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Leading WME agent Kirk Sommer has given his verdict on the touring business in 2024 – and predicted his top trends for next year.
As senior partner and global co-head of music at the Beverly Hills-headquartered agency, Sommer – who is currently fundraising for music charity MusiCares – works with a host of superstar acts including Adele, The Killers, Billie Eilish, Arctic Monkeys and Hozier.
And with certain artists rising faster than ever on the live scene in the age of social media, he tells IQ how the sector is adapting its game.
“I have never felt more empowered as an agent,” Sommer tells IQ. “The largest metric for success is the box office. The rate at which some artists are making rapid ascensions at scale has required more focus on making the right strategic developmental decisions while being sure not to miss the moment.”
Sommer, who tips “the continued growth of globalisation, pricing and sustainability” to be the biggest issues for the industry next year, lists The Killers’ “incredible” six-night run at The O2 in London in July and their hometown Hot Fuss Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace among his highlights of the past 12 months. The band will play three more “encore” gigs in Vegas next month.
In addition, Sommer oversaw the two-year Weekends with Adele Vegas residency at the same venue on 23 November, as well as Hozier’s record-breaking four-night stint at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, New York, in June, which marked the first time in the venue’s 101-year history that a single artist had sold out a run of that length.
Elsewhere, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour launched in North America in September.
Sommer is donating a meeting with himself for two people in order to raise funds for music charity MusiCares
“Adele completing her 100-show residency that I had worked on for four years was very special,” reflects Sommer. “Hozier’s historic, record breaking, four-night run at Forest Hills Stadiums was excellent. And the Billie Eilish arena show in the round is the best I have seen.”
Sommer also has high hopes for a number of emerging headliners on the WME roster.
“I am looking forward to the continued growth of Benson Boone, Teddy Swims and Lola Young,” he says. “I have some important and significant tours I’ll be announcing shortly. I’m tremendously proud of the hard work and teamwork my department demonstrated daily and could not be more excited for our collective future.”
Meanwhile, Sommer is donating a meeting with himself for two people in order to raise funds for MusiCares.
The auction, which is open until 3.02pm EST (9.02pm CET) on Wednesday 4 December, is running via the CharityBuzz platform, with the winning bidder to be given the opportunity to speak with Sommer for 45 minutes and explore the dynamics of the live music industry. The current highest bid stands at US$44,500 (€42,500).
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The Killers sold over 105,000 tickets to their six-night residency at The O2 – the highest number for any musical act at the arena this year.
The Las Vegas-hailing band took over the 20,000-capacity London venue on 4,5,7,8,10 and 11 July as part of their Rebel Diamonds tour, celebrating their 20-year legacy.
The record-breaking residency, promoted by SJM Concerts, featured varying setlists and even included a screening of the moment England triumphed over the Netherlands in the semi-finals of the UEFA EURO 2024 on Wednesday 10 July, before The Killers launched into their biggest hit ‘Mr Brightside’.
The run concludes the UK and Ireland leg of the band’s tour, which comprised 16 arena shows (their first UK arena dates since 2017) across June and July.
The Killers are next due to perform at Fuji Rock (JP), Lollapalooza (US) and Outside Lands (US) before commencing their Hot Fuss residency in Las Vegas next month.
‘The six-night residency of The Killer at The O2 has been a phenomenal experience to be a part of,” says Matt Woolliscroft, promoter at SJM Concerts.
“Everything about the show was truly world-class”
“In the 20 years that I have been working with the band, the ‘Rebel Diamonds’ tour has seen, in my opinion, their best performances, best production and best setlists. Every night the audience reaction and energy has been incredible. The night of the Euros semi-final at The O2 was a true once in a lifetime “I was there” moment, and it was a privilege to be in the room for it. Each time they tour the UK, I am left thinking that they can’t get any better live, then the next time they come over they once again reach new heights.”
Kirk M. Sommer, global co-head of music at WME, adds: “The Killers were my first signing more than two decades ago – it was love on first listen – and they continue to break records, warm hearts, and delight fans each and every night. It is a great privilege to be a part of their team and I was so proud to share in the joy of these record-breaking shows at The O2.
“After their monumental second Glastonbury headline performance in 2019, multiple sold-out stadium shows across the world in 2022, and their stunning Reading and Leeds headline sets last year, this six-night, sold-out run at London’s The O2 was the perfect capstone to the wildly successful ‘Rebel Diamonds’ tour in UK. It is exhilarating to see 20 years of hits performed live with conviction and surprises by a band at the top of their game. The audiences were electric. Congratulations to the band and whole team.”
Emma Bownes, vice president of venue programming for AEG Europe, comments: “Everything about the show was truly world-class – from the changing setlist, to the mammoth production, and of course the moment of absolute euphoria when the band transitioned from the England Euro’s win into one of the most iconic songs of all time – Mr Brightside. It’s truly been a residency to remember, and we hope to welcome The Killers back to The O2 in the future.”
The O2 reported its busiest-ever year for residencies in 2023, with runs from Peter Kay (12 shows), Elton John (10), Micky Flanagan (9), Madonna (6) and Chris Brown (6).
“Residencies are something that are becoming more and more important in the way we programme the venue,” Bownes told IQ. Read the full interview here.
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SZA and The Killers are set to headline the inaugural edition of Sudden Little Thrills, a new two-day music festival coming to Pennsylvania, US.
Taking place at Hazelwood Green in Pittsburgh between 7–8 September, the lineup also features Melanie Martinez, Wiz Khalifa, St. Vincent, Omar Apollo, Fletcher, Yung Gravy and Girl Talk.
In addition, the Live Nation-produced event is spotlighting Pittsburgh’s local artists, with the likes of Feeble Little Horse, Corook, Fedd the God and Krunk and the Center of Life Band on the bill.
According to a release, Sudden Little Thrills’ name embodies the festival’s ethos: “to be present and open to sudden moments of fun, joy, and inspiration”.
The lineup also features Melanie Martinez, Wiz Khalifa, St. Vincent, Omar Apollo, Fletcher, Yung Gravy and Girl Talk
Tickets for the festival start at US$249 (€234) for general admission, $335 (€315) for GA+ and $649 (€610) for two-day VIP tickets which include private bars, dedicated on-field viewing, and express lanes into the festival and at stores.
There is also a two-day platinum ticket for $1400 (€1316), including front-of-stage viewing, complimentary beer and soft drinks, dining, and more.
Fans can also purchase single-day tickets starting at $159 (€149) for GA and $399 (€375) for VIP. Presale tickets are available beginning on 18 April.
A portion of every ticket for Sudden Little Thrills will benefit nonprofit and grassroots organisations within the Hazelwood Community.
Other new Live Nation festivals for 2024 include Fool In Love, Besame Mucho Austin and Minnesota Yacht Club (via C3 Presents) – all set to take place in the US.
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The Killers are to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut album Hot Fuss with a special residency in their hometown of Las Vegas.
The American rock band, who are represented by WME, have announced eight shows at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace between 14-30 August.
The dates will see the group – Brandon Flowers, Dave Keuning, Mark Stoermer and Ronnie Vannucci Jr – perform the record front to back for the first time ever.
Prior to the run, The Killers will bring their Rebel Diamonds Tour to the UK and Ireland for 16 arena shows (their first UK arena dates since 2017) in June/July. It will visit Dublin’s 3Arena (12 & 14-15 June), the new Co-0p Live in Manchester (18-19 & 21-22 June) and Glasgow’s OVO Hydro (25-27 June), plus six nights at The O2 in London (4-5, 7-8 & 10-11 July).
This year will also see Wu-Tang Clan become the first hip-hop group to launch a Las Vegas residency
This year will also see Wu-Tang Clan become the first hip-hop group to launch a Las Vegas residency. Announced last month, The Saga Continues shows come in the wake of 2023’s 50th anniversary of hip-hop celebrations.
The rap collective will play the 4,600-cap The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas from 9-10 February and 22-23 March. Tickets are priced from US$65.
“This residency is more than a concert – it serves as a tribute to their prolific careers as individuals and as the most storied group in hip-hop history,” says a Virgin Hotels statement.
Other Sin City residencies in Q1 2024 include Bruno Mars at Dolby Live at Park MGM, Adele at The Colosseum, U2 at the Sphere, Christina Aguilera at The Venetian, Kylie Minogue at Voltaire, Kelly Clarkson at Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood, Carrie Underwood at Resorts World Theatre and New Edition at Encore Theater, Wynn Las Vegas.
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Scotland’s DF Concerts has heralded a record-breaking summer, having sold one million tickets between June and August.
The promoter says that, as a result, it has made an economic impact of around £72.4 million on tourism and hospitality businesses in its domestic market.
The Glasgow-headquartered company expects that, by the end of 2022, it will have welcomed over 50% of the population of Scotland to one of its concerts or events.
DF promotes some 1,000 concerts per year, as well as its festivals TRNSMT (Glasgow), Connect (Edinburgh) and Summer Sessions (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee). In addition, the promoter owns and operates grassroots music venue, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut (Glasgow).
This year’s sold-out edition of TRNSMT topped DF’s best-selling events of the summer, attracting 50,000 attendees on each of its three days.
Other highlights include two nights from The Killers at Falkirk Stadium (cap. 25,000), and Harry Styles performing to 50,000 people at Glasgow’s Ibrox football stadium.
“It’s looking like it will be more of the same next year”
This summer also saw DF revive Connect, a music festival that originally took place in Argyll, Scotland, in the mid-noughties.
The reboot took place at The Royal Highland Centre (RHC), an exhibition centre and showgrounds located near Edinburgh airport, between 26–28 August.
The Chemical Brothers, The National, Little Simz, Mogwai and Bombay Bicycle Club were among the artists that performed at the camping festival.
In total, DF Concerts had 33 days of outdoor shows from June to August, at venues including Slessor Gardens in Dundee, Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre Showgrounds and Princes Street Gardens, SWG3 Galvanizers Yard, Glasgow Green, and Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, plus Hampden Park, Ibrox and Falkirk Stadiums.
“This has been a really special summer season for all involved,” Geoff Ellis, CEO of DF Concerts, tells IQ. “It has seen a seven-figure investment in new events for music lovers across the country, diversifying the experiences available in Scotland.
“With two stadium shows, one greenfield and two festivals already announced for summer 2023 and more to come very soon, it’s looking like it will be more of the same next year.”
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Former members of the touring crew for rock band the Killers have emerged largely unscathed from a sexual misconduct claim after an internal review was “unable to find any corroboration” of the allegations.
The investigation into sexual misconduct was launched after sound engineer Chez Cherrie shared allegations that during a concert at the Rave in Milwaukee in 2009, a front-of-house engineer told the crew that there was “a girl set up in dressing room A” and that crew members could put their name on a list to be called “when it’s [their]” turn”.
She also claimed that crew members made crude remarks about their experiences with the girl, and said that venue security expressed concern about the girl being left naked and unconscious in the dressing room.
On 29 July, the Killers announced that they were opening an internal investigation into Cherrie’s sexual misconduct claims.
Today, the band’s lawyers Reynolds & Associates released a summary from the investigation, which ultimately concluded that they were “unable to find any corroboration whatsoever of a sexual assault at the Milwaukee venue”.
Cherrie said she stood by her experiences and said that the “hazing” described in the band’s report reflected a “larger issue” in the music industry
Cherrie responded to the statement with her own, saying she has “conflicting feelings” about the findings. “First, I am grateful that they, as an organization, have taken my experience seriously and were moved to internally investigate and potentially lead the industry in a restorative manner so this never happens again,” she wrote.
Cherrie disagreed with some “generalised statements” in the report but she was “beyond relieved” that the report had traced the girl at the centre of the allegation.
She also said she stood by her experiences and said that the “hazing” described in the band’s report reflected a “larger issue” in the music industry, wherein such behaviour was “normal, expected, accepted”. She said she hoped that the industry could “develop a framework of reporting mistreatment and harassment that protects workers and fans and demands accountability of the people in power”.
The statement from Reynolds & Associates detailed the Killers’ “expressed regret that the temporary crew member was made to feel unsafe and bullied during her brief time with the band”.
It also claims the band has now directed their team to establish a new system “wherein the entire touring party are furnished with an off-site independent HR contact to call to report concerns of any nature, anonymously if they wish”.
The Killers’ Day & Age world tour was the 50th highest-grossing of 2009, earning $18.3 million, according to Pollstar.
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A year to the day before Dubai hosts a six-month long World Expo event, Mariah Carey is due to perform in a free concert at Burj Park.
The concert, dubbed One Year to Go, will take place on 20 October, with local singer Hussain Al Jassmi, as well as acts DJ Bliss, Abri and the Funk Radius and Khalifa also billed to perform.
The Expo, which was awarded to Dubai in 2013 by the International Exposition Bureau in Paris, will take place on a main 438-hectare site enclosed by three thematic districts – opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
A variety of live performances, cultural activities, business presentations and global celebrations will occur during the Expo.
The United Arab Emirates is also hosting live performances at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Formula One race from 28 November to December 1. Lana Del Rey will perform in the Middle East for the first time at the event, alongside EDM star Marshmello, the Killers and rapper Travis Scott.
In December, British singer Dido will perform and Dubai’s Media City Amphitheatre (15,000-cap.) and Bruno Mars will close out the year with a headline New Year’s show at the du Arena (25,000-cap.) in Abu Dhabi.
Last month, AEG Ogden, the operator of Dubai’s 17,000-capacity Coca-Cola Arena, celebrated the role the arena was playing in placing the UAE – and the wider region – on the international touring map.
Read more about the Middle East’s growing live events market below.
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Festival discovery and booking platform Festicket has compiled a list of its 2018 “festival heroes”, naming the DJs and bands that performed at the highest number of festivals last year.
Russian techno DJ Nina Kraviz took the 2018 festival circuit crown, playing 35 festival sets over the year. Kraviz has 20 festivals confirmed for the upcoming season, including sets at Belgium’s Tomorrowland, Italy’s Kappa FuturFestival, Primavera Sound in Spain and Dimensions Festival in Croatia.
Belgian artist Amelie Lens also had a successful year, playing at 27 festivals, a massive step up for the DJ who played only four festival sets the previous year. 2019 is set to be even busier for Lens, who is playing at over 20 festivals, among them Coachella (USA), Creamfields (UK), Exit Festival (Serbia), Awakenings (the Netherlands) and Electric Daisy Carnival – Las Vegas.
Leading the charge for non-electronic acts are the Killers and Arctic Monkeys, who amassed 18 and 16 festival gigs respectively.
Russian techno DJ Nina Kraviz took the 2018 festival circuit crown, playing 35 festival sets over the year
The Killers played headline sets at Lollapalooza Brazil, Trnsmt in Scotland and Spain’s Benicassim. The band continues its string of headline performances this year with top slots already confirmed at Glastonbury Festival, Woodstock 50 and Kaaboo Texas.
Arctic Monkeys appeared at festivals across the globe in 2018 including Primavera Sound, Lollapalooza and Sziget. The band are yet to announce any festival slots for this year.
Festicket used information from its database of over 500 acts and 1,200 festivals to compile the festival heroes report.
Festicket co-founder Zack Sabban spoke on the industry investment panel at this year’s ILMC. Launched in 2012, the company is backed by a range of investors including Beringea, Edge, Lepe Partners, ProFounders and Kreos Capital. Alongside its London headquarters, Festicket has offices in San Francisco, Amsterdam, Berlin, Porto and Nantes.
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Woodstock 50 Music and Arts Fair has announced the official line-up for it three-day 50th anniversary today, with headline performance from the Killers, Miley Cyrus, Santana, Dead and Company and Jay-Z.
More than 80 acts have been confirmed for the event, taking place from 16 to 18 August in Watkins Glen, New York.
Legacy acts, in addition to the original Woodstock 1969 icons Santana and Dead and Company, include Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters, David Crosby and Friends, John Fogerty, Canned Heat, Country Joe McDonald, John Sebastian and Melanie.
The Killers, Miley Cyrus and Santana head up the opening night, with Chance the Rapper and the Black Keys headlining on Saturday and Jay-Z, Imagine Dragons and Halsey closing the event on the Sunday night.
Other performances across the three-day event come from the Lumineers, Bishop Briggs, Greta van Fleet, Leon Bridges and Janelle Monáe.
“We’ve lined up artists who won’t just entertain but will remind the world that music has the power to bring people together, to heal, to move us to action and to tell the stories of a generation,” says Michael Lang, co-founder and producer of the 1969 and 2019 Woodstock festivals.
“Our hope is that today, just as in 1969, music will be the constant that can inspire positive change”
“Our hope is that today, just as in 1969, music will be the constant that can inspire positive change,” adds Lang.
Woodstock 50 has also confirmed some of its nonprofit cause partners, including environmental charity Conservation International, student-led anti-gun group March for our Lives and Chicago-based SocialWorks, which empowers youth through the arts, education and civic engagement.
In addition, Lang has announced that the festival will include curated neighbourhoods that celebrate unique experiences across all arts forms – including emerging talent, specialty food offerings, workshops and craft – as well as a dedicated “Kidstock” area.
A rival, Live Nation-backed festival, set to take place on the original Woodstock site in Bethel Woods over the same weekend is no longer going ahead in the same capacity. The Bethel Woods Centre for the Arts Woodstock anniversary event will take place as a scaled-back “Anniversary Week”, forming part of a six-month long Season of Song and Celebration.
Tickets for Woodstock 50 go on sale on Earth Day, April 22. Fans can subscribe to receive more information here.
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Glastonbury Festival today released the first line-up poster for its 2019 edition, announcing the Killers and the Cure as the final two Pyramid Stage headliners to join previously released headliner Stormzy.
The line-up release includes more than 60 acts, including Janet Jackson, Liam Gallagher, Miley Cyrus, Tame Impala, Vampire Weekend, Two Door Cinema Club, Wu-Tang Clan, Jon Hopkins and the Streets.
The Cure join Coldplay as the only groups to have headlined the festival four times, following slots in 1986, 1990 and 1995.
Here is the first Glastonbury Festival 2019 line-up poster, which includes our final two Pyramid Stage headliners: @TheKillers (Saturday) and @TheCure (Sunday). Many more acts and attractions still to be announced. pic.twitter.com/jYOoTQQurf
— Glastonbury Festival (@glastonbury) March 15, 2019
London grime artist Stormzy had already been revealed as the Friday night headliner, while Kylie Minogue will play the “legend slot” on Sunday afternoon.
In a bid to makes its 2019 festival more environmentally-friendly, Glastonbury Festival 2019 will free of single-use plastic, with attendees encouraged to bring reusable water bottles and traders instructed only to sell canned drinks.
Glastonbury Festival will take place from 26 to 30 June on Worthy Farm.
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