Q’s With Live Nation’s Brad Wavra On The Power Of Pop

As much controversy is caused for crowning someone other than Michael Jackson the “King of Pop,” there is a good case for nominating Brad Wavra, senior vice president at Live Nation Touring. During his time with Magicworks in the 1990s he booked tours for major pop stars including Backstreet Boys, NSYNC and Britney Spears, while highlights during his more than three decades at Live Nation include promoting One Direction and working with cover artist Jonas Brothers for more than 15 years.

Along with promoting Jonas Brothers’ “Five Albums. One Night. The World Tour,” Wavra’s big 2023 has included P!NK’s “Summer Carnival” tour and “The Trilogy Tour” featuring the mega-watt pairing of Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, and Pitbull.

Wavra says he fell into the music industry “by accident” in the early ’70s, when he was studying economics at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire and his friends owned a Milwaukee bar called the Stone Toad. He went on to help expand Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin, from 10,000-capacity to nearly 40,000 and build out the Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Other top artists Wavra has worked with include Jennifer Lopez, New Kids On The Block, Mariah Carey, Aerosmith and more.

Pollstar: When did you first see Jonas Brothers live and what did you think of the band?
Brad Wavra: I met them down in New Orleans. They were playing the House of Blues and playing two shows in one night [in November 2007]. I’d heard about parents throwing their children over the barricade to meet them … that kind of hysteria that comes with teen pop bands – the passion that they inspire in this fan base. It makes them just crazy for the band. Crazy, crazy, crazy for the band, kind of like that Beatles hysteria when you see the video footage when they first came to America back in the old days. And so when I heard that kind of thing it was like I’ve got to go figure out who this band is.

I went down to the House of Blues and what struck me as being unbelievable is that they were doing two shows in the night both sold out, but in between the two shows that Nick Jonas was still practicing, still trying to work on his craft at that point in time. I look at that and I think he was 15 when I first met him and it was like holy cow. …

They had been working for a long time, having their parents drive them from show to show, unload their band gear and put it up themselves, living on T-shirt money to put gas in the van to get there. So they had been committed to trying to be successful musicians for a long time and then when I saw them it kind of put it all into perspective for me as to how much they wanted it.

Jonas Brothers were managed by their father and Phil McIntyre at that time and their agent was David Zedeck, who was the agent for Backseat Boys and Britney Spears and One Direction. David Zedeck and I have done this a few times together where we see these bands at this stage and we look at each other and say, “Yep. This one has a fucking chance, for sure.”

And Jonas Brothers have been spectacular throughout their entire career and kind of on career 2.0 for them right now [after their 2013-2019 split]. They explored their solo careers and each had a degree of success with that but together they are a force of nature.

Anything else to add about Jonas Brothers?
These are genuinely some of the nicest, kindest, most empathetic human beings you’ll ever meet.

What’s your favorite thing about working with acts in the pop genre?
It’s just the joy, right? They sing happy music. [The artists are] there to deliver a happy positive message and for the fan base that gets to enjoy it, they lose their minds – they’re emotionally and physically spent when they get out of those shows from screaming so hard and being committed to the artist. I mean, they go all in for the band at that [young] age, so it’s fun watching the evolution of the fan base too as they grow older with the band.

Your career in the music business included working with Bruce Kapp to buy shows with Magicworks, which SFX Entertainment eventually acquired. Are there any lessons that stuck with you from those days?
Back in the day, with the fax machines and everything, literally I would get to work at 4 a.m. because at 4 a.m. there would be no backup on the fax machines – and that’s how we communicated.

So to succeed it felt like I had to work a little harder, a little longer, take one more phone call, send out one more offer and not get discouraged at any sort of failures or setbacks. Focus on the positive.

We believed in the idea [that if buying tours] worked in one city, like it worked in Milwaukee, it would work in Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit. You might miss one, but that’s the nature of how talent works and so we just had to keep pushing, believe in ourselves and then get them the courage to write those kind of checks that make you kind of gulp – When you buy one show for 10 grand and then you buy 10 shows for a hundred grand or 100 shows for a million bucks, you’re now writing a million dollar check and those days that was something that didn’t come that easy. I try to teach this next generation and the thing that they have the hardest time with is just having the emotional fortitude to make that bet, to put that much money on the line and then hope that you were right.

Not only are you guaranteeing the artist all of their guarantees, but you’re also guaranteeing all the expenses that go into the show itself so it can be tens and hundreds of millions of dollars that you’re going to wager on – and then you’re never right 100% of the time. So when you are wrong you need a team to support you … [Michael] Rapino’s always been that guy [with a philosophy] that nobody bats a thousand percent. So you hit 80 means you’re gonna miss on 20 … kind of the nature of the game and you need your team around you to be supportive so that when you miss, you’ll go up to the plate and swing again.

You have to just get your head around taking that big gulp. And then to believe in yourself and the team around you to execute at that high level because there’s a lot of artists that have got their whole career in your hands for that touring cycle, so they need to believe that you can help them deliver their vision. There’s a lot of pressure … and you just have to be willing to accept that.

What’s it been like working with P!NK on her “Summer Carnival” tour?
I’m so proud to be a part of her [team]. I had her open for NSYNC back in 2002 when she was just a girl singing to a track with a belly shirt, a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and pink hair. America didn’t really get her right away. She didn’t give up. She pivoted and moved over to Australia and Europe. They developed those markets before America caught on this year. America has now embraced P!NK for the artist that she is, this is now becoming her biggest territory.

She is just one of the greatest human beings on this planet … uses her platform and music to stand up for what she believes is right, knowing that when she says some of those things there are going to be a million people that want to take a shot at her. She’s willing to take that risk … and so when she tells you that we’re gonna hand out 2,000 banned books tonight in Miami … because we don’t think there should be any banning of books, everybody has a chance to read what they want … And we just want to spread that peace and love the best we can so we’re gonna do that tonight and we’re gonna do it tomorrow night in Fort Lauderdale. So this is what she stands for.

And now she’s finally being recognized as being one of the top touring artists in the world.

Anything you can share about promoting the Trilogy Tour?
When you have three artists as big as Pitbull, Enrique Iglesias, and Ricky Martin – the tour is a lot of fun. These three legends bring decades of hits to the stage every night, and the audience gets to see this once in a lifetime show with this talented trio of superstars.

After all these years, what keeps you passionate about working in the live industry?
I love what I do. I mean, I love putting fans and the bands together. I love watching them walk out of that venue happier than when they walked in and today more than ever we need that emotional break. We need that spiritual break. We need to find joy in our life. We need to find joy in our humanity right now and as we get older that joy is harder to find.
When you’re a bright eyed little kid everything’s happy and joyful. You’re born into this world with no encumbrances, no expectations. And as time goes on, the weight of the world, everything kind of gets to you and so joy is harder to come by the older you get.
And when you find bands that believe in that message and commit to that message and they can actually get up on stage in a real sense, not lip syncing or dialing it in but fucking go up there and drop their heart and soul on stage every night, with the sole purpose to bring a little joy to your life – I mean, think about what they’re giving. They’re giving you something that’s so hard to come by … and they give it to you even when they’re not completely joyful that day. They’ve got stuff going on in their life, but for those two hours they turn on that super power and they give you every ounce of energy that they’ve got. Bands like that are what inspires me to keep going.

Which acts will you be working with in 2024?
2024 is shaping up to be another big year, including huge tours and new music from many major artists. When it comes to P!NK, I’m not sure she’s done yet… the tour was massive but there are a few places she still wants to play. New Kids on the Block will also be bringing back their “Magic Summer Tour” with Paula Abdul and DJ Jazzy Jeff, kicking off next June and I am sure there will be a few more surprises.