Sold out tickets: what's behind the new fever for live music

For decades, playing in large sports venues in Spain was the exclusive privilege of a few titans of international music: The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, U2, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen. And not all of them, as Frank Sinatra's historic blow at the Santiago Bernabéu in 1986 made clear. Of the Spanish artists, few apart from Julio Iglesias and Alejandro Sanz could afford to meet their fans in lavish stadiums with guarantees of success. But this dynamic has changed.

This past December, the Colombian Karol G modified the rules of the game by announcing a concert for July at the Real Madrid field, which was followed by another and then another; and, after exhausting all three, another one, completing an unusual sequence of four dates on the mammoth stage. She is not the only one who has bet big: Aitana will perform live at the same venue in December; The tickets flew in three days. A few weeks ago, Lola Índigo joined the party, selling out seats (53,000) for a concert at the Bernabéu in March 2025. (Real Madrid sources confirm that there is currently no standard stadium capacity for these uses, still under construction; the space is adapted and negotiated with each promoter).

It could be debated whether Karol G's current stature is comparable to that of Madonna in the eighties and nineties, but four

bernabéus

is a lot even for the

Like A Virgin

singer of those times. And without questioning her worth, it seems clear that neither Aitana nor Lola Índigo are international superstars of those who until now had a monopoly on the coliseums. The phenomenon is even more striking because it occurs when interest in music seems to have declined, at least in terms of record sales. Part of the explanation must be sought not so much in the caliber of the artists as in the habits of the audience. It is easy to see that Karol G, Aitana and Lola Índigo have in common their strong impact among young audiences. “The two strange years of the pandemic are having a rebound effect,” says Fernán del Val, professor of Sociology of Culture at UNED. “It more affects a youth who, in a fundamental period of their life, when they had to go out and experiment, could not. Being twenty years old and thinking that two crucial years have been stolen from you is difficult to manage. “They are young people who are hungry and want to go out and do things.”

AC/DC in their last concert, on October 7, 2023 in Indio, California. Kevin Mazur (Getty Images for Power Trip)

The data from the IV Live Music Observatory, published by the Ticketmaster ticket sales portal at the end of 2023, endorse that perception. The purchase of seats by young people aged 18 to 24 grew by 48% last year compared to 2022, even exceeding pre-pandemic levels. Concerts are more than just musical events for younger audiences, adds Del Val: “They are social events. They don't come just to be enthralled by an artist; also because they feel that their generation has to be there.” And then they leave a record of it on social networks like Instagram or TikTok.

“It is an event that few Spanish artists have been able to carry out” —says Iratxe Arbeloa, a 31-year-old fan of Lola Índigo from Pamplona who has a ticket for the Bernabéu concert— “and that she, who became known only seven years ago, , go do it, it's something I don't want to miss for anything. She has set an ambitious goal and her followers must be there supporting her.” Iratxe, who has seen the Granada native live on several occasions before, has coincided in those performances with other fans with whom, he adds, "I share experiences and interact through X."

Meanwhile, older fans continue attending massive concerts at the same pace as always. AC/DC completed the capacity for their performance at the La Cartuja Auditorium in Seville on May 29, although when this report was written for the second date, July 1, there were still tickets left; The same goes for Metallica and the seats for their double in July at the Cívitas Metropolitano in Madrid: they went on sale in November 2022 and, although they have been shipped in high numbers, they can still be obtained. The price has an influence: the cheapest tickets for AC/DC and Metallica cost 105 euros; Lola Indigo's, 30.

Lola Índigo herself acknowledged to the

online music magazine Jenesaispop

that she is not going to make money from this: “There is no profitability. The prices are popular, because we want everyone to be able to enjoy it. I want people to come from all over Spain. Everything taken from the tickets goes to the stage, the production and the dancers. And if I do what I have in mind, we will be in the red. But it's

my wedding,

the most important day of my life."

“That Karol G is going to do four concerts is the most brutal thing I have ever heard in my life,” admits the eminent concert promoter Gay Mercader, responsible for tours in Spain of The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan or Lou Reed. “Not even Springsteen has done it. It may be a generational change. It also contributes that they are concerts in a single city, and that city is in the center of Spain, more or less at the same distance for the Bilbao fan as for the Barcelona or Seville fan,” adds Mercader. Karol G will only visit Madrid. Lola Índigo's will be a unique, special event, with an elaborate structure in three acts (one for each album) that cannot be reproduced on the subsequent summer tour of other cities. For his part, Dani Martín announced with the claim of “the only city in Spain” the astonishing series of eight recitals at the WiZink Center in the capital scheduled for November and December 2025. A total of 120,000 seats that presumably sold out fans in 72 hours. of all country. The advance notice with which tickets have been sold (almost two years) confirms this unprecedented hunger for live music. “It speaks of an optimistic generation,” says Fernán del Val.

Lola Indigo performing at the Martín Carpena Sports Palace (Málaga), on February 11, 2024. Daniel Perez Garcia-Santos (Redferns)

The increase in attendance of twenty-somethings and the persistence of the habit of mature fans result in “more and more generations attending concerts,” says Blanca Salcedo, director of Sony Music in Spain, Dani Martín's record label. Salcedo sees “a parallel” between greater music consumption, even if it is

streaming,

and the growth in ticket sales and marketing producers. In addition, she points out “the amplification of the most social part of concerts thanks to networks.”

There are those who see the bubble of festivals, which in the last decade have invaded even the most hidden corners of Spain, as a precursor to the current maelstrom. This is how Mikel Izal, former singer and composer of the IZAL quintet, thinks, now on tour presenting his first solo album,

El fear y el paraíso:

“IZAL's career was marked by festivals, and I know that scene well. They became an event not only for music lovers, but also on a social level, something that you cannot miss in a city. A lot of people signed up who did not fit the profile of the typical music lover who goes to concerts because they are big fans of a group. What started at festivals may have made the leap to concerts. Perhaps that component of the social plan that attracts more people apart from the very fans is a factor that determines whether there are more attendees. Concerts are becoming a leisure alternative beyond music mania. And it is the whiting that bites its tail: by signing up for this type of plans, their melomania grows and they attend more concerts.”

On another scale, bands from the eighties that had fallen into relative oblivion are filling venues throughout the country. The Rebels collapsed Madrid's La Riviera on March 9, Pistons have sold out El Sol three times since December, also in the capital; Similar achievements are accumulated by La Frontera, La Guardia, Seguridad Social... Obús began celebrating its 40th anniversary in September 2021 and has not stopped blowing out candles until February 2024. On April 26, a large contingent of veteran artists (Los Rebeldes, Rafa Sánchez from La Unión, Camela, Amistades Peligrosas, Seguridad Social, Modestia Apart, Cómplices, OBK and Toreros con Chanclas, among others) will storm the Santiago Bernabéu within the framework of the Locos por la Música festival.

Carlos Segarra (right) at a concert in La Riviera (Madrid), on March 9, 2024. Europa Press News (Europa Press via Getty Images)

Carlos Segarra, from Los Rebeldes, makes a double reading of this renewed attraction for his live performance. “Young people and people our age are coming to our concerts. I empathize a lot with young people: many of them have done what those of our generation did. We played commercial radio and since we didn't like what was being played, what did we do? To look behind. That's how I discovered The Beatles, The Rolling Stones... Now there are kids with concern, with ears, and since they don't like what they hammer on the radio, they have said: let's see what was done before. They want to enjoy songs that say something, that tell things, about musicians sweating and giving their all on stage. Meanwhile, the older audience, who stopped going out when she got married and dedicated herself to raising his children, now that they are twenty years old, has gone out again. He is enjoying what he likes and what they have been away from for a long time.”

Segarra also promotes the post-covid theory: “We all had a bad time, many people died, others were ruined. People saw the wolf's ears and now want to enjoy life again. Spend on hospitality, travel (Spain is living more than ever on domestic tourism) and live music. He goes to concerts because he enjoys it. “The Spaniard has changed the way he approaches his life.” “In the past, it was understood that consuming certain music in your youth was fine,” Del Val alleges, “but there came a time in your life when you were interested in something else. That has stopped happening. People maintain their teenage tastes and even, sometimes, their

heavy, punk

or

mod aesthetics.

Besides, the nostalgia of the Movida continues to mobilize many people.”

At this rate, the RAE will end up accepting the term

sold out

in a future edition of the dictionary.

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