TAKK ab Entertainment and AEG Presents promoted Switzerland’s first-ever K-pop arena show last night with boy band ATEEZ.

The South Korean eight-piece, formed by KQ Entertainment, performed a sold-out show at the 15,000-capacity Hallenstadion in Zurich. The market first comes after ATEEZ made history as the first male Korean group to play Coachella last year.

TAKK’s vice president of booking, Théo Quiblier, told IQ that it’s “a huge challenge to bring A-list K-Pop acts to new markets due to the gigantic nature of their production”.

“Switzerland owes its very first arena show to the incredible vision and guts of the whole AEG team who took a BIG leap of faith in Zurich and Switzerland as a market and trusted us to deliver the vision they had for ATEEZ,” he continues. And of course, thank you to ATEEZ who gave Switzerland and their fans a chance.

“This show was a very special one as usually promoters love to rely on history and sales before committing. For this show, it was a white page. It was a proper jump into outer space with one of the biggest productions to play Hallenstadion in recent years so needless to say Simon [Jones, AEG Presents’ SVP of international touring] and I spent a certain amount of time on the phone on this one.

“But the result speaks for itself – the fans had one of the best nights of their lives with their favourite artist and that will always be the ultimate reward for us promoters.”

Jones tells IQ: “We are always very keen to open up new arena markets for K-pop and we felt the perfect time to do this was on ATEEZ’s biggest-ever tour of Europe, and introduce Zurich and Milan which have both been resounding sold-out successes.

“The appetite for the genre shows no signs of slowing up, and we’re pleased to go on the journey with our Swiss partners TAKK, whom believed in this great show with us. Thanks to them and all of team ATEEZ for bringing such a gigantic show to their Swiss fans – they are a huge force to be reckoned with!”

In recent years, AEG Presents has dialled in on the K-pop market. The multinational firm is getting ready to open the 20,000-capacity CJ LiveCity Arena in Seoul as part of a larger K-pop entertainment district.

“The appetite for the genre shows no signs of slowing up”

In 2022, AEG Presents formally partnered with K-pop touring and marketing firm Powerhouse, which has worked with some of K-pop’s biggest stars such as BTS and Blackpink and is a partner of the world’s biggest K-pop festival CJ ENM’s KCON.

The firm also promoted BLACKPINK’s latest trek, the 2022-23 Born Pink world tour, which became the most-attended concert tour by a K-pop girl group with 1.8 million attendees. BLACKPINK went on to headline the AEG-backed BST Hyde Park in London last summer, a milestone for the summer series:

AEG and TAKK aren’t the only promoters bringing K-pop to Europe, with concerts and festivals on an upward trajectory in the last couple of years.

In 2022, Germany hosted Europe’s first K-pop festival, Kpop.Flex festival, which sold more than 70,000 tickets in 84 countries. That year, TEG MJR promoted the UK’s first-ever K-pop festival, HallyuPopFest, at OVO Arena Wembley.

Elsewhere, the 19th edition of renowned K-pop tour, the Music Bank World Tour, took place in Spain, at Madrid’s 80,000-cap Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Earlier this year, an application was submitted to stage a two-day K-pop festival in North West London. Magic Sound is bidding to hold the 15,000-cap Made in Korea (MIK) 2025 at Northwick Park, Brent, from 7-8 June.

Meanwhile, a new report has projected the global K-pop events market – valued at US$8.1 billion (€7.9bn) in 2021 – will reach $20bn (€19bn) by 2031.

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Swiss-French promoter TAKK ab Entertainment has hailed an “incredibly exciting” first year as a new entity.

The operation was established last year when the 15-year-old TAKK Productions, run by Sebastien Vuignier and Théo Quiblier, joined forces with CTS Eventim and Swiss concert pioneer André Béchir.

The move brought together three generations of promoters – and rosters that include some of the world’s biggest artists – resulting in a blockbuster year for TAKK ab.

“You bring all of us together and the volume of activities is crazy,” Quiblier tells IQ. “The first year exceeded all expectations. The two Taylor Swift shows at Zurich’s 50,000-capacity Letzigrund Stadium were a massive highlight and AC/DC selling out the same stadium in just eight minutes was another unforgettable moment.”

The firm promoted a further 250 shows with artists such as Sam Smith, Jungle, The National, James Arthur, Aurora, Idles, PJ Harvey, Royal Blood, Nick Mason, The Last Dinner Party and Aurora, and booked acts for festivals such as Montreux Jazz Festival, Paleo and Zurich Openair.

“You bring all of us together and the volume of activities is crazy”

“This is a new era,” says Vuignier. “The old TAKK was a small, family-like team and we co-promoted shows with partners. TAKK ab, though still a boutique company at heart, has grown significantly. With André’s involvement, we’ve been able to expand the team, handle much larger concerts and manage our shows from start to finish.”

Béchir – whose roster includes Taylor Swift, AC/DC, The Rolling Stones, Pink, Queen and Bruce Springsteen – says the idea of a three-generation team attracted him.

“With Seb (54) and Théo (28) we can cover the whole field from young bands and young agents to the established bands and agents…we form a dream team,” the 75-year-old tells IQ. “This allows me to offer the next generation the opportunity to build and grow on a secure foundation so that I can hand over my knowledge sooner or later into new good hands.”

Quiblier agrees: “We really complement each other. To have Andre’s knowledge on these big shows is amazing and Seb is so good at diplomacy.”

In addition to Béchir, the team grew rapidly in both the German and French-speaking parts of Switzerland, which was initially challenging for TAKK ab.

“Hiring new people and ensuring everyone worked well together across different languages and locations was challenging,” says Quiblier. “We now have a fantastic team of positive-minded individuals. None of the successes this year would have been possible without each of them working together.”

“It’s been challenging, but very exciting at the same time for our company”

Other challenges came in the form of cancellations with acts including P!nk and The Smile, as well as the collapse of Vibiscum Festival in Vevey which left some of TAKK’s acts unpaid.

Stadium availability for 2025 is another hurdle for the firm, with Switzerland set to host the UEFA European Women’s Championship.

“As a football fan it’s amazing but as a promoter, it’s terrible,” says Quiblier. “It’s frustrating because we had to pass on some amazing opportunities. The reality is that the country lacks infrastructure.”

‘The biggest stadium in Switzerland is Letzigrund in Zurich, which you can sell for up to 47,000 tickets. On a wider scale is a very small stadium. This stadium cannot be rented more than four or five times in summer due to restrictions so you can imagine the competition to get avails. It’s hard to see other markets building new arenas and know that, once again, we are 25 years behind in Switzerland.”

Fortunately, TAKK has secured Letzigrund for two Ed Sheeran shows in early August 2025 and the firm looks to promote more arena shows than in 2024.

“It’s been a challenging but very exciting time for our company,” concludes Quiblier. “What I like about my job is that there is no day like yesterday.”

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CTS Eventim has formalised the expansion of its live entertainment business in Switzerland by establishing new company TAKK ab Entertainment AG.

The firm will be led by three generations of promoters – Swiss concert pioneer André Béchir, TAKK Productions founder Sebastien Vuignier and IQ New Bosses alumnus Théo Quiblier.

It was announced earlier this year that Béchir would be operating a new company under the Eventim Live umbrella, in collaboration with Swiss-French promoter TAKK. Vuignier has been appointed MD of the new venture, with Béchir, to serve as an advisor and Quiblier, who joined TAKK from Lausanne-based Two Gentlemen last September, named VP booking.

“We’re delighted to be further expanding our live entertainment business in Switzerland,” says CTS Eventim CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg. “This highly effective, cross-generational team will enable us to unlock even more of the potential in this market.”

“Thanks to the partnership with CTS Eventim, we have laid the foundations for the future growth of our live entertainment activities”

TAKK ab Entertainment will benefit from current TAKK Productions’ team operations based in the French part of Switzerland and staff operating from its new office in Zurich.

“Thanks to the partnership with CTS Eventim, we have laid the foundations for the future growth of our live entertainment activities,” adds Vuignier. “Maximum professionalism, extensive experience and the latest technology will enable us to leverage new synergies that we can use together with great success.”

Pan-European giant CTS reported strong growth for the first quarter of 2023, revealing it has sold 18 million tickets so far in this year.

Béchir’s abc Production was amalgamated with Gadget and Wepromote by CTS shortly before the pandemic hit.

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