Crosstown Concerts hires promoter Connor Cupples
UK promoter Crosstown Concerts has expanded its team by welcoming Connor Cupples as a new national promoter.
Cupples has 18 years of live music industry experience, starting out as a local promoter and going on to serve stints as manager of Cardiff’s Gwdihw venue, and as operations manager and promoter at Wales’ Orchard Live.
He has worked with artists such as Thunder, You Me At Six, IDLES, Viagra Boys, TV Girl, Feeder and Rufus Wainwright, in addition to helping deliver Paul McCartney’s Glastonbury warm-up show, plus major outdoor gigs with the likes of Diana Ross, Bryan Adams, Tears for Fears, Paul Weller and Gerry Cinnamon.
“Connor has been on my radar for a few years now and we are delighted to have him joining our team,” says Crosstown Concerts director Conal Dodds. “He’s very well regarded across the industry and we look forward to him developing new opportunities for us across the UK.”
“I’ve worked with some amazing acts in my time at Orchard Live and can’t wait to get stuck in at Crosstown to achieve even more”
Crosstown’s forthcoming shows include Ash, Pixies, Vaccines, The Menzingers, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Barenaked Ladies, Max Cooper, Slowdive and Royksopp. The company is also broadening its output by staging 18 sold-out dates with comic Brian Butterfield, a sold-out UK tour with broadcaster James O’Brien and launching a Polar Express Christmas experience on the Swanage heritage railway.
”I’m thrilled to be joining the amazing team at Crosstown Concerts, they have a brilliant and passionate team and I’m very much looking forward to learn from them,” adds Cupples. “I’ve worked with some amazing acts in my time at Orchard Live and can’t wait to get stuck in at Crosstown to achieve even more.”
Formed by Dodds and Paul Hutton in 2016, Crosstown added four young industry professionals to its team earlier this year in Danny Morris, Richard Walsh, Simon Bailey and Hayley Thompson.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Crosstown Concerts embarks on new era
Independent promoter Crosstown Concerts has added four young industry professionals to its team to extend its network of artists and live shows as the firm enters a new era.
Formed by Conal Dodds and fellow director Paul Hutton in 2016, the company has promoted more than 2,000 live shows across the UK with a focus on nurturing a loyal stable of artists and “protecting fans from the excesses of the secondary ticketing market”.
With Hutton now planning to step back to an advisory role, the firm says it is looking forward to a new era bolstered by an injection of fresh talent in promoters Hayley Thompson, Richard Walsh, Simon “Blaze” Bailey and Danny Morris.
“I was keen to introduce new voices into Crosstown that face the future”
“Promoting live music has never been more vibrant, as we rise from the turmoil of the pandemic to shape a new landscape,” says Dodds. “I was keen to introduce new voices into Crosstown that face the future. This new breed of promoters each bring their own passion, individual ideas and ambitions that will bring progression to our business, the artists and fans.
“Paul Hutton is stepping back from front line promoting from the end of March to take up an advisory consultancy role, so our new team is the way forward for Crosstown. We celebrated our seventh anniversary in business earlier this month and we look forward to the next seven.”
Thompson ran her own website, Music Festival News, before joining Crosstown as a freelance digital marketer in 2017 and was upped to head of marketing in 2020 before she began booking and promoting her own shows for Crosstown. Her debut showcase event Do It Without You begins on April 18th at The Lexington in London, featuring upcoming talent including Bekah Bossard, Rosie Shaw and Harriet Rock.
Walsh, who joined Crosstown as a national promoter in January, helmed early releases with Porridge Radio, The Orielles and The Golden Dregs via his own Art is Hard label, before making the switch to promoting in Bristol. For six years, his company, 1% of One, staged shows with the likes of Weyes Blood, Alex G, Bill Callahan, Mitski, Yard Act and Black Country, New Road. During this time, Walsh also founded Factor 50, managing the careers of Katy J Pearson, Happyness and Young Knives, alongside working as an assistant on the Adam Buxton podcast.
Bailey, aka Blaze, brings over a decade of promoting experience, starting his career in the booking team at Wolverhampton Civic Halls in the late 2000s. He has also worked in venue, artist and tour management.
Bailey founded Future Perfect in 2015, bringing artists such as Loyle Carner, IDLES, Tom Grennan, Slowdive, Easy Life, Dermont Kennedy, Courtney Barnett to Oxford. He has worked with Crosstown since 2018 and promotes the likes of Katy J Pearson, Pale Blue Eyes, Kurt Vile, DIIV, Bellowhead, Thea Gilmore, Easy Star All-Stars and The Comet Is Coming. In 2020, he launched Ritual Union Festival in Bristol in collaboration with Walsh and will promote more than 150 shows in 2023.
Morris, meanwhile, started out booking the likes of Idles, Catfish & The Bottlemen and Bill Ryder Jones into grassroots indie venues. Moving over to the Preston Guild Hall as the in-house promoter, booking artists such as White Lies, Bowling for Soup, Pigeon Detectives, Soul II Soul and British Sea Power.
After a brief stint working for VMS Live, he moved over to TEG MJR, where he promoted 300-plus gigs a year, and worked with the likes of De La Soul, Dinosaur JR, Eagles of Death Metal, Kiefer Sutherland, Alfa Mist, Starsailor and Red Rum Club. He moved to Crosstown in 2022, where he promotes UK tours for the likes of The Sherlocks, Badly Drawn Boy, John Cooper Clarke and Max Cooper.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.