Live Nation adopted a schedule provided by the British government as a clear point for the summer festival season, selling some 170,000 tickets this week for three major UK summer festivals that went on sale this week – and according to comments made around the company The harsh 2020 earnings report on Thursday is optimistic that North America may be at a similar pace.
On Monday, the British government set a timetable that states that major musical events in the UK can be resumed at 100% capacity from 21 June – effectively the start of the lucrative summer season. Shortly thereafter, Live Nation made 100,000 tickets available for the Reading & Leeds festival, scheduled for August 27-29 – all sold out at the end of the week, according to Music Business Worldwide. The company also went on sale this week for tickets to the Creamfields event based on dance music, which takes place from 26 to 29 August, announcing that the event has already sold out 70,000 tickets in 48 hours, “record time”.
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino proclaimed these statistics on the company’s earnings conference call on Thursday night, which offset the understandably disastrous financial results for 2020 with a rising stock price – it is considerably higher than there is a year – and pure optimism for the future.
Asked during the call about when large-scale concerts can resume in the US, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino said: “Every day, it looks like a new state or country talks about when they’re opening, so we’re feeling more optimistic than we were a month ago, ”he said. “Many artists are calling to see how we started in July, August, September. For now, we still believe that we will have enough space in the UK, Australia, Canada and the United States to keep what we have in books in reserved amphitheaters for the time being. We may have certain states that may not be ready, but we have enough states and artists willing to play in the open slots if we reach that level in the right markets.
“So as long as these states have the right capabilities,” he concluded, “we can start in the middle of the summer and, in the southern United States, we can go through November.”
Rapino implicitly noted that things will not be so clear in the US – where no similar timetable has been set by the federal government, and such decisions may be under the jurisdiction of states or even counties.
“[We] I think it is better to wait for a moment of high bar capacity in most states to step up and talk to artists about how to get paid properly, ”said Rapino, adding that the prospect of a 75% reopening of capacity in the major US markets were “in sight”.
Live Nation made a bold statement of confidence earlier this month, offering rescheduled tickets for Weeknd’s “After Hours” tour – which was originally scheduled to be released last May, then moved several months later, and now scheduled to start in January 2022 – on sale, with several dozen new dates added.
Needless to say, many other factors will have to be in line for major US festivals to reopen and, in the hours following Live Nation comments, insiders mingled with the prospect of a return to summer shows on the scale that Rapino and Live Nation suggest.
Variety will have more about this story as it unfolds.
With more artists than ever wanting to tour and fans eager to make up for lost time, all signs point to even more shows ahead. Thank you to all our @LiveNation employees for their infinite resilience and creativity – none of this would be possible without you pic.twitter.com/gdiapVYSyk
– Michael Rapino (@Michael_Rapino) February 25, 2021