Arena Market: South Africa

South Africa’s considerable reliability in infrastructure and audience readiness makes it the top anchor for continental routing. With the opening of The Dome in Johannesburg, the country is doubling down on its position as a premier destination for arena-level live entertainment in Africa.

Unveiled in 2025, through a partnership between Live Nation, Big Concerts, Stadium Management South Africa, and Gearhouse SA, The Dome represents a major step forward in South Africa’s domestic live infrastructure. With a seated/ standing capacity of 10,500 and an expansive 6,000 sqm of event space, the venue is purpose-built for concerts, conferences, exhibitions, and product launches.

“This venue is not just about scale,” said Justin Van Wyk, head of Big Concerts and Live Nation South Africa. “It’s about creating new opportunities for South African fans to experience global-level productions while also spotlighting local and regional [Pan-African] acts.” The venue was launched with a headline show by Nigerian artist Tems in March 2025, with ticket prices ranging from ZAR1,310 for VIP access to ZAR800 for general admission.

“This venue is not just about scale”

In Pretoria, SunBet Arena (10,500) is in an entertainment precinct that includes hotels, casinos, and conference facilities. Tyla, Bobby Womack, Cigarettes After Sex, Lauren Daigle, and others have performed there recently. “We’ve built SunBet to be a holistic solution, such that clients only need to worry about the artist while we take care of everything else,” says Lara Portelli, events and entertainment manager. “We also continuously invest in refurbishing seating, updating lighting and technical specs to keep the venue competitive.”

In 2024, SunBet Arena hosted 60 events, selling 275,000 tickets, despite a dip from the previous year due to travel advisories and election-related cancellations. The arena has introduced efficient crowd ingress systems such as pre-entry scanning and wrist-banding at nearby restaurants. Portelli also spoke of the broader challenges and opportunities of placing South Africa on a more cohesive global touring circuit.

“We’ve tried to encourage routing through Dubai and then into Africa, ending in South Africa,” she says. “There’s amazing infrastructure in Lagos and Kigali, too; ideally, we’d see artists move from Egypt to Nigeria, Rwanda, and then down to us. But that kind of coordinated circuit still isn’t functioning as it should.”