Elevating The Rave: EDM At The Stadium

RUKES – Illenium
Illenium’s three-set “Trilogy” performance at Allegiant stadium in Las Vegas July 3 moved 40,000 tickets, which was the capacity after the extensive production build, according to UTA.

Tour announcements continue to roll in, major festivals are on the brink of happening and in-person, full-capacity concerts are again taking place across the United States. Everyone knew 2021 would be a truncated touring season, with some major treks kicking off in July and August, mostly amphitheaters in secondary markets being the first to go out. Meanwhile, regional events and one-offs give fans the feeling of normalcy and togetherness once more.

Most of that activity has been expected as the COVID vaccine rollout got under way in earnest this spring. But a few shockers have been announced – including the Guns N’ Roses multi-stadium run, Springsteen On Broadway’s surprise return, and even The Rolling Stones rescheduling and adding a few stadiums for ‘21. Still, those may not be as big a surprise as a few shows that just took place.

“40,000 kids were there just to see Illenium,” says UTA co-head of electronic music Steve Gordon, whose DJ/producer client Illenium put together a one-off headline show at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas July 3, the first public, ticketed concert at the new home of the Las Vegas Raiders.

Usually the type of venue reserved for the Garth Brookses (who played there July 10) and Guns N’ Roseses (Aug. 27) of the world, Illenium’s three-set “Trilogy” performance somewhat quietly kicked off what may be a new era for not only the concert business but electronic music.

“Many people told us we were out of our minds,” says Gordon, who was blunt when asked if he knew the show could fill a largely seated venue of that size. “Of course I didn’t know. But the reality is we knew the artist had the juice, knew he had a lot of momentum. We weighed the pluses and minuses, and sometimes if you want to be great, you need to take risks.”

The “Trilogy” conversation started in July 2020, with Illenium’s long-held vision to play an NFL stadium and Gordon and fellow agent Guy Oldaker more than happy to shoot big.

The show took until roughly February to figure out, with a co-promotion between Another Planet, Life is Beautiful and AEG in place, with Illenium one of Saturday night’s headliners at Downtown Vegas’ Life Is Beautiful.

“It was one of the greatest experiences of my life,” Gordon says, likening the show to personal career highlights such as client Excision’s Lost Lands festival launch, Marshmello’s high-profile media moments, and more.

Real name Nicholas Miller, Illenium has not so quietly put together a true hard-ticket career over the past seven or eight years. Recent sellouts from his 2019 “Ascend” tour include at Chase Center in San Francisco (11,579 tickets), Bill Graham Civic (17,456 over two nights), three Red Rocks shows that sold out 27,000 tickets, and Madison Square Garden.

“It’s hard to put into words – how incredible the production was from top to bottom, with the three sets across three hours, 15-minute breaks, it was a unique experience and a culmination of his work for the last seven or eight years,” Gordon says. The agent, who notes that he’s been working full days inside the office throughout the pandemic “smashing shit and making money!” adds that this is still just the beginning for his client, too.

“Illenium will go down as one of the most powerful electronic music acts of all time,” Gordon says.

While Illenium’s show is unique, he’s not the only high-profile EDM artist stepping it up a notch in the hard-ticket realm, nor is he the only UTA client to do it. Kaskade on July 13 opened SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., with his own headline show, with 30,000 in attendance and a surprise opening set from Deadmau5.

“From start to finish, this was an all-hands-on-deck team effort between us, Kaskade’s management and the Insomniac Events crew,” says UTA co-head of electronic music Kevin Gimble, Kaskade’s longtime agent. “With only six weeks in between inception and the performance, and given that SoFi Stadium had never hosted a ticketed concert to date, it was a thing of beauty to witness.”

Michael Tullberg / Getty Images – Kaskade
Kaskade made history as the first ticketed, public-entry concert at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., July 17, which took place just one day before Los Angeles reistanted a mask requirement for gatherings.

Meanwhile, Australia-born Rüfüs Du Sol has put together an impressive run of outdoor shows in ‘21 as well, with multiple Red Rocks performances, major festival appearances and, maybe most notable, three Banc of California Stadium headliners for November.

“It was a very clear path for us,” says CAA’s Alex Becket, who represents Rüfüs Du Sol. “We quickly sold out the LA State Historic Park in 2019 [20,500 cap]. From there, we looked for a bigger venue with a big GA. The Banc of CA Stadium [23,000 cap] is a truly beautiful building with an intimate vibe and great partners. It was an easy choice.”

Becket says new outdoor facilities give artists more options as well, which is important during a year like 2021.

“Every artist needs to do the right thing for themselves and create special experiences for their fans,” Becket says. “EDM artists have generally failed to scale in the past, especially into venues with fixed seats, but I hope more electronic artists break into stadiums.”

Yet another U.S. stadium headliner comes from Norwegian DJ Kygo.

“Following a successful arena run in 2018, we started exploring various opportunities including green fields, stadiums and other interesting and unique spaces,” says WME’s Cristina Baxter, who is on the team of agents representing artists including Miley Cyrus, Kali Uchis, Kygo and many others.

Baxter says the show was tentatively planned for May ‘22 but was quickly moved to September as the U.S. events business came back online. “Kygo also just went up with a headline show at Ullevaal Stadium (30k+ capacity) in Oslo next July, which sold out in a matter of minutes.”

Specific artists may be stepping up their touring game as their own personal artist development stories take shape, but that doesn’t mean all EDM artists can make a similar jump.

“There are only a handful of artists in this space that can sell hard tickets, so the subset of artists that can play these large venues is probably limited,” adds Baxter. However, “From day one, Kygo and his manager Myles Shear have always been focused on the long term-big picture … part of which meant taking the right steps to build a very strong hard-ticket touring business.”

Gordon, who alongside Gimble represents a whole host of electronic artists, says scaling up has been a matter of growing with the fanbase.

“We’ve been conditioning fans to be more comfortable in seats and enjoy the production when creating experiences in seated arenas or stadiums,” Gordon says.

“I think you’re going to see more to come, especially at shows with a large GA floor and seated bowl. The shows are going to get bigger for sure.”