2022 Impact 50: Arthur Fogel

President, Global Touring & Chairman, Concerts
Live Nation

Bono once declared Arthur Fogel to be “clearly the most important person in live music in the world.”

The U2 frontman would know. Fogel has steered the touring for some of the world’s biggest musicians, including U2, which cracked the billion-dollar mark in the 2010s en route to becoming the decade’s highest-grossing touring act, in no small part thanks to their longtime promoter’s skill and savvy.

As the live industry continues to regain its footing in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, count on major Fogel artists – in addition to U2, he also oversees touring for Beyoncé, Madonna and Justin Timberlake – to lead the charge at the sector’s highest echelons and to help orchestrate the business’ most eye-popping concert tours.

In 2022, Fogel has Sting’s “My Songs Tour” and Lady Gaga’s “The Chromatica Ball” on deck, the latter of which will take the iconoclastic pop star to stadiums in Europe, Japan and the United States this summer.

The tour, which brings to fruition a concept that was announced just days before the live business shuttered in March 2020 and was originally booked for that year, represents Gaga’s first proper tour since the “Joanne World Tour,” which grossed $112.8 million total in 2017 and 2018, and follows her successful Las Vegas residency, which debuted in December 2018 and wowed audiences both before and after the pandemic.

Given his influence, it’s worth listening when Fogel contemplates the state of the live industry and its future.

“I don’t recall any time during my history in this business thus far where we have not faced challenges,” he tells Pollstar. “As a touring industry, we have many talented, skilled and resilient folks who are very very good at making things happen despite those challenges.

That is exactly what is happening now, as it has happened before – we’re continuing to be resourceful, creative and move forward as a team.”