Liverpool's home ground has played host to some of music's biggest stars

Taylor Swift performing on stage at Anfield(Image: Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)

Maximising the potential of Liverpool FC's iconic Anfield home has been one of the key business objectives of owners Fenway Sports Group for more than a decade.

The completion of the Anfield Road End last season, which this season has seen the capacity of the ground raised to more than 61,000, came on the back of the investment into the revamping of the Main Stand and other areas of the stadium to turn it into a world-class venue.

That has been reflected in recent years by the calibre of music artists that have been attracted to perform at Anfield, with the summer of 2022 seeing the likes of the Rolling Stones, Eagles, and Sir Elton John all perform.

Summer Anfield concerts result in whopping figure raised for city economy	Summer Anfield concerts results in whopping figure raised for city economy	Liverpool consult residents over Anfield plan as 'major global act' possibility emerges

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Last summer the stadium had to take a year out from being able to play host to events due to construction work.

But this summer saw music’s biggest current star, Taylor Swift, play three sold-out gigs at the ground placing the city back in the global spotlight when it came to music.

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Another pop icon, US songstress Pink, played two hugely successful nights in the weeks after Swift, while next year’s line-up has already started to come together with the announcement of a date to be played by British-Albanian pop star Dua Lipa.

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More big-name acts will follow in the coming months as plans for what next summer looks like come to fruition.

From a club perspective, the hosting of music concerts and other major events outside the football calendar, of which they are permitted six per year by Liverpool City Council, can deliver north of £10m after all is factored in, depending on the size of the artist.

But what of the impact on the local economy?

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A new report, produced by Turley Economics, has revealed that the extent of the financial benefit for the local economy of having world-famous stars play in front of hundreds of thousands of people at Anfield has delivered £31.3m to the local economy and created thousands of jobs for local people.

Since 2019 a total of seven artists have played 11 concerts at Anfield, with close to half a million people visiting the stadium.

Half of those visitors came through the Anfield turnstiles this summer alone, with three hugely successful nights of Swift as part of her Eras worldwide tour and two nights of Pink’s Summer Carnival 2024.

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When speaking exclusively to the ECHO last month, Liverpool chief commercial officer Ben Latty said: ““We had roughly 250,000 people that came to those concerts and I think you just have to think about what that does to for the city and the local economy.

“It was really apparent that these were people that were coming into the city to stay in the hotels, eat in the restaurants, make use of the local transport links, etc.

I just think it's it's amazing for us to be able to bring those events to the city.

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“I actually think that's a responsibility as well to try and bring these huge ‘Class A’, should we say, acts to the city of Liverpool and continue to make Liverpool famous for what it is famous for, which is music and being the sort of the centre of entertainment in certainly in the UK, perhaps even in Europe.

“It was hugely successful.

It is sort of 12 months out when you start having conversations.”

In a statement on the Turley Economics report, Latty added: “We’re delighted to play our part in boosting the local economy and providing local jobs through the staging of concerts at Anfield.

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“Anfield has attracted the biggest stars on the planet, including three nights of Taylor Swift, and we’re very proud of the successes we’ve had so far.