It was reported that 1.54 million tickets were sold via O2 Priority between January and November of this year – this is a remarkable 12% increase from the same time period in 2023.

O2 and Virgin Media customers are granted with the Priority Tickets reward platform, which enables them to have exclusive early access to the sale of tickets to some of the biggest events in the UK. Along with this, members can receive other benefits including VIP Hospitality packages, queue jump and a range of discounts.

What gig tickets did you buy this year?

2024 is not over just yet, but the @O2 #Priority Tickets platform has already had a record-breaking year! Over 1.54 million tickets were sold January to November – a 12% increase on the same time period in 2023.

Tours by #DuaLipa,… pic.twitter.com/xA0QVbej9R

— Virgin Media O2 News (@VMO2News) December 20, 2024

The biggest selling tours of 2024 according to the level of Priority Tickets sold, reveals the UK have an eclectic taste when it concerns entertainment.

Dua Lipa was crowned the top spot on the list. The pop sensation released her third album, ‘Radical Optimism’ this year alongside the announcement of a 2025 world tour, named after the LP. With her own ITV Special and memorable hits like ‘Houdini’ and ‘Training Season’, it is no surprise Lipa claims this spot. As the highest-selling artist on the list, it should be noted that the ticket sales for her upcoming tour were partnered with O2’s priority platform, announced through an enticingly iconic ‘Walk’ ad to increase hype for the events.

Lipa’s runner-up was none other than legendary British comedian Peter Kay. As a much-loved comedian in the UK, Kay’s upcoming tour will consist of a residency at London’s prestigious O2 Arena; with many sold out dates on this tour and some fans reporting being over 20,000 in the queue for tickets, extra shows have been added to meet demand.

Despite only announcing her tour at the end of November, Lana Del Rey claimed the third spot on the list. The forthcoming tour will mark the ‘Video Games’ singer’s first stadium tour in the UK and will be some of the first shows to witness performances of tracks from her unreleased album ‘The Right Person Will Stay’.

Other artists on the list include Usher, who continues to ride the success of his halftime performance at this year’s Super Bowl in February, along with Billie Eilish, who released her third album ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ this year and has spent the last few months touring the album in the US.

Gareth Griffiths, Director of Partnerships and Sponsorship at Virgin Media O2 commented on the success of this year’s O2 Priority Tickets reward platform: “There have been massive tours announced this year, ones that will go on to define an entire generation of music and entertainment.”

He continued: “With a relentless demand from O2 and Virgin Media broadband customers for access to live shows, we’re now seeing Priority Tickets smash its own sale records again this year”.

As the future remains hopeful for the continued success of Priority Tickets, it must be emphasised this comes at a time when ticket-buying experiences have become excruciating for fans who wait in online queues for hours or have to deal with dynamic pricing at checkout. Priority Tickets aims to create a hassle-free ticket-buying experience for its customers and gig-goers.

 The biggest-selling tours this year according to Priority Tickets:

1. Dua Lipa
2. Peter Kay
3. Lana Del Rey
4. Usher
5. Billie Eilish
6. Bruce Springsteen
7. Justin Timberlake
8. Linkin Park
9. Tate McRae
10. Iron Maiden

]]> https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/o2-priority-reveal-the-best-selling-tours-of-2024/feed/ 0 https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/olly-murs-and-justin-timberlake-to-headline-chelmsfords-4-day-music-festival-next-july/ https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/olly-murs-and-justin-timberlake-to-headline-chelmsfords-4-day-music-festival-next-july/#comments Fri, 22 Nov 2024 13:24:11 +0000 http://www.mxdwn.co.uk/?p=103160 Both Olly Murs and Justin Timberlake are confirmed to be headlining a new music festival taking place in Chelmsford, Essex next year in July. Both superstars are the first string of artists to be revealed for next year’s event with many more announcements set in due course.

Chelmsford City Racecourse will host the event, titled ‘Chelmsford City Live 2025’, which will see 30,000 people attend the event each day. Essex born and bred popstar, Olly Murs will perform a headline show on Sunday, 6 July, while American singer Justin Timberlake will headline two days prior, on Friday, 4 July.

Introducing Chelmsford City Live, a new weekend music festival bringing global superstars to Essex, July 2025!

For all the latest news and announcements, follow our new social channels and visit https://t.co/PAkPCTXs4I for more information & tickets! @ChelmsfordCRC pic.twitter.com/Q2tg9yiYUq

— Chelmsford City Live (@ChelmsCityLive) November 18, 2024

The festival is in partnership with Chelmsford City Racecourse, Live Nation and Cuffe and Taylor. Cuffe and Taylor promoter Ben Hatton, who hails from Essex, commented on the upcoming festival: “We are delighted to be announcing a whole new festival for Essex for 2025 and beyond. The venue essentially provides us with a blank canvas that will enable us to attract some of the biggest names in the world of live music today and that means our options are endless. We hope this is the start of a very long relationship with the team at Chelmsford City Racecourse and we look forward to welcoming global artists to this most beautiful part of the world”.

He continued: “We already have two amazing headliners for Chelmsford City Live with Justin Timberlake and Olly Murs and we’ll be announcing two more in the coming weeks”.

ESSEX… Get ready as we unveil the full star-studded lineup you won’t want to miss! Be the first to hear all the latest Chelmsford City Live updates by signing up at https://t.co/H7mt4ciahf

Who do you want to see play?@ChelmsfordCRC pic.twitter.com/uz2F5ATZ84

— Chelmsford City Live (@ChelmsCityLive) November 20, 2024

The forthcoming festival will take place on non-race days during a long 4-day weekend in July,  where each day will feature a standalone headline concert. This gives festival fans the opportunity to attend the festival for a single day to witness a particular headline show or buy a multi-day pass.

Since opening its doors in 2015, Chelmsford City Racecourse has established a reputation for providing “award-winning sports and entertainment” to attendees in central Essex. Thousands upon thousands of fans have witnessed many legendary performances from a series of concerts throughout the years. Hosting concerts for iconic ska-pop band Madness in 2015, indie rock band Razorlight in 2018 and ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ singer Sophie Ellis Bexter in 2022, to name a few.

Hailing from Witham in Essex, Olly Murs rose to fame on UK music-reality show, The X Factor in 2009, where he finished as runner-up. The following year he released a self-titled album, which peaked at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart featuring Number 1 Single ‘Please Don’t Let Me Go’. Since then, Murs has had many charting singles, including Number 1 singles ‘Heart Skips A Beat’ featuring hip hop duo Rizzle Kicks, ‘Dance With Me Tonight’ and ‘Troublemaker’ featuring Flo Rida. It is no doubt Murs will perform some of his earlier iconic hits alongside tracks from his latest LP ‘Marry Me’, which released in 2022.

Joining Murs, the ten-time Grammy Award Winner Justin Timberlake will perform a headline set. Dubbed the ‘Prince of Pop’ for his contributions to the genre, Timberlake has sold over 117 million records worldwide, including his work as a soloist and his role as lead vocalist of 90s boyband NSYNC, where Timberlake rose to acclaim. Known for his tracks ‘SexyBack’, ‘CAN’T STOP THE FEELING’, ‘Mirrors’ and ‘Rock Your Body’, the pop icon will head to Chelmsford City Live 2025 as a stop on his current ‘The Forget Tomorrow World Tour’.

Nathan Holmes, Chelmsford Racecourse’s commercial director spoke on the news of Timberlake’s headline performance, stating: “It’s a landmark moment for the venue where we have sought to bring the biggest international acts to Essex and establish ourselves as the leading destination for live music in the South East”.

Tickets for the highly anticipated festival in Essex are officially on sale and can be accessed here.

Olivia Colman, Rob Delaney, Jack Dylan Grazer, Ed Helms, Justice Smith, Kylie Cantrall, Ricardo Hurtado, Marcus Scribner and Zach Galifianakis also provide voiceovers for the film.

The singer expressed that releasing the single for the film is a dream come true. The film follows the character Barney “A socially awkward schoolboy and his malfunctioning digital device Ron”

The singer achieved musical fame in 2010, with his band One Direction aka 1D who are considered the best selling UK boyband”. The band lineup included bandmates, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson who met when they all entered the ITV series The X Factor.

The band released their debut album Up All Night on 18th November 2011 and achieved number-one success with their single “What Makes You Beautiful” released on September 11th 2011. Malik left the band in 2015 to embark on his solo career and the singer continued in the group with Horan, Styles and Tomlinson.

The singer released his first solo single “Strip That Down” on May 19th 2017 from his debut album LP1 released on December 6th 2019. The single reached number three in the UK Official Singles Charts. The singer counts Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams and Usher as his musical influences and has sold more than 23 million singles with 1D and 3 million solo albums to date.

The single has been described as a feel-good song and a teaser clip of the single was released today via TikTok. The singer stated “I can’t wait for you all to hear Sunshine and to see ‘Ron’s Gone Wrong.’ It has been a lot of fun!”

I am so excited to officially announce that my new single Sunshine is out 27th August and that it’s featured in the @ronsgonewrong movie I can’t wait for you all to hear it, pre-save it now https://t.co/fhhror4AXL@Disney @20thcentury @LSAnimation #RonsGoneWrong pic.twitter.com/vn1HYqWaoM

— Liam (@LiamPayne) August 19, 2021

The singer has not released any solo material since his collaboration single “Naughty List” with Dixie D’ Amelio last October. Making the single “Sunshine” the singers first single release of 2021. The single is set for release on August 27th and the film Ron’s Gone Wrong is set for release this October.

Fans based in England’s capital will be happy to hear that the two shows scheduled at the O2 Arena on July 9 and 11 will go ahead as normal. Fans that were heading to concerts at the Birmingham Arena (June 27) and Manchester Arena (July 1), will be able to gain entry at those same venues, with dates rescheduled for August 27 29 respectively.

however, three dates have been scrapped entirely, with Birmingham’s June 28 show, Manchester’s July 2 gig, and Glasgow’s date on July 6 hitting the cutting room floor entirely, with fans able to refund their ticket entirely at their point of purchase. You can see the full, amended list of UK dates below.

07/07/2018- SSE hydro- Glasgow,
09/07- O2 Arena- London,
11/07- O2 Arena- London

27/08- Birmingham Arena- Birmingham
29/08- Manchester Arena- Manchester

Timberlake’s performance in Minneapolis- a city closely associated with Prince- has divided some fans, after he was joined onstage by a huge backdrop projection of late pop icon Prince. This mark an alteration to the original plan, which was supposed to be a full hologram of the singer, a la 2Pac at Coachella in 2012.

However, this received a huge amount of backlash from Prince’s fans, who were keen to point out that the Purple One and Timberlake had a famously strained relationship, with Timberlake mocking Prince during the 2007 Golden Globes, where he mocked his height amongst other things.

Timberlake’s conduct around his album release has also raised a few eyebrows, having caused outrage when he used Prince’s Paisley Park for an album listening party, during which he served alcohol. This is something that has offended many, as during his time at the estate, Prince reportedly never served alcohol, with many calling Timberlake’s choices disrespectful to Prince’s legacy.

Meanwhile Prince is in heaven like pic.twitter.com/lcsjAufAUF

— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) February 5, 2018

After the much-discussed Janet Jackson incident at the 2004 Superbowl, Timberlake seems to be looking to capitalise on all the press with the announcement of this new tour. The UK leg of the tour will begin in Birmingham on June 27, with a date in Paris a few days beforehand. You can see the full list of UK dates below, and tickets go on general sale here on February 12, with a pre-sale for American Express customers available from 10am on February 8.

27/06/2018- Barclaycard Arena- Birmingham

01/07- Manchester Arena- Manchester

05/07- SSE Hydro- Glasgow

The Memphis born singer is set to debut his new single ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling’ when he performs it at Eurovision 2016 this Saturday.

The song was released a few short days ago on May 6th, listen to it below:

Whilst Eurovision may not be as famous in the United States as it is in England and the rest of Europe; you cannot deny that it is a huge stage to debut a live performance of a song; with last years competition having almost 200 million viewers across the world. This figure is set to increase, especially with the strange inclusion of Australia in the competition.

One of the lead producers of Eurovision had this to say on the prospect of Justin Timberlake performing:

“This is a fantastic opportunity, we are very happy and excited that Justin Timberlake will perform his new song together with his band in our show. It makes it extra special that the Swedish songwriters Max Martin and Shellback have co-written and co-produced the song together with Justin Timberlake.”

The UK will of course be hoping for a successful Eurovision after numerous consecutive poor performances. This year’s UK representative will be Joe & Jake with ‘You’re Not Alone’.

Little Big Town has enjoyed country music success since the release of their eponymous debut album in 2002 and with recent album releases via the Capitol Nashville label. JT’s collaboration here offers strong potential to suggest his new move in musical direction towards country.

Last month he presented the award for Best Tour to Taylor Swift – an artist moving away from country music? – at the iHeart Radio Music Awards on 3 April.

This will be the ex-NSYNC star’s first album since the release of the two-part The 20/20 Experience in 2013.

JT releases the new song from the album on Friday 6/5 entitled ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling’. Following this will be the release of the animated film Trolls: JT being the voice of one of the characters and executive music/soundtrack producer.

News of the album release and further genre-move speculation will follow once announced. Compare ‘Cry me a River’ (above) with the country sound of Little Big Town’s ‘Girl Crush’.

Timberlake will be entertaining the masses in late March and early April, and will be taking in shows in Birmingham, London, Manchester, Glasgow and Sheffield. It will be a return to these shores for Timberlake, who last played here in July with Jay-Z on the Legends of the Summer tour.

2013 was always going to be an exciting one for the former N-Sync star, and it certainly has not failed to live up to the hype. The first installation of The 20/20 Experience was released in March this year to praise from all over, with critics lauding his diversity which had been a little distant in previous releases. This year saw the first new music from Timberlake since 2006’s FutureSex/LoveSounds record, which debuted at number one in the UK charts upon it’s release.

Justin Timberlake goes on tour in the UK next spring, and the dates can be found below. The 20/20 Experience Part 2 is out now.

March

Sunday 30th – Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield

April

Tuesday 1st – 02 Arena, London

Friday 4th – The SSE Hydro, Glasgow

Monday 7th – Phone 4U Arena, Manchester

Friday 11th – LG Arena, Birmingham