July was a momentous month for those in the UK as all restrictions relating to the pandemic were removed, and Europe also enjoyed relative freedom, although the coronavirus still hung like a cloud over some of the live entertainment industry’s biggest events.
More than one in 20 ticket-holders at a Dutch music festival that welcomed 20,000 people at the beginning of the month tested positive for COVID-19. The Verknipt festival in Utrecht was deemed a “super-spreader” event and the Dutch Government responded by banning multi-day events following the outbreak. According to some reports at the time, around one-third of those attending the event had already contracted the virus before the festival.
English Premier League club Everton created its own face-value resale service after the expiration of its partnership with reseller StubHub. The new service, developed in collaboration with SecuTix, allows season ticket members to list their seats for fixtures they are unable to attend, with fans able to manage the process themselves from their online ticketing account. Season ticket members receive a pro-rata credit on their ticketing account for each ticket sold via the platform.
Live Nation expanded its operations in Western Australia through the acquisition of the region’s largest locally-based touring company, Mellen Events. The deal brought the prospect of bringing more international and domestic acts to the region.
Meanwhile, Europe witnessed its largest live music event since the beginning of the pandemic, with 180,000 fans flocking to Serbia’s EXIT Festival. The four-day event welcomed between 42,000 and 48,000 guests on-site everyday, with 50% of ticket-holders coming from abroad, illustrating the international appetite for the return of major events.
Image: Anthony DELANOIX on Unsplash