Features
‘We’re Selling More Tickets Than Ever’: Q’s With Denis Desmond, Chairman, Live Nation UK & Ireland
For our inaugural UK Focus, Live Nation UK & Ireland chairman Denis Desmond agreed to respond to a few questions about the state of play across the country. He touched on genre and event trends, touring and festival highlights, and the continuously growing demand for tickets across the board.
Pollstar: How’s 2024 shaping up from a business perspective? How full is your schedule already, how many conversations are already pertaining to 2025?
Denis Desmond: 2023 was a record year and 2024 is going to be another growth year. As promoters we’re always looking forward, and we can say already that 2025 looks really exciting. We’re selling more tickets than ever across all genres and venue types – the talent pipeline looks very strong.
What UK highlights from your upcoming tour and event schedule would you like to draw particular attention to?
We have so many show highlights but there are a few really incredible stories to spotlight…Hozier selling 45,000 at Finsbury Park three months in advance is a significant moment, Usher using the Super-bowl comeback momentum to sell a remarkable 10 shows at the O2 (with more demand still), and sell-out shows from Chris Stapleton, Morgan Wallen, and Lainey Wilson all demonstrating the huge potential of country music. Not to mention the huge success of Melanie Martinez, Teddy Swims, Doja Cat, Last Dinner Party, etc.
Festival-wise Download, TRNSMT, Isle of Wight, Reading and Leeds, Creamfields are all selling particularly well.
It’s particularly rewarding to see UK and Irish acts like Sleep Token, Fontaines DC and most recently Artemas breakthrough not just here but internationally – the future really is bright.
Are certain genres gaining in popularity?
Country has really exploded for us this year, and the genre is increasingly drawing a younger audience which is great to see. New acts like Dylan Gossett and Meagan Moroney as well as the more established superstars we all know are driving this growth.
Latin of course is also taking centre stage – we have two sell out O2 shows from Karol G in July which is huge in terms of demonstrating the clear demand for the genre.
It’s no secret that everything’s gotten more expensive. At the same time, there seems to be hardly any price resistance from fans when it comes to paying for tickets. How do you balance these two dynamics?
Our job is to make sure artists connect with their fans and sell as many tickets as possible, as live is the main source of income for most artists. It’s important that fans have tickets which offer value across the price points, and we work with artists to help them decide what pricing makes sense for their costs and fans. And the strong sales we see show fans more than ever are valuing experiences over items.
Can you talk about festivals in particular? Any noticeable changes to the way they’re put together, or things people expect on site?
Festivals continue to be a mainstay of our cultural landscape. They are institutions, many of which – like Download and Creamfields – have a devoted and loyal fanbase, who we need to reward. Our festival teams work hard to improve, adapt and enhance the experience year on year, with new stages with ground-breaking production like Chevron at Reading and Leeds Festivals this year, investing in boutique camping offerings, and more varied food and beverage which reflect changing tastes, trends and budgets. It’s about creating unique experiences for communities of people.
And country-wide trends you’re observing?
One trend that we’re seeing is the growth in regional summer shows. These can be in venues for as little as one weekend right through to the whole season. They bring live music to places that may not have an established venue that tours have historically come through. We’ve seen great success at unique spaces like Halifax Piece Hall and Margate Dreamland, and our sites go right across the UK and Ireland from 5k right up to 30K capacity. So actually, we’re doing more shows in cities and towns across the UK and giving artists and fans a broader offering.
If there’s one city in the UK you could choose to build a new arena in, which one would it be, and why?
We’re on the way to delivering the new Cardiff Arena, which is incredibly exciting for us. Cardiff is a great city, with a long history of music, and we’re really happy that we get to play a part in the city and wider region’s live music offering.