Live Nation Philippines head Rhiza Pascua reflects on country's concert culture
MANILA, Philippines — It's safe to say that Rhiza Pascua knows the Philippine concert scene inside and out.
She founded Music Management International or MMI Live in 1996 which was pivotal in bringing international artists to perform in major venues around the country.
Fast forward to 2022, Live Nation Entertainment aquired MMI Live and since then Pascua has been serving as the managing director of Live Nation Philippines (LNPH).
Under her leadership, LNPH heralded the post-pandemic era of concerts in the Philippines, hosting the likes of Coldplay, Maroon 5, Harry Styles, Blackpink, Dua Lipa and Bruno Mars (whom the promoter is bringing back next year).
Pascua sat down for an exclusive interview with Philstar.com to discuss the country's concert culture as marked by the years sandwiching the pandemic.
The executive proudly claimed having a timeline for the turn of events, commenting how during the time of MMI Live that the concert market was already strong.
"People were very enthusiastic about live entertainment. Everybody wanted to post all their shows on social media," Pascua said. "They would go and have fun, especially if the act had creative production."
She noted how millennials made up the most of concert-goers and would always document shows that were "Instagrammable," crediting the generation for kickstarting experiential activities.
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"Everything for them was about travel, food, and concerts. So ang malakas talaga si concerts for decades kasi part siya ng life ni millennials," Pascua added.
The launch of LNPH in April 2022 was around the time pandemic restrictions were being loosened and there was a clamor for live shows in the Philippines again.
Three months later, LNPH brought over British singer and former One Direction member Louis Tomlinson, which Pascua recalled was a chaotic preparation.
Louis was supposed to only perform at the New Frontier Theater, but the demand for tickets was so high that his concert was moved to the nearby Araneta Coliseum which still sold out.
LNPH followed that up singer-songwriter Billie Eilish in August, which also sold out. The trend continued in 2023 as the promoter also dabbled with K-pop artists.
"I guess people were excited to go out," Pascua reflected. "Kasi yung 2023 naman wala nang rules, wala ka nang fill-out na pagkadami-daming ano. People were really shopping, eating out, going to concerts."
It was around that time that the LNPH noticed there were more promoters popping up around the country after seeing how profitable concerts can be.
There would be a time when, in a given weekend, there were eight shows taking place in different major venues, a hustle that Pascua respects.
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Not a lot of these new companies, however, would survive in 2024. Even LNPH was affected as people just weren't purchasing tickets.
The dip provided a chance for redemption in 2025 as businesses either opened or reopened and competition against other promoters was present again.
Pascua said there was a need for "disruption," and that came in the form of Filipino-American singer Olivia Rodrigo's November 2024 concert, where tickets were sold for a P1,500 flat rate.
"Kailangan minsan ng disruption, diba? We have to disrupt," the executive pointed out. "Hindi naman para maging kontrabida [sa iba], pero we just had to."
She isn't particularly sure how to define the early success of 2026 given tensions in the Middle East and the oil crisis began in February but LNPH successfully held off local boy band SB19's "Wakas at Simula: The Trilogy Concert Finale" at the SMDC Festival Grounds.
The uncertainty is also reflected in how the promoter had to cancel the May show of Thai boy group BUS but in the same month Daniel Caesar and Laufey each had three sold-out concerts.
Ticket selling for K-pop boy band BTS' comeback concerts in the Philippines began in June where the allocation quickly sold out but it wasn't a full house for F4's F?FOREVER concert, making it even harder for LNPH to gauge what influences the market.
"I think now, people are more selective. Parang, 'Okay, kailangan natin magtipid [but] let's be selective," Pascua ended.
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