Live Affair on Stade de France’s biggest concert

French digital music giant Believe has opened up on its future live plans after staging the biggest concert ever held at the Stade de France.

The Paris-based company’s Live Affair division promoted Jul’s sold-out gig in Saint-Denis last month, which drew a record 97,816 crowd to the national stadium. The previous benchmark was set by pop-rock band Indochine, who played to 97,036 fans three years ago.

Jul has worked with Believe since 2015, with Live Affair’s relationship with the rapper beginning with his 2022 Orange Velodrome (cap. 70,000) show in his hometown of Marseille.

Live Affair director general Stéphane Wehrlé tells IQ the request to play the Stade de France came from Jul himself around two years ago.

“Considering the rarity of the artist and his huge and relevant audience, we were pretty confident it would sell out, but didn’t expect such a massive demand for the show and for it to sell out so quickly – in just a few minutes,” he says. “There were more than one million fans in the queue trying to get tickets, which has never happened before for a concert in France. The show itself became a cultural moment because of this demand, before he even hit the stage.”

It wasn’t until late in the day, however, that the prospect of breaking the venue’s attendance record became a serious possibility.

“What we set out to do, of course, was to maximise attendance as much as possible,” says Wehrlé. “We also wanted to go further than what we did with the shows in Marseille in 2022, so we went with a central stage, which was a whole new level of production and allowed us to make sure we could make the event as big as possible. We knew that the demand would be crazy – so we had to deliver.

“We only realised that we might be able to break the Stade de France record quite late. It was in the last week before the show, once we were able to sell the final tickets after the production was all set up.
Having this many people brings with it its own unique challenges, like implementing the right security and transportation measures with the authorities, because you’re trying to account for nearly 100,000 people. But everything went great.”

“Jul has only played four gigs in the last three years, but they have all been massive. Every time he performs, it is one of the biggest live events in France”

The rapper is set to perform two hometown stadium shows at the Orange Velodrome tonight and tomorrow (23-24 May). And Wehrlé explains that less is more where the 35-year-old’s touring activity is concerned.

“In general, Jul doesn’t do many live shows,” says Wehrlé. “In fact, he has only played four gigs in the last three years, but they have all been massive and every time he performs, it is one of the biggest live events in France.”

The most-certified domestic act of all time alongside the late Johnny Hallyday, Jul was the most-streamed French artist on Spotify in 2024. But there are currently no plans for him to tour abroad.

“At this stage we don’t have any plans for international shows.” says Wehrlé. “We know Jul has a pretty large audience outside of France, so who knows what he could be thinking in the future.

“When it comes to live shows, Jul might want to maintain the same approach, keeping the performances rare. But of course, we are thinking about formats that could work for his future live career with this approach in mind.”

Stade de France also held sold out concerts by domestic artists Ninho and DJ Snake this month, and welcomed Burna Boy in April. It will host Beyoncé for three nights on 19 & 21-22 June. Wehrlé gives a mixed assessment of the French live sector as a whole.

“Like in many territories, rap and urban artists are leading the market right now, with competition becoming more and more fierce,” he adds.
”Similar to the UK, a lot of festivals have had trouble finding a viable model for a number of reasons. Historical ones are having issues with renewing their audience over time, while newer ones can struggle to get a solid foothold in a competitive market.”

“We intend to accelerate our growth organically in the live market in France and continue to develop synergies with Believe’s different labels”

He continues: “To me, it is a real concern for the whole industry, and we will need to find solutions collectively to avoid a serious crash in the festival business.
Similar to most countries around the world, we’ve seen production costs rise by around 40% over the last four years, which means ticket prices will need to continue to rise for big acts.

“The market is continuing to concentrate on the biggest acts, in arenas and stadiums, with rising tickets prices. At the same time, we are facing real budget issues concerning developing artists playing in clubs and festivals.”

Believe houses five live music entities in total – Live Affair, Zouave, Uni-t, Play Two Live and Structure – that are either run in-house or through subsidiaries. The French-based entities are responsible for around 1,500 shows a year for more than 100 artists. Live Affair was created within Believe in 2019.

“For Live Affair specifically, we run around 300 gigs a year, ranging from small clubs to festivals and of course stadiums as well,” says Wehrlé. “We have a roster of around 15 artists, most of which are Believe artists. We’ve been doing this since 2020, and our mission is to accompany our artists in their live endeavours, cultivating a family spirit and helping to develop them at every stage of their career, with respect, expertise, fairness and transparency.”

Other notable Live Affair presentations have included an arena tour with French rapper SDM and new rap festival Golden Coast, which launched last year in Dijon, in the east of France.

“The second edition will take place in September with a 25,000 capacity per day over three days,” adds Wehrlé. “That’s our next big challenge.
More generally, we intend to accelerate our growth organically in the live market in France and continue to develop synergies with Believe’s different labels, to best serve artists’ development at each stage of their careers.”

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