Leadoff: Festival Announcement Season Is Upon Us! And Not Many Stadium Acts Are Headlining

The first round of festival announcements is dwindling down, with fans now knowing what to expect from the first half of their summer. This year marks Ed Sheeran’s return to festivals as he headlines BottleRock (along with Stevie Nicks and Megan Thee Stallion); and Boston Calling (with Tyler Childers and The Killers). Fred again.. is making his headlining debut at Bonnaroo (with Red Hot Chili Peppers and Post Malone) and No Doubt is reuniting at Coachella, which is topped by Lana Del Rey; Tyler, the Creator and Doja Cat. Hangout (ODESZA, Lana Del Rey and Zach Bryan) and Governors Ball (SZA, Killers, Post Malone) also announced their lineups in the last two weeks, among others. As this piece went to print, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival also unveiled its lineup with The Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters and Chris Stapleton topping the bill.

What are we to make of this year’s major festival announcements? What do they augur for the year ahead coming off what was the biggest year in live music with more revenue generated and more acts playing bigger venues than ever before? A year where stadium plays could easily match or surpass many festival payouts, which is perhaps why more of last year’s top acts aren’t playing festivals.

The last time Sheeran, No. 7 on Pollstar’s 2023 Year End World Chart and the highest ranked artists announced thus far playing 2024 festivals, headlined more than one festival in a calendar year was in 2014 before he jumped into stadiums. Last year, Sheeran’s “Mathematics Tour,” grossed $268 million and a whopping average show gross of $4.96 million. He is one of only two artists in the top 20 of Pollstar’s Top 200 Year End Chart headlining a fest. It begs the question, why play a festival when making stadium money?

Wasserman Music EVP Marty Diamond won’t discuss his payout but says Sheeran’s two announced festival dates provide him a chance to return to markets he already played last year in a different setting. “In the case of Boston Calling, we have done two Gillette stadiums in the market already. In Napa, we’ve already done a Bay Area stadium. So, to some degree, this is another opportunity to revisit the market in a different light and play with peers and contemporaries.”

The Rolling Stones, a veteran stadium act who topped Pollstar’s 2021 Year End World Chart with $115.5 million, have also limited their festival plays over the last decade. Their performance at Jazz Fest marks their only festival play currently on the calendar.
After making a major splash at Coachella last year alongside Four Tet and Skrillex, Fred again.. will make his only U.S. festival appearance closing out night four of Bonnaroo. While Fred (John Philip Gibson) has stepped into the arenas, headlining festivals for him are likely in keeping with his non-stadium grosses, which according to Pollstar Boxoffice reports has him doing six-figure plays. This includes a $2 million-plus haul at London’s Alexandra Palace last September; eight nights at L.A.’s Shrine in October and November, and headlining Berlin’s Mercedes-Benz Arena also in September.

“With Fred, since it’s still on the newer side compared to someone like an Ed Sheeran, it was all about what is the event that just screams ‘Fred again..,’” Adam Brill, VP of Festivals at Wasserman Music says. “Obviously, a ton of festivals worldwide want Fred again.. to headline or play. Business is so strong, the name is so big, he’s such a big influence not just in electronic music, but multi-genre and pushing culture, that we thought, what better festival than Bonnaroo? It’s been around a very long time and started in that electronic, jam band world,” adding that Fred and his management ultimately make such decisions.

While Coachella’s lineup wasn’t announced until Jan. 16, just before press time, it proved worth the wait with the announcement of No Doubt’s reunion and confirmation of rumored headliners Lana Del Rey; Tyler, the Creator and Doja Cat. But some of the real gold is in the underbills. The return of Justice and Gesaffelstein for dance music fans (like me) is manna from heaven. Following BLACKPINK as headliners during last year’s festival, Coachella is featuring more K-pop acts with the likes of LE SSERAFIM, ATEEZ and YOASOBI. Latin music is also heavily featured, with Peso Pluma and J Balvin getting second billing on the lineup. An additional reunion at this year’s festival features original Sublime members Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson teaming up with Jakob Nowell, the son of the band’s late frontman Bradley Nowell. And let us not forget the splendor of the Britpop flag-bearing Blur.

Tyler, the Creator made a guest appearance at Coachella during Kali Uchis’ 2023 set, with his last performances at the festival taking place in 2015 and 2018. Doja Cat played the festival most recently, taking the stage in 2022. Lana Del Rey was initially scheduled to perform in 2020, and her last time at the festival was in 2014.

Following Skrillex, Four Tet and Fred again..’s legendary set in the round closing out the final night of the festival, electronic music is taking center stage at this year’s festival. Dom Dolla and John Summit will make two appearances over the weekend, both performing solo sets and as Everything Always. After announcing new albums on the horizon, Justice and Gesaffelstein are returning to the desert. Grimes will be making a rare festival appearance at Coachella, while dubstep pioneers Skream and Benga make their return to the genre after nearly a decade. Other highlights include ISOxo and Knock2’s ISOKnock4, Steve Angello, Purple Disco Machine and more, with Do Lab still to announce its performers.

2024 appears to be the year of multi-genre festivals with Hangout making a splash when it’s lineup included Zach Bryan, Lana Del Rey, ODESZA, The Chainsmokers, Cage The Elephant, Dominic Fike, Reneé Rapp and Jessie Murph.

For smaller festivals, however, the larger multi-genre events can sometimes throw wrenches in their lineup announcements and planning. Ian Goldberg, promoter of Summer Camp and now SolShine in Chillicothe, Illinois, says that larger events can easily impact how he goes about booking his own festivals.

“From the beginning of starting to do festivals, when you’d get to the top tier headliners there would be discussions about what makes sense here,” Goldberg says. “Now, it’s to the point where every tier of artists that we present have multiple battles about what should go where… The only market that really matters is my market. There might be an artist that’s doing better on the East Coast, or the East and West Coast, but that doesn’t mean in central Illinois or in the Midwest that that’s the case.”

Delayed announcements, similar to what happened with this year’s Coachella lineup drop, can sometimes have an impact on smaller festivals. Goldberg shares he has sometimes found conflict when another festival within his radius wants to make its announcement.
“I currently don’t have anything this year causing conflict, but I have run into that before,” he says. “I found it to be very frustrating, wanting to get my announcement out, but I’m waiting to see what they’re doing and when.”

With Coachella now announced, the first round of lineups have been revealed. Brill shares he has some time to take a breather before the next round, which includes Lollapalooza, Outside Lands and ACL, takes place.

“We’re done for a minute for the first half of the year,” Brill says. “We’re in a break, but there will be a lot of festivals still being announced. Probably just more mid to higher tier from now until then.”