Semmel Concerts claims double win at Germany’s LEA

Semmel Concerts took home two honours from the first full-scale Live Entertainment Award (LEA) ceremony since the pandemic began.

More than 1,000 guests attended the event, which recognises excellence in the German live sector, at Frankfurt Festhalle this past Wednesday (22 June).

Semmel CEO Dieter Semmelmann was named Promoter of the Year and also received the award for Concert Hall/Arena Tour of the Year for Roland Kaiser’s Alles oder Dich tour, which was produced by the Bayreuth-based company. Staged in the autumn of 2021, Alles oder Dich was the first major arena tour to be undertaken under pandemic conditions, and attracted 150,000 people over 27 shows.

“My whole team has fought with courage, passion and vision for every event”

“Like many in this industry, my whole team has fought with courage, passion and vision for every event, and even accepted the challenges of resuming major tours under difficult conditions during the past year,” said Semmelmann. “So I dedicate this award to all my colleagues, on stage and behind the scenes, because mammoth undertakings like this have only been, and will only ever be possible with boundless loyalty, a lot of determination and countless helping hands.”

A jury of 24 experts, made up of media representatives and industry specialists from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, decided on the winners of the LEA, awarded for outstanding achievement in 2020 and 2021.

Elsewhere, Cologne promoter Roland “Balou” Temme was posthumously honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Temme, who died last August aged 67, organised tours by the acts such as Peter Maffay, Udo Lindenberg and David Garrett with his companies Think Big and RTK.

Other winners included Austria’s Nova Music Entertainment for Nova Rock Encore (Festival of the Year), Nils Bodenstedt and Uli Mücke (Artist Manager/Agent of the Year), and Telekom Deutschland and Live Nation Brand Partnership & Media for the creation of digital live experiences on the Magenta Musik 360 portal (Cooperation of the Year).

Two new categories were also created this year due to the special circumstances in the assessment period: Industry Alliance of the Year went to the Music Industry Forum, Events Industry Forum, Swiss Music Promoters Association and Austrian Events Industry Interest Group, while the award for the artist alliance of the year went to booker Maria Paz Caraccioli Gutierrez and photographer Martin Diesch.

In addition, the inaugural honorary LEA was awarded to longtime BDKV (Federal Association of the Concert and Event Industry) president Jens Michow.

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