Beyoncé kicked off her Cowboy Carter Tour with a record-breaking five-night stand at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

The Los Angeles residency sold 217,000 tickets and grossed $55.7 million, making it the biggest reported single-venue engagement by a woman in Billboard Boxscore history.

It’s also the fifth-highest grossing tour stop in Boxscore history, only behind two legs of U2’s Sphere residency in Las Vegas (2023-24), Harry Styles’ 15 shows at Madison Square Garden in New York (2022), and eight nights of Take That at Wembley Stadium in London (2011).

“In every respect, it’s a brilliant start for the Cowboy Carter Tour in Los Angeles,” Arthur Fogel, Live Nation’s chairman of global music and president of global touring, told IQ.

The Cowboy Carter Tour launched on Monday 28 April at SoFi Stadium, with successive performances on May 1, 4, 7, and 9. On average, Beyoncé grossed $11.1 million per night, playing to more than 43,000 fans at each show.

“In every respect, it’s a brilliant start for the Cowboy Carter Tour in Los Angeles”

In completing the run, the Texan has now played more shows at SoFi Stadium than any other artist in the venue’s history – eight, including three in 2023 – since its opening at the beginning of the decade.

The 43-year-old superstar is also due to play a five-night stand at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and a six-night stand at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, which could challenge the $55 million take.

Total attendance at the 32-date Cowboy Carter Tour is set to eclipse one million, according to promoter Live Nation. By Billboard‘s estimations, Beyoncé’s 2025 run is barreling toward $300 million, which would out-gross all of her previous tours except 2023’s Renaissance World Tour.

Renaissance World Tour, which ran for 56 shows compared to Cowboy Carter Tour’s current routing of 32, was the second highest-grossing tour of 2023 after Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.

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A series of events have been cancelled or postponed as Los Angeles grapples with widespread wildfires.

Five major wildfires continue to burn across LA, fuelled by strong winds, becoming “the most destructive ever to hit Los Angeles County,” reports CNN. At least five people have been killed, with more than 100,000 residents ordered to evacuate.

LA radio station ALT 98.7 has cancelled the iHeartRadio ALTer EGO festival, which was set to return to Inglewood’s Kia Forum (cap. 17,505) on Saturday, 11 January.

Incubus, The Lumineers, Cage The Elephant, Glass Animals, The Offspring, St. Vincent, Fontaines D.C., The Head and the Heart, and Damiano David were all set to perform.

“It is with heavy hearts that we report that we will be cancelling our ALTer Ego show this Saturday at the KIA Forum. The devastation from the fires is beyond comprehension. Our thoughts are with the Los Angeles community and listeners who have been affected by this tragedy. We also want to recognize and thank all the first responders. We love our city and are putting health and safety first,” the organisers wrote online.

Inglewood’s newest venue, the 18,000-capacity Intiut Dome, also cancelled a show with rapper Rod Wave last night (Wednesday).

“The health and safety of our fans and employees will remain the top priority,” wrote arena representatives.

“Our hearts are with all the members of our community who are impacted by the fires”

Two major festivals have also postponed ticket sales for their upcoming events. Both Rolling Loud, which recently downsized to 15-16 March at Inglewood’s Hollywood Park (75,000), and electronic dance festival Beyond Wonderland, scheduled for 28-29 March at San Bernardino’s NOS Event Center (65,000), have delayed sales until further notice.

In addition to large-scale shows, theatre-level performances have also been rearranged.

The LA Philharmonic Orchestra has postponed or cancelled all shows through the weekend, pushing pianist Igor Levit and singer-songwriter Cody Fry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall (2,265) performances to a later date. Three orchestral performances featuring works from Schumann & Brahms have been cancelled.

“Our hearts are with all the members of our community who are impacted by the fires, and our immense gratitude goes out to all the firefighters and first responders. Please stay safe,” says the LA Phil in their cancellation.

Other iconic venues like The Hollywood Palladium (4,000), The Fonda Theatre (1,200), and The Roxy Theatre (500) all have programming through the weekend that has not been publicly cancelled, while other spaces like The Hollywood Bowl (17,500), The Greek Theatre (5,900), and the El Rey Theatre (771) have no performances set for the near future.

While SoFi Stadium (70,000) has no music-related events, the NFL announced a playoff game set for next Monday will go on, with a contingency plan to move the matchup to Arizona’s State Farm Stadium (63,400) in place. Crypto.com Arena (20,000) is also rescheduling basketball games.

Thousands of acres and hundreds of homes have been destroyed since the blaze began on Tuesday, which is rapidly growing as a result of “dry, hurricane-force winds”, per Reuters. Fires continue to burn across the Palisades, Hollywood Hills, Pasadena, San Fernando Valley, and the Angeles National Forest.

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BTS have announced a mini-residency at the brand new SoFi stadium (cap. 70,000) in Los Angeles this winter, promoted by Live Nation.

The record-breaking K-pop stars will bring their ‘Permission to Dance on Stage’ show to Inglewood, California, for four nights.

The in-person concerts will mark the first time BTS have been able to be face-to-face with fans since the 2019 BTS World Tour.

The four shows, taking place on 27, 28 November and 1, 2 December, will follow the group’s recently announced livestream concert scheduled for 24 October.

The ‘BTS Permission to Dance On Stage’ live stream comes a year after the ‘BTS Map of the Soul On:e’ event in October 2020.

The four shows will follow the group’s recently announced livestream concert scheduled for 24 October

The stars grossed an estimated $44 million from the two-day live stream, which reached 993,000 viewers in 191 regions.

BTS’s record label, Big Hit Music, says they decided to hold the concerts in the US after “taking the national and regional health regulations and circumstances into consideration”.

“It is [with] our deepest regret that we are unable to hold more concerts in more areas,” it added. “We will do our best to put on additional concerts for not only Korean fans but fans from all around the world who have been patiently waiting for a long time.”

Fans can register for ‘Permission to Dance on Stage’ tickets here.

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