The return of international music stars to Lyon

On Wednesday, April 16, the 36th Pollstar Awards ceremony was held in Los Angeles, which recognizes, among other things, the new concert venues of the year at the international level. It is the most coveted trophy in the industry. For the first time, a Lyon venue was nominated: the LDLC Arena in Décines, which is among the top 5, along with Co-op Live in Manchester, Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City, K-Arena in Yokohama, and UOB LIVE in Bangkok. To determine the winners, Pollstar relies on both votes from professionals (agents, promoters, managers, producers, etc.) and box-office performance. On the latter criterion, the LDLC Arena stands out, as since its opening on November 23, 2023, nearly 900,000 spectators have attended one of the 100 scheduled events, mainly concerts.

Sting was the first international artist to perform there, 13 years after his concert at the Halle Tony Garnier. A nod to a history that is changing.

In the 1990s and 2010s, while all the queens of pop, the kings of rock, and vice versa, passed through the Halle, today they are heading east to the largest multi-purpose sports and entertainment venue in Lyon: the "Aulas Arena", as the gossips call it, which Jean-Michel Aulas and his son Alexandre bought from OL last June, the Eagle Football company, owner of the football club, having wanted to "reduce physical assets that were too heavy and non-essential to concentrate on football".

During those thirty glorious musical years, the Halle was the flagship of Lyon's concerts. The cream of the crop flocked there, the cream played there. Lyon was then on the global map. European tours by Coldplay, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, Kylie Minogue, Lenny Kravitz, and Jamiroquai all ticked off the City of Lights. Until they faded. And international stars no longer shine between the Rhône and Saône. The Halle is, even today, facing a dual problem: competition from the LDLC Arena (and, to a lesser extent, the Groupama Stadium) and the need for profound and lasting transformations. "We had a monopoly situation for thirty years, " admits Thierry Pilat, current director of the Halle Tony Garnier, a good sport. "We knew it would one day end; that's the game of competition." » This former programmer of Le Fil, the electro scene in Saint-Etienne, recently presented to the Lyon city hall, owner of the venue, a project for major renovation work on the stands, "in the face of new uses and competition." Estimated cost: 15 million euros (excluding taxes) for a "large club" format aimed at contemporary music, for which it was once the standard-bearer. The file for Raymond Barre's "Bercy Lyonnais" is in the hands of the city hall, owner of the venue.

Lacking investment in public facilities, the private sector is making money. At the LDLC Arena, February was the biggest month since the venue reopened, and November is expected to be the future record for events. As for revenue, it's expected to cross the symbolic €40 million mark this year. A strong increase. " As soon as a region offers modern facilities that meet the expectations of artists and spectators, success is there," explains Xavier Pierrot, general manager of the LDLC Arena.

It's simple, we took the best in the world, between the architect Populous and the Vanguardia design office, which counts among its employees an acoustician working for U2." Thanks to its acoustic precision and power, explained in a post the company SNEF, designer and installer of the sound system, each event leaves an indelible mark on the audience, the feedback has been extremely positive, the participants praising the astonishing quality and the crystal clarity of the sound. Not to mention the 144 m² LED Cube screen and the 4,000 m² of acoustic coverings, specifies the communication of the largest event arena in France, outside Paris. The management of the LDLC Arena even "closely followed" the creation of Abba's futuristic performance hall in London, based on holograms. The icing on the cake, which almost made everyone choke, was the project for a 2,000 m² annex hall for smaller concerts with a capacity of 1,000 to 3,000. Roughly the same capacity as the Radiant in Caluire. "We're not competitors," says Victor Bosh, its director, formerly of Transbordeur. "We complement each other. The artists all tell us it sounds great! We've had Jack White, Jorja Smith. These are artists who are made for arenas, the normal circuit, but who, one day, decide to move to smaller venues. At the Radiant, we have a room-to-stage ratio and acoustics that give us a considerable advantage."

La Halle hasn't said its last word either. In 2024, 500,000 spectators will have trodden the 17,000 m2 of the "city center UFO," according to the portrait painted by its director, for more than 70 events. "I always said there was only room for one and a half rooms... We do the living room, the Arena for big sports. We manage to have very full schedules in the two rooms with these non-concert activities. And our specialty is having a large pit. So, we do all the rap and electronic music that's a hit." "We put the city back on the map for major tours," adjusts Xavier Pierrot.

While international trade fairs and symposiums attract visitors, contributing to the region's influence and appeal, star-studded concerts are a powerful new attraction. " It's incredible for the destination! Music tourism has become a real trend," notes Robert Revat, president of OnlyLyon Tourism and Conventions.

The shift occurred last summer, with the two mega concerts at Groupama Stadium by American star Taylor Swift, who chose Lyon and Paris for her French tour. Her passage between the Saône and Rhône boosted hotel occupancy rates to 98%, compared to an average of 71%. According to concert production giant AEG, 30% of French tickets (for Paris and Lyon) were purchased by foreigners, including 20% ​​by Americans. " Over three days, restaurant attendance increased by 50% ," comments Thierry Fontaine, president of the UMIH du Rhône. For its part, the Tourist Office recorded a 20% increase in spending compared to 2023 (Lyon City Cards, guided tours, online store). In more detail, spending by American tourists increased by 98% from June 1st to 3rd, and also climbed by 112% for the English and 134% for the Belgians. On May 15th and 16th, another megastar, Dua Lipa, will perform at the LDLC Arena, where tickets sold out in minutes. The same goes for another megastar, Katy Perry, who will perform in November. This is proof, if any were needed, of the enthusiasm and expectation that Lyon residents have for today's stars. Tourism professionals, like them, see this new tourism trend as a boon.

Tourism as a tool for promoting the musical region. "Today, the rise of music tourism is driven by the experiential trend that underlies much of leisure tourism, along with a certain fear of missing out," analyzes Martin Cowen, editor at Amadeus, a travel industry giant. "But this growth is also driven by technology that makes it easier for travelers to combine a flight and hotel with a concert ticket as part of a leisure trip." Lyon's tourism industry is thinking about how to capitalize on this image as a major French and European music destination, whose central geographic location is ideal for European tours, with excellent transport infrastructure and a large hotel capacity (212 hotels, 19,700 rooms). The green majorities of the City and Metropolis of Lyon, who advocate for the train, can only be satisfied with this tourism that takes to the skies and crosses oceans to listen to concerts.

* Holarena (of which Holnest, the family office of Jean-Michel Aulas and his son Alexandre, is a 60% shareholder) owns approximately 40% of the capital of LDLC Arena. Thirteen partners support the family fund, including Groupama (15%), the sovereign wealth fund of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region (4.2%), LDLC (3.6%), the Lyon Métropole-Roanne Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) (1.8%), numerous leading entrepreneurs, and All Arena, led by former tennis players Thierry Ascione and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with former Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes (1.25%).