Pollstar Live! 2026: International Networking Session Highlights

Pollstar Live has been hosting an international networking session in pervious years. What used to be a simple lunch for the international delegates to meet and talk got a significant upgrade for the 2026 edition.

Placed prominently on the eve of Pollstar Live! 2026, it marked the unofficial conference kick-off and featured a dedicated panel discussion with some of the international industry’s most prolific professionals: Meagan Walker, Group Director Arenas at Legends Global (Australia), Finn Regenhold, Head of International Marketing at Semmel Concerts (Germany), Gabriel García Ardila, CEO of Paramo Presenta (Colombia), Lawrence Harradine, Associate Director, Content & Brand at Coca-Cola Arena Dubai (UAE), Michael Brill, CEO, D.Live (Germany), and Juan Pablo Rodriguez Guiñez, Promoter Representative at DG Medios (Chile).

Topics included the general health of the market, seeing that the world has been hit with yet another increase in fuel and energy prices as a result of the war in the Middle East. But before the panelists chimed in on whether those effect could already be felt in their respective businesses, Harradine gave a much-needed update from the region.

He said that a lot about the actual situation on site got misrepresented in the Western media for various reasons. The government of the Emirates knew exactly what it was doing, making the population feel safe in spite of the attacks, making Harradine generally optimistic that international shows would be able to return soon, maybe as early as May even, although it was hard to get specific about a reopening of the market in a situation like this.

The remaining panelists all said that the conflict had not affected their respective businesses just yet. In fact, everybody had nothing but positive things to say about touring activity and ticket sales in their respective markets, looking at record results in many instances.

Few exceptions confirm the rule. In Australia, for instance, Walker mentioned a tour that would have usually included Perth in the west after visiting Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in the east, but didn’t this time because of how much it costs to lug the full production across the entire continent.

The stadium boom was touched on, and panelists agreed that it would only continue for the foreseeable future. D.Live is building an 80,000-capacity open-air park in Düsseldorf, Germany, a city that already has a 54,000-capacity stadium, and Brill talked about what that says about touring habits, fan expectation and more. He explained how going to see a show inside a stadium was becoming an event in its own right, irrespective of who was performing.

It emerged that one of the biggest challenges in 2026 was getting avails inside arenas and stadiums. Dates for 2027 at Movistar Arena in Santiago de Chile, for instance, were already extremely limited, as Guiñez explained. He also talked about how Chile was now the third-biggest concert market in South America, with concert activity in general at a historic high.

This chimed a lot with what Ardila had to say about Colombia, where the main arena in Bogotá is also sponsored by Movistar.

If anything, the South American markets could use more venues of different capacities as the circuit was lacking in the mid-capacity range, making it unnecessarily hard to develop the next generation of local talent – which is incredibly rich in the region, as the current generation of some of the world’s biggest music stars proves.

Plans and projects are underway to mitigate that situation, both Ardila and Guiñez could confirm as much.

Regenhold gave an overview of alternative event formats outside of the classic concert experience that were doing well, including exhibitions and family shows – two very different animals when it comes to how they’re produced and the type of fans they attract, as he explained. Pooling from Semmel Concerts’ vast event calendar, of which concerts remain the heart, it also became clear that the Germany-based company is a true pan-European promoter in 2026.

Differences between markets emerged as well, including buying habits of fans (late in Germany, early in Chile, for instance), and their overall spending power, which is lower in South America than it is in Europe or Australia, for example. Ardila and Guiñez warned that if the industry wanted the market to continue to grow, artists and their teams should be mindful how much they charge in fees, and consider adjusting to match what their South American fans are able to spend.

The session ended with panelists talking about trends and opportunities going forward, and what else would be important to make sure this industry remains the exciting and successful industry it currently is. All panelists agreed that the experience had to remain at the heart of all considerations, both the fan’s as well as the artist’s and their team’s.

Around 75 people from Pollstar Live’s international delegation attended. Thanks to this year’s sponsors of the International Networking Session at Pollstar Live! 2026 – Coca-Cola Arena, Lotus, Theory 11, DG Medios, D.Live, Paramo Presenta, Semmel Concerts, and the Paris Entertainment Company – the event featured an open bar, where delegates continued to network long after the panel had ended.

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