and battling ticket touting.

“Yes, ticketing systems are built to cope with high demand, but sometimes technology breaks and on sales can go horribly wrong – disrupting both pricing and scheduling strategies,” he says. “The gentler pace of a ballot makes the whole process much smoother – for everyone. It is an unnecessary stress which everyone could do without.

“Perhaps one of the biggest pros of balloting is that it makes it very hard for touts and their bots. Multiple applications and known touts can be screened out during the balloting process. The touts will always find a way, but we can make it much harder for them.”

Telecoms giant O2 gives away tickets for its intimate, one-off Priority gig series for free to O2 and Virgin Media customers via a ballot. Acts have included Kylie Minogue, D-Block Europe, Raye and Sam Fender, while more than 100,000 ballot entries were submitted for Girls Aloud at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in July.

“We see huge demand for our Priority Gigs, which does mean disappointment for some customers who don’t win tickets, but the ballot process creates fair opportunity to win and allows us to open up these one-of-a-kind music experiences to as many people as possible,” says Gareth Griffiths, director, partnerships and sponsorship at Virgin Media O2.

According to Griffiths, one of the biggest pluses of ballots is the “greater ability” they provide to tailor the ticketing process to suit a particular show or artist.

“With D-Block Europe and Raye’s Priority Gigs, for example, giving their biggest fans the first chance to grab tickets was a really important element of the show,” he says. “O2 was able to do this by using our Priority Tickets data, to give those who had engaged with the artists’ shows before the first chance to enter. This allows us to ensure the room is filled with those who most want to be there, and to connect artists with their biggest fans.”

“The casual fan who might ordinarily try their luck for a ticket on a single screen has equal footing with a die-hard fan”

Matt Kaplan, head of UK/EU at price-capped resale marketplace Tixel also sees far more positives than negatives.

“What we like about ticket ballots is that they typically bring a more fan-centric approach to the challenges of selling tickets to high-demand events,” he tells IQ. “By collecting all prospective buyers into the same ‘pot’ you level the playing field and remove the intense pressure of having to have five laptops, two phones, an iPad, a hope and a prayer, competing for that coveted moment of being redirected to the purchase page.

“I guess one thing that could be seen as controversial is that the casual fan who might ordinarily try their luck for a ticket on a single screen has equal footing with a die-hard fan who might have assembled an army of friends and dozens of screens for more “chances” at a ticket. And is this a bad thing? Probably not.”

Although Howle considers the benefits of ballots to outweigh the negatives, he acknowledges the downside.

“It takes time to organise and manage, which is why it is not appropriate to do every on sale as a ballot,” he stresses. “Some promoters and artists like the fuss of an onsale, some like to say that they ‘broke the internet’ that they ‘sold out in xx minutes’. But what is a better indication of popularity: ‘20,000 ticket sold out in 10 minutes’ or ‘a million people have entered a ballot’?”

He continues: “One con, which is particularly relevant to the UK is that allocations are split across a number of different ticketing companies. This is an added complication which needs co-ordinating – but it shouldn’t be a barrier to balloting.

“The final con is that an on sale generates its own excitement, its own buzz which encourages others to join, to make that impulse buy. Perhaps if fans had more time to make a considered decision about whether they were going to attend or how much they wished to spend they wouldn’t pay as much? But counter to this, is that there will be much larger pool of people to access and with a ballot there is the opportunity to optimise the manifest to generate greater revenues.”

“As a promoter, 99 times out of 100 you’re more worried about selling out as quickly and easily as possible”

Nevertheless, if push came to shove, Kilimanjaro’s Tilley admits he would choose a normal on sale process over a ballot.

“As a promoter, 99 times out of 100 you’re more worried about selling out as quickly and easily as possible,” he says. “Promoting artists that require people to enter a ballot is a privilege indeed but that level of demand comes with a whole different set of problems for promoters and venues to try and solve.’’

He concludes: “When demand is so great that most people are going to be disappointed inevitably some fans take to social media to complain direct to artists and managers about something not being fair or potentially blaming a ticket agent tech issue – whether fair or not – and so on. If you introduce a ballot then luck becomes a factor and most people accept the rules at that point. Of course, there are still people on socials making their feelings known but I guess that’s the way of the world.”

Indeed, as the industry has learned time and time again – ballots or not – you’ll never be able to please everyone.

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O2’s Gareth Griffiths has spoken to IQ about the company’s Priority Tickets platform and its quest to clean up secondary ticketing.

The telecoms giant sold 1.4 million tickets in 2023 via the customer reward scheme, which offers members early access to concert tickets up to 48 hours before general sale.

The company has sponsored London’s The O2 since the venue’s 2007 opening, and  also runs the O2 Priority Gig series, featuring intimate one-off shows by acts such as Kylie Minogue, D-Block Europe, Raye, Sam Fender and Girls Aloud. Held across its entire O2 Academy venue network in the UK, tickets are given away for free to O2 and Virgin Media customers via a ballot.

“We’ve had three huge Priority Gigs this year,” says Griffiths, Virgin Media O2’s director, partnerships and sponsorship. “We did Girls Aloud at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, D-Block Europe at Indigo at The O2, and we just had Raye a couple of weeks ago, also at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire as well.

“They’re free shows for our customers and demand is huge – they had 110,000 people applying for tickets for the Kylie show last year. We’ve got some fantastic artists coming to us now and asking to be involved, so next year will be our fourth year and they’re going from strength to strength.”

“We say to an artist, ‘Where would you like to play?’ And they’ve got our whole venue estate to choose from”

The series launched in 2021 with a performance by Wizkid at O2 Forum Kentish Town.

“It’s massive artists doing intimate shows at an O2 venue,” adds Griffiths. “We basically say to an artist, ‘Where would you like to play from our 21 venues?’ And they’ve got our whole venue estate right around the country to choose from, so the potential is really exciting.

“We did an incredible show with Sam Fender in Newcastle and with Raye, she said, ‘I used to go to O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire as a kid. I’m from London and I love that venue,’ so that was her choice.”

Yesterday (16 October), Griffiths spoke as part of a panel discussion in London hosted by O2, which examined the pain points in the secondary ticketing market and explored what government and online businesses can do to protect consumers.

The conversation followed research by O2 and YouGov indicating that ticket touts are costing music fans in the UK an extra £145 million (€174m) a year. Moreover, O2 revealed it had stopped more than 50,000 suspected bots from entering its Priority platform over a six-week period.

“I think it’s an even bigger problem than that YouGov survey highlights,” Griffiths tells IQ. “Only 5% of people said they would buy a ticket from a tout outside a venue, but two-thirds don’t understand what secondary ticketing is, so we’ve got a lot of customers we can help with awareness.

“We are a customer-centric brand, and if our customers have signed up to Priority to get exclusive access to tickets, then they get into a ticketing journey where there is 30,000 bots in front of them, that’s just not fair. So genuine fans are missing out and this is why we’ve been on a mission to try and sort it out.”

“Money is being taken out of the whole live ecosystem by touts. People won’t spend as much on merch or F&B because they’ve spent all their money on a ticket”

He continues: “We’re also huge supporters of artists and venues in this country. We’ve got 21 O2 venues – 20 O2 Academies and The O2 –  and have invested massively. But money is being taken out of the whole live ecosystem by touts: people won’t spend as much on merch or F&B when they go, because they’ve spent all their money on a ticket.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer included a pledge to introduce new legislation to cap ticket resale as part of the Labour manifesto, with new the UK government currently preparing to launch a consultation into the secondary ticketing market. A debate is also due to take place in Westminster Hall next week.

“To get something in the manifesto is a huge deal for us because that’s the first time actually we’ve had any political support on it really. That’s a huge sign of positive intent,” adds Griffiths. “The Labour government has just got in and has a whole basket of stuff to get through first, but we are hoping that mid-term – in a couple of years time – there will be legislation, but it won’t stop there for us.”

As well as new laws to protect fans against profiteering, O2 is also calling for clearer information to be presented during the sale process on secondary ticketing platforms, plus clearer identification of resale sites on search engines.

“Hopefully legislation will happen. There’s a way to go on that, and we’ll keep the pressure on, but the other two areas are key for us as well,” concludes Griffiths. “It’s about making our customers aware – and then they can make an informed decision. What they want to do is up to them, but at least we’ll have made them aware and are trying to do right by our customers.”

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The battle against industrial-scale ticket touting in the UK came under the spotlight once more in a panel discussion in London hosted by O2.

The conversation, which featured Virgin Media O2’s Gareth Griffiths, FanFair Alliance campaign manager Adam Webb and Labour MP Sharon Hodgson, chair of the APPG on ticket abuse, examined the pain points in the secondary ticketing market and explored what government and online businesses can do to protect consumers.

Presented by broadcaster Sinead Garvan, it followed research by O2 and YouGov, which indicated that ticket touts are costing music fans in the UK an extra £145 million (€174m) a year.

“Ticketing is a massive part of what we do,” explained Griffiths, director, partnerships and sponsorship at Virgin Media O2. “We sold 1.4m Priority Tickets last year, so this is a really big deal for us. We see our customers having a very hard time trying to buy tickets within the secondary market. It’s massively relevant to the core of our business, and we just want to make sure our customers get a fair deal.”

Based on a online survey of 2,044 adults, the data also revealed that approximately one in five tickets end up on a resale platform, while almost half (48%) of music fans who have attended live music events found it difficult to identify a secondary ticketing site.

O2’s UK venue sponsorship portfolio includes The O2 and 20 O2 Academy venues across the country. O2 stopped more than 50,000 suspected bots from entering its Priority customer reward platform over a six-week period, and Griffiths observed that touting had become “more technically advanced” since the pandemic.

“Now we’ve got a Labour government, we’re going to do something about it”

“We see presales all the time where you see 50-60,000 people in the waiting room for a really hot show, and you know that two-thirds of those are probably bots,” he said. “The real challenge for us now is fighting technology with technology, and we’re really looking into that in terms of the way our ticketing platform works, in terms of where our mobile business works, but it’s ramped up massively off the back of the shows coming back from Covid.”

Hodgson, who has campaigned against abuses in the market for more than a decade, said she was not surprised by the findings.

“I think they’re the tip of the iceberg,” she said. “I think it’s a lot more than £145 million if we were able to properly quantify it, and the lack of awareness didn’t surprise me either.

“The Metropolitan Police had an operation called Operation Podium to ensure that the Olympic tickets weren’t totally abused. They wrote a report afterwards, and basically said secondary ticketing and ticketing in general in this country was rife with criminality, organised crime and money laundering. And we’ve known that since 2012 and here we are, 12 years later, and thankfully, now we’ve got a Labour government, we’re going to do something about it.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to introduce new legislation to cap ticket resale, with the UK government preparing to launch a consultation into the secondary ticketing market. Hodgson offered an update on the likely timescale involved in terms of reform.

“Well, this parliament definitely, so that’s a long timescale,” she said. “There wasn’t a Bill in this King’s Speech… so it’s not going to be within the next year or so. Hopefully the consultation will happen over the next year, and then there’ll be a Bill brought forward in the next King’s Speech, so mid-term this parliament. I can’t wait.”

“The only two Oasis shows that weren’t listed on the secondaries were the two shows at Croke Park in Ireland… Legislation is a key part of solving this”

Webb discussed the lessons that could be learned from regulation introduced in other countries, such as Ireland, France and Australia.

“In Ireland, there was a Sale of Tickets Act introduced in 2021 basically outlawing resale,” he said. “The only two Oasis shows that weren’t listed on the secondaries were the two shows at Croke Park in Ireland. So it’s not the total solution, but you can see that legislation is a key part of solving this.

“The good thing now is that we’ve got the opportunity in the UK to look around the world, and actually design something better.”

Hodgson praised the anti-touting efforts of artists such as Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons, Iron Maiden and Arctic Monkeys.

“Right from the start, they could see this was so unfair and didn’t want their fans being ripped off,” she said. “What is the true price, the fair price, the market price [of a ticket]? It should be the price that the artists with their management have decided is the price they want their fans to pay.”

“You’re never going to completely eradicate ticket touting, but you can minimise it”

Nevertheless, she noted that, unlike Sheeran, Taylor Swift’s team had not followed through on their threat to cancel tickets bought via non-official resale sites for her Eras Tour.

“The first concert in Edinburgh, we were waiting with bated breath, what’s she going to do?” said Hodgson. “And she didn’t cancel the tickets, because maybe her fans are so much younger… She was trying to protect her tickets, but when it came down to it, she wasn’t prepared to break the hearts of thousands.”

The influence of search engines in facilitating resale was also brought up. Viagogo was banned from advertising on Google globally in July 2019 after the latter came under fire from lawmakers for allegedly accepting advertising money from sites listing tickets fraudulently, but the ban was quietly lifted four months later.

“It’s been a bit of a journey with Google in that they’ve been receptive at certain points,” said Webb. “For three months, Google removed them from their advertising networks and in that period their traffic absolutely flatlined… If you take either the touts away or you take Google away, there’s no business.”

He added: “I’m pretty glass half full. The frustrating thing for me is that I don’t think it’s that hard to sort out. I think legislation is key to get Google to do the right thing. And again, clearly they need legislation for their lawyers to understand this, and then for the industry to make it easier to resell the ticket.

“You’re never going to completely eradicate ticket touting, but you can minimise it and reduce it to a level. And again, the music industry has been here before with things like piracy for the recorded sector, which was completely out of control. And now, obviously, you’ve got streaming services and a very buoyant recorded market. It’s a similar journey, I think.”

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Ticket touts are costing music fans in the UK an extra £145 million (€174m) a year, according to new research by O2 and YouGov.

O2 has shared data based on a recent online survey of 2,044 adults, which reveals that approximately one in five tickets end up on a resale platform, while almost half (48%) of music fans who have attended live music events find it difficult to identify a secondary ticketing site.

In addition, O2, which sold 1.4 million tickets via its Priority customer reward platform in 2023, says it stopped more than 50,000 suspected bots from entering the platform over a six-week period, and is calling on the government and online platforms to do more to protect consumers.

“We are tired of professional ticket touts abusing the ticket marketplace and stealing tickets out of fans’ hands, only to immediately re-list them at inflated prices,” says Gareth Griffiths, director, partnerships and sponsorship at O2. “Music fans deserve the chance to buy tickets at a price set by their favourite artist, but all too often they are forced to pay a price decided by a stranger on the internet. Consumers deserve more protection and better information about the tickets they’re paying for.”

The £145m figure was calculated using data from UK Music’s Here, There and Everywhere 2023 report and YouGov survey data.

“We will not stop until we are fully confident in the fairness of the UK’s ticketing industry”

O2, which is a longtime supporter of UK-based FanFair Alliance, which campaigns against industrial-scale ticket touting, says better legislation, clearer information and clearer identification is required to help combat confusion in the marketplace.

Prime minister Keir Starmer has previously pledged to introduce new legislation to cap ticket resale, with the UK government currently preparing to launch a consultation into the secondary ticketing market. Culture secretary Lisa Nandy told the Labour Party conference earlier this week: “We’re taking action on rip-off ticket touts because culture belongs to everybody.”

Labour MP Sharon Hodgson, who is chair of the APPG for ticket abuse, adds: “I have fought tirelessly alongside FanFair Alliance to end ticketing abuse and ensure that my constituents, and people across our country, have fair access to the events that bring us together, without falling victim to exploitative touts.

“These new insights serve to further demonstrate the desire amongst music fans for change and we look forward to collaborating with O2 and the music industry to bring that change about. We will not stop until we are fully confident in the fairness of the UK’s ticketing industry.”

Last week in the US, the National Independent Talent Organization (NITO) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), alleging widespread violations of the BOTS Act by ticket resellers. The advocacy group’s complaint is backed by dozens of signatories including Red Light Management, Q Prime, Arrival Artists, Ground Control Touring, Mint Talent Group and Paladin Artists.

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On the heels of topping the bill at the 2024 Glastonbury Festival, Dua Lipa has announced her first UK stadium headline show.

The 28-year-old English-Albanian singer will bring her Radical Optimism Tour the 90,000-cap Wembley Stadium in London on 20 June next year. Promoted by Live Nation, the concert is her first confirmed tour date for 2025.

“There couldn’t be a better time to share this with you all,” says Lipa. “I am still flying high from the magic of headlining the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury this weekend, and I am absolutely thrilled to announce I’ll be playing Wembley Stadium this time next year.”

An O2 presale is set for 10 July, 48 hours ahead of the general sale. To mark the occasion, O2 has brought back its ‘Walk Ad’ back for the first time in six years. Lipa will star in the 60-second film, which debuts on 1 July at 9:15pm on ITV 2 during Love Island. The likes of Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Foo Fighters and the Gorillaz who have all previously released their own campaigns following the introduction of O2’s ‘Walk Ad’ series in 2009.

O2’s exclusive Priority presale follows a record year for Priority Tickets, which saw 1.4 million tickets sold throughout 2023 – a 15% rise on 2022.

Lipa topped the bill on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage this past weekend, closing the Friday night of the festival

“This collaboration between Dua Lipa and O2 perfectly captures the essence of Priority and is great news for her fans and our customers who want to get their hands on Wembley tickets 48 hours before general release,” says Gareth Griffiths, director, partnerships and sponsorship at Virgin Media O2.

Lipa topped the bill on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage this past weekend, closing the Friday night of the festival with a well received 19-song set, which included a guest appearance from Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker.

The WME-represented hitmaker also has upcoming festival dates at Poland’s Open’er Festival (4 July), Belgium’s Rock Werchter (6 July), Mad Cool Festival in Spain (10 July) and Nos Alive Festival in Portugal (12 July).

She will then play a sold-out show at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 17 October, prior to heading to Asia, where she will visit Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea.

The Radical Optimism Tour is Lipa’s first outing since 2022’s 71-date Future Nostalgia run, which generated $89,302,575 at the box office.

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The O2 in London has announced that more than 545.9 tonnes of carbon were extracted across The 1975’s four headline concerts in February.

The shows marked the world’s first carbon-removed arena events and took place in collaboration with carbon removal experts CUR8 and sustainable event specialists A Greener Future (AGF).

Using a portfolio of “scientifically verifiable” carbon removal methods (including enhanced rock weathering and biochar), The O2 (owned by AEG Europe) and CUR8 physically extracted the 136.46 tonnes of carbon generated by each event from the atmosphere and durably store it out of harm’s way.

The pilot events have resulted in a blueprint for a more sustainable live event model utilising carbon removals, which is being offered to all incoming promoters at the venue and is being planned to launch across several other AEG venues.

“With the success of this world-first pilot series of arena events, we’ve proven that it’s possible to run an arena-size live show which doesn’t compromise on a great fan experience but still accounts for the impact it has on the environment,” says Sam Booth, director of sustainability at AEG Europe.

“We hope this serves as a wakeup call to the wider industry that carbon removals are a viable solution that can be used to operate live events but they need buy-in from everyone in the live ecosystem in order to be a success – from venues and promoters right the way through to artists themselves. We’re fully committed to continuing to innovate and find even more ways to make our world-class events across AEG Europe more sustainable, as we strive for a low-carbon future for the live industry.”

Mark Stevenson, co-founder and chief impact officer at CUR8, adds: “The real heroes here are the teams at AEG Europe and AGF, who are working to reduce emissions as much as possible and then committing to remove the rest – and in doing so, helping fund the carbon removals operating system that the planet (and every organisation on it) will need to reach net-zero. Importantly, The O2 and AGF have demonstrated the art of the possible. We cannot have a live music industry where the only route to net-zero is to not exist. By using carbon removals to mitigate the complex ‘audience travel’ or ‘scope 3 emissions’ problem, all within the existing business model of live events, these concerts demonstrate a possible future – one that speaks to life well lived on a planet well loved.”

“We hope this serves as a wakeup call to the wider industry that carbon removals are a viable solution for live events”

The O2 has revealed that 75.7% of emissions from the concerts came from fan travel, which was covered by a combination of venue investment and a 90p contribution from fans, incorporated into the original ticket price.

Just 3.95% of the nightly carbon footprint came from arena operations, driven predominantly by electricity usage and staff travel. The low emission figure is thanks to The O2’s significant investment in energy efficiency, with the recent installation of LED lighting and screens across the arena saving over 300,000kwh of energy in 2023 alone.

The O2’s hospitality partner, Levy UK + Ireland, accounted for the removal costs across their operations, with carbon emissions for food and beverages across each show coming in at 7.46%, of which 85% was down to beverages. The overall figure was aided by the introduction of several recent initiatives, including a new food menu which generated 30% less carbon compared to the regular offering, as well as the launch of Notpla serveware. This 100% biodegradable product has a 70% lower carbon footprint than standard serveware and can be processed in The O2’s on-site biodigester and wormery.

In addition, The O2 has invested in a permanent reusable cup scheme and cup-washing machines powered by electricity from renewable resources, further reducing waste and emissions at the venue.

Alongside hosting the pilot events, The O2 and CUR8 each donated an additional 1% on top of the cost for each tonne of carbon removed to EarthPercent, a climate foundation geared towards identifying and funding impactful climate solutions in the live entertainment industry.

The O2’s other green initiatives include launching its own Green Rider in 2023 – a document intended as a blueprint to make incoming tours and productions at the venue more sustainable.

The 20,000-capacity venue was also the first arena in England to receive Greener Arena accreditation, awarded by AGF. Work is now underway at AEG Europe’s Uber Arena and Barclays Arena in Germany to undergo similar accreditation.

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Europe’s largest K-pop festival is heading to the UK next year for a three-day event at London’s O2 arena (cap. 21,000).

The inaugural edition of Kpop.Flex took place in Frankfurt at the weekend, with organisers reporting that more than 70,000 tickets were sold in 84 countries.

The festival will return to Germany next year and will also launch in the UK between 22 and 24 September.

Staged by K-Pop Europa in partnership with PK Events, the event will offer “a range of activities [for festival-goers] to immerse themselves in Korean culture”.

“In recent years, K-Pop has taken the world by storm and so this is a huge milestone for us”

In addition, the 2023 London edition of the K-pop festival will also play host to the first-ever Kpop.Flex Awards For Emerging Artists, which is set to take place on 23 September 2023.

“We’re so excited to be hosting Europe’s largest-ever K-Pop festival here at The O2 in September 2023,” said Steve Sayer, VP and GM at the O2. “In recent years, K-Pop has taken the world by storm and so this is a huge milestone for us.

“We can’t wait to build on the success of previous hugely popular K-Pop performances at the venue, and welcome some of the world’s top K-Pop acts and their legions of fans to the O2 for a fantastic weekend festival event that will take over the full campus at the O2,” he added.

More details about Kpop.Flex London 2023 and its accompanying awards show are set to be revealed in the coming months.

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Alumni from IQ Magazine‘s most recent class of New Bosses have identified areas of improvement for the international live music business.

A handful of the next-gen leaders shared their thoughts during Meet the New Bosses: The Class of 2021, at last month’s International Live Music Conference (ILMC).

Theo Quiblier, head of concerts at Two Gentlemen in Switzerland, believes the one thing the industry needs to get better at is normalising failure.

“We are in a fantastic industry where everyone is signing the new top artist or selling out venues or sealing huge deals with festivals but that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” he says. “I feel that we’re all a bit afraid of saying, ‘I went on sale with my favourite band and it didn’t go well’ – as simple as that.

“I feel that we’re all a bit afraid of saying, ‘I went on sale with my favourite band and it didn’t go well'”

“As a promoter, I could say, ‘Oh, I work with this top band,’ and people think, ‘That’s amazing, he must be rich,’ and, in reality, it’s your biggest loss of the year. We need little reality checks, and to say ‘I’m doing my best but I’m not the best’. Sharing insecurities is great because failure happens to everybody.”

Flo Noseda-Littler, agency assistant at Wasserman Music (formerly Paradigm UK), called for better pay for junior staff so more people can viably start their careers in the industry.

“Fair salaries for junior staff and internships so that it enables people in those positions to live in the cities in which they work,” comments Noseda-Littler. “By providing a free internship or a low paid job, you’re cutting off so many people who don’t have the ability to still live with their parents or be subsidised by their parents. And then you’re just reducing the number of people you can recruit and missing out on potentially really ambitious and amazing people.”

Anna Parry, partnerships manager at the O2 in London, echoed Noseda-Littler’s thoughts, adding that companies also need to improve their recruitment strategies in order to reach a more diverse pool of talent.

“This is a job that costs you a lot of time at your desk and a lot of time in your head”

“Companies really need to put more effort into understanding why people aren’t applying for these jobs, and then they need to create a lower barrier of entry for those types of people,” says Parry. “It’s not just saying, ‘Oh okay, well we posted the job on a different forum than we usually would’. It’s going to take a lot more of that to actually make a difference. We need to focus on that because it’s important our industry is representative of the artists we represent.”

Age Versluis (promoter at Friendly Fire in the Netherlands) on the other hand, is petitioning for a four-day workweek: “This is a job that costs you a lot of time at your desk and a lot of time in your head. Since Covid, we’re seeing a lot of people burning out and having trouble getting to that fourth or fifth gear.

“We forget that moving shows for two years to the same months is quite stressful. I think we could use some extra ‘me’ time.”

Tessie Lammle, agent at UTA in the US, echoed her peers’ points, adding: “I was going to say diversity or work-life balance but Theo’s point is huge. I think the younger generation is getting much better at [sharing insecurities].”

Each of the panellists appeared as part of IQ Magazine‘s New Bosses 2021, an annual list celebrating the brightest talent aged 30 and under in the international live music business. See the full list of the distinguished dozen here.

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Academy Music Group (AMG) has breathed new life into O2 City Hall Newcastle following a significant revamp.

The 95-year-old venue has benefited from a brand-new, state-of-the-art retractable seating system, major restoration works and enhancements in house sound and lighting production.

The multi-functional auditorium has increased its capacity from 2,135 to 2,600, while also offering a 2,000-cap fully seated option with improved comfort and sightlines.

“When we acquired O2 City Hall Newcastle back in May 2019, we knew that it needed significant adjustments to reinstate it to its former glory and get it firmly back on the schedule for major touring acts” says AMG’s chief operating officer Graham Walters.

“It’s a stunning room, one that has seen the biggest names in rock and pop over the last four decades. Investment in modern facilities – including the option to have an all-standing auditorium – had to be on the agenda to offer a flexible space, as well as keeping a seated configuration. This way, we can hugely extend the variety of live music and events to tour in Newcastle and make sure we preserve its future for people and the community to enjoy for generations to come.”

“We’re thrilled to be part of this next phase in the venue’s story”

Opened in 1927, the Grade-II-listed venue is one of Newcastle’s first dedicated concert venues, which also houses an original Harrison & Harrison organ. As part of its revamp, AMG has also installed new additional toilets and refurbished the basement bar and a new extra bar area at balcony level, as well as a brand-new LED ceiling-lighting system in the main auditorium, plus a significant investment in a full production install of PA and stage lighting systems.

“This development paves the way for many more iconic performances to take the stage at O2 City Hall Newcastle,” adds Gareth Griffiths, director of partnerships and sponsorship for Virgin Media O2. “We’re thrilled to be part of this next phase in the venue’s story.”

Upcoming shows at the venue include Florence + The Machine, Paul Weller, Foals, Keith Urban, Gary Numan, Michael Kiwanuka, Roget Daltrey, The Prodigy, Ian Brown, Kaiser Chiefs, Sigrid and Placebo.

O2 City Hall Newcastle is part of AMG’s portfolio of venues across the UK, which includes London’s O2 Academy Brixton and O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, among others.

AMG has also enlisted the support of Liverpool-based Adlib to co-design and install a high-end touring specification for its audio and lighting systems at the 3,000-cap O2 Academy Edinburgh, its newest Scottish venue

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