Popular Culture

The return of musical entertainment, in particular, has taken the world by storm in the past year.

“Music is a universal language,” says Jonathan Shank, CEO of Terrapin Station Entertainment whose touring shows and exhibitions have included some big hitters dedicated to the music of Bob Marley, The Doors’ Ray Manzarek, Linda Ronstadt, and Otis Redding, among others.

Shank’s pop culture exhibitions are very interactive –The Bob Marley One Love Experience, which opened at the Saatchi gallery in London in February 2022 before going on to Toronto and Los Angeles, features an immersive rainforest, a silent disco, and a black light room. He sees the sector continuing to expand across the world.

“In terms of legacy and exhibitions, the major markets have equal appetite for building into the experiential and immersive sector,” he says. “So that feels like it’s a really budding and growing sector for the entire globe. It’s just going to continue to grow. The technology is going to continue to blow people’s minds, and as we’re able to incorporate more AR and VR into these experiences, I think it’s going to really be intriguing.

“The ABBA Voyage show in London […] raises the bar for other shows out there. We’re going to see a lot more of those technologies being used as they become more affordable.”

“The ABBA Voyage show in London […] raises the bar for other shows out there. We’re going to see a lot more of those technologies being used as they become more affordable.”

As more immersive legacy shows focus on artists who are no longer around or have retired from touring, one key part of the preparation is going to be working with the estate’s of heritage artists rather than the artists themselves, to ensure their highly coveted name and works are properly represented.“

Working with the Marley family has been an honour,” Shanks says. “With artists, it’s a bit more nuanced because you want to make sure that their voice is entirely part of it. Anything that’s done alongside any of these artists, we’re essentially just along for the ride with their vision.”

Deciding how best to present the music and story of an artist, he argues, is a bespoke concern. “You have to work with each of the labels, the publishers, and you’re following the breadcrumbs to see what the best path is forward. Part of the beauty of this is it’s different for everybody.

“When we work on the Marley estate, in addition to Bob’s music, we’ve been able to include Ziggy, Damian and Skip, and a lot of other Marley family members into what we do there. It’s really a diverse skill set, and you’re constantly on your toes dealing with different artists, labels, publishers, and creatives.”

As with all forms of touring, the initial investment needed to create a show varies dramatically relative to the size and scale of the venues and vision.

ABBA Voyage is rumoured to be the most expensive live music experience ever produced at around $175m, but Steve Steinman, producer, promoter, and star of two major full-production classic rock covers shows – Anything For Love: The Meat Loaf Story and Vampires Rock– which he has built over decades to the point of selling out large theatres and arenas – estimates that£1m could just about get a standard arena show up and running.

“With what I do, it’s go big or go home,” he says. “What I do is massive. There’s plenty of shows out there, they turn up with a transit van and use all the theatre’s equipment, lighting, sound, whereas I turn up with an artic and it’s full production. I’ve just reinvested in a new LED screen, and that alone has cost me £70,000. £30-40,00 0for a PA. A million quid wouldn’t get you very far, but you’d get it done.”

“With what I do, it’s go big or go home. What I do is massive.”

Steinman says the last few years have been “a rollercoaster.” Adding, “It hasn’t always been roses, but after this lockdown, tickets have gone through the roof. I was expecting a lull, I thought it would be a struggle, but I’m selling more tickets now than I’ve ever sold. It’s unbelievable what happened, and it’s not just me.”

Someone else who recognises the strength of the tribute act market is longstanding Denmark-based promoter CSB Island Entertainment, which as well as promoting family entertainment such as Disney on Ice, Harlem Globetrotters, Stomp, and Lord of the Dance, also produces its own successful tribute act shows. The company created the Show – A Tribute to ABBA in 2001, and since then it’s toured to more than 50 countries, selling millions of tickets.

CSB Island CEO Kenneth Svoldgaard is also the show’s producer. “Post-pandemic, different markets are opening up, and we’re getting a lot of inquiries. We played a huge show in Mexico for New Year’s Eve at a big exclusive resource, which drew 5,000 people.

“It’s since gone on to Brazil, where it usually sells out venues of 2,000-4,000 capacity, and goes to outdoor venues of 4,000-5,000, which always do good numbers, even if they don’t quite sell out.”

Able to be scaled from a smaller version requiring 20 people, to a large 40-person production, 2024 will be a particularly special year for The Show – A Tribute to ABBA as it’s the 50th anniversary of the year the Scandinavian band won the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England, with their song Waterloo.

“We already have a big tour set up into Scandinavia in April, after which we’re going to do an arena tour in Europe: Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, and Benelux. We’re going to make a lot more bookings for that as it’s a big year.”

Svoldgaard says the success of the tribute show is down to a relentless focus on quality. “We have always believed that we do not want to do any tribute unless it has extraordinary quality”

Svoldgaard says the success of the tribute show is down to a relentless focus on quality. “We have always believed that we do not want to do any tribute unless it has extraordinary quality. I think that’s been the key – there’s so much on the tribute market where the quality is really poor, and that ruins the market.”

He gives another of CSB Island’s productions as an example –Queen Machine Symphonic. “I’ve been working with the Danish tribute to Queen for six years now. They’re playing the best and biggest festivals in Denmark, and we’re getting really high fees considering it’s still a tribute. They’re getting better paid than not all Danish artists, but I would say they are in the top-10 best-paid Danish artists because they are selling some tickets.

We have a number of outdoor shows this summer in Denmark, and we expect 4,000-5,000 people. They really dig down into the Queen universe big time.

“We did a big tour in the UK last year with the London Symphony Rock Orchestra and [West End star] Kerry Ellis as a guest. It’s a Danish tribute to Queen, and we were touring it in the band’s home country, so I was quite frightened, especially playing venues such as Hammersmith Apollo, where Queen played themselves. But they really nailed it.

“I’m also representing, on behalf of Showtime Australia, a Whitney Houston tribute with Belinda Davids, which has just finished a tour of Denmark before heading to Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Belinda is going to be on a big TV talent show in Spain, which we hope will open the southern Europe market.”

This bumper season for live pop culture shows, however, hasn’t come without its bumps. The world’s emergence from pandemic restrictions has been far from uniform, fundamentally affecting touring plans as productions attempt to navigate the ever-changing situation in each country.

This bumper season for live pop culture shows, however, hasn’t come without its bumps. The world’s emergence from pandemic restrictions has been far from uniform, fundamentally affecting touring plans as productions attempt to navigate the ever-changing situation in each country.

“South America is exploding, in everything,” says Birger Gaetjens of Georg Leitner Productions, who recently expanded the Jackson-family-endorsed show Forever: King of Pop into Israel. “But some major markets are languishing or not as busy as before Corona.” The Austria-based company is also seeing global successes with its ABBA, Bee Gees, and Rock The Opera productions.

In Germany, for example, lockdown restrictions were lifted in March 2022, and mask requirements were only dropped in February of this year. “We’re still rather new to the freedom time,” says Dirk Dreyer from the Berlin Verti Music Hall. “I have the feeling we are, in Germany, where the UK was at least a year ago. And just six months ago, the German government was thinking about increasing restrictions this winter. It’s causing nervousness among promoters and ticket buyers.”

And Svoldgaard reports: “Overall, the market is picking up, but some shows are not selling very well. I know there’s a lot of venues and local promoters suffering on a number of different shows. But I think all the popular things sell really well. We’ve had a lot of sold-out shows across the board. If people know what they get and it’s something popular, then they’re willing to go. If it’s something new or an unheard-of production, you’re not selling anything.”

“Overall, the market is picking up, but some shows are not selling very well. I know there’s a lot of venues and local promoters suffering on a number of different shows.”

Big IP, big sales?

As always, big IPs draw big audiences. Technological advances and immersive experiences play a key role in bringing people’s favourite characters to life.

Sarah Myers, director of travelling exhibits at the Museum Of Indianapolis, recently teamed up with Warner Bros. to create the 2,500 sq. ft, interactive Scooby-Doo! Mansion Mayhem! exhibition, in which groups or families ask questions and hunt down clues to solve the mystery of a spectral jewel thief.

Shows with established, lasting appeal work better for the touring market, she explains. “When we select a topic or brand partner, we have to make sure that the subject matter is strong enough to be popular over the next ten years. It has to be appealing during the two years of development and then five-plus years for a tour.

“When we are producing temporary shows for just our museum, we can do more on present-time popularity topics because the on-display time is shorter.”

Canadian companies Starvox Entertainment and Lighthouse Immersive have had recent success with their Disney Animation: Immersive Experience, which places the audience inside scenes from Aladdin, Encanto, and a host of other Disney films. “It’s a new way of seeing shows,” says founder Corey Ross. “You’re completely immersed in 500,000 cubic feet of projection and special effects that bring out the characters, music, and scenes of Disney in a completely new way.”

“It’s a new way of seeing shows. You’re completely immersed in 500,000 cubic feet of projection and special effects that bring out the characters, music, and scenes of Disney in a completely new way.”

Myers finds self-sufficiency a huge help. With their in-house team of developers, designers, and builders, the Children’s Museum Of Indianapolis can affordably get an interactive exhibition from drawing board to gallery space in around two years.

“The museum is able to produce an exhibit fully in-house,” she says. “From concept development, through design, fabrication, and installation. We form a team that is made up of a content developer, 3D and 2D designer, production, interpretation, research, and evaluation.

“The research process is different depending on the type of exhibit we produce– whether it’s tied to a brand, an open topic, or more storyline-driven; the demographics we are targeting; how interactive the exhibit is; if it’s object-based. One thing we always do is front-end evaluation, where we ask our visitors and rental venues and conduct national surveys to discover what they want to see us produce.”

They’ve also mastered the art of touring and co-ordinated construction. “The exhibits are designed to be modular,” Myers explains. “Exhibit elements breakdown to be placed into wooden shipping crates and are shipped on 53-ft trailers to venues. We try to design for the crates to fit on two to four trucks.

The museum coordinates all of the tour logistics for their eight-exhibit portfolio in-house and manages all sales and marketing, contracts, shipping logistics, the installation and takedown logistics, venue marketing approvals.”

The deals cut between promoter, venue, and producer can vary but generally work on a split, often with a guarantee for the show. “On the odd occasion, I’ll buy the venue because it’s cheaper and more cost-effective,” says Steinman. “Some venues are very cheap, and if you do a split deal, they’re getting more money, so you are better off sometimes because I know I’m going to sell out, so it’s a little bit easier for me. So, I tend to do a deal. All deals are normally about 80/20 for me.”

And with such great returns in the UK right now, Brexit has put Steinman off performing outside the country at all in future. “It’s so not cost-effective for me to go abroad,” he explains. “I don’t really need to. If I go abroad, especially into Europe, it’s very difficult now with not being in the EU. I’ve just turned down a tour of Germany because the trucking and getting carnets together and having equipment, all the rules have changed.

You can’t just drive out of England now, drive round Germany, and then drive home. I just don’t need this. When I was younger, I used to do it, now we’re going to Ireland and that’s costing me probably ten grand just to take everything, fly people in, put them in hotels, and I’m playing at Belfast Arena so I’ve got to get 5,000 in that arena. Do I need that headache? The only way I’ll do international now is if they just fly you in.”

“It’s so not cost-effective for me to go abroad, I don’t really need to. If I go abroad, especially into Europe, it’s very difficult now with not being in the EU”

Beyond the music

Beyond the music sphere, other forms of pop culture shows have proven particularly hardy in these trying times. In April, WME’s parent company, Endeavor, announced a merger of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Wrestling Entertainment into one “omnichannel” company. “Together, we will be a $21bn+ live sports and entertainment powerhouse with a collective fanbase of more than a billion people and an exciting growth opportunity,” said WWE executive chairman Vincent K. McMahon.

The O2 has seen the box office punch of big boxing and ultimate fighting events, too. “We’ve had our first pay-per-view UFC [Fight Night] event this March, which broke our sporting box office records,” says Christian D’Acuña of London’s The O2, “and we had the return of Anthony Joshua to The O2 – he’s been going on stadium shows in Saudi Arabia and America for the last few years, but he won his first world title here, so it was great to see him back – we were all very happy that he won.”

“Together, we will be a $21bn+ live sports and entertainment powerhouse with a collective fanbase of more than a billion people and an exciting growth opportunity,”

The Harlem Globetrotters show has rebounded strongly off Covid’s backboard, having used the pandemic period to bolster their brand. “We used the downtime to really evaluate what we did, the why and the how,” international booking director Arnold Bernard told IQ last year. “In the family entertainment world, we tour every month of every year. We don’t normally get to take some time out to reimagine our brand. To be able to get that time was refreshing and inspiring.”

Bottom line

While some promoters are similarly gung-ho about the pop culture comeback, riding the current wave of demand, others are also showing signs of wariness over the encroaching cost-of-living crisis. And if inflation is hitting the spending capacity of audiences, it’s also seeing some international tours cancel due to rising costs obliterating the slim profit margins.

Indeed, unreliable and expensive haulage, transport, and freight has become a major issue for most touring shows. “Shipping has been an issue since Covid,” says Museum Of Indianapolis’s Myers.

“Trucking costs are high, although coming back down, but also driver reliability has been a huge struggle. Drivers don’t show up on time, if at all. They don’t follow schedules, which causes a ripple effect of issues. Since Covid, venues tend to book cheaper and smaller footprint exhibits. We are trending back to this targeted size and price point for our next show.”

To tackle the issue, promoters have increasingly taken to keeping trucks and buses on retainer or working with trusted firms they have a long history with. To guarantee the reliable quality of his performances, Steinman has been using the same trucking and crew for decades. “I don’t need to worry if a truck driver’s going to be here,” he says, “I know he’s going to be there. My crew are amazing.”

“Shipping has been an issue since Covid,” says Museum Of Indianapolis’s Myers. “Trucking costs are high, although coming back down, but also driver reliability has been a huge struggle.”

With such huge competition in the marketplace, some mid-level productions have found themselves left behind in the great post-Covid gold rush.

Steinman suggests there might also be a wider problem in the lack of media exposure for mid-ranking acts, making it difficult for shows to break through or maintain the profile needed to sell consistently. In turn, venues and promoters often underestimate the ticket sales potential of some shows that the TV producers pass over for coverage.

Despite having sold 7 million tickets, hit number one in the iTunes and Amazon charts with his latest album, and consistently selling out major venues, he feels “it’s a big challenge when you’re not on television. People don’t see you’ve got a following or fanbase because you’re not a celebrity. That’s why in the West End they’ll put on someone who’s just been on [reality TV show] I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.

“They’re a crap singer, crap dancer, can’t act, and they’ll put them in a West End production. That’s the challenge. Instead of someone trained and who’s brilliant at the job, they want somebody who’s got a face that’s been on television.”

Building a name for a show without a huge media presence and in an over-saturated market has become a delicate stand-off between all-out dedication and cherry-picking the right opportunities. Some producers are finding it beneficial to tour a new show at break-even, planning to increase its profile and make money on a second run.

Others publicise the show with non-ticketed events. “The key market consideration for us,” says Dan Colman of Creative, who have seen great success with their orchestral dance show Symphonic Ibiza, “is spreading the risk by trying to identify and plan for a mix of ticketed and non-ticketed events where we can risk launching a new show, knowing we have already secured a promoting partner in the life cycle of the show.”

“The key market consideration for us is spreading the risk by trying to identify and plan for a mix of ticketed and non-ticketed events where we can risk launching a new show, knowing we have already secured a promoting partner in the life cycle of the show.”

Another must is to use technology to your utmost advantage. Just as online culture is shifting musical tastes, it’s also refined and redefined promotional avenues, too. “Social media has revolutionised our industry,” says Steinman.

“I think we spend about £6,000 a week just on Facebook posts and boosts, but I’m promoting 100 shows. Back in the early days, you’d be spending on newspaper adverts –Manchester Evening News would’ve wanted £1,000 just for a quarter-page advert. Now £1,000 gets you 100,000 post views, 1,000link clicks – the terminology of what we do has changed so much now with digital.”

And with their far lower production costs in terms of transport, personnel, and equipment, comedy shows have largely returned to their pre-pandemic level, even in territories where a language barrier might be considered an issue.

“There’s a huge demand for comedy,” says Alison Goldsmith, operations director of SES Live!, the leading sports and live entertainment promoters in the Middle East. “But you do find that it’s very demographic-based. If you’ve got a British comedian, you’ll get the British expat audience, if you’ve got an American comedian, you get the more American audience. It does tend to go with the country or the sense of humour from a particular place that they attract the audiences from the hometown of the act.”

“We are finding business in Asia is still regaining its former strength, which makes sense given how much later the lifting of restrictions came,” says Bjorn Wentlandt, an agent at UTA’s comedy touring division. “Conversely, we are seeing great growth in markets where comedy was previously less featured. Markets such as Portugal, Spain, Germany, and Italy are shifting from very little history of English-language comedy to key touring markets for our clients.”

“We are finding business in Asia is still regaining its former strength, which makes sense given how much later the lifting of restrictions came,”

In the UK, Christian D’Acuña from The O2(cap. 20,000) in London has seen a similar surge in demand for an evening of large-scale rib-tickling. “What we are finding is that comedy shows are selling really well at short notice,” he says.

“We’ve got tours for the likes of Micky Flanagan, who sold out nine shows at The O2 in May and that only went on sale in February. Jack Whitehall is going on sale this week and that’s for shows in July. Usually, for comedy shows like that you’d probably have a year’s on-sale notice for it, so it’s really incredible to see these shows not only announcing and going on sale with short notice but actually selling these shows out and doing better than expected.”

It might be something of a post-pandemic Wild West out there in 2023 – a world of big risks and bigger opportunities for those brave enough to rush out and grab them – but everyone’s gazing out towards a bright horizon. “It’s not as doom and gloom as the economy would make out,” says Steve Homer, co-chief of AEG Presents.

“For something that relies so heavily on disposable income, I don’t think we’re in that place. Even though it’s expensive to go to a concert or go to the theatre or eat out, it’s not as expensive as going on a holiday or buying a car or having an extension or moving house. People still need some light in their lives and something to look forward to.

“Concerts do give that burst of excitement and enjoyment, so even though it’s not as healthy as we might like it, it’s still in a good space. I still think people need it.”