Rotimi, Live in Leicester
Gate 65, Leicester · 2025 · August 2025
Context
Leicester has the audience for an artist like Rotimi. What it has rarely had is a promoter willing to put one in the room and a venue set up to hold the night.
My role
Promotion · Booking · Artist liaison
- Booking and advance for Rotimi's first ever Leicester date.
- Ticketing strategy and the campaign that took the night to capacity.
- Support bill curation, placing Liya and Jainy on the same stage.
- Artist care on the ground, including dinner at Ariri, a Leicester restaurant.
- Production, media and content capture across the night.
The case
Context
Rotimi had never performed in Leicester. Cities outside London get treated as overflow rather than as markets in their own right, so audiences there travel to see the artists they love instead of being served at home.
The problem
Booking a name of that level into a regional city carries obvious risk. Get the room size wrong and a strong night reads as a soft one. Get the audience wrong and the artist never comes back.
The insight
Scale is not the same as size. A room of 350 that sells out to capacity is a better night, and a better story for the artist, than a bigger room half filled. Intimacy was the product.
The strategy
Size the night to sell out, build the bill so Leicester talent shares the platform rather than warming it, and treat the artist experience off stage as part of the booking, not an afterthought.
Execution
I promoted the show, handled the booking and advance, ran the campaign across social and the venue channels, curated Liya and Jainy onto the bill, and looked after Rotimi through the day, including dinner at Ariri, a local Leicester restaurant, before the show. Media capture ran through the night so the room could be shown, not described.
Result
Sold out to capacity at 350. Two guest performances from Liya and Jainy, a full room from first support to headline, and a Leicester night that travelled far beyond the city on the content that came out of it.
What it proves
I can put an international artist into a regional city and fill the room, on a bill that lifts local talent at the same time.
The work
Impact
- 350
- Tickets, sold out to capacity
- First
- Rotimi show in Leicester
- 2
- Guest performances, Liya and Jainy
A sold out capacity night, a first Leicester date for Rotimi, and proof that the city can hold an international bill when someone builds it properly.
Thank you to Rotimi for the grace and the energy, and for coming to our city. Thank you to Gate 65 and every person on the team who made it happen, to Liya and Jainy who represented beautifully, and to the media crew who captured it. Working with your friends can be madness, but moments like this remind me how lucky I am to be surrounded by people who are stars in their own right. Most of all, thank you to everyone who bought a ticket, travelled, shared a flyer or told a friend. Leicester showed up and showed out.
Collaborators
Gate 65 Leicester
Venue
Jeff Jones
Production
The Vankira Experience
Live band
DJ Wardy
DJ
Hunni Mistry
Team
Come Alive Agency
Partner
Microphone Ronaldo
Host
Xpensive
Host
DJ Psalmy
DJ
Jainy
Supporting artist
Liya
Supporting artist
Prez Media and Drippo Joel
Photography and film
