Among the challenges were looking for the white space in the hotly competitive live music arena—early festivals featured Iggy Pop, Beck, Nas, Lizzo, Blondie and Weezer.
The 2024 lineup needed to be eclectic enough to lure in legacy PBR fans and new recruits, mixing rising stars with pioneering rockers like Idol, whose Rebel Yell double-platinum record is marking its 40th anniversary. Pabst aims to appeal to the next generation of beer drinkers with musical genres ranging from hip-hop and rock to indie and alternative.
Similarly, on-site activations needed to span age demos. The brand is developing a dive bar experience—per its humble Milwaukee-born, working-class roots—along with interactive displays and art installations. PBR commissioned a 25-foot-tall unicorn statue, an updated version of the past festival mascot, to anchor the venue.
The plan is to focus on Portland for the comeback, with a robust retail program as part of the marketing, although Keeton didn’t rule out adding more cities in the future. Portland, better known for its craft brew scene, was chosen in the first place because its residents incongruously fueled the PBR revitalization in the early 2000s, per the brand.
The diverse city played a pivotal role in the beer’s “renaissance from dated grandpa tipple to essential hipster accessory,” per The Oregonian.
Gen Ex(perience)
Project Pabst’s return comes as the live events business has hit a post-Covid peak, promising experiences that can’t be replicated by artificial intelligence and can serve as counterprogramming to tech-induced isolation.
Concert behemoth Live Nation recently reported its biggest year in history in ticket sales and attendance, fueled in no small part by Taylor Swift’s Eras and Beyoncé’s Renaissance tours.
The entertainment company, with Ticketmaster under its wing, said concert attendance was up 20% in 2023, compared to the year prior, when some 145 million consumers showed up for more than 50,000 events. Sales at Ticketmaster, although the subject of Department of Justice investigations, climbed 13% from 2022, to 620 million tickets.
And there are early signs that the surge will continue, as Live Nation said 57 million tickets have sold so far this year, a bump of 6% over 2023, with arenas and amphitheaters showing double-digit gains.
