Country Profile: Bahrain

Bahrain may be small but its wealth means it punches well above its weight in cultural terms. “Touring is growing in the MENA region, and we are anticipating more markets to come into the fold,” says Lance Tobin, VP of Talent at the country’s Al Dana Amphitheatre.

“As we expand these tour routes from a few markets to many, costs will go down, logistics become easier, and it becomes more feasible for a tour to plan on visiting us.”

The 10,000-cap amphitheatre is the key venue here. It books content in-house through the buying team’s direct relationships with leading agencies. “We’ve found this is the best way to maintain the artist experience and deliver the right mix of content to the fans in Bahrain,” says Tobin.

Other important promoters include UAE-based All Things Live, Live Nation, and Sony-owned MAC Global, which counts André Rieu among its successful shows here, according to co-founder and CCO Daniel Goldberg. “There is a huge demand for classical crossover programming in the region,” he notes.

“There is a huge demand for classical crossover programming in the region”

Radio is still a popular avenue for successful artist building. “We have a great station here with listenership across various demographics,” says Tobin. But digital marketing and, of course, TikTok and Instagram, are essential for appealing to younger, savvier music fans. And these fans are increasingly willing to watch talent in club and theatre spaces – with the number of venues on the rise, they will have greater opportunities to see acts before they reach arena or stadium level. “Our focus has expanded from large-capacity venues to clubs and theatres. This is true for touring shows at every capacity,” he adds.

Issues do exist here. Rising costs are something venues are increasingly having to deal with, and inflation remains problematic for touring in general. But Tobin says these have yet to translate into either ticket price increases or a fall in demand. “We are holding steady in this period, where ticket sales have been strong,” he says.

Increasingly, big names have added shows here to their world tours – Eminem, Ed Sheeran, Maroon 5, and SZA have all either played recently or have forthcoming shows – but Bahrain has a “phenomenal local artist community,” says Tobin, with both Arabic and Western artists alike.