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Germany Focus Index Page
There’s a picture emerging when speaking with Germany’s live entertainment professionals: the top-end of the market is in excellent shape. In fact, tickets for A-list artists performing in the country’s biggest buildings have never sold quicker.
Festivals, in general, seem to be struggling a bit, but several exceptions confirm the rule. The only worry that remains are with the small to medium shows, who’ve lost out in a saturated touring calendar, forcing fans to choose between more events than they could possibly visit – even if they wanted to.
Europe-wide price increases are another reason why consumers are currently thinking twice about what to spend their hard-earned money on, and, in many instances, they’re choosing stadiums. In this annual Germany Focus, Pollstar tried to capture it all.
Main Story:
Big Business & Small Struggles: Germany Returns To Full Strength
Interviews:
‘Music Is Our Most Important Business’: Q’s With Nils Hoch, Deputy CEO Olympic Park Munich
When we reached out to Nils Hoch, deputy CEO at Munich’s Olympic Park, his team was just gearing up for the second edition of Superbloom Festival, which takes over the historic grounds for a weekend of music, art, and family entertainment each September. The park, which was originally created to host the 1972 Olympic games, has aged very well over half a century, culminating in its most successful business year so far in 2023. To make sure it is well-suited to host music, sports, exhibitions, and more for the next 50 years as well, it has been undergoing extensive renovations, the bulk of which will take place in the coming years.
Hoch talked about the refurbishment plans, the unprecedented demand for blockbuster stadium shows, and more.
‘Ticket Sales Are Back To Pre-COVID Levels’: Q’s With Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion’s Simone Wendt
Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion in Dresden is the home of Germany’s long-standing soccer club Dynamo Dresden. An while sports is the most important business segment, concerts and major events are becoming increasingly more important during soccer-free periods. Pollstar reached out to the building’s event manager Simone Wendt, to talk about the state of play at one of Germany’s largest single-tier stadiums, boasting an overall capacity of 32,249.
‘Customers Are Buying More Thoughtfully’: Q’s With Andreas Kroll, CEO in.Stuttgart
For our annual Germany Focus, Pollstar reached out to Andreas Kroll, CEO of in.Stuttgart, which runs the city’s popular Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle and Porsche Arena. Some highlights from Pollstar’s Boxoffice for Schleyer-Hall include Hans Zimmer, April 29, who sold out 8,927 available tickets for a $968,359 gross); Andreas Gabalier, May 18 (11,588 tickets, $600,157 gross); or Herbert Grönemeyer, May 30 (12,703 tickets, $885,371 gross).
Chris Tall sold out all available 4,315 tickets at Porsche Arena, May 26, grossing
$134,364. Kroll gave us the lowdown on the state of business.
‘I See An Increase In Open-air Events Of Any Size’: Q’s With Semmel Concerts CEO Dieter Semmelmann
Semmel Concerts has been reporting the most ticket sales out of any German business to Pollstar since last year. Between Aug. 1 ,2022, and July 31, 2023, it amounted to 2,664,867 tickets, grossing $161,855,379 – a significant contribution to parent company CTS Eventim’s tally on the top rank.
Pollstar reached out to Semmel Concerts CEO Dieter Semmelmann to ask all the main questions about the status quo of live entertainment in Germany.
‘Things Are More Or Less Back To Normal’: Q’s With FKP Scorpio’s Stephan Thanscheidt
Pollstar reached out to FKP Scorpio’s CEO and head of festival booking Stephan Thanscheidt to reflect on the 2023 festival season, which is slowly but surely coming to an end, and get his general take on the health of the German live entertainment market.
