Hot on the heels of Taylor Swift’s three-night run next year, Pink has become the latest name to be added to next summer’s plans for Liverpool’s Anfield stadium.
The American music icon last played in the city in June 2019 and will return again for two shows on June 24 and June 25, 2024. The additional dates to her Summer Carnival World Tour have been added due to "unprecedented demand" from her fans across the UK and Europe.
Having been unable to welcome some of the biggest names in music to Anfield this past summer, Liverpool hope that next year will more than make up for it.
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In the summer of 2022, Anfield played host to live acts such as Elton John, The Rolling Stones and The Eagles, with the stadium packed out on each night and delivering millions of pounds worth of revenue to the football club.
This year the club were unable to utilise Anfield as a venue due to the required work that was to be undertaken in trying to get the Anfield Road End redevelopment completed in time for the new season, something that wasn’t able to happen, with Liverpool forced to engage new contractors to finish the work after the construction company that had been engaged to do the work, Buckingham Group, collapsed into administration in September.
While the Anfield Road work has not yet been completed, it is anticipated that it will happen by early 2024. But for Liverpool and what happens next summer on the hallowed turf after the current campaign draws to a close, the preparations are well underway.
Swift, arguably the biggest music artist in the world at present, will play three dates at Anfield next summer, bringing her Eras Tour to the city on June 13, 14 and 15, with the three dates already a complete sell out.
US pop songstress Pink has now joined the summer music plans as the Reds look to make the most of Anfield and continue to position it as a world class venue that can deliver revenue beyond just a matchday.
Liverpool are allowed to stage up to six non-football events at Anfield per season per an agreement with Liverpool City Council. Hosting concerts during the closed season are valuable to Liverpool, worth millions to the club when all is said and done. They aren't easy to put a price on, however, as the nature of them means that the actual value of what the club can receive can even change on the night as ticket and commercial sales are all considered and the numbers run by promoters and Liverpool staff during the event itself. At the end a figure is reached and then divided up as agreed.
But the bigger the acts, the bigger the pull. More fans and more merchandising and hospitality offerings mean that playing host to such events can be a lucrative exercise, albeit one that Liverpool have to take great care in agreeing to given the impact that they have on the local community in and around Anfield Stadium.
“Bringing world class acts to the city of Liverpool we feel is important,” said Ben Latty, commercial director of Liverpool, who was speaking exclusively to the ECHO.
“Having them play at an iconic stadium such as Anfield is perfect for us as a football club but also for the city. We have Taylor Swift coming for three nights, there will hopefully be some more acts being announced over the next few weeks and months.
“For us it means that Anfield is a venue that is used for more than just the football season. However, of course, we respect the residents and local community and are thankful for their consultation and feedback throughout that process to allow us to bring concerts to Anfield.
“Hopefully with the big acts that we have got it proves beneficial for not only the fans of the artists but also the local community as well.”
The redevelopment of the Anfield Road stand will lift the capacity of the stadium up to 61,000, a figure 15,000 higher than the capacity when Fenway Sports Group acquired the club back in 2010. The 2016 Main Stand redevelopment significantly enhanced not only the capacity of the stadium but also the hospitality offering, helping to raise the venue up to world class standards, something that has been impactful in attracting globally renowned artists to the city as well as maximising the revenue generating potential that comes with staging such events.
“It will obviously increase matchday revenue and that is always an area that we have looked to try and improve,” said Latty. “This takes us up to the magical number of just over 60,000 that may or may not increase in the future. But from an ownership perspective, and I don’t want to speak on behalf of our owners, you can see the work that has been done at Fenway Park (in Boston) as well. One of the first things that they said when they came into this football club was that ‘we are staying at Anfield and we will develop Anfield’.
“They have done that and stayed true to their word and we’re all excited to see a bigger Anfield when it opens and see the capacity go over the 60,000 mark, which will be brilliant for everyone.”
