The debate over the impact of VIP culture on the next generation of clubbers has been reignited as top executives warn it is in danger of becoming “an elite form of entertainment”.

Moderated by International Music Summit (IMS) co-founder Ben Turner, ILMC 37’s Electronic Music: Where to Now? panel delved into the dance space ahead of the imminent launch of Ibiza’s latest superclub [UNVRS].

Billed as the world’s first “hyper club” thanks to its cutting-edge technology, the 15,000-cap venue is due to open this summer on the site of the former Privilege Ibiza.

“I think it’s going to be amazing,” said CAA agent Maria May, who has worked in the electronic space for almost 30 years. “The team behind it [Yann Pissenem’s The Night League] are incredible. The production in there is going to be epic. I think every artist that is going to be in there is going to make the most of it. Anyone who’s going to Ibiza next summer is going to go to [UNVRS] to see what he’s done to it.”

Today (13 March), meanwhile, it was announced that Calvin Harris will become the first artist in history to hold a double residency at the same White Isle venue in a single season. He will take over Tuesdays (1 July-26 August) and Fridays (30 May-12 September) at Ushuaïa Ibiza this summer with 25 curated shows. General sale tickets cost €100-120.

Speaking at London’s Royal Lancaster, Turner noted electronic music, which was valued globally at $7.3 billion pre-pandemic, suffered an “inevitable dip” during the Covid years, but had since experienced a “phenomenal bounce back” to a “nearly $12bn industry”.

“The whole success of the night is going to be based on if you’re selling out all your tables”

On a less positive note, May admitted to concerns over the general state of affairs, suggesting that young clubbers were shortening their stays in Ibiza due to the escalating costs, and questioned whether the spirit of the island had been “buried”.

“Ibiza was a bit quieter last August, which was unusual,” she observed. “They might have made it up in September, but the reality is it was quieter… because of cost of living.

“I brought someone very important to Ibiza last year, who will remain nameless, but is in the rock & roll world and known to everybody, and they felt that it’s like Vegas now.”

May said the Ibiza profit model was increasingly leaning towards VIP table sales.

“The whole success of the night is going to be based on if you’re selling out all your tables,” she said. “All the investment that’s going into Ibiza has got to be paid for by the VIP tables. [But] there aren’t enough VIPs on the island to fill every single VIP table, so at some point this is going to start to creak.”

May was also critical of some of the circuit’s programming choices for stifling opportunities for newer talent.

“We’re also gatekeeping younger talent from emerging because we continually book the DJs that sell the VIP tables,” she argued. “The whole model now is pretty much based on a VIP offering and what we’re seeing is pretty much the same DJs from the same genres playing every single year. You look around across Europe and you see emerging talent that are selling serious numbers, but they’re not getting a look in.”

“We’re saying that it’s harder and harder to break talent, but we’re actually sticking to that top level… We’re maintaining the hierarchy”

She continued: “An artist that could… be playing in Ibiza this summer is not allowed to, because the promoters don’t know who they are. And yet, in other places in Europe, they’re selling out thousands and thousands of tickets. It takes a lot more than just a hit record and being hot in Europe to have a residency in Ibiza… but there is an element of actually starting to call out the gatekeeping.

“We’re complaining about there’s not enough headliners. We’re saying that it’s harder and harder to break talent, but we’re actually sticking to that top level. Especially in dance music, across the board, we’re maintaining the hierarchy.”

Turner brought up that VIP culture had permeated the London dance scene, pointing to one DJ event where VIP access tickets were priced at £400.

“I can’t stand it, I honestly can’t stand it,” said Pete Jordan of promoter LWE/AMAAD. “It’s a joke, and if we want to onboard young people, we should be really going back to the roots of what it was about… VIP culture is effectively cutting out most people. It’s going to become an elite form of entertainment, and youngsters will just do their own thing – and they’ll do something different.”

He added: “The biggest thing we should be doing is really opening the doors for young promoters to be able to do events and be given a little bit of freedom, and not be pushed too hard financially because, ultimately, it’s a risky business. If you’re 18-19 and haven’t got thousands of pounds to back you, then as soon as you do your one bad show, you’re out of it for good.

“Promoters, DJs, musicians, will keep coming through forever because it’s kind of hardwired into you. But at the same time, we are definitely cutting out some talent at the low end just because there’s too many barriers to getting into the scene.”

“A lot of promoters are going for similar acts across the board”

UTA agent Hannah Shogbola, who represents acts like Jaguar, Helena Star and Girls Don’t Sync and previously worked within the booking team at London’s Fabric, had mixed feelings on the subject.

“I’m kind of split on the VIP thing,” she said. “I think it’s also genre-dependent. For example, within genres such as amapiano and Afro house, VIP does really work. I’m not going to deny that sometimes I prefer to be in a club and be in the VIP section. But in other places, I don’t. I want to be down in the nitty gritty.

“I’m definitely against the insanely overpriced tickets to stand on the side of the stage next to the DJ… But I do think there are events that it is suitable for.”

Shogbola moved on to discuss the heated competition for festival slots within the sector.

“A lot of promoters are going for similar acts across the board,” she said. “Certain parts of my roster that might sit in between fees of £1,000 to £5,000, you’re probably up against 30 to 60 other people competing for that slot. It’s been quite tricky this summer actually, if I’m honest, just allowing myself to give artists that transparency, because obviously, for them, that’s hugely disheartening sometimes. I think in their heads, it’s always like, ‘There’s so many festivals and there’s all these available slots,’ and the reality is there just isn’t anymore.”

“The shows really need to sell out to be successful – 80-90% sold just doesn’t cut it”

Columbo Music’s Marcus Drew, who is also in-house booker for Phonox nightclub in South London and the 15,000-cap Maiden Voyage Festival, described the London festival market as “incredibly saturated”.

“We’re all going for the same kind of space musically, especially within electronic music,” he said. “Two Brixton acts don’t equate to 10,000 tickets. Ultimately, there needs to be an intentional theme in the curation, and there needs to be more community-driven sales beyond just headliners on the bill.

“It’s an interesting point about what slots are available to artists… because of the risks involved with festivals at the moment, the shows really need to sell out to be successful – 80-90% sold just doesn’t cut it. And with that in mind, we’re booking every single slot with artists that have proven ticket value in the market. So even our 12 o’clock slot, our 1pm slot, our 2pm slot, will be someone who’s sold 500 tickets and has proven that in advance. I think that makes it very difficult for everyone else.”

May did see reasons for positivity for the business as a whole, however.

“Yes, we have problems. Yes, there’s a credit crunch. Yes, the cost of living is more,” she added. “But there are still a lot of entities that we work with on a regular basis that are doing really great.”

A report on the state of the electronic music sector will appear in the next edition of IQ.

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Festivals have long been considered fertile ground for breaking artists – an invaluable platform for the latest rising stars to preach to the unconverted and expand their fanbase. But as the post-pandemic live business continues to evolve, there is a growing school of thought that the circuit now serves a different purpose.

UTA agents Tom Jones and Max Lee are well placed to comment, having secured chart-topping electronic/alt pop artist Kenya Grace slots on a record 11 of the 50 top European festivals analysed by IQ and music biz directory and data platform ROSTR last year. For the duo, the festival circuit remains an indispensable part of their booking strategy for new talent.

“When you go to new markets, it’s important to play in front of as many people as you can to earn yourself some new fans,” says Lee. “Then there are other benefits, like livestreaming – [Grace] was streamed at EXIT Festival, and Glastonbury and Reading & Leeds on the BBC, and that gave us professional footage to show to promoters and bookers. Also, those streams go far and wide and live online forever.

“Obviously, we would love to go and play our own shows everywhere. But the costs of touring are so high that if you’re trying to grow through headlines only, it becomes near impossible.”

Jones nods in agreement.

“Festivals are crucial, particularly early in an artist’s career,” he stresses. “If you deliver an incredible festival performance – whether it’s professionally filmed by a member of the artist’s team or by a fan in the crowd and then posted on social media – it has the chance to get in front of so many more eyes than just playing at a festival to 10-15,000 people. That is incredibly beneficial to an artist’s perception and building new fans.”

“Festival audiences are engaged music fans who are discovering new music whilst at the events”

Melbourne-based independent promoter Untitled Group enjoyed a sensational 10th anniversary season, hosting 35,000 attendees at its flagship camping festival Beyond the Valley and 85,000 fans across Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide for its one-day Wildlands event. It also sold out all three days of its AO LIVE festival, which took place during the 2025 Australian Open.

Unsurprisingly, Untitled co-founder Nicholas Greco maintains that festivals still offer the ideal lift-off point for rising stars.

“Festival audiences are engaged music fans who are discovering new music whilst at the events,” he says. “These moments are also shared online which contributes to the post event momentum for artists we often see. For example, at Stum’s closing set at Beyond the Valley in 2023, he performed to 35,000 people, which not only cemented his place in the scene but also drove massive momentum. He went on to sell out 5,000 tickets in Melbourne instantly for his next headline tour.”

Speaking to IQ last year, One Fiinix Live agent Jon Ollier offered a counterpoint – expressing scepticism over festivals’ role in breaking acts, while acknowledging other positives.

“I’ve never been of the belief that a whole lot of music discovery goes on at festivals,” he said. “As soon as festivals got beyond two or three stages, the idea that you have a captive audience isn’t really true.

“What they have always done is help you to establish that cultural identity that comes with having played festivals we consider to be a sort of rite of passage, or that some of the tastemakers and gatekeepers involved in the business would expect you to play in order to demonstrate your cultural relevance.”

“It’s hard to make the argument that festivals are intrinsic to breaking artists”

Runway Artists founder Matt Hanner offers an equally nuanced take.

“We’ve seen a lot of artists rise up that are playing to huge numbers of people now – thousands of people a night – but are not festival staples,” he argues. “So many of those artists can say they’ve developed a great audience without the help of festivals, so it’s hard to make the argument that festivals are intrinsic to breaking artists.

“What artists still like about them is that, in an age when it’s very easy to put music out, festival bookings are another feather in the cap. They’re another badge of honour, a recommendation that says, ‘I must be doing something right, because I’m playing these festivals over the summer.’ It’s a point of difference to separate them from the masses and that’s what we’re all looking for with artists now – and I think that is a big thing.”

Hanner, whose agency roster includes acts such as Highasakite, Cosmo Pyke, Future Teens and Bibi Club, says that a good festival slot can still help sell tickets.

“You still hear of artists amassing a great crowd for a mid-afternoon slot and it helps propel them on to the next stage,” he says. “So it’s not to say that festivals are without their merits and sit outside of everything we’re doing; there are just so many examples of artists that have got to a great point in their career without necessarily being what you would consider a ‘classic’ festival act. There are a lot of pathways to finding your audience now.”

“I try and say to my artists that you shouldn’t build through festivals”

Moreover, Mother Artists co-founder Natasha Gregory senses the current lay of the land has resulted in fewer festival opportunities for nascent artists.

“I think that agents need to have empathy for what festivals and bookers are going through at the moment, because it’s not necessarily an easy sellout, aside from your Glastonburys of the world,” says Gregory. “So I try and say to my artists that you shouldn’t build through festivals and that I understand why festivals are booking a certain artist – and why they’re not – because they have to survive through the years.

“Production costs have quadrupled since Covid and I don’t think everybody necessarily has an understanding of the sheer cost of putting on a festival, nor should they, unless you’re in the business. So I think it’s a really, really hard time for new bands that don’t have teams, that don’t have those viral moments and that don’t have radio. I do think the opportunities are less across festivals.

“However, I also think that if you build the artist as a headline artist in their own right, then when the festivals come, the slots will be better, the budgets will be better, and there will be more people watching.”

Gregory cites the fortunes of one of her most famous acts as evidence.

“When IDLES started, we couldn’t get festivals,” she recalls. “But we didn’t sit there and go, ‘Oh God, what are we going to do? Let’s wait.’ We were like, ‘Fuck, we have Brutalism, this amazing [debut] album. Let’s go out and talk. Let’s play to people.’ And it just built off that.

“They headlined the Other Stage at Glastonbury [last year] and smashed it. Again, those slots need to come at the right time in an artist’s career to really help their next steps.”

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AEG Presents has promoted several executives in its global touring division to leadership roles.

Jonathan Baden will now serve as senior vice president, production and direct support and continue to oversee AEG’s touring and festival production teams.

Jenny Heifetz has been elevated from VP to senior vice president of global touring. She will take on a larger role in overseeing the division’s operations and continue work on select tours.

Lindsay Dworman and Elizabeth Pickrel, previously directors of touring, will now serve as vice presidents of Global Touring. Dworman will continue to focus on booking and overseeing tours, while Pickrel will expand upon her work in international touring.

“Our global touring team is only as good as the people in it and the artists we work with”

“Our global touring team is only as good as the people in it and the artists we work with” says Rich Schaefer, president of global touring at AEG Presents. “I am proud to recognise Jon, Jenny, Lindsay and Liz for their contributions to our success over the past years and look forward to celebrating many more wins together in the future.”

Elsewhere, former UTA agent Tom Matthews has been appointed director, talent & touring at Live Nation APAC and will relocate to Singapore.

The 2024 New Boss was the point person for Asia in UTA’s London office, ensuring fellow agents find the best possible partners across the region while guaranteeing clients find their audiences on relevant Asian social media platforms like Weibo, WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, QQ, and more.

Alongside his former UTA colleagues, Jbeau Lewis and Jules de Lattre, Matthews aided the success of Karol G’s record-breaking Mañana Será Bonito tour. He was at UTA for seven years.

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Afro Nation co-founder Obi Asika is stepping back from his role at UTA to focus on his passion for Africa through his entertainment business, The Malachite Group, IQ can reveal.

Asika, who joined UTA after the company acquired his Echo Location Talent Agency back in 2021 and was promoted to partner last year, will remain part of UTA client teams for a handful of key artists.

“I have enjoyed every minute of my time as co-head London music at UTA over the last four years and have decided the time is now right for me to step away from that role, to devote more time to my global business, The Malachite Group – alongside our partners Helios Sports and Entertainment Group – on our mission to champion Africa and global diasporas,” says Asika.

Since launching in 2019, Afro Nation has become the world’s biggest Afrobeats festival, spawning editions in Accra (Ghana), Miami (US), Detroit (US), Portimão (Portugal) and Balneario De Carolina (Puerto Rico).

“I am inspired by the challenge of creating meaningful opportunities and building on the global success of events such as Afro Nation and Piano People,” adds Asika, “expanding an existing sports portfolio which includes the NBA Africa, Basketball Africa League and the Professional Fighters League, working alongside QA Venue Solutions and creating transformative opportunities at grassroots level and upwards that will open doors for young people and help unlock the continent’s vast potential.”

“We wish Obi every success as he focuses on his lifelong passion and advocacy for the music and culture of Africa”

UTA’s co-head of global music Sam Kirby Yoh will continue to lead the UK music team alongside Neil Warnock.

“We wish Obi every success as he focuses on his lifelong passion and advocacy for the music and culture of Africa,” says Kirby Yoh. “We continue to experience a period of rapid growth for UTA London as we’ve expanded our team of world class agents, supporting some of the most impactful artists of our times.”

UTA has emerged as an international leader in Afrobeats, heading the charge in its global explosion with artists such as Burna Boy, Tyla, Wizkid, Ayra Starr represented by its agents led out of London.

The agency’s roster also includes the likes of Karol G, Bad Bunny, Take That, Bring Me The Horizon, Chase & Status, Sleep Token, Jacob Collier, Zayn, Christine and the Queens, Dolly Parton, Rosalía, Underworld, Trivium, Kenya Grace, Sammy Virji and Nia Archives.

Additionally, UTA expanded its sports portfolio with the acquisition of Representatives Of Outstanding Footballers (ROOF) in 2024, and acquired the UK’s Curtis Brown Group in 2022.

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Some of the top agents in the international live music business have revealed the emerging market they’re most excited about in 2025.

In the new year straw poll conducted by IQ, four different territories emerged, with Africa topping the list.

Africa
Africa’s potential for growth is perhaps best signalled by the number of live entertainment giants that expanded in the market in the past 12 months.

Last summer, Ticketmaster enhanced its presence in Africa by acquiring its leading ticketing platform Quicket, with the firm’s president Mark Yovich declaring “a new era of unparalleled growth for African entertainment”.

Meanwhile, parent company Live Nation announced two major venue projects in the territory including South Africa’s largest dedicated live entertainment space, The Dome (cap. 10,500), which is set to open in Johannesburg this month and a new 12,000-cap arena, opening in Lagos, Nigeria, in late 2025 with the help of Oak View Group.

These venues will fill critical gaps in their respective markets – where infrastructure has been sorely lacking – making touring a more viable prospect.

“I think the new arena in Lagos is a game changer that will result in more opportunities throughout the continent,” WME’s Tony Goldring tells IQ. “I’m most excited about the potential for artists to tour Africa.”

One Fiinix Live’s Jon Ollier is equally excited about the long-term development of Africa’s live music market.

“It is my belief that this market will really mature over the next 10 years and with such a huge population and emerging middle class the opportunities could be endless,” he tells IQ. “The influence that this market has on global recorded music and culture is already profound, so think of the impact it could have on live music!”

UTA’s Jules de Lattre echoes these thoughts, adding: “We are seeing significant recorded music growth fuelled by a rise in paid streaming subscribers. There is huge potential for growth in the region which should in turn impact the development of live infrastructures in major Sub-Saharan countries. I’m excited about all developments in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

“I think the new arena in Lagos is a game changer that will result in more opportunities throughout the continent”

India
India has successfully staked its claim as a global entertainment hub in the past 12 months, enticing a growing number of international stars and festival brands to the country.

Thanks to growing access to the internet and rapidly increasing demand for large-scale events, India’s meteoric growth looks set to continue.

“A few years ago there were hardly any international artists playing shows there…” says WME’s Josh Javor. “Within 12 months you now have Lollapalooza festival, Bandland festival, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Bryan Adams, Cigarettes After Sex and Dua Lipa all with successful shows.”

This year, Coldplay are set to play their biggest-ever shows at the 100,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad while Ed Sheeran will embark on his biggest-ever run in India – underscoring the country’s thirst for A-list artists.

“The record-breaking shows by Coldplay and the development of festival properties like Lollapalooza India, and the growth of the domestic music scene, are a few of the results of the continued investment and development of the live music infrastructure and music industry,” UTA’s Carlos Abreu tells IQ. “I feel that India is a market which we’re going to see growing tremendously in 2025 and beyond.”

“I hope Ukraine will be an emerging market again, that would excite me most if it happened”

Ukraine
“I hope Ukraine will be an emerging market again, that would excite me most if it happened,” Wasserman Music’s Alex Hardee tells IQ.

Amid curfews, bomb threats and a lack of infrastructure due to Russia’s ongoing invasion, Ukraine’s music industry has been defiant in adapting to the unprecedented circumstances.

In August 2023, Atlas programmer Vladyslav Yaremchuk told IQ: “Concerts are happening everywhere, even in frontline cities in shelters, even in trenches.”

The following year, Atlas festival took place for the first time since the Russian invasion in Kyiv’s Blockbuster Mall, with the underground car park to be used as a shelter in the event of an air siren.

On a larger scale, local pop artist Artem Pivovarov performed three sold-out shows at Kyiv Sports Palace, drawing 10,000 attendees each night.

Music Export Ukraine’s Dartsya Tarkovska called his most recent run “a great success story to note in these wild times”.

But while Ukraine rebuilds its domestic business, execs such as YOUROPE’s Christof Huber have encouraged the international live music industry not to forget about the ongoing war.

Central Asia
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, live music executives from the former country have migrated to neighbouring countries leading to an increase in live music activities in Central Asia.

Solo’s Charly Beedell-Tuck tells IQ she’s particularly excited about the growth in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

“Music trends are changing there due to the rapidly growing younger population in these countries (unlike most of Central Europe),” says Tuck.

“Increased migration to these countries is also changing the music patterns in these territories and making it a really exciting place to look at servicing with more shows and live music.”

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As one of the biggest boy bands of the 90s, Take That have been selling out venues for more than 30 years, while racking up millions of record sales, numerous awards, and a reputation for putting on spectacular concerts. Current outing, This Life on Tour, is only enhancing the band’s status, while taking the group into new markets internationally. IQ reports.

As one of the UK’s most-loved acts, Take That have sold more than 14m albums in their home nation alone, consistently setting the bar high with live performances that thrill arena and stadium crowds alike. But unlike many of their peers, the trio of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, and Mark Owen are determined to further build their fanbase, with the current tour taking them to new territories, as well as markets they haven’t visited in decades.

Last year, Take That switched allegiances by entrusting James Wright and Oliver Ward at United Talent Agency to handle their representation globally.

In their native UK, however, the band has a longstanding arrangement with SJM founder Simon Moran, who is often credited with persuading them to end their nine-year hiatus to reform. That decision saw SJM enjoying phenomenal success on The Ultimate Tour in 2006, in addition to the six tours prior to the current outing.

Nonetheless, Moran admits to being once again surprised by the volume of ticket sales. “We never take anything for granted,” Moran tells IQ, in the knowledge that 700,000 ticket sales makes them the biggest-selling UK tour by a UK act this year. “The high level of the tours previously and the production values thus far have delivered tremendous results, but it’s nice to see thew sales come through to this level.”

This Life marks Take That’s 12th tour, but ever ambitious, the band are taking their production to a number of new markets. “We want to go to places they’ve not been to,” says Moran. “We haven’t played in Leeds before, so to sell-out four shows and 40,000 tickets is a great result.”

“We’re very careful on pricing to [ensure we] have a wide range. There were probably 15-20% of the tickets priced at £60, which is great value”

And the SJM founder observes that the band’s popularity seems to still be expanding. Detailing the demographics of the ticket holders, he comments, “We still see the original fans from the 90s and then there’s a whole new fanbase that came on board with the Beautiful World [2007], Circus [2009], and Progress [2011] tours, but we also see the sons and daughters of the original fans and maybe even of the ones from [the noughties] as well.”

The fact that the tours attract so many young fans also plays a part in ticket prices, according to Moran. “We’re very careful on pricing to [ensure we] have a wide range. There were probably 15-20% of the tickets priced at £60, which is great value. At the other end, we have some VIP tickets, but we want to keep prices affordable for the vast majority of people.”

New relationships
While Moran promotes the UK tour leg – along with DF Concerts in Scotland and fellow Manchester-based operation Kennedy Street Presents – globally, Take That are now represented by UTA’s Ward and Wright who went back to basics for the set-up of This Life on Tour.

“We took the decision, collectively with management, to speak to every promoter in every market, including historical promoters,” says Ward. “Essentially, it was an open door, with us being the new agents, to have fresh conversations with everyone to find the right partners for the band in every territory. The enthusiasm amongst the promoters to bring the band to these markets, where they hadn’t been for ages or [had] never been, was massive.”

Disclosing some of the research undertaken in pulling together their proposal for Take That, Ward explains, “Our IQ Department here at UTA is an amazing resource and using their analysis we could see there were some really prominent markets, at least in terms of digital audience, where the band either had never been or hadn’t been for years. We took that information in good faith to [band manager] Chris Dempsey, and he then took it to the boys to show them there might be some untapped markets that should be considered.”

“The boys themselves were very keen on this campaign to do more in these markets and meet these fans for the first time or for the first time in a long time”

Wright says, “The boys themselves were very keen on this campaign to do more in these markets and meet these fans for the first time or for the first time in a long time. So it just became a big part of our conversation in the lead up to us working with them.

“We were also able to present an understanding of where fans were looking at things like Take That’s Wikipedia pages, so we really had a deep understanding of exactly where their fanbase was.”

That data has helped Take That plan a routing across 51 cities in 21 countries, as the band plays 79 dates before the end of the year, plus their own bespoke festival in Malta.

Burning ambition
Underlining the scope of the new markets that UTA’s research identified, the tour will see Take That play their first-ever shows in Portugal, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Czechia, and Slovakia. Additionally, Ward and Wright have agreed deals that will see the band performing in Asia for the first time since the 90s and their return to Spain after a 17-year absence.

Wright comments, “There’s a fundamental fear when a band or an artist has been going for that length of time, they want to sort of sit back. But Take That’s energy is quite remarkable – it’s very infectious to be around. And it just drives us to step up and deliver for them.”

And flagging up the professionalism of the artists, Ward says, “We’ve got a band who’ve been willing to do the promo and to go to these markets to excite the fanbase. The best example is Australia, where this will be only the band’s second visit since the 90s. Working with the promoter, Gary [Barlow] went to Australia to launch the tour with four days of packed promo. Credit to Gary, that has helped us have the best sales the band have ever seen in Australia.”

“We have many original fans, but we also have lots of teenagers coming to the show – it’s about a 50/50 split between the generation”

Susan Heymann, chief operating officer at Frontier Touring, which is promoting the band’s six-date tour, is delighted with the band’s return down under. “Gary was adored everywhere he went on his Australian promo trip,” she says. “The band and their team are some of the nicest people we’ve worked with and incredibly hardworking.”

As one of the new promoters on the tour, Heymann tells IQ, “We had a great response to the announcement of their November tour and with the addition of their old friend, Sophie Ellis-Bextor on the bill, announced right around the time when her hit Murder On The Dance Floor had re-entered the global charts, this Take That tour is reaching a broader audience than ever before.”

Back in Europe, Carsten Svoldgaard at CSB Island Entertainment is looking forward to welcoming the band back to Denmark, having hosted their only non-UK date in 2023.

“They played Hindsgavl Castle here last year and sold out 10,000 tickets, so we were very keen to be involved in this year’s tour as well,” says Svoldgaard. “We did not know how popular they would be for the Hindsgavl show because we had not worked with them before and it had been a long time since they had performed in Denmark, but it worked really well.”

Having sold out all 5,500 tickets for the 27 June gig at the Skovdalen amphitheatre in Aalborg, Svoldgaard reports that the fans span the generations. “We have many original fans, but we also have lots of teenagers coming to the show – it’s about a 50/50 split between the generations.”

“That’s what I find so inspiring – here they are all these years later, still going really strong and still massively ambitious in a way that not all artists are”

Further south, Will Anderson at Madrid-based Mercury Wheels is promoting six of Take That’s seven shows in Spain, including dates in Marbella, Seville, Murcia, and Jerez, as well as the capital city. “We have these outdoor concert series in Spain that are quite popular, so they’re sort of a festival vibe, but they’re all outdoor headline shows, essentially,” says Anderson of the gigs.

“Take That haven’t been to Spain for 17 years, so that was part of the conversation when Olly and James at UTA got in touch, as there’s a lot of pent-up demand from Spaniards to see them. But naturally, there will also be a lot of British expats that live here, as well as people flying in for the shows – the audiences should be a real mixture.”

While this will mark the first time that Anderson himself has worked with the band, he is relishing the experience. “Expectations are pretty high,” he tells IQ. “Just speaking with the agents at UTA, you get a sense of the ambition coming from the band themselves. That’s what I find so inspiring – here they are all these years later, still going really strong and still massively ambitious in a way that not all artists are. They could very easily sit on their laurels and not do very much if they wanted to. But they want to get out and see their fans in all parts of the world.”

In terms of ticket sales, Anderson reports, “In Madrid, the show sold out in a day, while Marbella was one of the fastest-selling shows they’ve ever had in the history of the concert series, so they ended up adding a second date. But right across the board, it’s going great guns, so we’re really happy with how it’s coming together.”

The agents are similarly enthused. “Spain’s been a big one,” confirms Wright. “We’re just delighted that having not been there since 2007, we’re now doing seven concerts. The show in Madrid sold out in 24 hours, which was one of the fastest sellouts ever by an international artist at that concert series.”

“The sales are tracking very well against our other recent arena shows, and the band have both a strong ex-pat and international following”

Also on the tour routing is a 25 October date in the United Arab Emirates where MAC Global previously promoted the band’s 2017 Wonderland Live outing.

“We fully expect people to travel from Dubai and other Emirates in the UAE: we are seeing the ticket-buyers more willing to travel from Dubai to Abu Dhabi for shows and vice versa,” comments MAC Global co-founder and chief creative officer, Daniel Goldberg. “Take That have a huge global following, and we fully expect to see fans travel from the UK to attend the show and build in a short winter break around it.”

With the band’s agents looking to potentially add dates to the Middle East leg, Goldberg notes, “We’re hoping Take That will do two or three regional plays. We are based in Dubai, but our remit, being part of the Sony Masterworks network, is very much regional routing. Even dating back to 2015, we successfully routed Ed Sheeran to Dubai, Oman, Qatar, and India in one regional run, and we always try and route artists to more than one market here.”

Indeed, he reports that demand for the October show is encouraging. “The sales are tracking very well against our other recent arena shows, and the band have both a strong ex-pat and international following. Robbie Williams recently sold close to 14,000 tickets in Abu Dhabi, so we’re hoping to hit a similar number.

“Their UK sales speak for themselves and there’s a huge amount of excitement for them coming to Abu Dhabi. The band and entire team are a delight to work with, and this will surely be one of the event calendar highlights for the UAE this year.”

“Generally, when it comes to the live show, it’s about communication of what it looks like, what it feels like, and how it works with new gags or new equipment”

Large-scale production
Having formed in 1990, Take That have worked with many professionals in the industry over the decades, but one member of their team who dates back beyond their first tour is creative director Kim Gavin.

“Weirdly, the band contacted me as soon as they had a hit, back in 1992, so I’ve now been 32 years with them,” Gavin informs IQ.

Recalling his first encounter with the band – which was then a quintet – he explains, “I was working for the BBC, doing the Children’s Royal Variety Show, and the director wanted a pop act at the beginning of the show. We saw four different acts, and when the director asked who out of the four I would put on stage, I said, ‘Without doubt, Take That.’ I remember having to splice in cheers and screams when they entered the stage in the edit, because nobody knew who they were.

“When their third single, It Only Takes a Minute, went to number seven in the charts, they decided they wanted to go on the road, so I did that first tour with them. I choreographed all the songs on the album and staged their tour, and that’s been my position with them right through till this moment.”

Renowned for their state-of-the-art sets, Gavin has been at the forefront of Take That’s spectacular shows since day one but reveals that this tour is putting more emphasis on the repertoire than aesthetics.

“Generally, when it comes to the live show, it’s about communication of what it looks like, what it feels like, and how it works with new gags or new equipment. On this tour, what Take That want to try and get across is more the singing and what the songs are, inherently. So, they’ve stepped back from the spectacular, even though they still do pyro and all sorts of special effects. But it’s the first production since 1995 where they haven’t had dancers, for instance.”

“We make sure that things are fairly elastic, so that we can respond once we get into rehearsals”

Gavin says planning for the current production started last autumn. “We’ve gone with a very big stage on this because it’s got these two swivelling staircases, and it needs to be that big in order to do everything we want it to do. But the stairs portray the ups and downs of This Life, so they are integral to the show.”

Providing some insight into the creative process, Gavin says, “Even back in ‘92, Mark [Owen] would be concerned about what they were wearing, and he’d involve himself in the clothes. He still does that now, but now he also likes to be involved in the concept for the tour and what the album evokes. So, in the early stages of planning, Mark and I discuss what we could do, and that evolves until we bring the other two – Gary and Howard – in, when we’ve got something to talk about.”

When it comes to the video elements of Take That’s live performances, Luke Halls Studio has been working on the creative side since the 2007 Beautiful World Tour.

“It’s usually a collaboration between the guys, Kim Gavin, and myself,” says company principal Luke Halls. “Usually, the band will have an idea – Mark being the more visually led member of the band – then I will get a sort of amalgamation of their hopes for the show, which I can respond to with some ideas or concepts, and we take it from there.”

Using animation that can be quickly tweaked during rehearsals, Halls reports that This Life on Tour saw about 15 members of his team working on the video content.

“We make sure that things are fairly elastic, so that we can respond once we get into rehearsals. Thankfully, there’s a level of trust that’s been built over the years, so we’re left very much to generate the visual elements.”

“As soon as you go outdoors in the UK, you’re not quite sure what’s going to happen – as Middlesbrough proved”

Detailing some of the differences between the indoor and outdoor shows, Halls says, “We have to make sure that those images are bigger and clearer for the outdoor show just so that everyone gets the experience that they’ve paid for.”

He adds, “We call ourselves sculptural film-makers. Everything that we do has a sculptural outworking, so we don’t just generate for rectangular screens: we make sure everything is very bespoke to the stage and the shape and everything that we’re playing with. That’s really our skill.”

Backed for good
With production manager Chris Vaughan pulling the strings, many of the professionals working on This Life on Tour have been involved in Take That’s world for a number of years.

Audio expert Liam Tucker, of Skan PA, has been working in a senior role since 2015, although his relationship with production manager Vaughan dates back further on tours for the likes of A-Ha and Muse, while he also worked in a junior position on Take That’s 2009 Circus tour and 2011’s Progress shows. “I was the extra delay guy when they had extra speakers and things like that,” he recalls.

Highlighting one of the main challenges of outdoor shows in the UK, Tucker comments, “As soon as you go outdoors in the UK, you’re not quite sure what’s going to happen – as Middlesbrough proved.”

Recalling the deluge the crew experienced at the city’s Riverside Stadium ahead of the 24 May concert, Tucker says, “Load-in was just rain all day, from every single angle – it was coming in sideways, it was bouncing off the floor. Technology is as rated as it can be, but sometimes it doesn’t like the weather.

“From an audio point of view, the main issue was network, as some of the inclinometers decided they weren’t going to work, while the rain also refracted the lasers, so it was difficult to get a true reading. But those are hurdles rather than problems.”

“Festivals are always good fun because you’re walking into something different in every location”

While the audio team, including engineers, numbered seven on the arena shows, it gained two additional members for the stadium run. “They do the extra hangs, the delay masks, that sort of thing. And when we go into the European leg, we drop down to four audios, including the engineers.”

The difference between the indoor and outdoor shows also entails more equipment, although from an audio point of view, Tucker says, “The stage itself and the inputs stay the same, but outdoors it gets bigger and wider. It’s the way the show is put together that changes. So, rather than having one truck of speakers on arenas, we’re up to two trucks of speakers for stadiums. And when we go into festivals, we have no trucks of speakers because it’s all supplied by the festivals.”

However, it’s the festival run that Tucker is most looking forward to. “Festivals are always good fun because you’re walking into something different in every location – it’s not Groundhog Day. That’s why we get asked to come back. The challenges are what makes your day a bit different.”

Stewart Scott at Phoenix Bussing tells IQ the company had been working with Take That ever since Chris Vaughan became PM. “We supplied seven sleeper buses for the arena and stadium tour: two 14 berths, and five 16 berths, while for the European tour we go down to two buses,” says Scott.

“However, we need some double drivers for the European journeys because there are some long distances involved between some of the dates – in fact I’ll be going out myself to drive the Bologna to Barcelona route, which allows me to see the clients at the same time.”

He adds, “Chris Vaughan is one of our top clients and it’s always good to be involved on one of his projects because they are always superbly organised and run smoothly, with a lot of great people working on them.”

“Stufish did the set design, and they always come up with some clever things. It’s up to us to make it happen”

Having been involved with the band since 2017’s Wonderland Live tour, Belgium-based stage motion specialists WICREATIONS are used to delivering the complex scenic effects that wow audiences.

“Stufish did the set design, and they always come up with some clever things. It’s up to us to make it happen,” says key account manager Koen Peeters. “The main show elements are the two large tracking staircases, which are about 8 meters deep, 4 meters wide, and 3.5 meters high. They track over the stage at stage level, and can spin 360 degrees. But we’re talking about an object that weighs around six tons, each staircase, so we need to use an embedded and integrated tracking system that sits below stage level.”

Despite the complexity of those operations, the WICREATIONS crew numbers just six people on the road, managing and operating all the WIMOTION machinery. “There is a long term history between Chris Vaughan and myself,” says Peeters. “Before we did the Wonderland tour in 2017 with WICREATIONS, I worked at Stageco where I had done many projects with Chris since 2009.”

The performers’ entrance on stage hints at the production’s groundbreaking elements. Appearing from a hidden elevator behind a semi-transparent video screen, Barlow, Donald, and Owen effectively appear to walk out of that screen as the giant staircases slide apart, splitting the video wall in two.

“That performer lift is also used to evacuate the technicians who operate each of the staircases for that opening scene,” states Peeters.

A further telescopic lift is used to bring Take That from stage level to the top level of the staircases, again hidden from the audience. A third elevator is used multiple times during the show to bring different sorts of pianos up and down stage, while other tracking systems are embedded in the stage to track the band’s musicians by around ten meters up and downstage.

“Every act seems to look for things that have not been done before, and that makes it so interesting and challenging to be in this business”

Finally, WICREATIONS also supply a six-by- six-meter B-stage, featuring a rotating and elevating circular stage for the artists.

“Every act seems to look for things that have not been done before, and that makes it so interesting and challenging to be in this business,” adds Peeters, noting that those those heavy-duty WICREATIONS motion elements and the complete rolling stage fill ten trucks.

“We had 34 production universal trucks for the arena run and a couple extra for the stadium shows,” says Matt Jackson at Fly By Nite. “This is a pretty unique scenario where the band has gone from arenas straight into stadiums, but the logistics issues are more for the crew than us.

“We’ve mainly been able to operate with single drivers in the UK because we’re getting into each new city in plenty of time. The most complex move was from Dublin into London, where we had to rely on a sympathetic ferry operator who delayed the crossing so that we would make it in time to The O2 Arena. We needed double drivers to facilitate that, but otherwise, Chris Vaughan plans brilliantly well, so it’s been a very smooth project,” adds Jackson.

Another regular supplier is special effects wizards ER Productions, which have been working with Take That since the company’s launch in 2007. “In a nutshell, we’re doing all the water effects, we’ve got a load of flames on the show, confetti, and a lot of pyrotechnics for the outdoor shows,” says ER director Dan Mott, who has been part of the company since it merged with his operation, Pyrojunkies, two years ago.

“We’ve fabricated some of the equipment specifically for the tour, such as a snowstorm, where we’ve created a custom dolly that mulches 60 kilos of confetti with high-powered fans and CO2 blowers that carry a whirlwind of confetti through the guys standing on stage straight into the audience as the show opens.”

“It was really refreshing to be involved in that early design stage and have input, to be honest, because we work in a last-minute industry, usually”

ER also supplied eight low-smoke machines for use during ballads, while the band are also the first beneficiaries of the company’s bespoke Flamber equipment used during Relight My Fire. “It allows us to set fire to the two automated staircases,” says Mott. “It involves 72 custom flame units, allowing us to chase flames and pulse the flames to the beat of the music.”

Elsewhere, ER has brought in multiple flame blazers, while a water feature activated for the song Back For Good that makes it rain onstage indoors, is replaced outdoors by over a ton of pyro.

“We’ve got a lot of stuff, but there’s a lot from every department,” observes Mott. “I think the crew is 150 people, who from the minute they wake up are busy. Everyone’s putting so much equipment in on the show, so we’ve all got to interact and work closely with each other, but Chris Vaughan runs a tight ship, and everyone’s really nice to work with.”

Indeed, Mott tips his hat to Vaughan’s approach to the tour, which engaged suppliers from the planning stages. “Myself and Marc Webber from ER went down to Chris’s house back in December, to sit down with Stufish and all the other departments to talk through the show from start to the finish. It was really refreshing to be involved in that early design stage and have input, to be honest, because we work in a last-minute industry, usually.”

But the results speak for themselves. “Ultimately, it’s a really good show; the whole concept is fantastic, and everybody puts the effort in, so we’re really proud to be working on it,” says Mott.

The greatest weekend
With a reputation as one of the hardest-working bands on the circuit, it comes as no surprise that Take That are once again setting new records as part of the current tour – including an astonishing 50th hometown show in Manchester’s AO Arena.

“Amidst all their ambition to go to all these other countries, there was also an idea early on of the band having essentially their own festival takeover”

“We’re delighted that we’ve been able to celebrate Take That’s 50th show at the AO Arena, right here in the heart of the action,” states venue general manager, Jen Mitchell. “Not only do we enjoy having the band here, we love hosting their fans and making every moment memorable.”

Always looking forward, the band’s tour itinerary also includes their first-ever curated festival – The Greatest Weekend – which will see the trio visiting Malta for the first time, where Festival Republic is organising the event.

“Amidst all their ambition to go to all these other countries, there was also an idea early on of the band having essentially their own festival takeover, which is what the Malta event is,” notes UTA’s Olly Ward. “It’s exciting. Four days in Malta with two Take That sets, one a never-before-seen front-to-back of the album, Everything Changes, and the other a greatest hits set.”

The event’s undercard of talent will include Sugababes, Ella Henderson, Daniel Bedingfield, Heather Small, and Sam Ryder, amongst others, while Howard Donald will host a DJ takeover at Café Del Mar, among a host of other bespoke experiences.

“For fans used to seeing the band in stadiums or arenas around the world, this is a chance to have a four-day Take That extravaganza in a much more intimate environment,” says Ward. “And it’s again credit to the band’s ambition that they wanted to do it this year, when they’re doing so much already.”

Delighted by their first experience of working with Take That, Wright concludes, “This is a band that had a huge amount of success pre-social media, meaning that not all the fans will be connected to the band via social media. Sean Hill who is head of music marketing at UTA, here, and Emily Rhodes from his team where a huge part of looking into this for us.

Consequently, there was a need to reverse engineer this a little bit with promoters to make sure they understood the value of traditional media and marketing alongside digital marketing, but that worked and that’s why these shows – and this tour – are a success.”

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UTA agents Tom Jones and Max Lee have opened up on the strategy that helped Kenya Grace rule the European festival scene this summer.

IQ collaborated with music biz directory and data platform ROSTR to analyse the 2024 lineups of 50 top European festivals, highlighting several key trends in terms of genre, age, headliners and longevity. The data also uncovered which agencies booked the most acts during the season, as well as which artists appeared on the most lineups.

Electronic/alt pop artist Grace came out on top in the latter category – starring on 11 bills – one ahead of both Nothing But Thieves and Royal Blood.

“I knew we’d booked a lot of festivals for her and that she’d had a huge, impactful debut year, but for it to be recognised tangibly like that is crazy,” Jones tells IQ.

Of the 50 festivals analysed, Grace appeared at Glastonbury (UK), Reading & Leeds (UK), Mad Cool (Spain), NOS Alive (Portugal), Exit (Serbia), Superbloom (Germany), Lollapalooza Berlin (Germany), Way Out West (Sweden), Flow (Finland), Frequency (Austria) and Electric Castle (Romania).

“The type of festivals that she was playing was massively important”

“The type of festivals that she was playing was massively important,” stresses Lee. “We didn’t want to pigeonhole her, so we targeted a broad spectrum: from more electronic-leaning, ‘cooler’ festivals, through to the mainstream pop tier.”

“We wanted to set real underground targets for her,” elaborates Jones. “Particularly for an electronic music artist, it’s important to demonstrate the culture you come from and where this music is coming from. So we played Melt Festival in Berlin and the Land of Saints stage at Boardmasters, as well as Reading & Leeds and Glastonbury.”

South African-born British singer-songwriter and producer Grace landed an international smash in 2023 with her UK #1 single Strangers, which has been streamed more than 900 million times on Spotify. She has also built a large TikTok following, amassing 15.3m likes.

Her rise on the touring circuit has been similarly meteoric, having only made her live debut proper in October last year.

“The first ever show that we did was a friends and family event at the Lower Third in September 2023, just to get her used to playing in front of an audience, because she’d only played in her bedroom on TikTok before that,” explains Jones. “That was the first seed that we planted for her in London, but it quickly became apparent we’d want to do a ticketed show pretty quickly, so we put a post up on her Instagram to start building a database. She literally just put up a couple of stories saying, ‘I’m thinking of doing a show in London, sign up here to be the first to find out.’

“We decided that we wanted to do it at Corsica Studios, coupled with the fact that we wanted to connect with the underground and lay the foundations for her as an electronic artist, rather than going straight into the pop vein. We were able to sell it out and livestreamed it on TikTok with help from her label.”

“She was a key act that could sit on a multitude of festival stages”

Handily, Grace’s chart success with Strangers coincided with the 2023 International Festival Forum (IFF) in London.

“A lot of her business was done from IFF,” remembers Lee. “Having all of those people in town for meetings at a time when the artist was #1 was incredible. We were in a blessed position.”

“She was one of the hottest new artists on the scene and I guess, because of the way we presented her, she was a key act that could sit on a multitude of festival stages,” suggests Jones. “Whether it was playing on Nos Alive and Mad Cool with Dua Lipa and then being able to do Melt Festival with Overmono and Horsegiirl, or Montreux Jazz, just really reputable, amazing festivals across the board.”

Jones compliments Grace’s knack for marketing herself across her social media channels.

“Kenya is a completely unique artist,” he adds. “She writes, produces and sings all her own music – there’s no external help – and what she has done on TikTok is very captivating. It showed she was as an artist and a performer, even before people had the chance to see her live.”

“For Kenya to the be most booked festival artist is super-reflective of her story as an artist so far,” reflects Lee. “Going from her bedroom to #1 is totally in keeping with that and it’s amazing for her. To do that in her first major year of touring is incredible. We’re super-happy.”

“The UTA ethos is to build teams of agents around acts that can use their individual expertise to further the progression of the act”

What’s more, Lee believes the dual agent strategy offers an endorsement of the company’s collaborative approach.

“The UTA ethos is to build teams of agents around acts that can use their individual expertise to further the progression of the act,” he notes. “This can be seen with Tom’s focus mainly on electronic and my focus mainly in the live space. This combination has been imperative for Kenya’s growth in multiple lanes.

“Kenya has got an incredible team around her. Beyond UTA, [management] Nick Huggett, Nick Shymansky and Sarah Charbonnel have been instrumental in providing the expertise and tools to support Kenya’s development as an artist.”

UTA books Grace worldwide, with Jones and Lee working in harmony with the singer’s North American representatives Scott Schreiber and Samantha Kirby Yoh. The agency’s music brand partnerships team have secured further opportunities for the 26-year-old.

“Off the back of an incredibly busy first summer festival season, we connected Kenya with Rimmel London who signed her as a new Collective ambassador in September,” Anna Gregorek, UTA’s senior director, music brand partnerships, tells IQ. “Rimmel London joined Kenya on the road for a ‘behind the scenes’ digital campaign, promoting the collection as her staple ride-or-die product essentials.

“Earlier in the year she also worked with the brand to produce Get Ready With Me social content ahead of the BRIT Awards, coinciding with Kenya’s nomination for Song of the Year. Thanks to the tight-knit collaboration between UTA’s live and brand teams, we’re able to unlock opportunities like these, not only for established names but also to support the career trajectory of rising stars like Kenya.”

“She’s got some new music coming, which we’ll build some hard ticket touring around”

As for what comes next, festivals will again form a significant part of Grace’s live slate.

“She’s got some new music coming, which we’ll build some hard ticket touring around, and then we’re aiming to do a few key festivals that we didn’t hit in 2024,” shares Jones. “She’s done a lot of touring and we really want to let the music breathe, so we just want to hit some key city touring around her next single, and then some key festival targets.”

“Some new markets as well, places that she connected with as an artist, but hasn’t had the opportunity to go to,” concludes Lee. “The love for her was so far and wide, it was near impossible for us to go to every market in ’24.

Subscribers can read the full ROSTR analysis in issue 130 of IQ Magazine.

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Massive Attack have cancelled their US tour at the last minute due to what they describe as “unforeseen circumstances”.

The British trip-hop band were set to perform in the US for the first time in five years, with the first concert scheduled for this Thursday (17 October) at Atlanta’s Coca-Cola Roxy Theatre.

Other US dates included a performance at III Points Festival in Miami FL, and headline shows in Atlanta GA, Washington DC, Boston MA, and Forest Hills NY before the end of the month.

“Due to unforeseen circumstances, Massive Attack must regrettably cancel their upcoming performances”

“Due to unforeseen circumstances, Massive Attack must regrettably cancel their upcoming performances…We appreciate your understanding at this time,” reads a statement from the band.

Massive Attack are represented by UTA in North and South America.

The band recently announced a weekend of live music at Liverpool‘s M&S Bank Arena next month, featuring IDLES and Nile Rodgers, under the banner Act 1.5 presents…

The announcement came on the heels of Act 1.5, the band’s groundbreaking eco-friendly concert in their home city of Bristol.

Read IQ‘s recent interview with A Greener Future’s Claire O’Neill about Act 1.5 in Bristol here.

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In an important panel session at the 2024 International Festival Forum (IFF), a top group of industry figures discussed the lack of Black representation within the live events business and what could be done to improve the situation.

Hosted by Global Carnivalz CEO Pax Nindi, the panellists included agents Hannah Shogbola of UTA and Primary Talent International’s Dotun Bolaji, plus Ferocious Talent head and Cr8ing Vision co-founder Kwame Kwaten and Chris “Tofu” Macmeikan, renowned DJ and founder of Glastonbury’s Shangri-La.

The session got underway with acknowledgements about the positive changes in the festival industry for Black leadership. “There are more of us now than there were before, and while the number can obviously be raised times 10, it’s still a positive compared to what it was,” said Kwaten, who added that it would be almost impossible to imagine a festival without Black music. “It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever that there isn’t any Black leadership in major festivals across the UK.”

Alongside Nindi, Tofu oversees the Festival and Carnival Lab — a free nine-week course designed to open up the industry for 18 to 35-year-olds with Black, BAME, and PoC backgrounds — and was instrumental in launching Shangri-La at the Somerset extravaganza. “Glastonbury is quite possibly the only festival to actually spend money on diversifying the workforce,” stating that £120,000 has been spent annually on this initiative despite the lack of senior Black representation in the country’s biggest festival.

“Glastonbury is quite possibly the only festival to actually spend money on diversifying the workforce”

“With [his event company] Continental Drifts, we would produce gigs for half a million people a year including the Hackney Carnival, and there’s absolutely nobody in senior production from the Black community,” he lamented, shocking the audience further when he revealed that there are “more senior Black figures in banking than there are in this industry.”

When the discussion veered towards improving representation, UTA’s Bolaji championed the benefits of community outreach. “So often, I don’t think people are aware of the different roles that exist in the industry,” he said. “Education needs to be accessible, especially to younger people who are interested in entering the live events ecosystem. It benefits them and the industry as a whole to be more visible.”

Shogbola agreed: “I think there’s a lot of initiatives that have been done, but I definitely think outreach is really important,” she said. “People and organisations within the live events industry also have a responsibility to educate themselves. There’s so many incredible programmes and initiatives and charities that more needs to be done when it comes to self-education.”

Shogbola’s comments segued into a discourse on what practical steps can be taken to continue enhancing Black leadership in the industry. “We talk to a lot of festival organisers and ask them what’s going on,” explained Tofu. “Issues still remain, but the doors aren’t exactly closed on the topic.”

“The way to get around this gap is to amplify the criticism,” added Kwaten. “Also, one thing Black creators do really well is inventing new forms of music and pushing whatever genre that is quickly forward, so supporting that is vital.”

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A trio of expert panellists offered tips on how festivals can keep pace with the changing expectations and demands of Generation Z in a discussion on the final day of the 2024 International Festival Forum (IFF) in London.

Emily Anatole of United Talent Agency and Mika Christofferson of Denmark’s Roskilde Festival, plus Ella McWilliam of PR and creative communications agency Full Fat each gave presentations in the Changing Demand: Couch surfing to crowd surfing session moderated by TicketSwap’s Oscar Kriek.

Anatole, who leads cultural insights at UTA IQ, the company’s data, research and client strategy division, began by detailing the results of a recent study that showed Generation Z’s motivations for attending festivals.

“They are experiencing the loneliness epidemic at the highest rates of all generations, which correlates with their highest levels of digital connectivity,” she explained. “Seventy-nine percent of US Gen Zs feel lonely, according to a study from Cigna. This, in turn, makes the in-person connection and community that festivals provide all the more important to them, so festivals that really emphasise this and that can still feel intimate – even if they are mass in scale – are especially appealing to them.”

Anatole noted that Gen Z is “experience-oriented”, crediting it with contributing to the rise of music tourism.

“When you take the experience of festivals and their love of travel, we found that they feel that it maximises benefits and the best of both worlds,” she continued. “That’s not to say they aren’t going to festivals close to home. But among Gen Z music festival attendees, one in two of them agree that festivals are an excuse to travel, so it’s an impetus to book a trip.”

“While they are going big in terms of what they want out of festivals and their willingness to travel far, they aren’t partying as hard as other generations”

Alcohol consumption was another talking point, with Anatole citing research that US Gen Z’s have been found to drink 20% less booze per capita than millennials.

“While they are going big in terms of what they want out of festivals and their willingness to travel far, they aren’t partying as hard as other generations,” she said. “This sober curiosity tendency is translating over to festivals: they are spending a lot of money and want to be fully present and enjoy the experience – and festivals are increasingly responding to their desire for expectations on site that are zero or low alcohol.

“They’re also looking for wellness, beyond drinking less, just in terms of festivals having this as an amenity overall. This is a far cry from the past, where people would go to festivals, party hard, put their health on the back burner and then be really worn down afterwards. Instead, Gen Zs want to go to festivals to not just maintain their healthy habits, but to improve upon them mentally and physically. So we’re seeing a lot of festivals with more offerings in this vein.”

Moreover, Gen Z-ers also expect festivals to align with their values in terms of championing diversity, inclusivity and sustainability.

“Gen Zs, typically in the US, are the most multicultural generation, and about half are non-white, so it makes sense that they’re looking to be represented on the stages that they go to,” said Anatole. “And just as they support brands and organisations that champion diversity and inclusivity, they vote with their wallets for festivals that do so as well. We’re seeing this actually impact the lineups – in 2023, it was the first time that a major US festival like Lollapalooza had a K-pop artist as a headliner – and this past year at Coachella they had more Latin artists than ever before.”

Anatole added that six in 10 Gen Z festivalgoers were attending with the purpose of discovering new artists.

“This is a generation that really takes pride in being the first to discover something, to share it with others, to be in the know.” she said. “So they’re going to festivals not just to know all the names on the lineup, but to be there and see an artist first before everyone else.”

“Don’t just start your campaign off when your first announcement happens, make sure you’re communicating with your audiences throughout the whole year”

In her talk, Christoffersen, Roskilde’s head of DEI and behaviour, further outlined the audience’s increased expectations.

“They are expecting more from the festival: more comfort, safe spaces and the art as a tool for change,” she said. “The level of information that we have to provide is way higher than what it was with millennials, and that’s going to be a barrier to entry for a lot of the Gen Z if they can’t find that information.

“We are seeing an increase in the no alcohol space, especially in alcohol-free beers. We’re also seeing an increase in caffeine products because what are you going to do when you’re not drinking alcohol? You still want to party all night. You’re doing the mate green teas, those kind of products with lots of caffeine but low sugar. That’s the niche product that we’re seeing.”

McWilliam, meanwhile, urged events not to limit their promotion to certain points of the year.

“Don’t just start your campaign off when your first announcement happens, make sure you’re communicating with your audiences throughout the whole year,” she stressed. “As soon as you finish your festival, you should be working towards communicating for next year’s event.”

The agency co-founder and CEO also tackled the effectiveness of utilising influencers around event marketing, saying it comes down to “authenticity and trust”.

“This is a question we get asked all the time, do influencers even work? And actually done right, they definitely do,” she said. “There’s definitely an art form to it. Sixty-nine percent of consumers trust what influencers and recommend. That is a widely recognised statistic, and it’s growing. And actually, people are buying from their influencers – people they see online, people that they trust, that they follow – and so they cannot be ignored.”

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