Bring Me the Horizon collaborated with the world-renowned Mystery of Bulgarian Voices choir at this year's Hills of Rock festival, which, according to Stefan Elenkov, founder and CEO of festival promoter Fest Team, “totally drove the crowd wild.” (Photo courtesy of Fest Team)
If you thought the stadium year was over, look no further than Eastern Europe, where this year's acts included Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Rammstein and Metallica. When Pollstar reached Simon Jones, senior vice president of international touring for AEG Presents, he was in the middle of a three-night Taylor Swift show at PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw, Poland, where she broke the record for most attendees by an artist at a single show (box office results had not been reported to Pollstar at the time of writing).
80,000 fans, $15 million local impact: Ed Sheeran sets Baltic ticket sales record
Live Nation also celebrated records in Eastern Europe, where Coldplay became “the first band to sell out three shows in Budapest's new Puskas Stadium, as well as Athens and Bucharest,” according to Steven Todd, Live Nation's managing director of concerts for Central and Eastern Europe, “and Metallica's 'Weekend of a Once in a Lifetime' in Warsaw drew hundreds of thousands of fans and sold out both nights.”
Electric Castle celebrated its 10th anniversary from July 17-21, welcoming a record crowd of 68,000 to the spectacular venue of the 15th-century Banfi Castle in Transylvania, Romania, with acts including Chase & Status, Bring Me the Horizon, Massive Attack, Rema, Sean Paul and Paulo Nutini. (Photo: Cristina Vaj)
The region's most famous festivals are going big: Electric Castle, held at Banfi Castle in Transylvania, Romania, closed its 10th edition with record-breaking attendance, with up to 68,000 people per day enjoying a lineup that included Chase & Status, Bring Me the Horizon, Massive Attack, Rema, Sean Paul and Paulo Nutini.
The 21st Colors of Ostrava, held in the Czech Republic from 17-20 July, attracted 53,000 visitors, including 867 disabled people, around 3,000 children, and around 1,000 seniors who got in for free on the final day. Hungary's Sziget was just getting started as this issue went to print, and Serbia's flagship festival EXIT attracted 210,000 visitors from 80 countries over four days from 10-14 July.
EXIT founder and CEO Dusan Kovacevic told Pollstar that the post-COVID economy remains an issue, especially supply chain costs, which skyrocketed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. “The situation has worsened,” he said. “In the Netherlands and the UK alone, more than 100 festivals have been canceled this year. It's crazy, isn't it? The reason is the incredibly high supply prices. This is a real problem that is difficult to address. One of our strategies is to talk to all our supporters and stakeholders, corporate sponsors, governments, tourist boards, etc., to get them to help us more to keep it affordable, especially for locals who live in the Balkans. We don't want to change that too much. We want EXIT to be for the general public. We don't want to create an elite gathering.”
Hills of Rock, Bulgaria's largest rock and metal festival, drew more than 60,000 spectators over three days from July 25th to 27th, with headliners such as Korn, Bring Me the Horizon, and Amon Amarth. According to Stefan, one of the highlights of the festival was
“It was a collaboration between the world-famous Mystery of Bulgarian Voices and Bring Me the Horizon, who performed the intro to 'Parasite Eve' together on stage and got the crowd going. It was a remarkable and memorable moment that demonstrated our ability to create unique and unforgettable live music experiences,” said Elenkov, founder and CEO of promotion company Festteam.
According to box office reports submitted to Pollstar, Andre Rieu performed at Poland's Atlas Arena on May 30 and sold all 10,230 tickets available, grossing $796,627. (Photo courtesy of Atlas Arena)
We contacted Maciek Laski, CEO of Poland's Atlas Arena to get a glimpse of what the building is up to, who told us, “Business and shows are booming. Last month alone we hosted Sting, Sir Rod Stewart and Lenny Kravitz. Earlier this year we had two Depeche Mode concerts and the Men's Volleyball Nations League final. The coming months are going to be extremely busy, with 13 concerts scheduled for October alone. The list of artists performing at our venue includes Nick Cave, Bryan Adams, Seal, Take That, Melanie Martinez, Within Temptation, Il Volo, SUM41, Dream Theater and many more.”
“The number of events held at Atlas Arena has been steadily increasing, with a number of events planned but not yet announced for 2025. We are currently booking shows for the second half of 2025 and the first month of 2026. The packed schedule is a rather positive feedback to our work, which shows that the improvements we have made to our business model are being well received and appreciated by promoters,” Laski said.
One big change has been the opening up of the adjacent Sports Arena for live events. “To meet market expectations and demand, we have started booking events in our second, smaller venue, the Sports Arena,” explains Laski. “This venue can accommodate approximately 4,000 spectators and is ideal for certain artists and shows. With a number of exciting shows already hosted here and some great concerts lined up for 2025, this was another welcome change to our business model.”
Laski is especially pleased with the growing area of family entertainment, which includes shows such as Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live, the motocross show Freestyle Heroes and Paw Patrol, as well as the arena's green initiative, “Green Arena.” “The project aims to increase biodiversity and permeability in the surrounding area (including the parking lot) and reduce concrete desertification. This is just the first step in this plan. Over the next few years, we plan to install a solar parking canopy to reduce our carbon footprint and lower our energy costs.”
Fest Team has acquired Charmenko, one of the most experienced promoters in the Balkans. The company has promotion and artist agency operations in Turkey, Poland, Serbia, Czech Republic and Croatia. Elenkov said the acquisition of Charmenko was “transformative for Fest Team. By combining our expertise in organizing large-scale music events with Charmenko's strong artist booking capabilities and industry know-how, we aim to create synergies that will redefine the music industry. This combination will streamline our ability to connect artists with venues and festivals, allowing us to offer comprehensive solutions that enhance the overall experience for both performers and audiences.”
Regarding ticket prices, he continued: “Currently, ticket prices in Bulgaria and neighbouring countries are not on a par with those in Western Europe. However, we expect that once Bulgaria adopts the euro and joins the Schengen Agreement, prices will have to adapt accordingly. However, this will not happen immediately and will take time.”
“There are people who are willing to pay higher prices for tickets” as long as they are affordable, Jones said, stressing that “this is an evolutionary process, just as prices remain higher in key European markets compared to the US and Asia.”
Ed Sheeran performed at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, one of the most cutting edge buildings in Eastern Europe, on July 20th. (Photo credit: eps)
Infrastructure giant EPS provides equipment for numerous tours around the world, and opened an office in Poland in 2008, giving it a unique grasp of the spaces and venues in Eastern Europe. For Ed Sheeran's Eastern European tour, the company
Procurement of materials took place for stadiums and arenas in Hradec Kralove (Czech Republic), Gdańsk (Poland), Budapest (Hungary), Bucharest (Romania), Sofia (Bulgaria), Belgrade (Serbia) and Kaunas (Lithuania). “Generally, we deal with modern stadiums and arenas, but also venues that already have some age,” said Sebastian Toby, managing director of eps Event Holding, and therefore decided that they did not necessarily need additional buildings, but rather renovated or modernized buildings.
“Some of the stadiums are world class and there are some really impressive buildings in Poland, Hungary and Romania. Some are brand new and designed with live concerts and large scale productions in mind. There are also fantastic new arenas and older arenas with a good reputation that can accommodate large international productions. There are also many beautiful theatres and challenging clubs to work in, but the more artists that get involved, the more it helps build and maintain the infrastructure,” Jones said.
“Overall, Eastern Europe offers a great selection of venues to tour with. There's plenty of demand for shows and Prague and Warsaw are great locations for some big venues. There's still a lot of opportunity for growth in the region which is exciting,” said Todd. Budapest stood out in terms of its live infrastructure. According to Todd, “The new MVM Dome Arena and Puskas Stadium have led to a massive growth in Hungary's live music scene over the last few years.”
Toby believes that “Eastern Europe has been underserved by international artists over the past few years, so there is a sizable market for many artists to (re)conquer. This, coupled with an increase in domestic artists reaching arena and stadium size, makes us very positive about the next few years for Eastern Europe, assuming the entertainment industry as a whole remains healthy.”
Elenkov acknowledged the strength of local talent, saying, “Local artists are important to the business. While international stars draw big crowds, local bands are the soul of the community. It's our responsibility to showcase local talent and give them the stage they deserve. They help create a vibrant and authentic music scene that resonates with audiences.”
Laski confirmed the same for Poland, saying: “As in previous years, Polish artists are filling arenas while touring, which is a sign of a healthy and prosperous music market with an abundance of different shows for everyone to enjoy.”
Fans at the Maneskin concert at one of the world's most spectacular amphitheatres, Mejaparks Great Bandstand, Latvia, May 18, 2023. (Photo by Inga Vitele)
Gints Putnins, talent buyer at Latvia's L-Tips agency, worked with AEG Presents and FKP Scorpio to promote Ed Sheeran's concert at the new Darius Il Gileno Stadium in Kaunas on August 3rd and 4th, which set an international audience record in the Baltic state. He acknowledged the rise of local talent, saying: “I started in this business in 1989 and at the beginning I only promoted local artists. Since 2001 I've only worked with international artists, but in recent years there has been a surge in shows for local artists.”
Only an economic recovery will accelerate growth in the region, and Putnin is already seeing signs of this in some markets. “I won't hide that it's difficult, because production costs are still rising. A good example is the OneRepublic show that we are promoting. We announced and budgeted the show just before the pandemic hit. The show was held in May 2022, at which point most of our production costs had increased by 50-100%. The increase has slowed down, but it is still noticeable. Lithuania's economy, which has grown rapidly in recent years, is able to partially absorb it. It's difficult in Estonia, but there are forecasts that the economy will resume growth at the end of the year or the beginning of next year, although the VAT increase starting in 2025 is a concern. The weakest country in the Baltic is Latvia, where growth lags far behind its neighbors.”
Live Nation's Todd acknowledged, “We're seeing economic growth in many Eastern European markets, which is the benefit of infrastructure investment. The line-up of artists touring the region is fantastic and fans are more interested in going to live shows. Overall it's a positive situation.”
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