their fanbase wants to go to a festival,” she says. Whether an artist chooses to do their own show or a festival is a case-by-case, artist-by-artist scenario, she says, using Hozier’s upcoming summer performances as an example. “Hozier sold out Finsbury Park last year,” she states. “This year, he’s headlining Reading & Leeds. It’s satisfying a need, it’s a slightly different location. The demographic at the Finsbury Park gig was young, but potentially Reading & Leeds skews even younger and fingers crossed, you get some new fans from that.”
Those fans are game for gigs, says Steve Homer. “I think there’s definitely more Gen Z people going to events than potentially millennials did,” he states. “There used to be a whole market for giving CDs, DVDs as a birthday or Christmas present and that’s gone now. People are definitely more invested in experiences than they are in physical things, and the best way of expressing that is by going to an event with loads of people of your own age.” Banks agrees, noting that the industry can now tap into a pool of people that want to attend live events. “Young people see clips of shows on Instagram, TikTok
60 | Music Week
“With the demand for Dua and her shows, stadiums were the next step – a perfect home for her”
DUGI LIPA, RADICAL22
or YouTube, or you’ve got artists playing gigs in Fortnite and livestreaming on Twitch – all of these things which just didn’t exist before,” she says. “It makes live music much more attainable and something that people want to do.” By broadening their bills, festivals have found a way to bring their line-ups into the modern age. At one stage, for example, it would have been unthinkable for Busted to appear at Download, as they did in 2024. But it worked and, this year, the annual rock/metal jamboree welcomes McFly to Donington. “We’ve diversified the line-up to include a wider range of acts in the rock spectrum, or alternative punk and even mainstream acts,” explains the festival’s booker and promoter Kamran Haq. “That has attracted a younger audience that might not have previously considered Download.” Indeed, according to Ticketmaster data, approximately 44% of Download ticket buyers this year are first time attendees. “We as a festival need to keep evolving and stay relevant with younger fans,” Haq says. “We’re trying to embrace a more contemporary line-up. There will always be a place for the likes of Iron Maiden, Metallica and the more traditional headliners, but some acts from the prior pool of headliners,
musicweek.com
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