like Kiss and Aerosmith, are retiring or have retired.” That has created a void for an act such as Sleep Token to step into. As is the way, there was some wringing of hands online when the metal breakthrough stars were announced as a headliner but Haq describes the decision as no-brainer. “They did nearly 100,000 tickets across the UK shows last year,” he says. “That proves the point. These guys are ready to headline a major festival. They’re going to throw everything at it, much like Bring Me The Horizon did in 2023. It’ll be special.” Instead of waiting for a festival to anoint you as a headliner, another tact is to simply put on your own event. That’s the route Yungblud took with last year’s inaugural Bludfest and the pop-punk dynamo is staging a follow-up in June, again at Milton Keynes Bowl.
“He’s very driven, his ambition is boundless,” says Steve Homer, who works with Yungblud on the event. “He’s so engaged with everything he does. Producing Bludfest is a real passion play for him. It’s great to have an artist that’s engaged in actually working it, promoting it and talking about it.” What’s more, Homer adds that the Doncaster native “wants to play stadiums and I wouldn’t put it past him”. Perhaps one artist moving up into headline slots helps inspire the next, where something that once felt reserved for a minority of acts suddenly feels achievable. “There’s a raft of artists taking the leap into stadium or festival slots that would never have been considered before,” says Homer. “It was almost like it was reserved for a certain elite artist, but there’s a whole raft of really cool acts – you’ve got Noah Kahan selling out BST Hyde Park, where Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter [are also headlining], Charli XCX headlining her own event, just huge numbers. It’s a very exciting time.”
Casting an eye across the events that Homer’s colleague Jim King is working on this summer, including BST, All Points East and Forwards in Bristol, shows that new headliners are a key focus, with Barry Can’t Swim, Raye, Jamie xx and The Last Dinner Party also stepping up. In the case of BST, it has proved a springboard for former headliners Blackpink, who will become the first K-pop
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“Thanks to social media and digital, live music has become much more attainable – it is now something young
people really want”
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girl group to play Wembley Stadium (twice) in August. King says that many artists who have been in development in recent years are now reaching the point where they are worthy of headline status.
“We have 65,000-capacity sold-out shows at BST Hyde Park with artists headlining a festival for the first time,” he says. “These acts have great music and a catalogue of songs that can keep a festival audience captivated for the 90 minutes of their set. Ultimately, that’s the key, at festivals – they must be able to bridge into wider audience groups and it’s easier to do that when you have great songs that people know.” King does not see the ample stadium shows featuring artists playing at the level for the first time as impacting his festival events. It’s a win-win for all.
“Ultimately, as more artists sell out Tottenham, Wembley or Anfield, there are more artists who are going to be considered for festival headline offers or vice versa,” he opines. “The key is for managers and agents to support both formats. I never compare them too closely as the experience is different.”
F
Stepping up: (Clockwise from top left) Dua Lipa, Blackpink, Olivia Rodrigo and Sleep Token are hitting new heights on the stage
or many artists, the pathway to stadiums is forged by masterful headline sets at festivals, a showcase for what they can do on the grandest of stages. Dua Lipa cemented her reputation as one of the world’s most exhilarating pop acts with last year’s acclaimed Glastonbury performance and, this summer, she’ll embark on a stadium tour of the UK and Ireland that includes two nights at Wembley Stadium. Her manager and father Dugi Lipa says it’s a natural progression for the Radical Optimism star.
“In 2022, we had the Future Nostalgia shows and they were just phenomenal and since then we’ve been thinking, ‘How can we continuously grow and adapt and elevate what a Dua Lipa show can look like?’” he says. “Dua has an incredible presence and makes these huge places feel very intimate, she retains that connection with the audience. With the demand for the shows, stadiums were the next step, a perfect home for Dua.”
Almost quite literally, where Wembley is concerned. “Wembley is a landmark for any artist,” Lipa smiles. “Let alone
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PHOTOS: Naomi Rahim, Katja Ogrin, Emma McIntyre, Christopher Polk, Getty, Redferns
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