Arthur Fogel and Omar Al-joulani represent two generations of the live business, but their careers share a common throughline: Think bigger, go further and, above all, make the artist’s ambitions the starting point.

Fogel’s journey began behind a drum kit before he moved into club management and promotion in Toronto, eventually becoming Live Nation’s chairman of global touring and talent in 2005.

His résumé reads like a road map of modern touring: The Rolling Stones’ Steel Wheels, David Bowie, Sting, Madonna, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, the 2025 and 2027 Oasis reunions and, most notably, U2, with whom Fogel began working in 1997.

Fogel has always viewed the promoter’s role as something closer to long-term career stewardship than simply filling rooms. “Supporting the artist’s vision is what it’s all about,” he says.

Enter Omar Al-joulani, a Toronto native who joined Live Nation 16 years ago and now serves as president of touring. If Fogel helped globalize the touring business, Al-joulani has applied that same big-picture thinking across genres, markets and artists at every level.

One of his early defining lessons came from JAŸ-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne stadium trek. “It’s what unlocked for me the potential for other genres that hadn’t been at that scale,” Al-joulani says.

That mindset has produced a wide-ranging portfolio, from Chris Brown and USHER, The Weeknd, Travis Scott and Kendrick Lamar and SZA to Tate McRae, Shakira, Gracie Abrams and Mumford & Sons. Al-joulani took a break from huddling up with Shakira in Madrid to talk to HITS about the magic of a stadium show and “the fun part” of his high-stakes job.

JAŸ-Z is back on the road for the first time in nine years. Did he take any convincing?

Al-joulani: I didn’t convince him to do anything—no one convinces him to do anything. He’s the master of his own world. But at some point, Desiree [Perez] and I started having conversations. The shows have been spectacular. I was walking down the hallway in Paris and there was a room that just said “J” on it. I assumed it was Jay’s room and kept walking. When I came back, I saw two of Justin Timberlake’s longtime road crew standing in front of that door and I was like, oh, I’m an idiot—he’s got Justin Timberlake coming out tonight. That’s how I discovered a lot of the guests: by roaming the hallways. It takes a lot to surprise me at this point in my career.

Olivia Rodrigo at Daisy Chain Fields (Monica Schipper/Getty Images)

The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn is already the top tour ever by a male solo artist. Shakira wrapped a historic run in Madrid and Olivia Rodrigo launched her own Live Nation festival. What else have you been working on in 2026?

The Weeknd has been a stadium act in Australia, South America, Mexico and all through Europe, so Asia was the final frontier. He’s continued to push boundaries while challenging his audience to keep up with him. Not only have they kept up with him, it has grown. It’s Bowie-esque. When you see his show, it’s a piece of art. Abel is already sending text messages saying, OK, so, ’28, ’29, ’30. What’s next?

Shakira sold 700k tickets here in Spain from 13 nights in a stadium that we purpose-built with her. Colin Lewis runs day to day with Shakira and Antonio de la Rúa, but she’s challenging us too, like, could I do this again? Where could I go that no one’s gone before? The best artists are constantly challenging you, whether it was Adele a few years ago in Munich or U2 360 with Arthur. The fun part about our business is that you wake up every day and there’s a new challenge, whether it’s an artist going a different musical direction or trying to build a show. Look at what Bad Bunny’s done with “La Casita”—it’s like having a house onstage. Jay wanted to sell bleacher seats because we’re playing Yankee Stadium. Think about that. You’re playing in front of you, but now you’re playing to the bleachers behind you and you have to interact with them.

Olivia Rodrigo challenged us and said she wanted to do a festival that she curated and branded and owned. Eddie Vedder challenged Rich Best years ago on Ohana, which has turned out to be a must-play. The Backstreet Boys sold out 10 nights in Düsseldorf. I’ve seen their Sphere show three times and it’s magical.

I’ve been starting to talk about what the Red Hot Chili Peppers are going to do next and I’m deep into Imagine Dragons planning. That’s a big chunk of what I’ve been up to.

Obviously not every artist can sell 700k tickets in a residency, but is it a concern if more major acts opt out of traditional touring to do their own bespoke things?

I think they’re additional, outside of a few examples. The Backstreet Boys are going to go to a bunch of places and Düsseldorf is fuel for that, not the end game. Shakira’s been on a massive tour; you look at Madrid as dotting the “i” and crossing the “t” on this cycle. Harry Styles played a 30-night Madison Square Garden residency. And what does he do? He announces a global stadium tour and every ticket sells out. The Garden fueled those shows.

The other thing that’s happening is that the business is sprouting headliners faster than ever, whether it’s Malcolm Todd, Ella Langley, STELLA LEFTY, ADÉLA or Slayyyter. When I started at Live Nation, there was a New York Times article that came out about the death of the headliner. The Stones and The Who were going to be done. Three years later, you had Lady Gaga, Kanye West, JAŸ-Z, Rihanna and on and on.

And headliners are coming from everywhere, whether it’s KAROL G from Colombia, Bad Bunny from Puerto Rico, BTS and BLACKPINK from South Korea or Lorde from New Zealand. Diljit Dosanjh just sold out Wembley Stadium. The K-pop burst begat KATSEYE.

There are so many more stadium shows now both domestically and internationally. Can that trend continue?

There’s some cyclical-ness to it. For the last five years, people have said, it’s going to come to an end. You can’t play this many stadium shows. And then Noah Kahan sells every ticket, or you get creative packages like USHER and Chris Brown. Green Day did it on the Hella Mega tour. We just announced Slipknot in stadiums.

There’s nothing like being outside. I think it feeds the soul. I took my nine-year-old daughter to see Noah Kahan in Toronto, and it was one of those perfect nights that you can’t recreate anywhere else.

(Big Brother Recordings)

Were you surprised by the enormity of the recent Oasis on-sale?

No, because I’m 48 and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? is one of the soundtracks of my teen years. When they were starting to talk about it, I gave my opinion, which was, this is bigger than anyone can imagine. I went to the show at the Rose Bowl as a fan with buddies and had the best time. I’ve already booked my tickets to go next year.

Who are some people on your team that have helped get some of these major tours off the ground?

Leslie Olenik with Billie Eilish, ROSALÍA, Malcolm Todd and STELLA LEFTY. Brad Wavra with P!NK and Pitbull. Arthur with Oasis, Madonna, Gaga, U2, Beyoncé and his legendary roster. Colin Lewis with Shakira, USHER and Chris Brown, Slipknot and many others. Tara Traub, who runs Harry Styles and Tate McRae. Jared Braverman with Bruno Mars, Olivia Rodrigo and all the K-pop we do. Geoff Wills, who just put Dave Chappelle shows on sale. Rich Best has done a phenomenal job with Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Melanie Martinez and Twenty One Pilots.

I’ve been lucky to have Becky Moine at my side for almost 15 years. She’s stepped up and become a buyer in her own right and rides shotgun with me on Imagine Dragons, Chili Peppers and The Weeknd. Nidhish Varughese does all of that stuff with me internationally as well as being a promoter for Diljit Dosanjh, AP Dhillon and a lot of South Asian artists. Our marketing, ticketing, production, ops, risk management and finance teams make sure we’ve got the foreign exchange figured out and we’ve hedged correctly. We can’t do any of this without our local offices. Shakira in Spain is just a great idea, unless you have Pino Sagliocco, Nacho Cordoba, Javi Tomas and Paco Martinez to execute.

Adele is a great idea, but without Marek and Andre Lieberberg, Robert Burgermeister and Uli Mayer, it does not come to life. The Weeknd shows in Japan don’t come to life without Kaori Hayashi. Stacie George in our New York office is running point on Harry Styles and other things. Our local offices are really our bread and butter.

Steve Herman has been instrumental in bringing Backstreet Boys to Sphere and Germany, and Rick Franks has done Weezer and Evanescence in sheds and arenas. Brian O’Connell runs our country touring, and Bob Roux is looking after Metallica, Eagles and Chris Stapleton.

What should the industry be mindful of as ticket prices continue to increase?

We always have to keep in mind what the fan paid, and the fan has not been paying the price that the artist sets because of the unregulated industrial scalping that happens. So when you compare ticket prices to 2018, you’re comparing them to the primary price. You’re not comparing them to what the fan actually paid. That’s an important education process. Your primary price might’ve been $77 five years ago, but the fan paid an average of $125. Ultimately, the artist should get to make the decision. It’s their IP. It’s them taking care of their families and their crew. And if that arbitrage exists, the artist has to decide how much of that they’re going to try to capture in the primary. The conversation is much more nuanced than people make it out to be.