At the end of a week in which Manchester United unveiled plans to build a new 100,000-seat home, IQ has compiled a list of some of the largest stadiums for live music around the world…

Great Strahov Stadium
Where: Prague, Czech Republic
Capacity: 100,000+

The second largest sports venue ever built, with a potential capacity of up to 250,000, has been used sparingly in recent times and serves as a training ground for Czech football club Sparta Prague. But in the 1990s, it welcomed more than 100,000 fans for shows by the Rolling Stones (twice) and Pink Floyd. Other acts to have performed at the venue include U2, Guns N’ Roses and Bon Jovi, while Ozzfest 2002 also took place at the site.

Narendra Modi Stadium
Where: Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Capacity: 132,000

Coldplay performed the biggest concerts of their career as more than 222,000 fans packed into Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium across two nights in January as part of their Music of the Spheres World Tour. The band set a new attendance record for the rebuilt cricket ground, which opened in 2020, reportedly pulling in 111,989 fans per date.

Michigan Stadium
Where: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US
Capacity: 107,601

The largest stadium in the United States, Michigan Stadium has been open for almost a century and is home to the Michigan Wolverines NCAA American football team. While its official capacity is 107,601, it has often accommodated bigger crowds, including 109,318 for a 2014 pre-season game between Real Madrid and Manchester United – a US record for a soccer match. But on 27 September this year, American singer-songwriter Zach Bryan will perform the first-ever concert at the venue, joined by special guests including John Mayer. More than 112,000 tickets were sold for the event in just two and a half hours.

Kyle Field 
Where: College Station, Texas, US
Capacity: 102,733

With his Michigan Stadium show, Zach Bryan is set to break the all-time attendance record for a ticketed concert in the US – a title currently held by country music legend George Strait. The Texas native drew 110,905 fans to Texas A&M’s Kyle Field in College Station on 15 June 2024, breaking the previous record belonged to the Grateful Dead, who drew 107,019 fans to their 1977 show at New Jersey’s Raceway Park.

Ed Sheeran smashed his own MSG attendance record by playing to more than 100,000 fans on consecutive nights in 2023

Tiger Stadium
Where: Baton Rouge, Louisiana, US
Capacity: 102,321

Taylor Swift’s 1989 Tour stopped at the home of the LSU Tigers American football team in 2015, and the venue was the site of the Bayou Country Superfest throughout the 2010s, starring the likes of Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Darius Rucker and Zac Brown Band. But its most well-attended concert was Garth Brooks, whose 2022 tour date pulled in 102,000 punters.

Melbourne Cricket Ground
Where: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Capacity: 100,024

Ed Sheeran smashed his own attendance record at the MCG by playing to more than 100,000 fans on consecutive nights on his +–=÷x Tour. The singer-songwriter played to 107,000 people on 2 March 2023, topping that just 24 hours later when he amassed a 109,500-strong crowd.

Wembley Stadium
Where: London, UK
Capacity: 90,000

Currently the largest stadium in the UK, the in-the-round format for Adele’s Adele Live 2017 shows enabled the singer to fit 98,000 into the building – a record since the venue opened on the site of the old Wembley Stadium in 2007. The feat saw Adele surpass U2, who played to 92,000 per night on their 360° Tour in 2009.

Maracanã Stadium
Where: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Capacity: 73,139 

While the legendary football stadium’s capacity has been greatly reduced following a series of renovations, most recently for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Maracanã earned a Guinness World Record for the largest paying concert audience (184,000) for Paul McCartney’s 1990 gig. Performances by Tina Turner and Frank Sinatra also attracted similar crowds, with shows by KISS and Madonna also drawing well in excess of 100,000 visitors.

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Musical patriotism is on the rise in many markets, but Italy still makes for a remarkable case study. Last year, according to FIMI, the local recorded music industry association, Italian releases claimed 84% of the country’s Top 100 album chart. That included, not for the first time, all top ten albums and all top ten singles, where big-selling stars of the moment included double Sanremo Music Festival winner Mahmood, Roman rapper Tony Effe, Neapolitan rapper Geolier and, among a general increase in female representation, female rappers Rose Villain and Anna.

Inevitably, the live industry has prospered in kind, with summers full of stadium shows and victory-lap tours from a seemingly inexhaustible supply of young Italian talent. Prominent stars including Ultimo, Lazza, Sfera Ebbasta, Elodie, and Gazzelle compete with Coldplay, Zucchero, and Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band for dates at Milan’s San Siro stadium.

Since lockdown, the gold rush has scarcely abated for a second. Italy’s concert industry was worth almost €1bn to the country’s economy in 2023, according to FIMI, using data from IFPI, Deloitte, Italian Society of Authors and Publishers (SIAE), DISMA, and GfK.

The concert sector was the biggest driver of the country’s wider €3.1bn music industry, generating €967.4m from more than 36,000 events that attracted 23.7m spectators. Combined with dance and musical entertainment (€780.5m), the segment was responsible for 56.8% of direct contributions.

“The pre-pandemic numbers of 2019 have doubled – data that testifies to a constantly growing music scene and a professional and dynamic supply chain, capable of organising high-impact events in absolute safety,” Carlo Parodi, president of trade body Assomusica told Milan Music Week in November.

“This year, we have 53, 54 stadiums or open airs, and 39 of them will be local artists”

If 2024 wasn’t quite the year that 2023 was, in some eyes, with a marginally smaller number of stadium tourers on the move, then 2025 promises big things.

“This year, we have 53, 54 stadiums or open airs, and 39 of them will be local artists,” says Roberto De Luca, president of Live Nation Italy. “In ’23, the big international artists toured a lot. In ‘24, they toured a bit less. In ’25, they will tour extensively.”

With a heavy slate of hot young Italian acts, many of them from the fertile trap and rap world, Clemente Zard, CEO of CTS Eventim’s Vivo Concerti, likewise sees only growth. “From what I’ve observed, the Italian music market is buzzing, with growing opportunities in live events, especially as fans return to concerts with enthusiasm,” he says. “The competition is definitely heating up as more emerging artists enter the live industry. International players are also showing increased interest in the Italian market, driving local companies to innovate and stay competitive.”

Longstanding rock promoter Andrea Pieroni of DEAG joint venture MC2 endorses the sentiment. “These are good times, I would say,” he says. “2022 was very challenging after Covid. Then 2023 was a record year, even better than 2019. And 2024 was even better than 2023, for us. People are buying tickets, although the prices have gone up dramatically because of the rise in costs.”

That is not the only challenge in a market bedevilled by concert caps, venue availability, and that Italian speciality: red tape.

“One of the main issues we face as promoters is bureaucracy, which keeps growing every year,” says Di & Gi CEO Mimmo D’Alessandro. “Organising events requires compliance with a lengthy list of regulations and rules, which often vary not only from region to region but even at the municipal level.”

“If you want to have a big success in Italy, you have to sing in Italian”

The length and depth of the pandemic lockdown was a profoundly sore point among Italian promoters, and the perception of limited support grumbles on. In his address to Milan Music Week, Parodi noted that profit-making music companies are not able to access the FNSV [National Fund for Live Performance], locking them out of the “art bonus” tax credit available to individuals, institutions, and companies who support Italian cultural heritage. There are also issues with the availability of larger venues, usage of which is capped and, some say, not always equitably distributed.

For Italian talent, however, this is a golden age of a sort, and there is even a potentially promising export picture. In 2023, revenues from Italian music consumed abroad rose to €26m, according to FIMI. Chief among the international growers, by some distance, is Vivo act Måneskin, the Roman rockers whose global exploits have set a bar for Italian exports that seems unlikely to be beaten soon.

“It’s basically a power trio, at the end of the day, which you don’t really find in pop music anymore,” says Milan-based staging and production specialist Delamaison Productions’ Vittorio Dellacasa, who was production manager on the band’s recent world tour. “I’ve been lucky enough to go around the world with this band that is basically the only Italian band that has had huge success. Last year, we went everywhere. We played all the biggest festivals all over the world. I was shocked by the success they had in Japan. We did four arenas, sold out. It was like The Beatles.”

And yet, while the success of Måneskin might seem to point to a breakthrough for Italian pop, there are also straightforward reasons why such a thing is fairly unlikely.

“If you want to have a big success in Italy, you have to sing in Italian,” says Dellacasa. “The huge success today in Italy is made by all this new trap, rap, and hip-hop stuff. Everyone loves the lyrics, which are all Italian slang, but that is also the reason why I don’t see so much international potential for the big Italian acts. Måneskin became immediately global, but that is because they sing in English.”

Promoters
Give or take a few independents, the Italian live market is a slugfest between heavyweight corporate groups Live Nation and Eventim.

“Italian promoters are investing heavily in their rosters, which has made the market more competitive”

In the Eventim corner is Vivo Concerti – which has cornered the market in the young domestic stars often to be found filling Italian stadiums – along with Di & Gi, Friends & Partners, and Vertigo, which between them cover a wide variety of old and new Italian talent and prominent international names.

Vivo’s youthful cutting edge has seen it rapidly grow its business in recent years, and it remains the live force behind such headline-grabbing homegrown stars as Lazza, Ultimo, Elodie, and Gazzelle – all of whom play Italian stadiums this summer – along with numerous others.

“We’ve recently announced Måneskin’s Damiano David’s world solo tour, which is set to kick off next autumn. The tour will see him take over Europe, Australia, North America, South America, and Asia,” says Zard, who notes that, at home, the rush among promoters to build their domestic business has changed the game a little.

“Italian promoters are investing heavily in their rosters, which has made the market more competitive,” says Zard. “However, Vivo Concerti remains a top choice for emerging acts thanks to our track record of nurturing talent and creating career-defining moments. Many of today’s arena and stadium artists started their journey with us, and we take pride in growing alongside them and building lasting relationships.”

Di & Gi had a strong 2024, from which D’Alessandro highlights Taylor Swift’s two concerts at Milan’s San Siro and David Gilmour’s six shows at the Circus Maximus in Rome. “It was a true honour to host his only concerts in mainland Europe,” he says.

The promoter’s two major festivals, Lucca Summer Festival and La Prima Estate, are once again key areas of focus this year. “We are also excited about hosting major events, starting with The Rolling Stones’ concert at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome,” says D’Alessandro. “Additionally, we will have incredible artists performing on various stages across Italy, including Lenny Kravitz, Tyler, The Creator, Rod Stewart, Nile Rodgers, Nick Cave, and many others. We’re also excited to produce four shows with the great conductor Riccardo Muti – his first tour outside classical theatres.”

“The international artists have higher ticket prices, and the local artists have slightly lower ticket prices, though, of course, they are rising”

In the opposite corner is Live Nation Italy, whose big attractions this year include Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the San Siro (with Barley Arts), Ed Sheeran at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, a dozen stadiums for Marco Mengoni, and similar numbers for Vasco Rossi and Cesare Cremonini, as well as the Firenze Rocks and I-Days festivals. The latter two hoover up large amounts of international talent, while the stadium market is more typically – though not exclusively – the preserve of the local superstar.

The international and domestic markets operate in slightly different ways, according to De Luca. “The international artists have higher ticket prices, and the local artists have slightly lower ticket prices, though, of course, they are rising,” he says. “But the international artists come one year and then they don’t come back to Italy for another three years. Big local artists play every year – 10, 12, 15 stadiums, selling out every time. The stadiums in ‘25 have been sold out since July last year. But that’s one reason why the local artists have a cheaper ticket price – because they play more often.”

Other international operators are scaling up in Italy, too. Vertigo veteran Andrea Pieroni departed the company – and the group – for his own DEAG-backed MC2 venture at the end of 2023 but continued to fulfil outstanding Vertigo bookings throughout 2024.

“The last show happened a couple of weeks ago,” he told IQ just before Christmas, “so I no longer have any commitment with Vertigo or Eventim. Finally, I can focus totally on MC2 and the new venture with DEAG.”

MC2 specialises in rock and metal, with ambitions to go broader over the next few years. Iron Maiden, Marilyn Manson, Dream Theater, Lindemann, King Diamond, and Pantera are all on the 2025 calendar, along with the less metallic Skunk Anansie, Steven Wilson, and Hooverphonic.

“Not only do we aim to maintain our current positions, which are already satisfactory, but we also want to expand our market share,” says Pieroni. “We are already leaders in the rock and metal sector, and our goal is to grow into other areas of the market as well.”

“I’m particularly proud of the record-breaking AC/DC show at the beautiful open-air RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia”

Independents in Italy need to be smart to stay alive, and there are strong examples, old and new. Claudio Trotta’s Barley Arts, a mainstay of the business since 1979, last year staged around 400 events, the largest of them involving 100,00 tickets for AC/DC in Reggio Emilia, as well as street-food festivals, musicals, and comedy.

“I’m particularly proud of the record-breaking AC/DC show at the beautiful open-air RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia, less than an hour away from Milan, where unfortunately the quality of the open-air venues is very low,” says Trotta.

Barley Arts head of booking Marco Ercolani namechecks Loreena McKennitt’s comeback with two sold-out theatres in spring and six further shows in the summer, and Garbage and Alice Cooper’s only Italian shows.

“We also had The Hives Day, a festival we created in Bologna, obviously headlined by The Hives, with The Interrupters and Scowl playing before them,” says Ercolani.

“We also had Wolfmother’s first time in Sardinia, Xavier Rudd in the middle of the Apennines, Therapy’s sold out 30th anniversary show in Milano, and an awesome solo tour of Peter Hammill, with five full beautiful theatres and churches, almost 50 years after his first Italian run.”

“Our market is in an extraordinary state of excitement”

2025 promises to be equally rich and varied, with confirmations including two dates at the San Siro Stadium in Milan with Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band (in collaboration with Live Nation Italy); Sam Fender and Tamino with shows already sold out; the highly anticipated returns of Ryan Adams; The The, James Blunt, Europe, Joe Bonamassa, Fantastic Negrito, and The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band; as well as its STREEAT® Food Truck Festival.

“As the main independent promoter in Italy since 1979, we can guarantee a quality of care and attention to detail that is a real value and often makes the difference,” says Trotta. “The main attitude of Barley Arts over the years has been its big variety. We love developing new acts and genres of many different nationalities, and we are very good at doing big shows, according to the feedback we have from audience and artists, but we also do lots of small and medium shows every year.

“We like producing and promoting musicals like We Will Rock You, comedy and food events, too, like Streeat, the main national event dedicated to food truckers, and we are leaders in all these fields on the Italian market.”

In October 2023, Italian music group Artist First – already a record company, distributor, management stable, publisher, and more – launched its live music promotions division, Artist First Live, positioning it as the market’s first 360-degree operator. A little over a year in, Artist First CEO Claudio Ferrante remains enthused.

“Our market is in an extraordinary state of excitement,” he says. “Ticket sales are high, and public interest in concerts is growing more and more. I’d say the interesting part is that, in our view, despite the big players like Live Nation and Eventim, there is still space for other companies.

“Of course, all of this is extremely challenging, but we don’t focus on making million-dollar offers to artists. We focus on the quality of our work, on the integration of the processes – repertoire, promotion, distribution, and live shows – for artists who require special attention. We don’t want to sign 80 of them.”

“I come from an era where you start from the club. Now, if you do X Factor, you might do a stadium next”

The plan, says Ferrante, is “to grow organically, without rushing. Without fake sell-outs announced to the media that only risk harming careers. We don’t believe in artists who, just two years after their first single, announce stadium concerts.”

Initial successes include UK artist Blue, who sold 40,000 tickets in Italian arenas, and breaking singer and rapper Alfa from Genoa, who sold out dates at the Unipol Forum in Milan in 2024, as well as shows in Padua, Rome, and Florence.

“We are the only Italian company with a 360-degree model,” says Ferrante. “If an artist like Alfa hadn’t been managed according to this model, where everything – from song selection, to production, promotion, marketing, distribution, and finally, live shows – is handled, I don’t think he would have turned out the way he did.”

There are certainly those who believe the current thirst for stadium shows is a phenomenon that may be hard to sustain.

“Stadium shows for Italian artists are a different scenario from the past,” says Dellacasa. “In the past, what happened was that there was a San Siro Stadium or a Rome Olympic Stadium. You had your stage, your gear, your stuff. Now, because of the concentration of promoters, they basically put one stage and they do five shows in a row for five different acts. I come from an era where you start from the club. Now, if you do X Factor, you might do a stadium next.”

“Live performances are the best way to build a career, starting from the very beginning”

Ferrante evidently shares some of the same misgivings but is also convinced that live is the sharpest tool at the disposal of promising new acts.

“Live performances are the best way to build a career, starting from the very beginning,” he says. “In an era where artists pop up everywhere, it’s essential to think concretely about proximity to the fans, even in small clubs.

“Of course, there needs to be an initial core of fans, there needs to be some level of interest in an artist. But I see that it’s increasingly important for people to leave their homes and go see a small artist perform; that’s also the value of a discovery.”

Part two of the Italy market report will be published in the coming days.

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Manchester United have unveiled grandiose plans to build a new £2 billion (€2.4bn), 100,000-seat stadium next to their current Old Trafford home.

According to the football club, the stadium and wider regeneration project have the potential to deliver an additional £7.3bn per annum to the UK economy, creating up to 92.000 jobs and 17,000 new homes in Greater Manchester.

The stadium, which would also host concerts, would surpass London’s 90,000-cap Wembley Stadium as the largest in the UK. Architecture group Foster + Partners has been appointed to design the scheme, which the club hopes will be completed within five years.

“Today marks the start of an incredibly exciting journey to the delivery of what will be the world’s greatest football stadium, at the centre of a regenerated Old Trafford,” says Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

“Our current stadium has served us brilliantly for the past 115 years, but it has fallen behind the best arenas in world sport. By building next to the existing site, we will be able to preserve the essence of Old Trafford, while creating a truly state-of-the-art stadium that transforms the fan experience only footsteps from our historic home.

“Just as important is the opportunity for a new stadium to be the catalyst for social and economic renewal of the Old Trafford area, creating jobs and investment not just during the construction phase but on a lasting basis when the stadium district is complete. The government has identified infrastructure investment as a strategic priority, particularly in the north of England, and we are proud to be supporting that mission with this project of national, as well as local, significance.”

“If we get this right, the regeneration impact could be bigger and better than London 2012”

The 75,000-cap Old Trafford, which has been United’s home ground since 1910, has staged live music events only sporadically, welcoming acts such as Billy Joel, the Rolling Stones and Bon Jovi over the years. More commonly, major outdoor concerts in the city have taken place at the nearby 50,000-cap Emirates Old Trafford, as well as the 60,000-cap Etihad Stadium (home of rivals Manchester City) and the 80,000-cap Heaton Park.

It is projected the scheme will drive an additional 1.8 million visitors annually.

“If we get this right, the regeneration impact could be bigger and better than London 2012,” says Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. “Manchester United could, and indeed should, have the best football stadium in the world. To me, that means a stadium that is true to the traditions of the club, affordable to all, with nobody priced out, and a stadium that sets new standards in the game globally. I believe this vision can be realised, and if so, the benefits for Greater Manchester, the North West and the country will be huge.”

IQ recently went behind the scenes at fellow Premier League outfit Everton’s new stadium in Bramley-Moore Dock. With the ability to host events between 5,000 capacity and 53,000, the new ground – which opens later this year – will be the biggest stadium to come on stream in the UK since the 62,850-cap Tottenham Hotspur Stadium opened more than six years ago.

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ASM Global’s trio of Stockholm venues are reporting “great demand” for events in 2025, the company’s Tobias Ekman tells IQ.

Ekman is general manager of Sweden’s largest stadium, Strawberry Arena (cap. 60,000), as well as the capital’s 3Arena (45,000) and Avicii Arena (16,500).

Strawberry Arena will host concerts by Guns N’ Roses (4 July) and Ed Sheeran (22-23 August) this summer, while 3Arena will welcome Imagine Dragons (5 June), Iron Maiden (12-13 June), Kendrick Lamar & SZA (9 August), Volbeat (17 October) and Sabaton (13 December). Both venues are multipurpose stadiums with retractable roofs.

Avicii Arena, meanwhile, recently reopened after a year-long redevelopment project and has upcoming nights with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish, Tate McRae, Kylie Minogue, Pitbull, OneRepublic and Hans Zimmer Live.

“We entered this year with a great demand for our venues,” says Ekman. “With Avicii Arena just modernised and open we already see high volume of bookings in a wide range of events – 3Arena and Strawberry Arena are looking at double-digit sold out stadium shows combined.”

Avicii Arena’s $92 million revamp included brand-new stands and seating, improved food and beverage offerings, enhanced acoustics and a new retractable interior roof, as well as new premium experiences including luxury suites, social lounges and party booths.

“We compete not only in Sweden, but also in the northern Europe region for tours”

Ekman is confident the improvements have kept the venue, which opened in 1989 and was originally known as Stockholm Globe Arena, ahead of the curve.

“There is always competition among venues for content that we respect, but we feel we are very competitive here with a modernised Avicii Arena,” he says. “We compete not only in Sweden but also in the northern Europe region for tours so we make sure to keep enhancing our venues and services every day.”

Ekman, who was formerly CEO of artist and promoter agency Jubel and has previously served in senior commercial roles for Live Nation in Sweden and the US, does not believe 2025’s huge year of stadium concerts will have any negative ramifications for the arena business. Moreover, he notes that the traditionally quiet summer season for arenas is “much shorter now”.

“The demand for live events overall in Stockholm and Sweden is at a very high level,” he says. “ASM Stockholm can provide venues from 3,000 up to 60,000. As these opportunities exist in Stockholm, it creates demand even outside Sweden which leads to demand for stadiums, arenas and clubs.”

In closing, Ekman lists his objectives for the months ahead as to “make sure that every day we keep improving our venues and services towards promoters, artists, teams and fans so we can efficiently help everyone deliver their work at the highest level for the best overall experience”.

Read IQ‘s recent health check on the UK arena market here.

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American singer-songwriter Zach Bryan will become the first artist to perform at the largest stadium in the US.

The Grammy Award-winning artist will deliver a first-of-its-kind concert at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbour, MI, on 27 September.

The 107,601-capacity venue is the largest football stadium in the Western Hemisphere and the third largest in the world.

Home to the University of Michigan Wolverines, the venue has previously hosted sporting events but the AEG Presents-promoted concert marks the first time an artist will headline “The Big House”.

Bryan will be joined by special guests John Mayer, Ryan Bingham, The Texas Gentlemen and Joshua Slone for the historic show.

“We have been studying and evaluating what it takes to host a concert at Michigan Stadium for a couple of years”

“We are excited to have award-winning artist Zach Bryan perform the very first concert at Michigan Stadium,” says Warde Manuel, U-M’s Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics. “We have been studying and evaluating what it takes to host a concert at Michigan Stadium for a couple of years and today marks that next step in the venture with great partners.”

Bryan recently wrapped The Quittin’ Time Tour, where he played 85 arenas and stadiums across North America.

The WME-repped act is set to headline Stagecoach Festival 2025 in Indio, California, and was recently announced as a headliner at BST Hyde Park Festival 2025 in London for two nights.

The 28-year-old will also be performing at Phoenix Park in Dublin, Ireland, for three nights in June, Metlife Stadium in Rutherford, New Jersey, for three nights in July and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California, on 15 August.

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As the stadium concert business heats up, more mega venues are expanding their offering to include live music. In the North West of England, competition among stadiums has always been fierce, with Liverpool’s Anfield plus Manchester’s Etihad Stadium and Emirates Old Trafford all well-versed in hosting A-list artists.

Now, Liverpool’s city rivals Everton FC are throwing their hat in the ring with a new stadium that promises to be a ‘must-play’ 365 entertainment venue for the world’s biggest artists and footballers. Bramley-Moore Dock – which replaces Everton’s home of 130 years, Goodison Park – is initially set to host a maximum of four non-football, major events starting in 2026, giving the home club time to christen the turf from August 2025.

With the ability to host events between 5,000 capacity and 53,000, the new ground will be the biggest stadium to come on stream in the UK since Tottenham Hotspur Stadium opened more than six years ago. But can Bramley-Moore Dock compete with neighbouring Anfield, which has hosted the likes of Taylor Swift, Elton John and P!nk? Everton FC’s head of events Suzie Parker‑Myers thinks so.

“For concerts, we’ll be able to host between 45,000 and 48,000 fans,” says Parker‑Myers, who is overseeing the stadium’s programming and leading engagement with top promoters.

“It’s a big stadium but it’s very intimate. You can be back in the back row and feel like you’re very close to the pitch. Any promoter will be happy knowing that the person in the back row is going to have a great time, as is the person who’s probably paid a fair whack to be at the front of the stage.”

“Promoters could save up to six figures using the Plaza”

Indeed, the stands at Bramley-Moore Dock have been constructed at a 35-degree gradient – the steepest permitted by UK law – meaning that punters across the stadium are as close to the action as possible.

“Architect Dan Meis, who is the Stadium Concept Design Guardian, wanted to create an intimacy” explains Parker Myers. “For football, we wanted to make sure that we had home-field advantage and that visiting teams felt intimidated like they do when it comes to [our old ground] Goodison. But that then works brilliantly for music, with people in the stands closer to the stage than they would be in other stadiums.”

The venue also boasts 5,000 premium seats with a “perfect” view of the stage that can be sold for “three or four times the price of what’s on the pitch”. Another bonus for promoters and concert productions is the ability to drive trucks into the north stand where the stage will be, enabling a fast load-in and load-out.

But the most surprising aspect of the Bramley-Moore Dock campus is the 17,000-capacity enclosed plaza in front of the stadium, which has the potential to host open-air concerts and festivals.

“Promoters could save up to six figures using this space,” claims Parker-Myers. “There’s no need to hire toilets or food vendors because the stadium concourse opens up right there, and the plaza’s outer wall means you can save on fencing and staffing.”

The venue will be licensed to hold more than 15 events each year on the plaza, with a number of promoters already in discussion about the potential to hold day festivals or one-off shows there.

As Parker-Myers explains, Everton FC’s ambition to become a live music venue is a major component of the club’s commercial strategy. Income from concerts will count as commercial revenue for the football club, giving it more headroom to spend on players.

With concerts expected to bring in around three times more than matchdays on food and beverage alone, live music will be major leverage for the success of the home team. This is especially important for Everton, which last year was found to have breached the Premier League’s spending rules (aka Profit and Sustainability Rules), resulting in a stringent points’ deduction.

Bramley-Moore Dock doesn’t just usher in a new era for music fans or for Everton FC – which has been looking to move home for over three decades – it’s also a new chapter for the city of Liverpool. The port on which Bramley-Moore Dock was built was previously a World Heritage site that was locked to the public. “One of the huge benefits of building here is that it’s a forgotten part of the city and the stadium opens up that heritage,” adds Parker-Myers.

While the stadium project reportedly contributed to the loss of the site’s World Heritage status, the club says it spent £55 million on preserving, restoring and refitting heritage assets including a hydraulic tower, capstans, mooring posts, railway lines and cobbles.

“It’s a very unique design for a stadium people are really proud of that”

These historical artefacts are key features of the new stadium, designed by American architect Dan Meis, the brains behind other sports and entertainment facilities such as Staples Center (Los Angeles), T-Mobile Park (Seattle) and Paycor Stadium (Ohio). The main structure draws on the ‘brick box’ warehouse typology of neighbouring buildings like the Tobacco Warehouse and Titanic Hotel, while the steel and glass roof gives the stadium a modern finish.

“It’s a very unique design for a stadium people are really proud of that,” she continues. “Dan lived and breathed it for now on five or six years and became a bit of a cult hero.”

“He took everything we wanted and put it into a brief. The stadium needed to be close to the city and have all the mod-cons and technology, it needed to be sustainable and navigate the hurdles from a planning perspective.”

Meis appears to have met the brief, resulting in a stadium that’s said to be one of Europe’s most sustainable and the UK’s most connected. Bramley-Moore Dock is also a product of an eight-year consultation with residents on the club’s key design principles – living up to Everton FC’s slogan as The People’s Club. “We’ve been engaging supporters on what they want from this stadium since 2016, so there’s a sense of ownership over it,” adds Parker-Myers.

“The Everton Stadium opens up a whole new world of possibilities for the city”

“We didn’t brand that consultation as Everton. This was a stadium for the city of Liverpool and it was about removing the tribalism that football brings.”

Indeed the entire city should benefit from Bramley-Moore Dock and its claimed £1.3bn economic impact, creating more than 15,000 jobs and attracting 1.4m new visitors. And Liverpool’s status as a UNESCO City of Music and a football mecca only stands to increase.

“The Everton Stadium opens up a whole new world of possibilities for the city, and I’m sure it could play host to many unforgettable moments outside of the football season,” says Liverpool’s director of culture, Claire McColgan CBE.

“This year marks Liverpool’s 10th anniversary of being a UNESCO City of Music, and this new, world-class event space on our waterfront would play an important role in terms of nurturing our music credentials, attracting household names to perform, boosting the economy and supporting jobs. We’re a city where football and music unite people, and this amazing venue can only strengthen Liverpool’s place as a global destination.”

Parker-Myers concludes: “It’s not necessarily about competing with Anfield. We actually want to complement them. This city’s togetherness is what makes Liverpool special. And ultimately, that’s why a stadium on the waterfront of Liverpool belongs to the city as much as Everton.”

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SM Entertainment has revealed details of a huge K-pop stadium spectacular coming to London as part of the label’s 30th anniversary celebrations.

In collaboration with London/Seoul-based concert producer and tech firm Frontrow, the company is bringing its SMTown Live concert to the UK for the first time this summer.

It will be held at London’s Allianz Stadium Twickenham on 28 June. EXO’s SUHO and CHANYEOL, NCT DREAM, WayV, RIIZE and NCT WISH head the first wave of performers confirmed for the show.

The event will mark the first time SM’s label-wide concert has visited Europe since 2010 in Paris

The event will mark the first time SM’s label-wide concert has visited Europe since 2010 in Paris.

SMTown LIVE 2025 launched last month with two sold-out concerts at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome in South Korea. Both Seoul concert dates sold out immediately, according to organisers, with 40,000 fans in attendance over the weekend of 11-12 January.

It will next head to Mexico City’s Estadio GNP Seguros on 9 May, followed by Los Angeles’ Dignity Health Sports Park on 11 May. The series will conclude in Tokyo, Japan, on 9-10 August, at a venue to be confirmed.

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Fresh off her Album of the Year win at the Grammys, Beyoncé has revealed the dates for her hotly tipped Cowboy Carter Tour.

Promoted by Live Nation and produced by Parkwood Entertainment, the 22-show run will kick off in April with four nights at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium and proceed to Chicago (Illinois), East Rutherford (New Jersey), London (UK), Paris (France), Houston (Texas), Washington D.C. and Atlanta (Georgia).

London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and East Rutherford’s MetLife Stadium will also get the four-show treatment, while Beyoncé will play two concerts each at Paris’s Stade de France, Chicago’s Soldier Field, Houston’s NRG Stadium, Washington D.C.’s Northwest Stadium and Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium.

Her D.C. stint will see her performing in the US capital on 4 July, in what is slated to be an Independence Day celebration for the ages.

Beyoncé’s previous outing, Rennaisance World Tour, was the second highest-grossing tour of 2023 after Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.

The stadium tour grossed $579.8 million and sold 2.8 million tickets across 56 shows in North America and Europe, according to Billboard Boxscore. It became the biggest one-year sum for an artist in Boxscore history, dating back to the mid-1980s.

Beyoncé’s previous tour, Rennaisance World Tour, was the second highest-grossing tour of 2023 after Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour

The Renaissance World Tour is the seventh highest-grossing tour in the Boxscore archives. Swift joins her as the only two women and only American solo artists in the top 10. Beyoncé is also the only Black artist on the all-time ranking.

News of the Cowboy Carter Tour comes less than 24 hours after Beyoncé, the most nominated artist in 2025 and in Grammys history, finally won Album of the Year on her fifth try for Cowboy Carter. The 43-year-old also went home with Best Country Album and Best Country Duo/Group Performance for her track II Most Wanted ft Miley Cyrus.

It also comes after Beyoncé’s halftime performance during the NFL 2024 Christmas Day Halftime Show, which brought in an average viewership of 27 million for Netflix.

Beyoncé is one of a raft of artists that have announced stadium tours for 2025, which promises to be the biggest year yet for mega shows.

Artists including The Weeknd, Linkin Park, Imagine Dragons, Billy Joel, My Chemical Romance, Olivia Rodrigo, Robbie Williams, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Stereophonics, System of a Down, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Stray Kids, Sam Fender and Iron Maiden are all set for next summer’s circuit.

Read more about this year’s monster stadium year here.

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Hozier is set to play stadiums in the US for the first time after announcing a fresh run of North American dates for 2025.

The Irish singer-songwriter attracted more than one million fans to his 2023/24 Unreal Unearth Tour of the territory, which saw him deliver 83 performances across 72 cities.

As well as headlining stadiums such as Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio and Rogers Stadium in Toronto, Canada, the 34-year-old will return to amphitheatres and festivals around the region.

Promoted by Live Nation, rescheduled dates have also been announced for his previously postponed shows in Casper, Wyoming and Billings, Montana. Special guests will include Gigi Perez and Amble.

Hozier, who is represented by WME’s Kirk Sommer in North America and CAA’s Emma Banks for the rest of the world, will also headline European festivals Reading & Leeds (21-24 August) in the UK and Superbloom (30-31 August) in Munich, Germany.

The full list of additional dates is as follows:

Sun Jun 8 – New York, NY – Governors Ball Music Festival
Tue Jun 10 – Camden, NJ – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
Thu Jun 12 – Ridgedale, MO – Thunder Ridge Nature Arena
Sun Jun 15 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
Wed Jun 18 – Columbus, OH – Historic Crew Stadium
Fri Jun 20 – Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest
Mon Jun 23 – Boston, MA – Fenway Park
Mon Jun 30 – Casper, WY – Ford Wyoming Center
Wed Jul 2 – Billings, MT – First Interstate Arena at MetraPark
Fri Jul 4 – Missoula, MT – Zootown Music Festival
Fri Jul 18 – St. Paul, MN – Minnesota Yacht Club Festival
Sun Jul 20 – Commerce City, CO – DICK’S Sporting Goods Park
Thu Jul 24 – Tinley Park, IL – Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
Fri Aug 01 – Salt Lake City, UT – Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
Thu Aug 07 – South Lake Tahoe, NV – Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys
Tue Aug 12 – Portland, OR – Moda Center
Thu Aug 14 – Seattle, WA – T-Mobile Park
Wed Sep 10 – Toronto, ON – Rogers Stadium
Sun Sep 14 – Green Gables, PE – Sommo Music Festival
Tue Sep 16 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live
Fri Sep 19 – Hershey, PA – HersheyPark Stadium

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A multi-purpose stadium in the city of Uppsala, Sweden, is preparing to hold its first music concert.

The 15,000-cap Studenternas football arena reopened in 2020 following a three-year renovation and will finally follow through with plans to stage gigs by welcoming Uppsala-born singer-songwriter Veronica Maggio on 6 September 2025.

The show is being staged by All Things Live in collaboration with local promoter Kaliber Live.

“Opening with an artist like Veronica Maggio sets the standard for future events in the arena,” says Kaliber Live’s Jonas Curling.

Uppsala arenas and properties also launched the 40,000-cap Polacksbacken in the city this summer

Studenternas is the home ground of Swedish professional football club IK Sirius and was named Sweden’s Sports Arena of the Year by architectural firm FOJAB in 2023.

“We strongly believe in Studenternas as a venue for larger outdoor concerts, where the audience gets close to the artist and gets a unique experience,” adds Staffan Littmarck, commercial development, Uppsala arenas and properties. “Together with organisers and partners, we want to continue promoting Uppsala as an event city.”

The company also launched the 40,000-cap Polacksbacken in the city this summer as a new venue for events and concerts, hosting the two-day Homecoming Festival in August, which featured acts such as Maggio and Zara Larsson.

“Studenternas fills a gap just below that and is a perfect complement to Polacksbacken, UKK, Fyrishov, Parksnäckan, Katalin and other scenes in Uppsala,” adds Littmarck.

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