Austria
Population: 8.9million Language: German
Currency: Euro (EUR) GDP per capita: $51,900
Internet users: 7.8million Active smartphone users: 10.7million
Austria had a slightly “bumpy” start after Covid, says Viennabased promoter Silvio Huber of Goodlive Artists Austria, who said the enthusiasm from the public to see international artists for the first time in two years has been tempered by the market being “slightly overplayed.”
“Postponed shows compete with new ones, and not everyone is feeling ready for indoor shows yet,” he explained. “We have noticed a very late buying pattern, especially in the first weeks after reopening. Sometimes almost 50% of total sales were in the last one to two weeks, followed by high no-show rates of 30% or similar.”
Hosting more than 300 events and attracting a million visitors each year, Wiener Stadthalle (16,000) in Vienna is not only Austria’s largest arena but one of the busiest in Europe. In operation for more than 60 years, this stalwart of the touring calendar is a multifunctional space that has broad flexibility in capacities.
The 2019 boomtime for live music in Europe was suddenly halted by the pandemic. Reorganising tours from that period proved complicated as different countries relaxed or removed restrictions at different times.
However, it’s a record time for events across Europe, and at the time of writing, the war in Ukraine (with its many borders to European countries), rising inflation, and huge increases in energy prices hadn’t seemed to dampen audience’s hunger to see their favourite artists.
Arenas are enjoying the busy period, while handling staff shortages, but have a constant cautious eye on what the future might bring.
Acts in 2022 include 50 Cent, Placebo, and Gregory Porter. The modern Stadthalle Graz in Salzburg can host up to 14,520 people in a standing configuration. With 6.500 m² pillar-free event areas, it has 5,561 seats and can be set-up for as few as 2,000. The hall can be opened on three sides, enabling multi-stage events, such as festivals.
Featuring the latest tech and production, it is part of a multi-venue complex including Messekongress and Messe Graz. Together, they form a super-flexible event space.
Acts performing in 2022 include Lord of the Dance, Simply Red, and David Hasselhoff.
For smaller events in the city, the 6,000-capacity Salzburgarena has a spacious stage, a VIP lounge, a
14 Global Arenas Guide 2022 Regions | Europe
© Messezentrum Salzburg
backstage area, and bars and bistros. Its oval architecture and imposing wooden dome construction make it a striking venue for performances, and it can host as few as 500 people. Events in 2022 include Lake Rock Festival, André Rieu, and DJ Ötzi.
With four halls, Arena Nova in Weiner Neustadt has a capacity range from just 100-5,000. And while production can be brought in, there’s also the option of renting sound systems, stage elements, lighting, tents, tables, and armchairs.
Other options in the country include Congress und Messe Innsbruck (8,000) and Olympiahalle Innsbruck (10,000).
Belgium
Population: 11.8million Languages: Dutch, French, German Currency: Euro (EUR) GDP per capita: $48,200 Internet users: 10.6million Active smartphone users: 11.5million
Live Nation Belgium’s acquisition of venue operator Antwerps Sportpaleis in 2019 saw the promoter immediately become the leading operator at this level in Belgium. Through its brand Be.at it now owns five arenas: Sportpaleis (23,000-capacity) and Lotto Arena (8,000) in Antwerp; Forest National (8,400) in Brussels; Trixxo Arena (17,000) in Hasselt; and during the summer, the Proximus Pop-Up Arena in Middelkerke (5,000); plus three 2,000-capacity theatres.
The country’s main Covid restrictions ended in March 2022, since then there’s been an “explosion of shows and festivals, many of which were delayed by the pandemic,” says Be-at CEO Jan Van Esbroeck. “This oversupply sometimes leads to difficult ticket sales, especially for less famous artists or events. In addition, the general economic situation is not
favourable for families wanting to spend on activities in the leisure industry. Uncertainty about rising inflation and international unrest is casting a shadow over the market. That said, household names seem to be immune, as does the niche aimed at families with young children. Our theatre calendars have never been so full, so things are looking very good in terms of local and smaller-scale activities. However, we expect the situation will normalise in the medium term, and we will enter 2023 in an arena market that is growing again.”
Van Esbroeck says that as a part of Live Nation, the arenas have a major focus on the sustainability of their operations over the next two years (Live Nation’s Green Nation charter states the company’s venues and festivals will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, and end the sale of single-use plastics, among other aims). “As the market leader, we want to be an example for the entire Belgian sector,” says Van Esbroeck. “It is also clear that this will require extensive communication with concert-goers, and we’ll have to raise awareness and educate audiences.”
The venues aren’t planning any major development works in the immediate future, as they are recovering from the past two years. However, Van Esbroeck says new Belgian laws impose strict ventilation standards on venues, so the company is investing in that area. In addition, it’s making further improvements in the sustainability of its consumer food and beverage offer.
Although owned by Live Nation, the venues are open to all promoters, and Van Esbroeck says the team works closely with its hire clients. “Our communications department will assist our promoters even more than before with supportive promotion, mainly based on data-related tools. We are also rolling out our own loyalty programme (Friends For Live) and
→ IQ-mag.net/arenas 15 Europe | Regions
Vorst Nationaal in Belgium. Image courtesy be.at Thousands of professionals read IQ every day. Make sure you get the whole picture… SUBSCRIBE HERE
North America
concession stands.
Dua Lipa, Diljit Dosanjh, Eric Church, and Rage Against The Machine have all played so far this year, and future bookings in 2022 include Harry Styles, Seventeen, Pearl Jam, Post Malone, Lizzo, and The Who, making it one of the busiest concert arenas in the world.
“We hosted our first concert on 7 October 2021 with Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin, 580 days after our last concert,” says Bubb-Clarke of the post-Covid opening up of live music. “Our venue capacity was temporarily decreased until we re-opened to full capacity on 1 March 2022.”
The highly competitive markets of North America often produce venues offering the latest in technological advances as companies vie to provide the highestquality audience and artist experiences.
Live Nation, ASM Global, and Oak View Group are the dominant companies working across the nations, but there are plenty of smaller players offering warm welcomes and enthusiastic crowds.
With so many territories across the USA and Canada, we’ve had to select just a handful of venues to illustrate the breadth of what’s open to touring artists.
Canada
With a population of 6.5m, Toronto is Canada’s biggest city and the capital of Ontario. The Scotiabank Arena is the city’s major venue and opened in 1999 as the Air Canada Centre but was renamed in 2018.
For music shows, there is scalable capacity, going from 5,935 people in a reduced theatre set-up to 18,420 people in a 360-centre set-up. It also boasts a $1m Bose sound system.
Despite being the home to two separate sports teams (the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs as well as the National Basketball Association’s Toronto Raptors), it puts on a large number of concerts.
“Music makes up about 50% of our calendar prior to NHL and NBA playoff runs,” says Melissa Bubb-Clarke, SVP of music and live events at MLSE, the owners and operators of Scotiabank Arena.
It now has complete mobile ticketing for all events and is a cashless venue. The Scotiabank Arena app allows ticketholders to pre-order merchandise and QR codes around the venue can be scanned to determine wait times for
Montreal is Canada’s second-largest city, with a population of 4.3m. As the biggest city in the Francophone province of Quebec, it is characteristically different to the major cities in the country’s other provinces. The Bell Centre dates back to 1996 and can hold up to 15,000 people for concerts. Anglophonic acts are, however, well represented, with shows later this year from Gorillaz, Panic! At The Disco, Daddy Yankee, Scorpions, and My Chemical Romance.
As the major city on the western seaboard and with a population of 2.7m, Vancouver has a high concentration of arena-level venues. The Pacific Coliseum dates back to 1910 and has a capacity of 15,713 in permanent seating, but this can be extended by a further 2,000 temporary seats. International acts playing in 2022 include Nelly, TLC & Shaggy, and Tyler, the Creator.
The Rogers Arena opened in downtown Vancouver in 1995 and is a major sporting venue, but in its music configuration it can hold audiences of 19,000. It has hosted the Juno Awards several times, and acts like Ariane Grande, Iron Maiden, and Adele have all played there. Acts performing in 2022 include The Killers, Backstreet Boys, Seventeen, Gorillaz, Florence + The Machine, and Eagles.
The Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre opened in 2008 and can hold 8,000 people for concerts. In 2022, acts playing the venue include Olivia Rodrigo, Royal Blood, HAIM, and 5 Seconds of Summer.
As the capital of Canada, Ottawa is only the sixth-largest city in the country, but despite its relatively small size, it has a number of leading arenas. With a capacity of 19,153, the Canadian Tire Centre is on a par with the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Acts who have played the venue in recent years include Def Leppard, Carrie Underwood, Lynyrd Skynyrd, André Rieu, Avenged Sevenfold, and Elton John. Music bookings for later this year include Pearl Jam, Rod Stewart, and Luke Combs.
The FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton opened in 1985 and can hold 19,000 people for music concerts, with acts playing in 2022 including Rage Against The Machine, Judas Priest, and Pearl Jam.
“The live industry has seen an incredible increase in shows as restrictions have been lifted, especially in our market,” says Bubb-Clarke on the recovery of live music in Canada. “Scotiabank Arena will host 57 shows by the end of this year, based on the calendar from January to December 2022.”
58 Global Arenas Guide 2022 Regions | North America
Population: 38.4million Languages: English, French Currency: Canadian dollar (CAD) GDP per capita: $45,900 (2020 est.) Internet users: 36.8million Active smartphone users: 32.3million
USA
Population:
The land of opportunity has lived up to its name in 2022, with the US arena business shaking off the Covid cobwebs and roaring back to full-strength – eventually.
From the legendary Madison Square Garden (cap.18,600) and Barclays Center (19,000) in New York, to The Kia Forum (17,500) in Inglewood and the former Staples Center (20,000) in LA – the US is home to some of the most famous indoor venues in the world. AEG recently announced plans for a significant revamp of the latter, which was renamed the Crypto.com Arena in late 2021 as part of a new 20-year naming rights deal. The nine-figure upgrade will reimagine nearly all aspects of the venue.
“Crypto.com Arena is part of the fabric of Los Angeles,” says AEG president and CEO Dan Beckerman. “Since its opening, we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure that the venue remains state-of-the-art while consistently creating a world-class event and fan experience.”
Alongside the established players, the market has been flooded with cutting-edge new entrants, such as San Francisco’s Chase Center (19,500); Oak View Group’s UBS Arena (19,000) in Belmont Park, New York; Moody Center (15,000) in Austin, Texas; Enmarket Arena (9.500) in Savannah, Georgia; and the 18,100-seat Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle – the world’s first carbon-neutral certified arena.
“Seattle, New York, Savannah, Austin; those are the brand-new buildings opened within the last ten months,” says Brian Kabatznick, OVG’s EVP facilities development. “They are doing incredibly well because they’re all great markets with great buildings. And then, when you add on renovated arenas
in Baltimore; renovated arena in Hamilton, Ontario; a new arena in Las Vegas; and new arena in Palm Springs, all opening in the next few years, it’s pretty exciting. We’ll certainly have a few more markets that we’re focused on in North America, with announcements coming soon.”
Oak View Group, which launched OVG Canada in June, acquired Philadelphia-based venue management firm Spectra last November and recently grew its hospitality division with the acquisition of Spectrum Catering, Concessions & Event Services.
“When you look at what we’re doing, and South America, North America, Europe, and our focus on other major markets outside of those, it’s really a moment in time for Oak View Group,” adds Kabatznick. “With the support of our partners –and Tim [Leiweke] and Irving [Azoff] from the ownership side, and our partner Silverlake, it’s just been incredible that they were patient. During the pandemic, they allowed us to open all of those buildings and they continue to support us as we look at new venues, building new venues, and acquiring existing venues globally.”
This feeling of optimism seems to be felt across the nation. “People want to get out of their homes, be social, and have fun again,” reports Jay Cooper, general manager of T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. “We have seen increasing demand for live events and ticket sales back that up.
“We started 2022 with a collection of constantly changing Covid health guidelines. As Covid-related mandates have subsided in recent months, people are more willing to venture out and attend an event. I believe the live entertainment industry, both for domestic and international artists, is coming back stronger than ever.”
The Missouri arena, which can be configured for capacities of between 5,000 and 19,800, has upcoming shows with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Roger Waters, the Eagles, Lizzo, and (rescheduled for 2023) Rage Against The Machine. →
IQ-mag.net/arenas 59 North America | Regions
329.5million Language: English Currency: US dollar (USD) GDP per capita: $63,543 Internet users: 307.2million Active smartphone users: 294.2million
© Rob Loud
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Asia is hotting up in a big way right now.
International venue firms such as ASM Global are ramping up their portfolios across the region. New builds such as EM Live Theatre, Bangkok, are getting off the architects’ drawings and becoming reality, and new management deals are being struck, like the Kuala Lumpur Sports City precinct in Malaysia.
As ASM Global president and CEO Ron Bension, says: “We’re on a robust growth curve in this part of the world.”
Meanwhile, promoters such as CTS Eventim, AEG Presents, and Live Nation are expanding their operations. All three of these global giants have either opened offices or expanded their existing set-ups over the last few years.
It all spells good news for growth in international touring, whatever the genre, as well as providing opportunities to develop and export domestic artists.
China
Even before the Taiwan-centric troubles of this summer, China was far from a straightforward market for international artists.
In addition to the expense and logistics of making the show, incoming performers are heavily vetted and setlists and lyrics checked by censors in advance. Being a big-name artist is no defence against an outright ban, and a passing acquaintance with the Dalai Lama (Lady Gaga, Maroon 5, Selena Gomez), delinquent behaviour (a younger Justin Bieber), and being South Korean (all major K-pop artists) have all been deemed valid reasons for refusal.
However, just because the interface between the Chinese market and the western business is not a frictionless one, it doesn’t mean the internal infrastructure is lacking or that international performers never make it through.
From the growing small-to-mid-scale circuit to the dance clubs that thrive on touring EDM shows, there’s a distinct network of music venues in China, even if it’s dwarfed by the sheer scale of the population it serves. There are plenty of arenas, too, and though most are usually to be found hosting Chinese pop shows, numerous international acts have made successful Chinese forays in the past decade, from Jessie J to the Rolling Stones.
And the market has been growing fast. According to a report from ticketing platform Damai.cn, the Chinese live sector generated more than ¥20billion in 2019 (€2.9bn at today’s rates), although a strict policy of lockdowns froze the concert business for 18 months.
The Shanghai World Expo Cultural Center (which has since been renamed Mercedes-Benz Arena) opened in 2010 as a joint venture between AEG, the NBA, and local media and entertainment giant Oriental Pearl Group (OPG), all of which remain involved with the 18,000-capacity venue.
The Mercedes-Benz Arena remains one of the key Chinese facilities with an international profile and represents an important lesson in how western conglomerates can work closely with local corporate partners. The Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, and stars including Hong Kong’s Jacky Cheung and Faye Wang, and Taiwanese ‘king of Mandopop’ Jay Chou have all featured there, as have Cirque du Soleil and the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show
In June 2021, the Mercedes-Benz Arena hosted China’s first big show since Covid, as local post-punk veterans Re-TROS played to 10,000 people at a concert promoted by Live Nation China. International shows have not yet returned to the country, but the nation’s arenas in particular, with their full range of VIP and hospitality options, point to a market that, while not necessarily falling into step with the western business, is at least cherry-picking aspects of that model.
Ticket prices pre-pandemic were perhaps a little lower than in the west but roughly comparable: when Troye Sivan played one of the last pre-pandemic shows at the Mercedes-
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© AEG
IQ-mag.net/arenas 73
Population: 1.4billion Languages: Mandarin, Yue, Wu Currency: Yuan (CNY) GDP per capita: $16,400 Internet users: 987million Active smartphone users: 1.7billion
Asia
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Benz, tickets ranged from ¥380 (€55) to ¥1,480 (€215).
In Beijing, the arena most frequented by international artists and spectacles is another AEG-managed venue, the Wukesong Arena, known since 2017 as the Cadillac Center, which juggles basketball, ice hockey and, up to 2019, a wide range of international and Chinese tours, including most of the names above.
All over China, in fact, gleaming and often eye-popping arenas offer a very familiar range of world-class multiuse possibilities. For the purposes of most international tours, the 13,000-capacity Shenzhen Bay Arena and the 18,000-capacity Guangzhou Sports Arena, along with the Mercedes-Benz and the Cadillac Center, complete a commonly used circuit that encompasses China’s four biggest cities, albeit sometimes with certain tweaks. Westlife, for instance, played at the National Exhibition and Convention Center on their visit to Shanghai in August 2019.
Some artists, however, dig slightly deeper. Jessie J’s 2018 dates, in the wake of her success on Chinese TV talent show Singer, paint a picture of the kind of touring that is possible from an artist with a deeper interest in the market. In addition to shows at the Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz, and Shenzhen Bay arenas, she also stopped at big venues in Wuhan, Zhengzhou,
Chengdu, Hunan, Wuxi, and Tianjin on her R.O.S.E. tour.
Among the rooms she found were the 12,000-capacity Wuliangye Chengdu Performing Arts Centre, which is one of the country’s newest and makes a virtue of its inhouse sound, with a semi-fixed L-Acoustics K1 system that purports to raise its standard above those of China’s many multipurpose arenas.
Hong Kong
Population: 7.29million Languages: Cantonese, English, Mandarin Currency: Hong Kong dollar (HKD) GDP per capita: $56,200 Internet users: Around 92% in 2020 [Source: International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database]
Active smartphone users: 2.9million
Formerly the westernised face of the Chinese cultural world, Hong Kong remains theoretically China’s most accessible territory, though the repressive influence of Beijing has very clearly increased in recent years, and the world’s strictest Covid travel restrictions have entirely stemmed the flow of international shows since March 2020.
Tragedy also struck in July when a giant video screen →
© 2022 AEG 74 Global Arenas Guide 2022
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For more information or to take part, contact Gareth Ospina gareth@iq-mag.net The definitive guide to the global ticketing industry • Profiles of over 40 markets • Unique commentary • Insights and analysis Published November 2022I
