Arena Market: Philippines
The Beatles decided to retire from touring altogether after an unpleasant episode in Manila in 1966, but plenty of others have made the trip since. The Philippines saw gigs by Coldplay and Dua Lipa in 2024, as well as Filipino-American singer Olivia Rodrigo’s biggest show to date, and more than 2.1m fans attended 154 concerts in the archipelagic country last year.
Typically, international acts focus in and around the capital. Metro Manila itself is a vast sprawl of 16 cities on the shore of Manila Bay, with a combined population of 14.8m and the city of Manila at its heart.
The Philippines has the world’s biggest indoor arena in the 55,000-cap Philippine Arena in Bulacan, about an hour north of Manila – commissioned by Iglesia ni Cristo (the Church of Christ) for its Centennial Celebration in 2014.
Coldplay brought their Music of the Spheres tour to the venue in January 2024 and sold a record 96,000+ tickets across two nights. Lipa and Rodrigo also played there – the latter in a “Pinoy Pride” tank top and “Miss So Filipina” sash – while girl group BINI became the first…
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