APRIL | COVER FEATURE festival may be different in Italy , the country ’ s live business appears to be mirroring the UK when it comes to event numbers this year .
D ’ Alessandro says barely a day goes by without two or three big event announcements : “ I wonder how the market can sustain all these offers . It really is going to be a very crowded summer .”
Despite the huge number of shows on offer in Italy , D ’ Alessandro has no concerns about customer confidence . He says , “ The appetite is huge , I think that concert and live music is one of the things that people missed the most in the last few years .
“ The Omicron wave is waning now and the government announced the end of the state of emergency from 31 March . I ’ m really confident that summer 2022 will look a lot like summer 2019 and we will see a spike in sales starting from April .”
Face coverings remain mandatory in indoor venues in Italy and all event attendees must show a Super Green Pass proving they have been vaccinated three times against Covid-19 . D ’ Alessandro says the rumour is that the pass will no longer be mandatory from June onwards . As in the UK , many in the Italian live events industry switched to other business areas during the pandemic , and D ’ Alessandro says the supply chain is not as robust as in 2019 due a shortage of staff including riggers and security personnel , but with the appetite for live music locally and Tuscany being a hugely attractive option for tourists , the promoter is confident his event will be a success .
“ Lucca is only 20 kilometres away from Versilia , and for that we usually have around 20 % of ticket buyers coming from overseas . Tuscany has become very popular in the past 20 years for vacations .
“ We started working on La Prima Estate before the pandemic hit but right now looks like an even more suitable time to launch the festival because of the appetite for live music .”
Berlin-based concert and tour promoter Goodlive Artists organises Germany festivals including the 85,000-capacity Lollapalooza Berlin , Melt ! ( 20,000 ), Splash ( 30,000 ), Full Force ( 20,000 ) and Heroes ( 10,000 ).
To add yet more major events to its workload , Goodlive Artists is
“ It is a huge risk but if there is no risk there ’ s no fun , and that ’ s what our industry is all about .” – Festival director Fruzsina Szép
Enrico D ’ Alessandro
Fruzsina Szép
busy launching Superbloom – a new two-day festival in Munich ’ s Olympic Park with a daily capacity of 60,000 . Originally planned for 2020 , but postponed due to the pandemic , the festival is set to take place on 3-4 September .
Festival director Fruzsina Szép , who developed the festival concept including its name , says that although the festival market in Germany is extremely competitive and congested , she is confident there is space for her new festival concept .
She says , “ Germany has a very crowded festival market but in Munich , and Bavaria as a whole , there are not many and there are no festivals like Superbloom in the region .
“ We are planning to have 50 % music content and 50 % experiences not connected to music – fine art , circus , sustainability initiatives , areas for design and lifestyle and fashion , for example . I wanted to create a festival that is really for all generations .
“ Musically the line-up will be mixed , everything from EDM to singersongwriters , and being in Bavaria we will also have local brass bands .
“ Goodlive has existed for more than 20 years so as an event company we are very experienced but launching a new festival brand in Germany right now is a huge task . It ’ s a new brand and we started from scratch . It is a huge risk but if there is no risk there ’ s no fun , and that ’ s what our industry is all about .”
24