PARIS 2024: How The Concert Industry Is Working With — And Around — The Summer Olympics

2024 is a big year for sports in Europe. The UEFA Euro 2024 semifinals recently wrapped with Spain defeating England, 2-1, on July 14 at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.

Two weeks later, the 2024 Summer Olympics will take over the French capital of Paris for two weeks.

Several buildings utilized for the Olympic and Paralympic Games are also popular concert venues. These include Stade de France, the country’s 80,000-capacity national stadium; Paris La Défense Arena, Europe’s largest indoor stadium at 40,000 capacity for concerts; the 20,000-capacity Accor Arena; and the brand-new adidas arena, which opened in February with a capacity of 8,000 for sports and 9,000 for concerts.

Thankfully, mega sports events are announced years in advance, giving live entertainment professionals a heads up when planning events. Matthieu Drouot, CEO of promoter Gérard Drouot Productions, summed it up: “2024 is a difficult year in France, because the Olympics in Paris have a real impact on venue availability. We cannot get Stade de France for the whole year, we cannot get Paris la Défense Arena from May to October, because they are building a swimming pool into the arena. And we cannot get the Bercy (Accor Arena) in July, August and September, so it has a huge impact.”

Drouot has worked to find alternatives, moving his Bruce Springsteen show to
Marseille’s Orange Vélodrome, for example, a show that was ultimately postponed to 2025 due to vocal issues cited by The Boss.

“We could have obviously played Stade de France in Paris; I could have done two nights,” he said. For an AC/DC date, he was able to get a date at another Olympic site in Paris, the Hippodrome Paris Longchamp, where the Rolling Stones played two years ago.

“The show’s on Aug. 13, which was the only date that fit both the band’s and the Hippodrome’s schedule, which was not available in May, June, July,” Drouot said.

“Måneskin will play Rock en Seine festival, which, despite the Olympics, got the green light. So, we are adjusting to the challenges.”

Ultimately, he says the challenges can be overcome but are not ideal.

“It will be a good year, because tickets are selling, but it will not be as good as it could have been, considering the demand for tickets and the availability of artists to do live shows,” he said.

Angelo Gopee, managing director of Live Nation France, said 2023 was strong and he’s hopeful 2024 will end up even better, although the Olympics present some scheduling challenges.

“With the Olympic Games being hosted in Paris, we do not have access to the Stade De France or other Olympic venues for shows between July and September,” Gopee said. “However, thanks to the diversification of our business over recent years, we will still have a good year.”

As an example of options for music fans despite, he mentioned Live Nation’s Main Square Festival, which took place in Arras, France, featuring Lenny Kravitz, Avril Lavigne, Armin van Buuren, Bombay Bicycle Club, Placebo and Sam Smith.

Perhaps surprisingly, buildings hosting the Olympic and Paralympic events may be taking a hit in terms of ticket sales and overall attendance compared to a non-Olympics year.
Frédéric Longuépée, CEO and president of Paris la Défense Arena, said, “In 2023, Paris La Défense welcomed almost 1,000,000 visitors, with 22 concert events accounting for 65% of the total activity (65 events). In other words, one third of the events held at Paris La Défense Arena attracted 65% of visitors,” or about 650,000 in concrete numbers.

In 2024, Longuépée and his team expect about 800,000 visitors in total, not counting spectators at the Paris 2024 Olympic swimming and para-swimming events.

“The Olympic Games organizing committee will occupy the venue for five months,” Longuépée. “Over the same period in 2023, we welcomed 475,000 spectators. In other words, without the Olympics, we would have welcomed around 1.3 million spectators, or 30% more than in 2023. Attendance in 2024 is still driven by the concert business, with 60% of visitors to 16 events.”

In 2023, Paris La Défense Arena hosted nine concerts at the building’s largest capacity of 40,000-plus, including two shows each by Bruce Springsteen, Pink, and Imagine Dragons. Since then, the building has increased its capacity to 43,000 and, in 2024, a total of six shows will make use of it, including Taylor Swift doing four concerts, Sum41 and an Afterlife club event.

“We’ll also be hosting a C-Pop concert, two Joe Hisaishi dates, two Michel Sardou dates, and the Black Eyed Peas concert,” he said,

The only new concert venue that’s part of the overall Olympic lineup is adidas arena, which opened in the La Chapelle neighborhood of Paris in February. It is operated by the Paris Entertainment Company, which is majority owned by the city of Paris, with AEG a minority stakeholder. Paris Entertainment Company also operates the iconic Bataclan theater, as well as Accor Arena, which will host Olympic and Paralympic events this summer.

“We are very proud to be the delegated producers of the Olympic and Paralympic events that will take place in two of our venues, on behalf of the COJO (Comité d’Organisation des Jeux Olympiques),” said Paris Entertainment Company CEO Nicolas Dupeux. “We will handle everything from technical services to hospitality, security, catering, media, volunteers, broadcast lighting, etc. We organize and set up the sites, ensuring that they are operational, and providing the associated services. This once again demonstrates the recognition of our expertise, not only in hospitality but also in production.”

During the Games, adidas arena will host badminton and rhythmic gymnastics.

He described the arrival of adidas arena on the local venue scene as a positive disruption.
“Adidas arena is revolutionizing the customer experience, and breaks hospitality codes – its Skybar overlooking the arena is unique in France – immersing spectators in the trendy world of street culture, and taking full advantage of the urban lifestyle and Greater Paris,” Depeux said.

Its programming includes a resident tenant Paris Basketball of the LNB Pro A and EuroCup leagues, plus other sports. The venue recently hosted the SLS 2024 Skateboard event and is preparing to host MMA fights, and esports’ League of Legends quarterfinals and semifinals. Concerts are part of the lineup, including The Kid Laroi and Within Temptation as well as family shows like Disney on Ice’s “Frozen and Encanto.”

The only building adidas arena will be in competition with capacity-wise is Le Zénith Paris – La Villette, which has a capacity of about 6,500 depending on the configuration. The iconic building has hosted legends like Amy Winehouse, Janet Jackson, Blur, Nas, Björk, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Bruce Springsteen and Alicia Keys in its 40-year history.

This year, with the Olympic Games in town, the Zénith will turn into the Holland Heineken House, serving as host venue for the Dutch teams and its athletes.

“It’s a very exciting project for our teams, because we’re going to transform the Zénith into a real outdoor and indoor living space, with a wide range of activities,” said venue director Lily Fisher.

2024 is still all about the music, though, with many shows sold out, according to Fisher, including concerts from Zaho de Sagazan, Black Pumas, Tom Odell, Nile Rodgers & Chic and Rod Stewart.