Dua Lipa’s longtime WME agent David Bradley has lifted the lid on the star’s “mind-blowing” ascension from UK grassroots music venues to extensive world tours, ahead of her summer stadium run.

The latest step in Lipa’s carefully considered climb is her global Radical Optimism Tour, which encompasses 77 dates in arenas and stadiums across Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, North America and Latin America.

“Dua’s touring strategy has been global from day one, but she’s never skipped steps,” Bradley tells IQ. “She put in the work and toured extensively in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australia, long before New Rules made her a superstar. That’s why she’s doing the level of business she’s doing now – because she built a platform in these places and is incrementally growing them.”

The Radical Optimism Tour follows 2022’s 71-date Future Nostalgia run – the singer’s first arena tour – which generated $89,302,575 at the box office.

“It’s part of the wider strategy to leave a little bit on the table for the next time”

“The next logical step following a tour like that is to go and do multiples in arenas and higher grosses,” explains Bradley. “Once you’ve knocked those down, you’ll feel confident going into stadiums everywhere.”

The lightning-quick sell-outs for Lipa’s two dates at Wembley Stadium in June bodes well for future stadium runs. The first show at the 90,000-cap London stadium went on sale the week after the 29-year-old’s headline set at Glastonbury and sold out in just five minutes.

“Glastonbury was the best tour advert we could have possibly had,” says Bradley. “There was so much demand, I think we could have gone on to do three or possibly four Wembley Stadiums. But it’s also just thinking of the future as well. This is not going to be Dua’s last tour, so it’s part of the wider strategy to leave a little bit on the table for the next time.

“She is still a relatively new artist so we’re on that upward swing. We’re not quite at the point now of just wanting to take every possible ticket out of the market.”

“The real court of public opinion for touring artists is ticket sales”

Even so, the Radical Optimism Tour has sold well over half a million tickets so far, according to the WME agent, with the Latin America leg yet to go on sale.

“The real court of public opinion for touring artists is ticket sales,” he continues. “People can say what they want about streaming figures or album sales and all the rest of it but if you want a true representation of how popular an artist is, put a tour on sale and see how it goes. In this scenario, she has defied all expectations and continues to grows exponentially every year.”

With ticket prices currently under the microscope and the secondary market very much active, Bradley says the tour’s sell-out success is partially down to “very intentional” pricing.

“The Radical Optimism Tour is premium pop, not premium price,” he says. “The very best seats in the house at Wembley will be priced at £150, which, as far as stadium scaling goes, is very conservative, but we’ll also have seats in the building at £35-45.

“There’s a balance of not wanting to gouge the fans, wanting to sell out and also making sure that the people who have delivered the show are being compensated fairly.

“If a ticket is trading for £1,000 on Viagogo, that’s what it’s worth”

“Anything short of a sellout is often considered not to be a success and becomes a negative talking point so you want to avoid that as best you can. By the same token, you don’t want to be leaving a lot of money on the table because the secondary market will just hoover that up.

“If a ticket is trading for £1,000 on Viagogo, that’s what it’s worth. And if the primary seller – ie the artist and the promoter – is selling it for £100, that money is not going to anyone that’s delivered and produced the show – it’s going to a tout, which is outrageous. So the only way we can do that is often by increasing ticket prices. And sometimes people get that calculation wrong.”

With the Asia, Australia and New Zealand legs of the Radical Optimism Tour wrapped up, Lipa is due to kick off her European outing on 11 May at Movistar Arena in Spain.

“The show just gets better and better as it goes along,” says Bradley. “We’ve got a well road-tested team of dancers and musicians, and Dua is on phenomenal form – and that just comes with practice and time on the road. Dua will do a debrief after every show with the key people in the team on the creative side and implement changes along the way so by the time we get to Wembley Stadium, for instance, I think this will be a very well-oiled machine.”

Dua Lipa is represented by WME’s David Bradley, David Levy and Brett Murrihy in Australia, Asia, Europe and New Zealand. CAA’s Rob Light, Marlene Tsuchii and Carole Kinzel represent her in North America and South America.

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Dua Lipa has revealed the Latin America leg of her global Radical Optimism Tour.

The singer-songwriter, who is represented by CAA for North and South America, will play stadium shows across Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Mexico this autumn.

The eight-show run kicks off on 7 November in Buenos Aires, Argentina at Estadio River Plate and will wrap up with two back-to-back performances in Mexico City, Mexico at Estadio GNP Seguros on 1-2 December. The artist presale begins on 7 April, with the general sale to commence on 10 April.

The dates expand the 29-year-old’s global tour to 77 dates, also encompassing Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America.

The full list of Latin American dates to be announced is as follows:

7 November: Buenos Aires, Argentina – Estadio River Plate

11 November: Santiago, Chile – Estadio Nacional

15 November: São Paulo, Brazil – MorumBIS Stadium

22 November: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Estádio Nilton Santos

25 November: Lima, Peru – Estadio San Marcos

28 November: Bogotá, Colombia – Estadio El Campín

1-2 December: Mexico City, Mexico – Estadio GNP Seguros

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While blockbuster tours come and go, tour films live on in cinemas and in homes to be watched and rewatched long after an artist takes their final bow.

“One of the best places to see a concert is live in a stadium or arena – but everybody gets a front-row seat in the movie theatre,” says Ray Nutt, CEO of US-based speciality film distributor Fathom Entertainment.

Iconic concert films stretch back for decades and can be as simple as show-to-screen translations – think Led Zeppelin’s 1976 The Song Remains the Same documenting their three-night stand at NYC’s Madison Square Garden – or as complex as made-for-film performances with behind-the-scenes footage.

Nowadays, seemingly every major act has a visual project to accompany their live shows, with Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Coldplay, BTS, One Direction, and Miley Cyrus all being standouts from the 21st century.

Concert films have hit a new stride alongside technological advancements and global cinematic and streaming experiences, skyrocketing their reach alongside the post-pandemic touring boom.

“To have a huge global tour captured for prosperity makes sense, but it is a great opportunity for fans who would not otherwise get to experience it”

Let’s Get Digital
Though concert films are not a new venture, the pandemic shifted artists’ projects and delivery to an increasingly digital format.

“Artists are pushing their live shows creatively like never before, and in the digital age, fans seem to value the live experience as the ultimate representation of their favourite artists,” says Tom Colbourne, founder and CEO of Blink. “Fans that attend want to relive the night and all the little details in the show, and for those that couldn’t attend, the filmed show is the next best thing.”

California-based production company Blink specialises in live music and has produced films for Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, and Lady Gaga. Their screen content division is also involved in creating the live performance visuals, giving the firm a unique insight into artistic direction.

With a finite number of tickets available for any tour, films allow fans to join in wherever they are. As the average concert ticket price jumped 36% between 2019 and 2023, according to Statista, giving audiences ‘the best seat in the house’ can help ease the sting of missing out on a sold-out trek or allow them to relive the experience, again and again.

“To have a huge global tour captured for prosperity makes sense, but it is a great opportunity for fans who would not otherwise get to experience it. There’s the financial side, but there’s also just plain engagement and access and democratising of the process,” says Marc Allenby, CEO of Trafalgar Releasing.

“Cinema is undoubtedly the best audio and best visual experience, plus the communal collective”

Trafalgar is the global leader in distribution, delivering concert films like Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour and Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé to thousands of theatres worldwide. BTS, Coldplay, Usher, and Laufey have all used Trafalgar’s services for their films, too.

And perhaps the most notable example of demand outweighing supply is Taylor Swift’s record-obliterating Eras Tour, which grossed an estimated $2bn and sold over 10.1m tickets worldwide.

The accompanying film, released halfway through the global trek, documented a condensed show from the tour’s initial North American leg and quickly became the highest-grossing concert film of all time, earning over $261m at the box office before landing on streaming service Disney+.

To Stream or Not to Stream?
There is a fork in the road where artists and management need to decide whether to go the cinema route or direct to streaming.

The answer often lies in the finances, with royalties from ticket sales being one draw for artist teams. For streaming, a flat fee for a set period of licensing is typical; but each deal is unique, with no one-size-fits-all approach.

“Cinema is undoubtedly the best audio and best visual experience, plus the communal collective. With streaming, you’re looking at a wider reach with no limitation on geography or appointment-to-view restrictions. The two co-exist as opposed to compete,” Allenby says.

“Dua wanted to push the boundaries and perform the album in a different way; something very intimate”

“Most management and labels are seeing the financial benefit but also the wider halo benefit of the whole release. There’s marketing profile, prestige, fan engagement, ability to sell merchandise, lots of other kinds of pieces and touchpoints, and ultimately, greater listenership, album sales,” he adds.

Despite being in the midst of her ongoing Radical Optimism Tour, in October, Dua Lipa stopped by London’s Royal Albert Hall (cap. 5,272) to conduct a one-off performance, televised to fans worldwide and recorded for a unique live album.

Featuring the 53-piece Heritage Orchestra, a 14-strong choir, and a seven-piece band, An Evening with Dua Lipa served as a unique gift for the fans: “Dua wanted to push the boundaries and perform the album in a different way; something very intimate, stripping the songs back and then building them up again,” says her manager and father Dukagjin Lipa.

Initially airing to over 1.6m on the UK’s ITV last December, the special was then broadcast to a further 2.9m on the CBS network in the US, before launching on streaming platform Paramount+.

“It’s such an authentic portrayal of the show itself that we wanted people’s living room sofas to essentially be a seat at the Royal Albert Hall,” says Lipa. “But again, we wanted this to be inclusive, so having that window of opportunity to stream it after the fact was also important to us.”

“We’re using very sophisticated robotic cameras that can get into unobtrusive positions in the pit and even up on the stage with the artist”

Meeting fans where they are is a central theme to the conception of concert films, with artists like Dua Lipa being driven to produce an accessible, yet exceptional, version of their live performances.

“From an artist’s perspective, it gives them a platform to reach existing and new audiences, and in our case, we wanted to break down the boundaries of an ordinary show and create something iconic that shone a new light on the music, and ultimately showcased Dua’s world-class performance,” Lipa adds.

The Pros of Production
With the rise of fan-led livestreaming giving a (sometimes shaky) live capture of performances, artists are utilising filming as an extension of their creative vision with proper audio mixing and aesthetically aligned visual components.

Artists are heavily involved in the production process, which can begin up to six months before the filmed event. Depending on the lead time, Blink’s Colbourne says the team meets with promoter and ticketing teams to layout camera placements so as not to disrupt attendee experience – an issue simplified by new technologies.

“We’re using very sophisticated robotic cameras that can get into unobtrusive positions in the pit and even up on the stage with the artist,” he explains. Films are often crafted over multiple shows, depending on the performance’s complexity, with up to 30 cameras and 20 microphones deployed.

Music of the Spheres: Live at River Plate went on to reap $8.4m at the box office

For Lady Gaga’s 2024 Chromatica Ball film, which was filmed over just one show at LA’s Dodger Stadium (cap. 56,000), the Blink team used 30 cameras and meticulously planned the filming to ensure the team could capture the elaborate show. Gaga herself was involved from start to finish.

“We spent months in the edit suite with Gaga in person, who directed the film herself and was hands-on with every single cut,” the Grammy Award-nominated Colbourne says.

In-house production companies are also becoming standard for projects of this nature as the artistic vision takes the lead. Swift has Taylor Swift Productions, Beyoncé’s is Parkwood Entertainment, and Dua Lipa enlisted her own Radical22 Productions for her Royal Albert Hall show, alongside London- and Los Angeles-based specialists, Fulwell 73 Productions.

Prior to their 2023 global broadcast (and subsequent film) of their Music of the Spheres shows at Buenos Aires’ River Plate Stadium (cap. 84,567), Coldplay debuted Infinity Station Films to help support their creative vision. Music of the Spheres: Live at River Plate went on to reap $8.4m at the box office before being launched on concert and event streaming platform Veeps, with tickets priced at $3.99.

Where the film will be distributed, which is usually decided by the artist’s team at the beginning of the project, can steer how it’s filmed and edited, Colbourne says. Nonetheless, newfangled sound capture and delivery like Dolby Atmos spatial audio can be a powerful tool, “particularly if it’s a theatrical release and you can recreate the stadium sound,” he says.

Supergroup BTS holds four of the top 20 highest-grossing concert films of all time, raking in a gross of over $88.8m

For The Fans
Fans reign supreme as the core demographic for concert films: they’re ticket and merchandise buyers, music streamers, and engagement boosters. Capturing tours for the fan community is a leading, if not the key, motivator for tour-film projects.

Dua Lipa’s Royal Albert Hall special aired in between her shows in Asia in 2024 and 2025’s Australian, European, and North American dates, but “timing-wise, it also felt like the perfect moment to put on a show like this – we were nearing the end of what was a groundbreaking year and wanted to give fans something truly special,” says her manager father.

The medium can also help rising artists, or artists in a specific market, get exposed to new audiences around the world.
Films and streaming have undeniably helped deliver K-pop artists to a global audience. Supergroup BTS holds four of the top 20 highest-grossing concert films of all time, raking in a gross of over $88.8m.

A regional genre gone global, films capturing K-pop stars allow fans worldwide to communally experience tours centred in Asian markets and a glimpse into the greater world beyond the acts themselves.

One firm capitalising on this is Fathom Entertainment, a US-based distribution company that has circulated 83 concert films from artists like Elton John, Andrea Bocelli, André Rieu, and Garth Brooks over the last 20 years, representing roughly $52m in sales.

“Artists are looking for different ways to get their brand out there, and the movie theatre is certainly one of those ways”

Fathom operates the largest live satellite system to theatres in the US, allowing them to livestream (or stream time-delayed) concerts and events onto 2,200 screens in 1,100 domestic theatres – a “very cost-effective way to get a concert or live content,” says CEO Nutt.

Late last year, Fathom broadcast K-pop boyband SEVENTEEN’s [Right Here] World Tour show at Japan’s Kyocera Dome Osaka (51,000) on a time delay to US audiences. As this tour only visited five cities outside of Asia, providing an opportunity for fans to communally experience the show was essential to the group’s distribution.

“Artists are looking for different ways to get their brand out there, and the movie theatre is certainly one of those ways,” Nutt says.

Get the Show On & Off the Road
Audiences are already seeing music projects pop up in new domains as technology continues evolving. Charli XCX and Troye Sivan translated their SWEAT tour into a virtual reality experience through Meta Horizon, while Fortnite and Roblox are increasingly hosting events from stars like Elton John, Travis Scott, Karol G, and The Weeknd.

Perhaps the biggest indicator of where the concert film sector is headed has come in the form of direct-to-platform livestreaming.

“By leveraging our advanced technology and unmatched reach, we are breaking the barriers around privileged access to premium entertainment”

Back in December, Netflix’s Beyoncé Bowl captured her Christmas Day halftime performance at Houston’s NRG Stadium. The platform’s first foray into livestreamed music events paid off with an average live viewership of 27m, plus another 50m views on the standalone special that followed.

In late January, Coldplay delivered one of their “biggest-ever” 132,000-capacity shows at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India on Disney+ Hotstar.

“By leveraging our advanced technology and unmatched reach, we are breaking the barriers around privileged access to premium entertainment and making it available for all, fostering a shared celebration across the country,” said Sanjog Gupta, CEO of Hotstar’s parent company JioStar’s sports division, at the time of the announcement.

Opportunities in the filmed concert space are rife, with unexplored avenues fostering fresh creations. As the visual medium solidifies its place as an extension of an artist’s creative process, it doesn’t look like the credits will roll on concert films anytime soon.

This year promises much more of the same: Linkin Park has a cinematic release on tap after the recently reformed group captured their From Zero album launch show in São Paulo, Brazil – an event also livestreamed locally. It’s more than likely more acts will follow suit as 2025 is set to be another colossal year for touring.

Multiplied revenues, stronger fan connections, and the ability to transform a single local show into a sustained global event – concert films are quickly becoming an essential stage of album and touring cycles. The real question is, what comes next?

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Dua Lipa has been given the crown for the top-selling tour of 2024 on O2’s Priority Tickets platform.

The telecoms giant declared a record-breaking year for its customer reward scheme with 1.54 million tickets sold January to November – a 12% increase on the same time period in 2023. The platform offers exclusive early access to events and venues in the UK for O2 and Virgin Media broadband customers.

Tours by Dua Lipa, Peter Kay and Lana Del Rey topped this year’s biggest-seller list, which spans pop, comedy, R&B and heavy metal.

Lipa topped the list with her 2025 Radical Optimism tour, after partnering with O2 for an exclusive pre-sale and brand new ‘Walk’ ad to celebrate – the first of its kind in six years.

The pop star is closely followed by British comedian Peter Kay, whose first tour in over a decade included a residency at The O2 arena in London and was recently expanded due to popular demand.

Lana Del Rey claimed third position on the list with her first-ever UK stadium shows for the summer of 2025, R&B star Usher came in fourth with his ten-show residency at The O2 arena in London, while Billie Eilish’s tour came in fifth place.

“There have been massive tours announced this year, ones that will go on to define an entire generation of music and entertainment,” says Gareth Griffiths, director, partnerships and sponsorship at Virgin Media O2.

“Our Priority campaign starring Dua Lipa was a huge success, selling out Wembley Stadium. With a relentless demand from O2 and Virgin Media broadband customers for access to live shows, we’re now seeing Priority Tickets smash its own sales records again this year. Our best-sellers list shows the variety of live entertainment the UK has an offer – here’s to an even bigger 2025.”

Between 1 January and 30 November 2024, O2 has offered access to tickets to shows from over 2,000 artists and performers, at more than 650 venues across the UK. It has also hosted three exclusive ‘Priority Gigs’ for customers, which saw D-Block Europe, Girls Aloud and RAYE each play their own free and intimate shows for customers at O2 venues.

In a recent interview with IQ, Griffiths discussed the company’s Priority Tickets platform, its gigs, and its quest to clean up secondary ticketing.

O2 revealed it had stopped more than 50,000 suspected bots from entering its Priority platform over a six-week period.

“We are a customer-centric brand, and if our customers have signed up to Priority to get exclusive access to tickets, then they get into a ticketing journey where there are 30,000 bots in front of them, that’s just not fair. So genuine fans are missing out and this is why we’ve been on a mission to try and sort it out.”

Read the full interview here.

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Dua Lipa was forced to cancel a concert scheduled in Jakarta, Indonesia, due to “unforeseen safety and logistical issues” with the stage.

The English-Albanian singer was due to perform at the 16,500-cap Indonesia Arena on Saturday (9 November) as part of the Asian leg of her Radical Optimism global tour.

In a joint statement on Lipa’s website, organisers TEM Presents and PK Entertainment said the team had made “diligent efforts to resolve critical production issues related to the stage structure provided by Mata Elang Productions” but it was “not safe for the performance to carry on”.

“This very difficult decision to cancel was made with the utmost care and consideration for the safety of both the audiences and artist,” the statement concluded.

“This very difficult decision to cancel was made with the utmost care and consideration for the safety of both the audiences and artist”

In her own statement, Lipa said: “I am heartbroken to share that I won’t be able to perform in Jakarta this Saturday, November 9.

“I am there in your amazing country and ready to perform, but I am gutted to share that it has been determined that it is not safe for the performance to carry on due to safety issues with the staging.

“I was so looking forward to this night, and it truly pains me that we cannot perform for you all, especially after such a long time since my last performance in Jakarta.

“Refunds will be made from your point of purchase. I love you all and truly can’t wait to be back together in the same room with you singing and dancing our hearts out as soon as possible.”

The Radical Optimism tour continues this Wednesday (13 November) in the Philippines at the Philippine Arena in Manila.

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Dua Lipa has unveiled her global 2025 Radical Optimism Tour, including more than 40 new dates across Australia, New Zealand, North America and Europe.

Earlier this summer, the WME-represented 29-year-old sold out two consecutive nights at London’s Wembley Stadium for 20-21 June next year in the aftermath of her Friday night Pyramid Stage headline slot at Glastonbury 2024.

Lipa will headline Austin City Limits in Austin, Texas on 5 & 12 October and a one-off show at the Royal  before kicking off the Radical Optimism Tour this autumn with previously announced shows in Asia, starting at Singapore Indoor Stadium on 5 November.

Her 2025 dates begin at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia on 20 March, and include performances in cities such as Sydney, Auckland, Madrid, Hamburg, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Dublin, Toronto, Chicago, New York, Miami and Los Angeles, before concluding in Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena on 16 October.

The European leg launches in Spain at Madrid’s WiZink Center on 11-12 May and includes additional stops in the UK and Ireland at Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium (24 June) and Dublin’s Aviva Stadium (27 June).

Tickets go on general sale on Friday 20 September. The global tour supports the English-Albanian singer’s third studio album, Radical Optimism, which topped the charts in 11 countries. South American shows will be announced at a later date. Her previous outing, 2022’s 71-date Future Nostalgia run, generated $89,302,575 at the box office.

The full list of tour dates is as follows:

2024
Tue Nov 5 – Singapore – Singapore Indoor Stadium
Wed Nov 6 – Singapore – Singapore Indoor Stadium
Sat Nov 9 – Jakarta, Indonesia – Indonesia Arena
Wed Nov 13 – Manila, Philippines – Philippine Arena
Sat Nov 16 – Tokyo, Japan – Saitama Super Arena
Sun Nov 17 – Tokyo, Japan – Saitama Super Arena
Wed Nov 20 – Taipei, Taiwan – Taoyuan Baseball Stadium
Sat Nov 23 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Axiata Arena
Sun Nov 24 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Axiata Arena
Wed Nov 27 – Bangkok, Thailand – Impact Arena
Wed Dec 4 – Seoul, South Korea – Gocheok Sky Dome
Thu Dec 5 – Seoul, South Korea – Gocheok Sky Dome

2025
Thu Mar 20 – Melbourne, Australia – Rod Laver Arena
Wed Mar 26 – Sydney, Australia – Qudos Bank Arena
Wed Apr 2 – Auckland, New Zealand – Spark Arena

Sun May 11 – Madrid, Spain – WiZink Center
Mon May 12 – Madrid, Spain – WiZink Center
Thu May 15 – Lyon, France – LDLC Arena
Fri May 16 – Lyon, France – LDLC Arena
Mon May 19 – Hamburg, Germany – Barclays Arena
Tue May 20 – Hamburg, Germany – Barclays Arena
Fri May 23 – Paris, France – La Défense Arena
Tue May 27 – Prague, CR – O2 Arena
Wed May 28 – Prague, CR – O2 Arena
Sat May 31 – Munich, Germany – Olympiahalle
Sun Jun 1 – Munich, Germany – Olympiahalle
Tue Jun 3 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome
Wed Jun 4 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome
Sat Jun 7 – Milan, Italy – Hippodrome San Siro (Ippodromo SNAI)
Wed Jun 11 – Antwerp, Belgium – Sportpaleis
Fri Jun 13 – Antwerp, Belgium – Sportpaleis
Fri Jun 20 – London, UK – Wembley Stadium
Sat Jun 21 – London, UK – Wembley Stadium
Tue Jun 24 – Liverpool, UK – Anfield Stadium
Fri Jun 27 – Dublin, Ireland – Aviva Stadium

Mon Sep 1 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
Tue Sep 2 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
Fri Sep 5 – Chicago, IL – United Center
Sat Sep 6 – Chicago, IL – United Center
Tue Sep 9 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
Wed Sep 10 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
Sat Sep 13 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
Sun Sep 14 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
Wed Sep 17 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Thu Sep 18 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Fri Sep 26 – Miami, FL – Kaseya Center
Sat Sep 27 – Miami, FL – Kaseya Center
Tue Sep 30 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
Wed Oct 1 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
Sat Oct 4 – Los Angeles, CA – Kia Forum
Sun Oct 5 – Los Angeles, CA – Kia Forum
Sat Oct 11 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center
Sun Oct 12 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center
Wed Oct 15 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
Thu Oct 16 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena

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Indian event ticketing platform Paytm Insider has been acquired by food delivery giant Zomato in an all-cash deal valued at Rs 2048.4 crore (€220m).

In a filing with the stock exchanges, Zomato said the purchase from former owner One 97 Communications Limited (OCL) “is in line with our strategy of investing in our going-out business”.

Zomato has recently been doubling down on its ‘going out business’ which comprises its restaurant, live events and cinema ticketing verticals, and also runs a food festival called Zomaland.

The firm recently secured global pop sensation Dua Lipa for Zomato Feeding India Concert (ZFIC), a benefit concert slated for 30 November in Mumbai, which sold out in less than 24 hours. It also hosted US musician Post Malone’s India tour in December 2022.

In a recent report, brokerage firm UBS valued Zomato’s going-out business at $1.6 billion.

In a recent report, brokerage firm UBS valued Zomato’s going-out business at $1.6 billion

One 97 Communications Limited (OCL) was founded in 2000 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma. The Noida-headquartered firm offers digital payment and financial services to consumers and merchants in India.

OCL launched Paytm in 2010. In 2017, the firm acquired Insider.in, a ticketing platform backed by leading festival promoter Only Music Louder (NH7 Weekender, EDC India).

Speaking about the acquisition, a Paytm spokesperson said: “We built the entertainment ticketing business by addressing the market needs of the time … This move (to sell the business) allows us to continue focusing on long-term growth in our core areas and value creation for all stakeholders.”

The deal, which is expected to close within the quarter, will be among the largest buyouts for Zomato after it acquired Uber Eats in 2020 and took over quick commerce platform Blinkit (then Grofers) in 2021.

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Dugi Lipa has spoken to IQ about the rapid growth of his family-run festival in Kosovo, Sunny Hill.

The Prishtina native founded the international festival in his hometown in 2018, featuring a bill topped by his daughter, pop sensation Dua Lipa.

“It’s a family affair and I could not be prouder,” says Dugi, who also manages Dua and runs his own communications agency in the Kosovo capital.

“I contract the artists and use our private network while Dua promotes the hell out of the festival – she’s here every year for all four days. This year, my son [Gjin] was really hands-on with booking the opening acts and the US artists. My daughter Rina has been working at the festival since she was 17 – she does an amazing job with hospitality for the artists. And my wife [Anesa] is in charge of the look and feel of the festival and the artist village.”

In the past five years, Sunny Hill has brought stars including Miley Cyrus, J Balvin and Calvin Harris to Prishtina, putting Kosovo on the live music map.

“With this lineup, I think that we are competing with some of the major festivals in Europe”

The fourth instalment took place last week (25–28 July), with another blockbuster lineup featuring Bebe Rexha, Stormzy, Burna Boy, The Blaze, DJ Snake, Black Coffee, The Martinez Brothers and Groove Armada.

“With this lineup, I think that we are competing with some of the major festivals in Europe. We are very proud of it,” Dugi tells IQ.

This year’s edition, which took place at a new site, drew 35,000 people each day and set a new attendance record in Kosovo.

“I can’t express enough the pure joy it is to witness this festival become what it has over the past five years. Seeing it grow and become something more than we could’ve ever dreamed of,” singer Dua Lipa wrote on X on Monday (29 July).

The record marks a huge leap in attendance since the previous edition of Sunny Hill, which took place in Prishtina’s Gërmia Park in 2022 with 15,000 attendees per day. That year, an additional festival with a different lineup was held in Tirana in celebration of the city’s title of European Youth Capital 2022.

“The capacity of the new site is huge so we are prepared for years to come”

With an expansion long overdue, Sunny Hill Festival took 2023 off to develop a “huge” new site in the village of Bërnicë e Poshtme, a 15-minute drive from the city.

The 17-hectare site, leased for 99 years from the municipality of Prishtina, worked “extremely well” for the festival’s return in 2024, according to Dugi.

“We are very proud to have turned a construction dump site into a park,” he tells IQ. “The site was full of rubble, dumped after the nearby motorway was made, and it took us a year to work on it and level it up. We also planted about 700 trees.”

Development on the site will continue ahead of Sunny Hill 2025, with more greenery to be added and infrastructure to be improved, but Dugi says the festival has found its long-term home, with plenty of room for growth.

“The capacity of the new site is huge so we are prepared for years to come,” he says. “We are hoping that next year, we will have 40,000 people and increase that for the next five to 10 years until we reach the full 90,000 capacity of the site.”

“Sunny Hill is helping to change the rhetoric about Kosovo as a war-torn country”

One of the family’s motives for growing Sunny Hill Festival is to help evolve the perception of Kosovo as a war-torn country after the brutal Kosovo War in the late 1990s.

“Sunny Hill is helping to change the rhetoric about Kosovo as a war-torn country and showing it in a different light,” says Dugi.

“For the first and second editions of the festival, it was a little bit harder to persuade artists of international calibre to come here… they didn’t know what to expect.

“But international visitors are very pleasantly surprised – Kosovo is probably the most progressive country in the Balkans and the youth in this country is very cool and clued in.

“Plus, artists have praised us for our production and hospitality and the unparalleled energy of our audience and the music industry is small so word has spread.”

Word has spread outside of the music industry too, with the festival attracting 45% of international visitors. This could be partly due to the €200 ticket price which is expensive in Kosovo but competitive in Europe.

“It is an amazing price,” says Dugi. “We are the cheapest festival in Europe to see major acts.”

Sunny Hill Festival will return to Prishtina, Kosovo, next year.

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Dua Lipa has announced a second Wembley Stadium show in 2025 after “incredible demand” saw her first show sell out in five minutes.

The 28-year-old English-Albanian singer will bring her Radical Optimism Tour to the 90,000-cap stadium in London on 20 and 21 June next year.

The Live Nation-promoted dates – the first of which was announced earlier this month – will mark the star’s first-ever UK stadium headline shows.

“I heard it’s coming home so I thought I would too (AGAIN)!!!!” wrote Lipa on social media of the first night’s sell-out.

“I heard it’s coming home so I thought I would too (AGAIN)!!!!”

“Wow this was the best morning wake-up call!!! YOU GUYS SOLD OUT WEMBLEY STADIUM IN MINUTES!! I love you so much we’re adding another date for ya!!”

News of the first Wembley Stadium date came shortly after she headlined Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage, closing the Friday night of the festival with a well-received 19-song set.

The WME-represented hitmaker followed that up with festival dates at Poland’s Open’er Festival (4 July), Belgium’s Rock Werchter (6 July) and Mad Cool Festival in Spain (10 July). Tonight (12 July), she’s due to play Nos Alive Festival in Portugal.

She will then play a sold-out show at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 17 October, prior to heading to Asia, where she will visit Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea.

The Radical Optimism Tour is Lipa’s first outing since 2022’s 71-date Future Nostalgia run, which generated $89,302,575 at the box office.

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On the heels of topping the bill at the 2024 Glastonbury Festival, Dua Lipa has announced her first UK stadium headline show.

The 28-year-old English-Albanian singer will bring her Radical Optimism Tour the 90,000-cap Wembley Stadium in London on 20 June next year. Promoted by Live Nation, the concert is her first confirmed tour date for 2025.

“There couldn’t be a better time to share this with you all,” says Lipa. “I am still flying high from the magic of headlining the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury this weekend, and I am absolutely thrilled to announce I’ll be playing Wembley Stadium this time next year.”

An O2 presale is set for 10 July, 48 hours ahead of the general sale. To mark the occasion, O2 has brought back its ‘Walk Ad’ back for the first time in six years. Lipa will star in the 60-second film, which debuts on 1 July at 9:15pm on ITV 2 during Love Island. The likes of Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Foo Fighters and the Gorillaz who have all previously released their own campaigns following the introduction of O2’s ‘Walk Ad’ series in 2009.

O2’s exclusive Priority presale follows a record year for Priority Tickets, which saw 1.4 million tickets sold throughout 2023 – a 15% rise on 2022.

Lipa topped the bill on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage this past weekend, closing the Friday night of the festival

“This collaboration between Dua Lipa and O2 perfectly captures the essence of Priority and is great news for her fans and our customers who want to get their hands on Wembley tickets 48 hours before general release,” says Gareth Griffiths, director, partnerships and sponsorship at Virgin Media O2.

Lipa topped the bill on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage this past weekend, closing the Friday night of the festival with a well received 19-song set, which included a guest appearance from Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker.

The WME-represented hitmaker also has upcoming festival dates at Poland’s Open’er Festival (4 July), Belgium’s Rock Werchter (6 July), Mad Cool Festival in Spain (10 July) and Nos Alive Festival in Portugal (12 July).

She will then play a sold-out show at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 17 October, prior to heading to Asia, where she will visit Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea.

The Radical Optimism Tour is Lipa’s first outing since 2022’s 71-date Future Nostalgia run, which generated $89,302,575 at the box office.

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