Christopher Barrett

Founded in 1711 by Queen Anne, Ascot Racecourse has hosted Royal Ascot for more than 250 years but each year its production involves new ideas and concepts being brought to life. We explore the new elements that made a difference to the look and feel of this year’s edition. While being steeped in history, […]

Live Nation said the 2029 opening of a new 20,000-capacity arena in Munich is another step closer with the municipal planning process having been completed. The development plans for the new German arena, located near Munich International Airport, have successfully passed the local authority planning process, with the City of Freising having formally adopted the […]

A Greener Future CEO Claire O’Neill has joined fellow climate leaders at a Climate Action-led roundtable at Buckingham Palace. The co-founder of AGF, and green event energy specialists Grid Faeries x Ecotricity, O’Neill was invited by Climate Action to contribute to the Global Action Agenda because of her work in greening festivals and accelerating the […]

Crosstown Concerts has partnered with Cardiff venue Clwb Ifor Bach and is to co-produce the Sŵn Festival from 2027. The independent promoter has also announced that Clwb Ifor Bach and Sŵn Festival head of music Adam Williams is joining Crosstown Concerts as a national promoter and artist manager. Crosstown said the development was intended to […]

Headliners including Coldplay, Lana Del Rey and Kendrick Lamar helped attract a record 24.7 million music tourists to UK concerts and festivals last year, according to UK Music. Hugely successful events including the Oasis Live ’25 Tour helped boost the total number of music tourists in the UK by 4.8% from 23.5m in 2024 to […]

On the back of its first Japanese venue, IG Arena, having attracted one million visitors and hosted 166 events in its first year, AEG is planning for huge growth in the coming year . The venue in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, opened on 13 July 2025 and has since had a significant impact not only on […]

Having brought Barack Obama to The O2’s stage, Fane Group has announced it is taking McLaren Racing to the London venue. The spoken word, literary and cultural live events promoter, part of KMJ Entertainment, is to stage McLaren Racing LIVE in Conversation at The O2 on 14 December. It follows the F1 75 Live show at […]

On the back of its first distribution in January that saw £500,000 channelled into supporting 372 venues, 211 shows and 81 festivals, the LIVE Trust has announced a further £1 million is forthcoming. Among the key beneficiaries isthe Association of Independent Festivals’ Festival MOT Programme, which is described as “a diagnostic service for independent music […]

KMJ Entertainment Group CEO Stuart Galbraith was presented with the Gold Brick Award after promoting his hundredth show at The O2. The concert by Ludovico Einaudi also saw the Italian composer recognised, in has case with The O2 Arena’s First Time Award. Galbraith’s Gold Brick will now be included backstage at the […]

Jim King, the man behind festivals including BST Hyde Park, All Points East, Lido, Forwards, Roundhay Festival and Rock en Seine talks festival business in the latest edition of the Access All Areas Backstage podcast. While enjoying some much-needed shade under the ancient oaks backstage at BST, we caught up with King to discuss his […]