2024 Impact 50 Honoree: Omar Al-joulani

PRESIDENT, TOURING, LIVE NATION CONCERTS
Live Nation

YEARS IN THE BUSINESS: 23
FIRST JOB IN THE BIZ: Assistant to Colin Lewis at The Agency Group

According to Omar Al-joulani, president of touring at Live Nation, there’s “a larger and more diverse pool of artists than ever before touring across global markets.”

For proof, Al-joulani cites “U.S. artists like Tate McRae and Melanie Martinez finding global success with extensive tours across Australia, Asia and Europe.”

Other 2024 highlights on his spreadsheets include Shakira’s highly anticipated “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour,” kicking off this Fall; Imagine Dragons’ “LOOM” tour, summer through fall; Benson Boone’s current “Fireworks and Rollerblades World Tour,” which just wrapped its North American dates and heads to Europe next, followed by dates in Australia and New Zealand; Kygo’s upcoming global tour across North America and Europe, as well as the Travis Scott’ “Circus Maximus” Europe tour this summer.

“As social and streaming continue to drive fan-to-artist relationships in real time, they are simultaneously driving demand for shows,” Al-joulani says. “There’s no lag in developing fans in different parts of the world, so artists are eager to get to markets early.” The business strategy is clear: an ongoing global show expansion to meet the increasing demand.

One aspect of global touring that stands out to Al-joulani is the number of latin shows across the globe, which continues to grow. “Latin artists are finding success in markets they haven’t traditionally expansively toured in,” he says, adding, “a great example of this is Karol G selling out her upcoming Europe tour across arenas and stadiums,” which includes two sold-out nights at London’s O2 in July.

Karol G is repeating success in Latin America, where she recently broke a record by moving 104,686 tickets across two shows at Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, March 9-10, beating the mark set by Coldplay.

She’s also sold out national stadiums in Argentina (82,818 tickets, $4.3 million grossed across two shows), Chile (168,120, $14.8 million, three shows), Peru (79,796, $10 million, two shows) and her native Colombia (88,573, $12.3 million two shows).