Def Leppard & Motley Crue extend blockbuster tour
Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe’s co-headline tour was the biggest North American stadium run of 2022 – and now they’ve announced a sequel for 2023.
Originally planned for 2020 before being delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, The Stadium Tour run, promoted by Live Nation, sold more than 1.3 million tickets this year for a gross of US$173.5 million (€165m).
And having already unveiled a number of European and Latin American dates for next year, the rock legends have now announced a further string of US dates with special guest Alice Cooper, kicking off on 5 August at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, New York.
The bands hit Latin America in February, followed by a string of European concerts and festival slots from May to July. The trek is currently due to climax at the Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas on 18 August.
“After finally getting back on the road this past summer, we’re beyond thrilled to bring this massive tour to a global audience”
“After finally getting back on the road this past summer, we’re beyond thrilled to bring this massive tour to a global audience including some special dates in America!” says Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott.
Def Leppard celebrated their 45th anniversary this year, while Mötley Crüe – who reached a new generation of fans with their 2019 Netflix biopic The Dirt – toasted their 40th anniversary last year.
“We had an incredible time playing The Stadium Tour in North America this summer and we truly can’t wait to take the show around the globe with The World Tour in 2023,” add Mötley Crüe in a joint statement.
The full list of confirmed shows is as follows:
10-11 February: Atlantic City, NJ Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena
18 February: Mexico City, Mexico Foro Sol
21 February: Monterrey, Mexico Estadio Banorte
25 February: Bogota, Colombia Parque Simon Bolivar
28 February: Lima, Peru Estadio Nacional
3 March: Santiago, Chile Estadio Bicentenario de La Florida
7 March: Sao Paulo, Brazil Allianz Parque
22 May: Sheffield, UK Bramall Lane
25 May: Mönchengladbach, Germany SparkassenPark
27 May: Munich, Germany Koenigsplatz
29 May: Budapest, Hungary MVM Dome
31 May: Krakow, Poland Tauron Arena Kraków
2 June: Prague, Czech Republic Prague Rocks
3 June: Hannover, Germany Expo Plaza
7 June: Solvesborg, Sweden Sweden Rock Festival
9 June: Hyvinkää, Finland RockFest
11 June: Trondheim, Norway Trondheim Rocks
14 June: Copenhagen, Denmark Copenhell
18 June: Dessel, Belgium Graspop Metal Meeting
20 June: Milan, Italy Ippodromo SNAI San Siro
23 June: Lisbon, Portugal Passeio Maritimo de Alges
24 June: Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Spain Auditorio Miguel Ríos
27 June: Thun, Switzerland Stockhorn Arena
1 July: London, UK Wembley Stadium
2 July: Lytham, UK Lytham Festival
4 July: Dublin, Ireland Marlay Park
6 July: Glasgow, UK Hampden Park
5 August: Syracuse, NY JMA Wireless Dome
8 August: Columbus, OH Ohio Stadium
11 August: Fargo, ND Fargodome
13 August: Omaha, NE Charles Schwab Field Omaha
16 August: Tulsa, OK H.A. Chapman Stadium
18 August: El Paso, TX Sun Bowl Stadium
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Rock fest boom continues with new Ocesa event
Ocesa is the latest promoter to capitalise on a renewed demand for rock music with a new festival called The World Is A Vampire.
The Mexico City festival is curated in partnership with Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, with the band headlining the 4 March 2023 event.
Interpol, Turnstile, Peter Hook & The Light, DeafHeaven and The Warning are also slated to perform at the first edition, taking place in Ocesa’s Foro Sol (cap. 65,000) stadium.
They will be joined by Ekkstacy, Chelsea Wolf, Margaritas Posridas, In The Valley below, El Shirota and Acid Waves.
“Mexico City will be covered by a deep and dark night, night owls will congregate in a feast of music and good rock, which will mark the beginning of a quasi-twilight celebration,” reads a statement from Ocesa, which is Latin America’s largest promoter, now owned by Live Nation.
Live Nation is behind a slate of new rock-focused festivals announced in the last 12 months
Live Nation is behind a slate of new rock-focused festivals announced in the last 12 months.
Most recently, LN subsidiary C3 Presents announced a brand new US festival for hard rock and alternative music fans called Sick New World. System Of A Down, Korn, Deftones and Incubus are set to headline the one-day event, taking place on May 13 2023 at Las Vegas Festival Grounds.
Prior to that, the live entertainment giant unveiled a new alternative music festival for Atlantic City, New Jersey (US), called Adjacent. Blink-182 and Paramore will headline the all-ages event, slated for 27 & 28 May 2023 (Memorial Day Weekend).
These two new festivals came after Live Nation premiered “emo nostalgia” festival When We Were Young in October at Las Vegas Festival Grounds with headliners Paramore and My Chemical Romance.
The 85,000-cap “emo nostalgia” festival was expanded to three days due to demand, and the 2023 edition sold out before the 2022 event had even started.
Next year’s instalment features a pop-punk twist featuring headliners Blink-182 and Green Day, who will be joined by the likes of 30 Seconds To Mars, The Offspring, Good Charlotte, 5 Seconds of Summer and All Time Low, Yellowcard, Rise Against, Sum 41, Pierce the Veil, Gym Class Heroes, Michelle Branch, Thrice, Rise Against, Simple Plan and New Found Glory.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Slam Dunk France to debut in 2023
The long-delayed launch of Slam Dunk France has been confirmed for 2023.
No date or venue has yet been announced for the pop-punk, emo, metal and alternative music festival, which was launched in Leeds, UK in 2006 by promoter Ben Ray.
The French spin-off, teased via a logo on the event’s social channels, was originally set for 30 May 2020 at La Cigale & La Boule Noire, Paris in partnership with Paris-based agency Opus Live, with tickets priced €35.20 to €38.50.
The UK edition of Slam Dunk will be held across two sites
Acts such as The Used, Four Year Strong, Chunk! No, Captain Chunk, Landmvrks and Grayscale were lined up for the inaugural edition before the event fell victim to the pandemic. Plans to reschedule the festival for 2021 were also later cancelled.
Meanwhile, the UK edition of Slam Dunk will be held across two sites – Hatfield Park on 27 May and a northern leg in Temple Newsam, Leeds on 28 May.
Artists will include The Offspring, Enter Shikari, Billy Talent, Bowling for Soup, Yellow Card, Less than Jake, Kids in Glass Houses, Underoath, Flogging Molly, Creeper and The Hunna, among others. General admission tickets cost £89 (€102).
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Def Leppard & Motley Crue tour tops 1m sales
Def Leppard & Mötley Crüe’s rescheduled co-headlining tour of the US and Canada is being extended after notching up more than one million ticket sales.
The bands will be joined by fellow rock legends Poison and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts for The Stadium Tour, North America’s biggest stadium run of 2022.
Originally planned for 2020 before being delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Live Nation-promoted 35-plus show tour kicks off at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia on 16 June and wraps up with a newly announced stop at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada on 9 September.
Due to demand, new dates have also been added at Toronto’s Rogers Centre (8 August), Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis (16 August), BC Place, Vancouver (2 September) and Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton (4 September).
“It’s been a while coming and we can’t wait to get back on stage again”
Mötley Crüe reached a new generation of fans with their 2019 Netflix biopic The Dirt and celebrated their 40th anniversary last year.
“It’s on! We don’t think we’ve ever looked forward more to kicking off a tour than this one,” says Mötley Crüe in a joint statement.. We can’t wait to finally see all the fans across North America again. Get ready for a wild ride this summer!”
Def Leppard, who have sold 110 million records over the course of their career, headlined the UK’s Download Festival in 2019 and celebrate their own landmark 45th anniversary this year.
“On behalf of the band, we’re beyond thrilled that the stadium tour is finally happening this summer. It’s been a while coming and we can’t wait to get back on stage again,” says lead vocalist Joe Elliott.
Emerging rock band Classless Act, signed to Better Noise Music, is set to open the tour.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.