Where Europe goes to gig

Europe loves concerts. Last year, European countries hosted over 125,000 concerts, featuring about 27,000 different headlining acts. Pop and rock dominate almost everywhere: across 34 countries surveyed by JamBase in 2025, only four buck the trend. EDM leads in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Malta, while metal tops the bill in Slovenia. Most headlining artists performed multiple times last year, and around a fifth of all headlining artists play in more than one country, while over 300 artists completed a tour of at least 10 European countries. When artists perform abroad, they often travel to neighbouring countries. Many artists follow a performance in the UK with performances in Ireland, for example. A similar trend exists between Austria and Germany. Different genres see different levels of mobility: metal, funk, and indie headliners are some of the most active international tourers, while Latin artists travel the farthest: the median Latin act covers 450 km between concert locations. EDM, meanwhile, is Europe's most seasonally mobile genre. In colder months, most concerts take place in Western and Northern Europe, but as soon as things warm up, concert-goers flock to countries like Spain; in summer, about one in three EDM concerts takes place there, up from around 4% in December. Throughout the year, London is Europe's concert capital by a very wide margin, hosting more than four times as many shows as each of the runners-up, Paris and Berlin. It's the prime location for almost every genre, including pop, rock, indie, metal, and even folk. But there are a few notable exceptions: Latin music's home in Europe is in Madrid, and classical music is most common in Berlin.