‘Grassroots music venues in dire straits’

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John Langford speaks with poise and a lot of conviction and lively flair. He is the big cheese of the global sport and entertainment business – the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) – and his present role – the arenas in Europe come under his purview.

The AEG has its finger in almost every pie in the broader sport and entertainment network as Langford says, “We are in festivals, we are in ticketing, we are in sponsorships, just kind of a bunch of things.”

John Langford is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of AEG Europe – the world’s leading sports and live entertainment company. He is responsible for AEG’s arena operations. He joined AEG in November 2016 as the Vice-President and General Manager (GM) of The O2 Arena in London (UK) and has been responsible for the continued growth and success of the world’s number one music and entertainment venue.

John Langford, Chief Operating Officer (COO), AEG Europe, UK, tells Neil Levett, Emcee, Coliseum, UK, in a face-to-face conversation for ‘Coliseum’ that the entertainment industry has bounced back in 2023 (after going through a limbo due to COVID) and “it has been incredible and 2024 has been equally strong”. He also painted a bright picture for 2025 but added that though the top-end arenas are doing very well “because the industry is presently very healthy” but painted a grim picture of the grassroots venues – “There are some concerns about the grassroots venues in the live music industry due to rising costs, business rates and taxation. Thirty five (35) percent of grassroots music venues in the United Kingdom closed in 2023 alone. So, there is a pipeline issue that needs to be addressed.”

The grassroots venues are small, intimate spaces that provide a platform for the independent and emerging artistes to perform. They are a vital part of the music industry and the local communities.
 

AEG

From epic concerts to premier music festivals to heart-stopping sporting events, the American global sporting and music entertainment presenter the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) has been giving the world reason to cheer for more than 20 years. Headquartered in Los Angeles (US) the AEG is the world’s leading sports and live entertainment company and operate on five continents entertaining over 160 million guests annually through their worldwide network of more than 300 venues, powerful sports franchises and music brands.

Stated John Langford, “We have multiple sectors under the AEG umbrella. We have sports teams – the Major League Soccer (MLS) team LA Galaxy, the National Hockey League (NHL) team Los Angeles Kings. We are in venues – The O2 Arena, the 20,000-capacity Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles (US) and then a bunch of arenas right around the world.”

He talks with Neil Levett about The O2 Arena in particular and says proudly that one of Britain’s best-loved comedians Peter Kay is the first artiste ever to hold a monthly residency at The O2 since 2022 and will be performing a show at the venue every month until April 2025.
 

The O2 Arena

The 20,000-capacity O2 Arena, commonly known as The O2, is a multipurpose indoor arena in the center of The O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in Southeast London (UK).

Observed Langford, “A lot of artistes have clocked on to the fact that instead of they (read the artistes) traveling to the fans the fans travel to them. And in case of a music sensation like Taylor Swift you get a lot of support from the Cities and as a consequence – you get inbound tourism and a lot of other stuff.”

Levett wanted to know how stiff was the competition for The O2 Arena on the sporting front as now they were competing with venues in the continent to which Langford remarked, “Globally, we are seeing far more Cities focused on sport and entertainment and getting events then we have seen I think ever. We are competing globally. With the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour Finals played at The O2 for 12 years it’s just not playing at The O2 anymore because you have got other Cities around the world that is laying out that capital that is needed to get those days. So, we are losing out on those events. It does not bother us too much at The O2 because it is such a busy venue with so much touring content. But I think for those kinds of arenas and Cities that have hosted those signature sport events it is a worry.”

He also informed Levett that the “fan experience is definitely not what it was pre-COVID and we have seen a number of things in our business – one is coming straight out of COVID – the younger audience has behaved in a way that was just really difficult to see. So, we had some real challenges with safety and security.”
 

Wrap-up

John Langford summed up with his sustainability talk which is the hot-button topic today, “Every bit of research that we are doing at the moment shows sustainability as a core component of the venues. At AEG we have been doing that for years. So, The O2 has been using renewable for 12 years. So, I think the challenge we have at The O2 as an old building is how you make them more efficient. And it’s expensive to make them more efficient. To make the arena totally zero carbon is an expensive exercise because you are paying 200-300 dollars to remove carbon and then in an old building there is just more carbon. So, how do we run more efficiently is probably the biggest challenge and that’s everything from recyclable cups to energy management that we do at The O2 Arena. So, there are just so many touchpoints we need to be thinking about on sustainability.”

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