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LIVE NATION GLOBAL TOURING CHIEF

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Living up to his status as “King of the Megatour,” Arthur Fogel, president of Live Nation’s Global Touring division and chairman, Live Nation Global Music, will have yet another “mega” year in 2017, steering international tours by U2, Lady Gaga and Sting (Fogel was also instrumental in bringing Bruno Mars into the Live Nation Touring fold in 2016).  Over 30 years helming global tours that have grossed an estimated $4 billion in just the past decade, Fogel has cultivated a very specialized skill set, successfully navigating the dicey waters of international touring for elite superstar artists. On the day Lady Gaga blew out the public on-sale for her upcoming “Joanne” World Tour, Fogel spoke with Venues Today about his 2017 projects, including U2’s “Joshua Tree” stadium tour (now at about 1.5 million tickets sold), Gaga’s transcendent Super Bowl Halftime performance, and the power of being Sting.

Coming on the heels of the successful 2015 “Innocence + Experience” tour in arenas, the announcement of a stadium tour for U2 in support of the 30th anniversary of the “Joshua Tree” came as a surprise to many. How did that come about?
They’re not a band that necessarily looks to celebrate the past in this way, but (“Joshua Tree”) was such a powerful and significant record that it seems quite relevant 30 years later. It’s quite a milestone in and of itself, such an influential, huge record. I think it just added up to, rather than just do a couple of shows, the thinking was, ‘let’s do a bunch of shows, give people the opportunity to be part of it 30 years later.’

It did occur to me that U2 is a band that never looks back, but if you’re going to acknowledge a milestone, “Joshua Tree” would be the one.
I agree, it’s that significant, it was — and remains — an important record, and certainly an important time for them as a band. Obviously, a lot of people share that same view, because [ticket sales] just exploded out of the gate. It probably did take people by surprise, but definitely a welcome one.

The “Innocence + Experience” arena run in 2015 (in support of the 2014 release “Songs Of Innocence”) was such a groundbreaking tour technically, and the performances were critically acclaimed. Is there any chance of revisiting that touring concept?
We’ve done “Innocence,” and I think once they’re ready to release “Experience”, we’re going to continue the “Innocence + Experience” tour. That was always the plan. The approach will be to use the same kind of physical production; obviously the content will change in terms of songs, visuals, etc. Certainly the plan is to finish the “Experience” part of that project.

Well, that’s good news for those who didn’t see it, and of course those like myself who did and would like to see it again.
They are such a great band live, not just because of great songs, but they always have such great instincts with respect to production and presentation. They’re just in a great place.

Will the “Joshua Tree” tour production have some nods to the original tour (109 shows in arenas and stadiums in 1987)?
It’s all kind of in process with the band and creative team at this point, but I would expect it would tie to the look, feel and vibe [of that era], to a great extent.

Lady Gaga’s “Joanne” album just exploded at retail after what some have called the greatest Super Bowl Halftime performance of all time. As a promoter, I guess that’s about as good as you could hope for from a Super Bowl performance and tour announcement.
(Laughing) There’s no question, it was brilliant, and [the Super Bowl] is probably the greatest platform there is for announcing a tour, particularly when she delivers like she did. But it doesn’t surprise me how great it was; her talent is so broad, and there’s such a depth of talent. There are very few artists that rise to the occasion in big moments like she does, whether it’s the Oscars, or singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl last year, obviously this half time show, there’s a bunch of other examples. She just has such great instincts and confidence in her performance.

It must have been rewarding to watch, given your relationship with Lady Gaga, which dates back to the “Monster Ball” tour in 2009.
I started working with her eight or nine years ago; it’s turned left, it’s turned right, and it’s in a great place now. Eight or nine years seems like a long time, but it’s not really that long a time, and in that period she’s really established herself as a great artist, a great performer, and that half time show just reconfirmed that. The tour will be the next step of blowing people away, the next phase of what’s coming after we went on sale post-Super Bowl. There will always be great success in front of her.

What can you tell me about her on-sales for the upcoming “Joanne” tour (which begins Aug. 1 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, B.C.)?
Everything’s sold out: Wrigley Field (Chicago), Fenway Park (Boston), Citi Field (New York), AT&T Park (San Francisco), all the arenas. The presales were last week, we went on sale to the public this morning (Feb. 13), everything’s sold out. We’re adding a second Fenway, a second Citi Field, I’d add another Chicago, but there are no avails. We’ll put the second leg of America on sale over the next couple of weeks, which runs in the fall. The tour starts in North America, goes to Europe, then comes back to America for the end of the year.

Even though she’s had big hits and tours, it always has felt like there was almost a cult following with her that everybody didn’t get. I think maybe we just saw the mainstreaming of Lady Gaga, without her compromising anything artistically.
Very astute observation, I think you’re absolutely right. Certainly, over the last two or three years, her audience has opened up and broadened, just because of what she’s been up to and how she’s evolved, through the Tony Bennett project, through her TV work, a bunch of different things that really opened up that audience and the Super Bowl is just the icing on the cake. People that were raving to me about it, a lot of them were never hardcore Gaga fans, it’s like a light bulb went on.

A lot of acts go pure nostalgia or can be swallowed up by that big Super Bowl stage, and Lady Gaga did neither.
To me, the greatest thing about the Super Bowl is she did it herself, it was just full-on Gaga. I loved that there were no special guests or no “variety show” vibe. It was just her.

She could have blown it; it was right there to be blown. It could have easily gone off the rails, had she gone in a different direction.
(Laughs) Well, it could have, but I’m a 100 percent believer in her, and have been since day one. That’s why I held Fenway and Citi and Wrigley. I believe in her.
You’ve also been Sting’s longtime tour promoter. I look at Sting’s route, it’s really cool smaller venues, and worldwide. It seems this guy can play anywhere in the world.
He can play anywhere. I saw him last week when he was here [in L.A.] at the Palladium. I’ve had the great fortune to work with him for a long time, with the Police in the middle of our run together, and the thing that blows me away about him — apart from the immense talent and history — is he makes it look so easy. He’s at the top of his game, still. I love that he’s doing these smaller places, I think it’s a good changeup. Last year we did the run with Peter Gabriel [the “Paper and Scissors” tour), which was fantastic. The new record [“57th And 9th”] is great, I think it was a good decision to scale back [the tour] and get a little bit “down-and-dirty” in some smaller places. It’s good to see him having so much fun.

Sting’s tour, like most of what you do, is global in nature. Do you take into account what’s going on in the world, the global political, economic and cultural climate, when you route a tour now?
Yes, you have to. And there’s the reality of the U.S. dollar against other currencies. You’ve got to be smart, and you’ve got to adjust, but, at the end of the day, it still makes sense for acts to tour the world. As you know, for me it’s always been such a big part of the view on how to put these tours together and maximize them. But also, over the years, you’ve seen those artists that maybe over-developed a territory like the U.S. or North America, and the world is kind of out of whack for them in terms of strength. For me, it’s always been about how do you bring it all along at the same level, because that certainly helps career longevity, especially playing live.

It’s funny, I was talking to somebody not long ago about how, when this whole global touring model was picking up momentum in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s, there were like 15 or 16 countries that came across regularly on these tours. Now it’s like 40-45, it’s like the universe has at least tripled for this kind of tour.
That’s a lot more for you and your team to be on top of.
That’s true, but for me personally, that’s what I find most exciting and interesting. It’s absolutely critical as I look at the business to have that big picture view. Nothing against the local route, I just think there’s so much to offer when you can have one view, one strategy overlaying how these things get executed and put together.


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