India's concert craze is here to stay

Demand for live music appears to be increasing in India, with ticketing platforms reporting 18 per cent growth in 2024 as India’s expanding millennial and Gen-Z populations drive a trend where travel and live music merge into unique cultural experiences. Young, well-to-do Indians’ booming appetite for live entertainment is attracting global music stars as they seek out new audiences in the world’s most populous nation. Affluent, globally connected Indians are driving the demand. India appears to be the second largest audio streaming market for most global artists around the world, translating very effectively to heightened demand on-ground for music concerts.

The interest has changed considerably how global stars are looking at India. Coldplay has two Indian dates to their 2025 itinerary, and they’ll be their biggest shows yet: following three sold-out concerts at DY Patil Stadium Mumbai (January 18-21), they will also bring the “Music Of The Spheres World Tour” to Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium for two shows on January 25-26, 2025. “The band will play their biggest ever show at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India on 25 January 2025,” Coldplay announced on their website before the November 16 on sale, which led to the addition of the second, January 26, concert. According to a year-end report of a comprehensive online platform that enables users to discover, explore, and book tickets for a wide range of entertainment events, 30,687 live events took place in 319 cities, marking an 18% increase in consumption compared to the previous year. The ticketing arm of a food delivery company noted that India is becoming a hotspot for international music tours due to its growing economy and enthusiastic fan base. International and domestic performers alike are expanding their tours to include Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities with names like Bryan Adams, Dua Lipa, Coldplay and Diljit Dosanjh leading the way.

Narendra Modi Stadium has an official capacity of 132,000, making it the largest cricket stadium in the world, home to Indian Premier League team Gujarat Titans. The venue holds a Guinness World Record for hosting 101,566 spectators for the IPL 2022 final between the Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Titans.

The Coldplay shows drew fans from over 500 cities across 28 states and five Union Territories, counting only those successful in getting a ticket.

Dosanjh’s Dil-Luminati Tour’s grand finale show was held in Ludhiana at the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) on December 31 last year. Tickets for the event were sold out within 10 minutes.

Sheeran, the “Perfect” singer, is back in India in 2025 for his “biggest ever tour”. He recently took to his social media handle to announce his India tour mentioning how it is going to be his “biggest ever tour”. While sharing his pictures from the stage, he wrote: “Coming back to India for my biggest ever tour of your beautiful country. Also coming to play Bhutan for the first time, coming back to Qatar for the first time in a decade and playing that beautiful amphitheatre in Bahrain again. What a way to start 2025, can’t wait to see you all there. India on sale Dec 11th. Bhutan on sale Nov 30th. Qatar & Bahrain on sale Dec 6th.”

The six-city India tour kicks off with a concert in Pune on January 30 at Yash Lawns followed by the concert in Hyderabad on February 2 at Ramoji Film City. On February 5, Sheeran heads to Chennai to perform at the YMCA grounds and then to Bengaluru on February 8 at NICE grounds. Concerts in Shillong on February 12 at JN Stadium and in Delhi NCR on February 15 at the Leisure Valley Ground are also scheduled.

Sheeran, who first played in India in 2015, has talked enthusiastically about the country and the joy of performing there. “I really feel the love here, in India. People are so excited! I have a similar personality, so I resonate with that,” he said in a media interview earlier. Alongside Sheeran, two other international stars — Shawn Mendes and Louis Tomlinson — will also appear at the Lollapalooza festival in March. Concert-goers are willing to travel far and wide, spend significant money, and stand for hours just to experience live performances of their favourite stars. For the younger generation, concerts have become a preferred entertainment option.

Singer Sonu Nigam, who tours round-the-year in India and abroad, has been recently quoted as saying that the country is an emerging new market for concerts. “India is a good market for concerts, for artists and I’m very happy about that. Everybody is busy; anybody who knows his job is busy.” The concert calendar for 2024 kicked off with a bang in the country, featuring Nick Jonas and the Jonas Brothers who celebrated their debut in India during Lollapalooza India 2024.

Dua Lipa’s recent performance in Mumbai went viral and Coldplay has also kicked off their tour — nine years after their last visit to India. With international music stars having a huge response in India, the number of live events in the country is up 35 per cent year-on-year as affluent, globally connected Indians snap up tickets beyond major cities, promoting other allied industries as well, thus making waves in the economyTheir dates include two shows in Ahmedabad where more than 100,000 people are expected to attend each night. Demand for live music appears to be increasing in India, with ticketing platforms reporting 18 per cent growth in 2024.

According to the global market research company Statista, the value of the Indian music industry in 2021 was Rs 19 billion (£178 million). By 2026, it is estimated to grow to Rs 37 billion (£346 million).

Economists predict spillover effects into the wider economy as concert-goers splash out on transport, hotels, food and merchandise.

There will be a “significant boost to overall spending and consumption,” Dipanwita Mazumdar and Jahnavi Prabhakar, economists at Bank of Baroda, wrote in a report on December 3.

At the current pace, they estimated concert-linked spending could total between Rs 60 billion ($708.5 million) and Rs 80 billion on an annualised basis over the next 12 months.

Affluent Indians’ disposable income has been increasing even as growth in the world’s fifth-largest economy sees a slowdown and the middle-class reins in spending on consumer goods.

While India’s average per capita income remains low at close to $2,500 a year and there is significant inequality, the number of Indians earning more than 1 million Indian rupees ($11,807.77) a year has more than doubled to over 12 million over the last five financial years to March 2024, according to government data. India’s financial year runs from April to March.

The cheapest tickets for Coldplay’s shows were Rs 2,500 ($29.50) and the most expensive Rs 35,000 ($414). By comparison, prices for a Coldplay concert in South Korea were priced between $46.63 and $761.

According to Peony Hirwani, music journalist at Rolling Stone India, the risk of being overshadowed is low as companies involved with events often ensure local artists are the main support acts.

She gives G-Eazy’s 2024 tour as an example, which had only Indian support artists — helping to boost their careers.

Instead, she says the focus should be on improving infrastructure to attract the biggest of names such as Taylor Swift and Beyonce — both of whom did not bring their tours to India.

Historically, large-scale concerts were sporadic, with live music events in India being largely centred around classical music performances and Bollywood-themed shows with international artist visits being a rare sighting. Michael Jackson’s performance in Mumbai in 1996 marked a rare milestone in India’s live music history. However, such events only served as anomalies rather than the norm it is today.

Unquestionably, India’s concert boom has changed the entertainment environment by fostering economic expansion, increasing tourism, and propelling the rise of associated sectors. Notwithstanding the existence of major obstacles, the concert industry in India appears to have a bright future because of the growing desire for live entertainment from the country’s youthful and energetic population. The need of the hour seems to be an investment in infrastructure, the adoption of sustainable practices, and the strengthening of security measures. Moving forward, India has a strong potential to grow its live entertainment market, positioning the country as a global hub for music and cultural events.

Views expressed are personal