Gig venues across UK see drop in tour dates by one half

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Page last updated at 12:12 GMT, Monday, 10 December 2012

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By Chi Chi Izundu
Newsbeat entertainment reporter

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Mumford & Sons say they try to keep the cost of their gig tickets down

Newsbeat's seen figures suggesting there's been a big drop in the number of gigs at major venues across the UK.

The worst hit areas include Cardiff, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham.

The number of performances in these places has almost halved compared to last year, according to ticket search engine Tixdaq.

Rob Hallett, head of international touring at AEG Live, says bands are now focusing on other markets including Asia and Eastern Europe.

"It's facilities - it's as simple as that. In Murrayfield, it's 55,000 people in a city the size of Edinburgh," he said.

"How many groups can sell 55,000? As a band or as a punter you don't want to be there with 20,000. It's miserable.

"And it's the same problem with Cardiff. The Millennium Stadium is a great stadium, but it's too big a stadium in too small a town," he said.

Worldwide markets

Hallett, who promotes Justin Bieber and Jennifer Lopez, also explained that there were new markets with bigger demands opening up around the world.

"South East Asia has come up big since its economy recovered. Some of the strongest markets in the world are Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Seoul. We're playing all those markets regularly.

"Eastern Europe, Istanbul, we're doing a lot more now."

The table below shows key events taking place in stadiums, arenas, academies and forums according to ticket search engine Tixdaq.

City	Performances 2011	Performances 2012
Belfast	440	376
Birmingham	2155	1118
Cardiff	879	484
Dublin	1676	674
Edinburgh	895	436
Glasgow	1977	1054
London	25834	20072
Manchester	3411	1440
Newcastle	1072	584
Swansea	102	44