Primavera Sound confirms Latin America return
Primavera Sound is to return to Latin America in 2024 after attracting close to 350,000 people across its events in the region last year.
Second editions of the festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina and São Paulo, Brazil drew 120,000 and 115,000 people respectively, according to organisers. Headline acts at the November/December events included The Cure, Blur, Pet Shop Boys, Beck and The Killers.
In addition, 35,000 people attended Primavera Sound concerts in Santiago, Chile, over 12,000 fans experienced the first Paraguay event to mark Asunción Spring Day, and more than 30,000 people went to the inaugural Road to Primavera concerts in Lima, Peru.
The Cure, who played their first shows in South America in a decade, also sold out standalone Primavera concerts in Montevideo, Uruguay and Bogota, Colombia.
Primavera Sound has reaffirmed its commitment to the territory by confirming the dates for this year’s editions
Primavera Sound has reaffirmed its commitment to the territory by confirming the dates for this year’s editions. Primavera Day Montevideo will premiere on 21 November, followed by the third editions of Primavera Sound Buenos Aires (23-24 November) and São Paulo (30 November-1 December), with Primavera Day Asunción set for 29 November.
Plus, Bogotá, Lima and Santiago will again host Road to Primavera concerts, with specific dates to be announced soon.
Meanwhile, the flagship Primavera Sound Barcelona, where the brand launched in 2001, will take place from 29 May to 2 June, headlined by Lana Del Rey, Pulp and SZA. Other acts will include The National, PJ Harvey, Vampire Weekend, Phoenix, Disclosure, FKA Twigs, Justice and Mitski.
It has also run sister events in Los Angeles and Chile in recent years, but has opted against running another Madrid instalment in 2024 following a “complicated” debut edition.
- The ILMC 36 panel Latin Live: The Promoter’s View will take place at 3.30pm on 29 February, exploring what to expect from the Latin genre in the future
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LatAm associations draft gender equality declaration
Musicians’ unions across Latin America have drafted and signed a declaration pledging to work towards gender parity in their memberships.
At an event hosted by the International Federation of Musicians (FIM) in Bogota, Colombia, before Christmas, local artists’ union Ormúsica, as well as its counterparts in Uruguay (Audem and Fudem), Argentina (Sadem), Peru (SIMCCAP), Panama (Sitmas), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Sindmusi), Mexico (SUTM), Cuba (UNEAC) and Costa Rica (UTM), put their names to a document committing to achieving a 50-50 gender split among their members, with 30% women by 2025.
The declaration, entitled Declaración sobre equidad de género en el sector musical sindical (Declaration on gender equality in the musical union sector), also commits the signatories to undertaking an annual census of their memberships to assess the progress made towards gender equality.
In a statement, FIM, which represents some 70 musicians’ unions globally, thanked Ormúsica “for their warm welcome to a successful event”.
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AEG announces Antel Arena, first venue in Uruguay
Uruguayan telco Antel has appointed AEG Facilities to operate and manage its 10,000-seat Antel Arena in Montevideo, set to open in mid-2018.
AEG’s large venues division will initially oversee the project from its office in Sao Paulo, and ultimately be responsible for all aspects of the arena’s operations, including hiring and training staff, sponsorship and premium seating sales, booking, security, ticketing, guest services, marketing, public relations, finance, human resources and overall event management.
The venue will host concerts, family shows, festivals and corporate events, complementing a raft of sports programming, including basketball, tennis and futsal (like football, but played indoors on a hard court).
“This new state-of-the-art arena is destined to be the home of the most important sports, music and entertainment events, fairs and conventions,” comments Antel CEO Javier Emicuri. “Our goal for this venue is to provide Uruguay with the best infrastructure to become a reference place in South America to host these major events, and with a strong partner like AEG at our side we are confident we will achieve this.”
“Antel Arena will immediately take its place at the head of the class for indoor venues in South America”
Chuck Steedman, AEG Facilities’ chief operating officer – who also joins the Antel board of directors – adds: “We applaud Antel and the government of Uruguay for designing and building this great indoor arena. Antel Arena will immediately take its place at the head of the class for indoor venues in South America and will set the standard for excellence on the continent.
“We are thankful for the opportunity to work with Antel and the people of Uruguay to provide the best in world-class sports and entertainment.”
AEG’s taking over Antel Arena follows a busy few months for the company, which is also undertaking new projects in Switzerland, Nashville and Stockholm.
Leading AEG Facilities’ team in South America is Venancio Castro, who joined the company in 2014 as executive director.
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