LN Festivals Now At
Olympic Park

Live Nation has been confirmed as the promoter of this summer’s shows in London’s Olympic Park and Stadium  giving it a new home for its annual Wireless and Hard Rock Calling festivals.

Both events are now slotted for July, although so far no acts have been announced.

For the last two weeks, the world’s biggest live music promoter has kept quiet about rumours and newspaper reports that it would strike a deal with the London Legacy Development Corporation, which manages the future of the Olympic ground, to run the 2013 shows.  Live Nation previously lost the rights to run summer shows in Hyde Park when rival AEG put in the winning bid.

The new deal is only good for 2013. The entertainment provider for future shows at Olympic park will likely be decided when it’s known whether West Ham United soccer club will take up the role of anchor tenant.  Olympic Park is reopen in spring 2014.

The music events will be part of a summer series in the Olympic Park that will include Ride London, a cycling and road race festival, and a park reopening celebration featuring music, sports and cultural offerings.

“As the world’s leading provider of music festivals and outdoor events, Live Nation is delighted to have won the inaugural contract for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park,” said John Reid, president of concerts at Live Nation Europe.

“In the coming weeks, we will unveil the headline acts for the first Wireless and Hard Rock festivals to be staged in London’s new flagship venue, which promise to be the U.K.’s blockbuster events of 2013.”

London Mayor Boris Johnson said entertainment is important to the site.

“Our vision for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has always been as a destination for world-class sport as well as for major cultural and leisure events, and last summer the world saw what an amazing venue we have created with our iconic stadium, sports facilities and new parklands,” Johnson said.

“The confidence now shown by one of the world’s leading live entertainment promoters to relocate two of its biggest music festivals from the center of the capital is a ringing endorsement of our legacy plans,” Johnson said.