"Selling out a venue such as London's O2 Arena used to be considered a high point of an artist's career. Now, selling out just one night there might seem a bit underwhelming. Raye and Olivia Dean will play six nights apiece at the 20,000-capacity hall this year; Dave is playing four, Ariana Grande is playing a whopping 10. Harry Styles, never one to be outdone, last month announced a staggering 30 dates at New York's Madison Square Garden,"
"with more than 11 million people applying for presale access, as well as a record-breaking 12 nights at Wembley stadium: the most on a single leg of a tour. Taylor Swift managed a mere eight. Swift's Eras tour, which made more than $2bn (1.6bn), doesn't seem a complete outlier any more: Coldplay's Music of the Spheres tour has lasted four years and made $1.5bn, and the Weeknd's After Hours Til Dawn tour is also four years deep and has crossed the $1bn mark."
Stadium and arena residencies have expanded from single-night milestones to multi-night, multi-city runs, with major artists booking dozens of dates at landmark venues. Superstars such as Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, Coldplay and the Weeknd have generated billion-dollar tour revenues and attracted millions of ticket requests. Governments and promoters have intervened to secure shows and national exclusives. Post-Covid pent-up demand and generationally devoted fanbases fuel repeated attendance for mega-stars. The concentration of multi-night residencies and revenue at the top end raises concerns that the biggest acts may overshadow smaller artists and the broader live-music ecosystem.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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