It’s a tough time to be an artist who plays arenas. Earlier this year, the Black Keys made headlines when they canned an entire American arena tour due to catastrophically low ticket sales; same goes for Jennifer Lopez, who rebranded a flailing album tour as a greatest hits show before scrapping the thing altogether. If your name doesn’t begin with “Taylor” and end with “Swift,” ticket sales just aren’t a sure thing like they used to be.
If you’re a podcaster? Well, that’s a different story. Later this year, Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart are bringing their wildly popular The Rest Is Politics chatshow to the O2 arena – the very same venue that recently hosted mega-selling runs by pop stars including Madonna, SZA and Doja Cat. Earlier this summer, the comedy podcast ShxtsnGigs booked a show at the 20,000-capacity venue, too. This weekend’s Reading and Leeds festivals – events best known for riotous crowds, landmark bands and unhinged A-Level celebrations – just announced that this year will debut the Aux, a stage exclusively featuring gen Z-oriented content creators and podcasters such as TikToker Ayamé Ponder and comedy duo Chunkz and Filly. So how, exactly, has this seemingly innocuous format – favoured by mild-mannered commuters the world over – taken over the live scene?
