More than 200,000 tickets have been sold for this year’s Lucca Summer Festival (LSF) concert series in Italy.
Promoted by D’Alessandro e Galli (Di & Gi), the long-running Tuscany festival commenced its 2024 edition on Sunday (2 June) with a show by Eric Clapton. The event, which concludes in late July, will feature a record 19 events, with nine featuring exclusively domestic artists.
Staged in the Mura Storiche area, next to the Lucca City Walls, the 40,000-cap event also utilises a second, 8,000-cap venue. This year’s sales represent an increase of 53% on last year, according to Breaking Latest News, boosted by two gigs with Ed Sheeran on 8-9 June. Seven percent of tickets for Sheeran’s concerts have been bought by overseas fans.
Other performers lined up include Swedish House Mafia, Rod Stewart, the Smashing Pumpkins, Lenny Kravitz, Diana Krall, John Fogerty, Mika, Sam Smith, Duran Duran and Toto.
“What we are about to experience will be the best edition of LSF ever”
“After more than 25 years of activity it now seems impossible to improve and instead I think I can say that what we are about to experience will be the best edition of LSF ever,” said Mimmo D’Alessandro, artistic director of the festival and CEO of Di & Gi, ahead of the event. “It will be a joy for us to welcome music legends and big names from the new international scene to our stage. Each musical genre is represented with excellence and this will give a vast audience the opportunity to enjoy great evenings of music in Lucca.”
First held in 1998, LSF celebrated its 25th anniversary last year with acts such as Blur, Kiss, Robbie Williams, Bob Dylan, Norah Jones and Lil Nas X. Di & Gi extended its agreement with the municipal council to 2028 earlier this year.
Sister event La Prima Estate, meanwhile, returns to the Tuscan coast this month for its third edition. Taking place across the weekends of 14-16 & 21-23, it will star the likes of Peggy Gou, Paolo Nutini, Fontaines DC, Kasabian, Phoenix, Jane’s Addiction, Dinosaur Jr and Michael Kiwanuka.
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