Red Hot Chili Peppers’ multi-year Unlimited Love Tour has entered the record books after drawing more than 3.4 million fans across the globe.

Launched in June 2022, the 86-date trek featured multiple legs around the world, visiting 20 countries and including 66 stadium shows.

The outing, which supported the group’s two 2022 #1 studio albums, Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen, ranks as the third best-selling rock tours of the 2020s so far, behind only Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres (7.7m and counting) and Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road (6.1m), according to Billboard Boxscore.

The tour featured special guests including A$AP Rocky, Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, Beck, City and Colour, DOMi & JD BECK, Haim, Ice Cube, Iggy Pop, Ken Carson, King Princess, Otoboke Beaver, Post Malone, Seun Kuti & Fela’s Egypt 80, St. Vincent, The Mars Volta, The Roots, The Strokes, Thundercat and Wand.

“We are thrilled to feature the very best of LA with local artists and are grateful to Billie, H.E.R., the Chili Peppers and Snoop for their collaboration”

On the final 18-date North American leg, which kicked off on May 28 this year at RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater in Ridgefield, Washington, and concluded on 30 July at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in St. Louis, Missouri, RHCP partnered with local dog adoption agencies at every tour stop to raise awareness for adoptable dogs in the city.

It was the seventh highest-grossing run of 2022 at $77 million, according to Pollstar, earning a further $91m in the first half of 2023 and has generated a total gross in excess of $300m, with the final total still to be verified.

The CAA-represented band also performed at last night’s Closing Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Games when the Olympic Flag was officially handed off from Paris to Los Angeles for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games in their home city of Los Angeles. Other performers included Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and H.E.R.

“This is the biggest moment in LA28 history to date, as the Olympic flag passes from Paris to LA,” said LA28 and Wasserman Music chair Casey Wasserman, speaking ahead of the event. “We are thrilled to feature the very best of LA with local artists and are grateful to Billie, H.E.R., the Chili Peppers and Snoop for their collaboration on what will be an incredible show to a global audience that will give fans a taste of what’s to come in 2028.”

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Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ms. Lauryn Hill and Megan Thee Stallion will headline the forthcoming edition of Global Citizen Festival in New York City.

Anitta, Conan Gray and Stray Kids are also set to perform at the event on the Great Lawn of Central Park on 23 September.

Tickets to the concert are free but require joining Global Citizen’s campaign to raise awareness about hunger, poverty, climate change and inequities facing women around the world, among other related concerns.

This event is focused particularly on persuading the UK government and Labor Opposition to release a time-bound plan for delivering on the £11.6 billion ($14 billion) in climate financing, the same amount pledged at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

They are also hoping to apply pressure on the Canadian government to continue championing women and girls by pledging to fund health services through United Nations Population Fund. Additionally, they are attempting to persuade the government of Australia to rejoin the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and equip smallholder farmers across the Pacific and the world to combat the global food crisis.

“The Global Citizen Festival is important to mobilize more people and more investments in reaching the world’s Common Goals”

Celebrities set to participate in this year’s campaign include Busy Philipps (activist, actor), Bill Nye (engineer), Carmelo Anthony (former NBA star), Common (rapper), Gayle King (TV personality), Jordan Fisher (actor) and Sophia Bush (activist, actor).

“Extreme poverty, hunger and food insecurity threaten lives and health,” says Ms. Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Norwegian minister of international development.

“The call for action is crystal clear: We need to increase investments in climate-robust, small-scale food production. Growth in agriculture is the most efficient way to create jobs, fight poverty and combat hunger. The Global Citizen Festival is important to mobilize more people and more investments in reaching the world’s Common Goals – our Sustainable Development Goals.”

José Ramos-Horta, president of Timor-Leste, governor Helder Barbalho and Puyr Tembé, the state secretary for indigenous people from the Brazilian state of Pará, will also address the event.

Advocates Barbie Izquierdo, Deja Foxx, Ineza Umuhoza Grace, Jerome Foster II, Nkosana Butholenkosi Masuku, Sophia Kianni, Pashtana Durrani, and Wangari Kuria, are also set to make an appearance.

Last year’s Global Citizen Festival, which took place in the US and Ghana with acts including Metallica, Maneskin, Mariah Carey, Usher and SZA, raised $2.4 billion in pledges to end extreme poverty.

The organisation’s 2023 campaigns include a recent event in Paris, coinciding with The Summit for a New Financial Pact, which featured Billie Eilish, Lenny Kravitz, H.E.R. and Jon Batiste.

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Chilean promoter DG Medios has warned Red Hot Chili Peppers fans of a fake ticket scam operating ahead of the band’s Santiago shows later this year.

DF reports the firm has filed a criminal complaint after discovering counterfeit tickets being sold on social networks for the US rockers’ gigs at the 17,000-cap Movistar Arena on 19 and 21 November.

DG has identified the alleged perpetrator, who it claims modified tickets from a previous event and sold them on to multiple third parties. The firm says that an unknown number of fake VIP tickets had been sold for 95,000 pesos (€110) each.

Legitimate tickets for the RHCP shows are priced from 35,000 (€40) to 145,000 (€168) pesos.

The company has issued a statement to customers, advising them the only way to ensure their tickets are genuine is to buy them from official sources.

“We have discovered people deceiving fans and selling fake tickets to DG Medios concerts”

“We have discovered people deceiving fans and selling fake tickets to DG Medios concerts,” tweets the promoter. “Most of the people who carry out this action misuse the tickets and manage to deceive and defraud buyers, such as the [VIP] tickets that are being sold specifically for the Red Hot Chili Peppers show at the Movistar Arena.

“DG Medios has not delivered any ticket within this category, so we affirm that these tickets are false and will not be valid to enter any of the two shows scheduled in November.”

Founded by well known regional promoter Carlos Geniso, Santiago-based DG Medios has promoted shows by acts such as U2, the Rolling Stones, Guns N’ Roses, Paul McCartney and Justin Bieber. Live Nation acquired a majority stake in the company in 2019.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, who are represented by CAA’s Emma Banks outside North America, performed at the Hangout Music Festival in the US earlier this month, and have a summer festival slate including Pinkpop (Netherlands), Tinderbox (Denmark), Rock Werchter (Belgium), I-Days (Italy), NOS Live (Portugal) and Mad Cool (Spain). They will also headline stadiums in France, Austria and the UK.

In 2022, RHCP became the first rock band in 17 years to achieve two No.1 US albums in the same year, hitting the top spot with both Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen.

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Red Hot Chili Peppers have announced a 23-date global tour for 2023, including a series of stadium gigs and festival headline slots.

The US band, who are represented by CAA’s Emma Banks outside North America, will be joined on select dates by support acts such as The Strokes, Iggy Pop, The Roots, The Mars Volta, St. Vincent, City and Colour, Thundercat and King Princess on the trek, which kicks off on Wednesday, March 29 at BC Place in Vancouver, Canada.

The group’s summer festival slate includes the Hangout Music Festival (US), Pinkpop (Netherlands), Tinderbox (Denmark), Rock Werchter (Belgium), I-Days (Italy), NOS Live (Portugal) and Mad Cool (Spain).

The tour will wrap up in the UK on Saturday, July 23 at Glasgow’s Hampden Park. The show was originally scheduled for this past summer as part of the band’s 40-date stadium tour – their biggest to date – which included sold-out shows in London, Paris and Los Angeles. Artists such as A$AP Rocky, Anderson .Paak, Beck, Haim and more joined the band on the road through 2022.

Earlier this year, RHCP became the first rock band in 17 years to achieve two No.1 US albums in the same year, hitting the top spot with both Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen.

North America

Wed Mar 29 – Vancouver, BC – BC Place

Sat Apr 01 – Las Vegas, NV – Allegiant Stadium

Thu Apr 06 – Fargo, ND – Fargodome

Sat Apr 08 – Minneapolis, MN – US Bank Stadium

Fri Apr 14 – Syracuse, NY– JMA Wireless Dome

Fri May 12 – San Diego, CA – Snap Dragon Stadium

Sun May 14 – Phoenix, AZ – State Farm Stadium

Wed May 17 – San Antonio, TX – Alamodome

Fri May 19 – Gulf Shores, AL – Hangout Music Festival

Thu May 25 – Houston, TX – Minute Maid Park

Europe:

Sun Jun 18 – Landgraaf, NL – Pinkpop

Wed Jun 21 – Warsaw, Poland – PGE Narodowy

Sat Jun 24 – Odense, DK – Tinderbox

Mon Jun 26 – Mannheim, DE – Maimarktgelände

Fri Jun 30 – Leuven, BE – Rock Werchter

Sun Jul 2 – Milan, IT – I-Days

Thu Jul 6 – Lisbon, PT – NOS Live

Sat Jul 8 – Madrid, ES – Mad Cool

Tue Jul 11 – Lyon, FR – Groupama Stadium

Fri Jul 14 – Vienna, AT – Ernst-Happel Stadion

Mon Jul 17 – Carhaix, FR – Les Vieilles Charrues

Fri Jul 21 – London, UK – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Sun Jul 23 – Glasgow, UK – Hampden Park

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Creativeman’s Summer Sonic overtook Smash Corp-promoted Fuji Rock to become Japan’s biggest outdoor music festival this year, welcoming 135,000 visitors over three days to its twin sites in Osaka and Tokyo.

Taking place from 16 to 18 August, Creativeman debuted a new three-day format, in celebration of the festival’s 20th anniversary. The pop- and rock- focused line-up featured the Red Hit Chili Peppers, Babymetal, the Chainsmokers, Fall Out Boy, the 1975, Blackpink and Japanese rock bands Sakanaction and B’z.

All tickets sold out for the Tokyo-based side of the event, held at the adjoining Zozo Marine Stadium and Makuhari Messe exhibition hall. The Osaka leg of the festival, which took place at the Maishima Sonic Park, shifted all Friday tickets and weekend passes.

Speaking to IQ ahead of the event, Creativeman director Sebastian Mair said one festival day sold out three months before the festival started. “I don’t think we have ever had a day that has sold out that early,” Mair told IQ.

“[Japanese festivals] are safe and peaceful, and people are there for the music as opposed to anything else”

Just like fellow Japanese rock festival Fuji Rock, Summer Sonic suffered from adverse weather, with Typhoon Krosa causing the cancellation of performances on Tokyo’s beach stage on Friday.

Summer Sonic will take a one-year break in 2020 to accommodate the Tokyo Olympics.

The Japanese festival scene has become fairly saturated in recent years, with international brands such as Ultra, Electric Daisy Carnival, Download and Ozzfest setting up shop in the country.

Mair comments that the festival market remains “stable”, saying that international managers and agents are “always astounded by how well they [Japanese festivals] work”.

“They are safe and peaceful, and people are there for the music as opposed to anything else,” Mair told IQ.

Read more about the “booming” Japanese live scene in IQ’s country feature below.

https://www.iqmagazine.com/2019/08/land-rising-fun-japan-tough-market/#.XV5okZNKii5

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Streaming platform Cloud Cover Music has examined the changes in music festival experiences across the United States over the last few decades in a new survey asking respondents about sobriety, drug intake, sex, memorable acts and life-changing experiences.

The study finds that 24% of those surveyed reported being sober at music festivals. Alcohol consumption at festivals has been higher in the past decade than previously, rising from 64% in the noughties to 71%.

The survey finds that festivalgoers in the 1980s were more likely to consume marijuana or hard drugs, witness violence and rioting, have sex and witness nudity at a festival than they are now. 83% of attendees in that same decade described festivals as life-changing, compared to 53% in the 90s, 62% in the noughties and 65% now.

Burning Man consistently proved to be the least sober event, with 45% of festivalgoers saying they drank alcohol and consumed a mixture of drugs at the event

82% of respondents stated that Woodstock 1969 was life-changing, making it the most impactful music festival on the survey. However, the festival had only 17 survey respondents. Ultra Music Festival was voted the second most life-changing music festival with 78%, followed by Electric Daisy Carnival (75%) and Burning man (73%).

Burning Man consistently proved to be the least sober event, with 45% of festivalgoers saying they drank alcohol and consumed a mixture of drugs at the event. The results coincide with secondary ticketer TickPick’s survey of drug consumption at festivals last year. In contrast, 72% of respondents say they did not consume any substances at Warped Tour.

Across genres and festivals, Red Hot Chili Peppers were ranked the most memorable act at music festivals, with Jane’s Addiction, Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé and Tiësto also making the top five.

The full study can be read here.

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The first edition of Lollapalooza Paris, which took place last weekend, has been hailed as a success by promoter Live Nation France, which has praised the festival as a triumph of “local initiative” in the face of criticism by former culture minister Jack Lang.

Lang – a veteran Socialist party politician who served as France’s minister of culture from 1981–86 and 1988–92 – on Saturday attacked the new festival, announced in October, as part of an “invasion of the musical life of France by American multinationals”.

According to Lang, Live Nation is threatening France’s domestic, often public subsidised, festival scene with the “extension of its empire” across the country. (The company’s most recent French acquisition was Nous Productions last August.)

He also took a swipe at AEG, which is believed to be going into partnership with Matthieu Pigasse’s LNEI Live on Rock en Seine, saying the rival promoter is “already scandalously present in [Paris] with AccorHotels Arena”.

“We would have been delighted to welcome Mr Lang to the festival, so that he realises that it is a local initiative, produced by a French company called Live Nation France”

Live Nation France issued a statement in response to Lang’s attack, with deputy GM Matthias Leullier saying he “would have been delighted to welcome Mr Lang to the festival, so that he realises that it is a local initiative, produced by a French company called Live Nation France”. Leullier also notes Live Nation France has 65 permanent employees and hired 1,500 people for Lollapalooza, all of which “are paid, and not by public subsidies.”

According to Le Figaro, no fewer than 110,000 people attended Lollapalooza Paris 2017, held at the Longchamp racecourse – the home of Download Paris, also a Live Nation production – on 22 and 23 July. Headliners were Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Weeknd, Imagine Dragons, Lana Del Rey, London Grammar and DJ Snake.

Lollapalooza, revived in Chicago by Live Nation’s C3 Presents in 2005, is now staged in five other cities worldwide:  Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Paris and Chilean capital Santiago.

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Festival Internacional de Benicàssim (FIB) festival director Melvin Benn has said the Spanish festival is entering a “new golden age” after its 2017 edition attracted more than 177,000 people over four days.

Benicassim 2017 – headlined by Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Weeknd, Kasabian, Foals, Deadmau5 and Spanish band Los Planetas – took place from Thursday 13 to Sunday 16 July, protected by what Spanish paper El País calls the “largest safety device” in the history of music festivals in the region: a security perimeter around the festival site, closed to vehicles.

Speaking to El País, Benn says 2017 marked the beginning of a “new golden age for FIB, and we want it to last a long time”, while Javier Moliner Gargallo, president of Castellón’s legislature, calls the festival the “jewel in the crown” of the province.

“It was the best FIB of the decade”

He also praises the “courage” of Benn, whom he credits with turning around the formerly struggling festival “in just four years.”

“It was the best FIB of the decade,” he says. “We have even bigger ambitions for 2018, and we are going to make them a reality.”

A total of 161,100 festivalgoers attended last year’s 21st FIB, which was hailed in the Spanish press as “rebirth” for the event after years of dwindling crowds and financial mismanagement. The festival’s promoter, Maraworld, was jointly acquired from Vince Power by SJM Concerts and Denis Desmond’s MCD in 2013.

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German promoter Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG) returned to profit in 2016, it revealed today, after a fourth quarter that proved to be its strongest in five years.

As predicted by its board in November, a focus on Christmas-themed family events delivered a huge Q4 for DEAG, with the final three months of the year generating revenue of €86.8 million – almost half the company’s 2016 earnings, and a 61% increase on the €53.9m it turned over in Q4 2015.

While provisional full-year revenue only increased slightly – €204.9m, from €200.4m in 2015 – earnings before taxes and interest (EBIT) jumped nearly 102%, with DEAG once again making a (small) profit after 2015’s €26.2m loss (initially estimated at -€17.8m), incurred by the launch of three new festivals (two of which have since since been cancelled).

Alongside Christmas events such as Christmas at Kew, Christmas at Blenheim and Christmas Garden Berlin, key to DEAG’s 2016 growth were strong performances by its non-German subsidiaries – particularly Kilimanjaro Live and classical music promoter Raymond Gubbay in the UK – and its multinational ticketing business, MyTicket.

Other major Q4 shows for DEAG included Disney on Ice and Marvel Universe Live! and tours by Böhse Onkelz, David Garrett (Raymond Gubbay) and Red Hot Chili Peppers (Kilimanjaro).

“Our strategy, with a clear focus on family entertainment, rock and pop, classics and jazz, arts and exhibitions, and ticketing, has been proven right”

“Our strategy, with a clear focus on family entertainment, rock and pop, classics and jazz, arts and exhibitions, and ticketing, has been proven right,” comments DEAG founder and CEO Peter Schwenkow.

“In addition to our strong presence in German-speaking countries, our UK business also paid off, with disproportionate organic growth, now accounting for around 35% of DEAG’s total sales. We want to carry this momentum forward and expand our UK business to as much as 40% in the medium term.”

Owing a “well-filled [event] pipeline”, a statement from the DEAG board says it is “looking optimistically into 2017”, predicting EBIT “in the medium-to-upper single-digit million euro range”.

A detailed 2016 financial report will be released on 28 April.

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