Live Nation Reportedly Looking For German Rock In Rio Site

 Live Nation is eyeing the D.Live Open Air Park in Düsseldorf as possible location for its Rock In Rio brand, according to local German media reports.

– Rock In Rio
The festival’s next stop could be Germany

WDR.de reported to have obtained an email, in which Düsseldorf’s mayor Thomas Geisel is informing his council factions about interests raised by “the promoter of Rock in Rio.”

According to the report, Live Nation is looking for a definite ‘yes’ or ‘no’ from the city by the end of the month on the question of staging a Rock In Rio on Düsseldorf’s D.Live Open Air Park. A ‘yes’ would mean that the touring festival brand will come to Germany in the summer of 2019.

Live Nation acquired Rock in Rio earlier this year. Originating in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as the name suggests, it has since taken place in Madrid, Spain, and Lisbon, Portugal, usually in the years the Brazil edition took a break. Rock in Rio also came to Las Vegas, NV in 2015 for a one off.

Live Nation’s president Europe-concerts John Reid touched on the acquisition in a recent interview with Pollstar. He said, “we’re looking for acquisitions where we believe there’s an opportunity for us to help grow that festival or that business. The question is always: where can we add value? Can we help them with talent, with ticketing or with sponsorship, to help them commercialize their business? Where can we make a difference, and create a symbiotic relationship?”

Andre Lieberberg, president of Live Nation Germany, Austria and Switzerland, hinted at last year’s Reeperbahn Festival conference in Hamburg that there were more festival moves to be expected from Live Nation in the GSA territories.

Live Nation Europe and Live Nation GSA weren’t reachable for comment.

Getting a permit from the city of Düsseldorf for a German Rock In Rio may prove trickier than expected, as another promoter recently found out.

FKP Scorpio had announced a July 22 Ed Sheeran concert at D.Live Open Air Park, only to have the city of Düsseldorf deny it from going ahead this month, forcing FKP and Ed Sheeran’s management to jump through hoops in order to move the concert to a different location and still make it happen.

While the official story was that the political debate revolved around 104 trees that would have had to be felled to accommodate the production, as well as some residents fearing noise disturbances, an insider familiar with the proceedings told Pollstar that it seemed more like the different factions in city council were trying to get one over on each other – while the parties of SPD and FDP were in favor of the concert, CDU and the Green Party were against it.

FKP Scorpio CEO Folkert Koopmans said it had been the first time in his company’s almost 30-year history of promoting major concerts and festivals, that a city council deviated from what has become an established approval procedure in the live entertainment business.

He told Pollstar that he would be worried if political power games started affecting best practices in the staging of live events.