Latvia lacks infrastructure for big concerts / Article

This summer, for the 17th time, the Baltic’s largest music festival, Positivus, will take place in Lucavsala, Rīga, at the beginning of August. As festival organiser Ģirts Majors said, large music events should be held where there are many people. With two months to go until the festival, tickets are now on sale. Experience from previous years shows that around a quarter of visitors come from abroad, mainly from neighbouring countries.

“The total budget for the event is just under two million euros. Considering that ticket prices are not increasing and the programme is much more democratic, the feeling is very positive. Let’s say that for us, this is one of the events of the year. This year, there will also be two concerts at the Arena will host two concerts in the summer, featuring Jacob Collier and Queens of the Stone Age, both in July, and open-air concerts abroad are not held every year in Riga, so Robbie Williams will definitely be the biggest international concert this year,” said Majors.

When asked why Lithuanians are more active concert organisers, Majors cited the lack of large stadiums in Latvia as the main reason. “A stadium is not the same as Mežaparks [stage]; a stadium has seats, which allows the average ticket price to be much higher, and all these foreign concerts around the world take place only in stadiums, and a large part of these shows are built specifically for stadiums. Foreign stars are currently playing fewer and fewer concerts worldwide.

“Concerts are taking place in increasingly larger cities, which of course leaves smaller markets with very little opportunity to attract big artists. Until we have a similar stadium, some of the concerts that take place in Lithuania will never be able to take place here, and their market is by half bigger than Latvia’s.”

Aivars Mackevičs, director of the tourism portal BalticTravelnews.com, said that, unlike Lithuania, where large concerts take place in both Kaunas and Vilnius, in Latvia, the main venue for large concerts is the capital.

“In Latvia, everyone is focused on Rīga, and as a result, Rīga is becoming more and more expensive. The bigger the artist, the greater the value and benefit for the entire tourism industry. Of course, it’s better if all these events take place more in the off-season, because during the season we already have quite a lot of tourists, which simply drives up prices, because the demand for accommodation rises sharply. In this respect, it is very good that sports teams, on the contrary, are more active in winter, autumn and spring,” said Mackevičs.

Latvian Radio 5 presenter and music journalist Toms Grēviņš reminded listeners that the popular music festival ‘Summer Sound’ will take place in Liepāja for the 13th time at the beginning of August, and that there is no reason to complain about the music on offer in Latvia and elsewhere in Europe this summer.

“Latvia will host two solo concerts by Nick Cave in Sigulda, which sold out several months ago, and Kamasi Washington, currently the most important modern jazz saxophonist in America, will play only here and nowhere else in the Baltics. The same goes for Gregory Porter, one of the best jazz vocalists. And our transport options from Rīga currently allow us to get to any music festival in Europe. France, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom offer everything your heart desires, and no longer at crazy ticket prices.

“I estimate that several thousand people will attend Poland’s largest festival, Opener. Every AC/DC fan has already bought a ticket to Kaunas, and that’s great — there’s no point in staying in one city the whole time, you have to get out and about, it’s summer after all!” said Grēviņš.

Large concerts stimulate the local economy, but a sudden influx of visitors can raise hotel prices and cause a slight rise in inflation. However, in the long term, large-scale cultural events improve the image of the city, increase its international recognition and help attract tourists.

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