#209

Author

Back of House
June 25, 2024

Issue #209

Weather continues to impact events in a major way with several delays and cancellations over the weekend. And it wasn’t just weather affecting festival plans, artist cancellations and low ticket sales also forced event producers to roll out contingency plans. As for refunds - they’re hopefully coming soon - unless the event was in Mexico.

Credit: Pollstar

Rise of weather risks and contingency plans ⚡

Severe weather driven by climate change is increasingly impacting summer festivals, posing new risks for outdoor events. Rising temperatures, unpredictable storms, and extreme weather conditions are becoming the norm rather than the exception with more frequent disruptions, cancellations (👀cancellations section below), and safety concerns for outdoor music events. Not only is professional weather monitoring a must, but so are contingency plans - including evacuation, re-entry, and cancellation -  to mitigate these threats and ensure the safety and success of outdoor events.

Just walk out of O2 concession stands

London’s O2 Arena will implement Amazon’s “just walk out” technology in concession stands starting this summer. This is despite Amazon removing the same technology from its own Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores recently and the tech giant revealing that it requires “about 700 human reviews per 1,000 sales.” There is speculation that with fewer SKUs in the concession stands, this deployment will be easier to train its machine learning model. ExCel London and The SSE Arena in Belfast also use the “just walk out” tech.

Ticketmaster Mexico recently disclosed a new clause to ticket purchasers, letting them know that if one of the artists doesn’t perform, the purchaser will not get a refund. Mexico’s Federal Consumer Protection Agency - the Procuraduía Federal del Consumidor (PROFECO) - issued a warning that Ticketmaster could be in violation of multiple articles of the Federal Consumer Protection Law, including that the consumer has the right to request a refund and the provider has an obligation to respect the services offered.

Netflix has announced that it will open two Netflix Houses in Dallas, TX and King of Prussia, PA next year. The “experiential entertainment venues” build on the streaming company’s live experiences and aim to bring their “most beloved titles to life” in a dedicated venue that will be open year-round. The venues will serve as marketing vehicles to support their streaming subscription business.

60 festivals and 10 authorities have joined Julie’s Bicycle and Vision: 2025 in their efforts to test how The Green Events Code of Practice (GECoP) can be adopted across the UK. The GECoP “aims to establish clear, consistent, affordable, and workable minimum voluntary standards for sustainability in events nationally.” The overall goal of the code is to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030. The project will report on its findings in December.

Global investment firm KKR has acquired Superstruct Entertainment from private equity firm Providence Equity Partners. European festival giant Superstruct owns over 80 festivals including Wacken Open Air, Defqon.1, Parookaville, Sziget, Tinderbox, Boardmasters, and Sónar, in 10 countries across Europe and Australia. The deal is reportedly valued at $1.4 billion.

In addition to its work with GECoP, Julie’s Bicycle has launched a free one-year pilot of the Carbon Calculator project in the US in partnership with Impala and A2IM and supported by Merlin. This initiative allows independent music companies to measure and reduce their carbon footprints and includes workshops, feedback sessions, and personalized support for participants. The Carbon Calculator, already used by some US labels, standardizes carbon reporting in line with global protocols. This pilot aims to adapt the tool for broader use in the US market and foster international collaboration on sustainability efforts.

Pearl Jam fans in the UK are feeling ripped off after entering a lottery to purchase tickets, seeing prices driven up due to dynamic pricing, and now finding out that the tour has slashed prices due to low ticket sales. Tickets for the June 29th stop at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium started at $159 when the first went on sale and were recently as low as $62.55, through Ticketmaster. The venue has also been running TV ads in an effort to boost sales.

  • EZoo has announced refund plans 9 months after its September 2023 debacle. The festival has made no mention of a 2024 edition.

  • Data from the first million stolen Ticketmaster records was released for free by hackers because, “Ticketmaster will not respond to requests to buy data from us.“

  • The lawsuit where concert-goers sued Madonna over a late start time has been dismissed without settlement.

  • Live Nation is trying to get an anticompetitive lawsuit settled by arbitration, but judges call the new arbiter’s rules “nuts.”

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Headliners, Lineups, and Festival Announcements 

  • Jelly Roll will perform in Canada for the first time on July 8 at the Meridian Center in St. Catharines, Ontario and again at Ottawa Bluesfest on July 9. The milestone is significant for the country artist as his prior felonies have prevented him from crossing US borders until now.

  • Sabrina Carpenter has announced the 29-date “Short n’ Sweet Tour,” starting August 10 at Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco, CA, traveling across the US and Canada, and wrapping November 15 at Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles, CA. 

  • Riley Green and Gary LeVox will headline Nashville's Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on September 14 - 15 at the Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, TN.

  • Global Citizen Festival in New York City’s Central Park will feature Post Malone, Doja Cat, Jelly Roll, and Rauw Alejandro on September 28.

  • Warm Love Cool Dreams, a new multi-genre festival boasting no overlapping sets, is coming to The Salt Shed in Chicago, IL September 28 - 29 with The Jesus Lizard, Kelela, Sextile, Floating Points, King Woman, and Shabaka.

  • Tash Sultana, Sublime, Killer Mike, Chris Lake, and Black Pumas will headline Hulaween, October 24 - 27 at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, FL. The festival will have new/old ownership this year with co-founder Michael Berg returning along with new partners Chris Den Uijl and Aaron Ampudia.

  • EDC Orlando announced Eric Prydz , Kaskade b2b Alison Wonderland, and ZEDS DEAD, November 8 - 10 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, FL.

  • Luke Bryan’s Crash My Playa, produced by Playa Luna, will celebrate 10 years in Cancún with Jason Aldean, Kane Brown, Bailey Zimmerman and of course, Dustin Lynch, January 15 - 18.

  • Playa Luna will also host Phish’s return to Moon Palace Cancún in Mexico for another edition of Phish: Riviera Maya, January 29 - February 1.

  • Danny Wimmer Presents has announced that Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival will return to Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, OH May 8 - 11 and Welcome To Rockville will return to Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL, May 15 - 18.

Cancellations

  • Weather was a challenge for festivals this weekend. Country Jam canceled Thursday and delayed opening on Friday (they are “working on” refunds for Thursday), Electric Forest evacuated twice during the weekend and ultimately canceled the rest of the day on Sunday (fans calling for refunds), and several fests proceeded despite the high temps across the country.

  • Willie Nelson was forced to miss the opening weekend of the Outlaw Music Festival tour, per doctor’s orders. The 91 year old sat out the festival’s stops in Alpharetta, GA, Charlotte, NC, and Raleigh, NC over the weekend, but is expected to rejoin the tour this week.

  • Tyler, the Creator canceled his Lollapalooza and Outside Lands appearances (quickly replaced by Megan Thee Stallion and Sabrina Carpenter, respectively). He said [sic], “i made a commitment that i can no longer keep… that is not sexy at all. please please forgive me or call me names when you see me in person. Love.”

  • As more and more festivals are canceling this year, questions abound around festivals cooling off and festivals facing an “extinction event.” Or perhaps it’s a time for opportunity.

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