REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL (PART TWO)

The signs are abundant that acts who develop followings on streaming services are viable concert attractions in a way we didn’t see during the era when downloads took over from CDs. One prime example is the range of bookings at New York’s 5,900-capacity Radio City Music Hall this year: Members of the streaming generation on their first headlining tours—Olivia Rodrigo, Kehlani and Lil Nas X, each selling out two nights—will join the ranks of Radio City’s bread-and-butter, including upper-demo star Alicia Keys, jam band Goose and cult faves Bleachers.

The Gen Z audience, ranging from 10 to 25 years old, is key to growth for concert promoters as well as the streaming services. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek touted the engagement of the post-millennial generation, especially on its Blend shared playlist, which unites fans of acts like BTS, Diplo, Kacey Musgraves, Camilo and Megan Thee Stallion.

The ceiling for listening hours, Ek told analysts, is “probably two to three times where we are today. So there’s plenty of growth left ahead.”

Of course, when the year wraps, the top earners will most likely be the established acts of earlier eras. But it’s also likely that that list won’t be acts from the ’60s and ’70s appealing to the gray-haired and their children.

Last year’s Hella Mega Tour with Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer was not only the biggest tour in two years—20 shows, $65 million gross, 640,000 attendees—it showed the viability of a multi-act bill featuring bands of recent vintage. Long the domain of ’70s and ’80s hitmakers, the amphitheater level has been opened for pop, rock and R&B acts of the ’90s and early aughts to join forces on tour. Witness the just-started New Kids on the Block/Salt-N-Pepa/Rick Astley/En Vogue MixTape Tour; Santana and Earth, Wind & Fire’s summer run of amphitheaters; Smashing Pumpkins/Jane’s Addiction and Wu-Tang Clan/Nas on their arena treks in the fall; and the 27-date Incubus/Sublime package.

Call it the new nostalgia. The When We Were Young festival in Las Vegas featuring alt-rock and emo acts from the ’90s and ’00s was expanded to three days from one, with 160,000 attendees. Live Nation’s C3 had initially projected a crowd of about 40,000.

“While films and TV series may come and go, devotion to one's favorite music and artist is more deep-seated and longer lasting,” Warner Music Group CEO Steve Cooper told analysts earlier this year.

Contrast 2022 with just six years ago. The top U.S. tours in 2016, according to Pollstar’s tally, were Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, Guns N’ Roses and Garth Brooks. Only seven acts with current hits were in the Top 40: Adele, Justin Bieber, Coldplay, Drake, Ye, Jason Aldean and Jennifer Lopez. The only package in the Top 40 was Journey and The Doobie Brothers. Eight of the top 40 moneymakers had not had a bona fide hit in more than a decade.

Now we’re seeing artists like The Lumineers do what seemed impossible just over half a decade ago. Arguably the last act to gain fame in the CD era, they’ve blossomed in the last two years into an arena and festival headliner. And they’ll close their 56-date Brightside World Tour on 9/3 with their first-ever stadium show, at Wrigley Field.

Back to Part One