AEG Presents UK CEO Steve Homer has praised live music's new wave of headline talent, saying that more artists are reaching the upper echelons than at any point in the last 25 years.
This summer's domestic festival scene includes headline performances from the likes of The 1975, Charli XCX, Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, Sleep Token, Hozier and Chappell Roan, while the stadium circuit will be graced by acts such as Dua Lipa, Lana Del Rey, Blackpink, Catfish And The Bottlemen and Sam Fender.
Homer, who is one of a host of big-name executives to run the rule over the trend in the July edition of Music Week, is buoyed by the lay of the land.
“I think you’d have to go back 25 years to the last time there seemed to be this level of artists,” he said. “You’d have Reading & Leeds line-ups where they’d have Rage Against The Machine fourth [from the top], or Slipknot in third, where they had more headliners than they needed. But there weren’t as many festival opportunities then.”
Homer pointed to the huge number of outdoor events taking place in London alone this summer at venues including Wembley Stadium, Gunnersbury Park, Hyde Park, Victoria Park, Crystal Palace, Finsbury Park, Emirates Stadium, the London Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
There’s a raft of artists taking the leap into stadium or festival slots that would never have been considered before
Steve Homer
“There’s a raft of artists taking the leap into stadium or festival slots that would never have been considered before. 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 [last weekend], just huge numbers. It’s a very exciting time."
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium's stacked 2025 programme includes six nights with Beyoncé, which concluded last night, as well as names like Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Stray Kids, Imagine Dragons, Arijit Singh and Post Malone. Bad Bunny is already confirmed for next year.
“Tottenham has got a ridiculous number of shows this summer and that stadium didn’t exist several years ago, and yet the infrastructure seems to be able to cope with it,” said Homer.
Homer suggested there has been a generational shift towards IRL experiences, which has been to the benefit of the touring business.
“I think there’s definitely more Gen Z people going to events than potentially millennials did,” he said. “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.”
Conversations for festivals for next year are already very active and a lot of it is talking about new breeds of artists. There really is a positive movement
Steve Homer
In addition, Homer has detected a renewed groundswell of support for guitar bands.
“There are more people forming that gang together, when you look at Fontaines DC and how they’ve gone through the gears, or acts like Turnstile, there’s definitely a lot more guitars out there, which is not a bad thing in my view,” he said.
AEG is partnering with Yungblud once again to bring the Polydor-signed star's Bludfest festival back for a second year. Set for the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, the festival will take place on June 21. Homer tipped the Doncaster native to also ascend to live's top table, saying he “wants to play stadiums and I wouldn’t put it past him”.
“He’s very driven, his ambition is boundless,” added Homer. “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.”
Whether or not the current level of top level activity is sustainable in the longer term, Homer said the signs look just as hopeful for the next couple of years.
“The proof is going to be in the pudding,” he concluded. “Next summer, we’re already seeing massive activity at stadium level. Conversations for festivals for next year are already very active and a lot of it is talking about new breeds of artists. There really is a positive movement, with building blocks already in place for next year and into 2027.”
Subscribers can read the full feature in the new issue of Music Week.
