Cuffe & Taylor’s ‘unique’ touring opportunity
Cuffe & Taylor’s Peter Taylor has told IQ about the company’s “unique” touring opportunity after adding Forest Live to its portfolio and soaring past 120,000 ticket sales for The Piece Hall in Halifax this summer.
The Live Nation promoter has achieved huge success by securing big name acts such as Britney Spears, Lionel Richie, Gary Barlow, Sting, Little Mix and Christina Aguilera for UK towns away from the traditional touring circuit.
The firm programmes all live music events at the 5,500-cap The Piece Hall and 8,000-cap Scarborough Open Air Theatre, both in Yorkshire, UK. It also promotes Lytham Festival and Bedford Park Concerts, in addition to events at Cardiff Castle and Chepstow Racecourse.
Earlier this year, it agreed an exclusive seven-year contract to present Forestry England’s outdoor live music series, Forest Live.
“I think the element of sustainability that we’re bringing to those concerts and the ability to add those to our circuit gives us a unique opportunity that no other promoter in the UK has,” Taylor tells IQ. “We now have the most outdoor venues on a permanent contracted basis, so we’re now the number one outdoor summer concert promoter. We’re hugely excited that adding [Forest Live] to the portfolio gives us a great opportunity to tour an artist and to work with us on an exclusive basis.”
“We can play the big venues at the weekend and do midweeks in some of the smaller venues, which really helps artists”
Taylor feels the 6,000-10,000-capacity range represents the company’s “sweet spot”.
“We’ve still got our 15 to 20,000 and our 20 to 30,000 [venues], so we’ve kind of got something for everybody,” he says. “We can play the big venues at the weekend and do midweeks in some of the smaller venues, which really helps artists touring on the road. We’re in a really unique position.”
This year’s Lytham Festival in Lancashire featured headline sets by Def Leppard & Motley Crue, Jamiroquai, George Ezra, Sting and Lionel Richie, while Scarborough Open Air Theatre’s summer season has included gigs by Hollywood Vampires, Pulp, Rag’N’Bone Man and Blondie.
Elsewhere, The Piece Hall is set for its biggest ever year after ticket sales for this summer programme smashed the 100,000 mark. The West Yorkshire venue welcomes Limp Bizkit tomorrow, with Boygenius set to perform two dates from 22-23 August, before its 2023 line-up closes with Orbital (25 August) and The Charlatans and Johnny Marr (26 August).
Cuffe and Taylor, which was founded by Taylor and co-owner Daniel Cuffe, was acquired by Live Nation in 2017 and secured an exclusive five-year deal to programme live music events in the courtyard of The Piece Hall – the world’s only remaining Georgian cloth hall – in 2022.
“It’s taken on a life of its own and I think that’s down to that space and how unique it is”
“I don’t think I’ve ever done as many shows in the second year at a new venue,” says Taylor. “It’s got 22 shows this year [compared to] 12 last year, so it’s been quite a jump, but the thing about this venue, and you don’t take it for granted, is that the audience are incredibly engaged. It’s been a case of you put a show on and it sells out.
“Agents are starting to hear about the place and now, certainly from this year and even more for next year, they’re coming to us. It’s taken on a life of its own and I think that’s down to that space and how unique it is. I would like to hope that in a few years, The Piece Hall is seen as the UK’s premier outdoor music venue. It’s in a league of its own.”
Acts to have performed at the site from June to August include Queens of the Stone Age, George Ezra, Sting, Madness and James.
“The people who buy the tickets seem to crave different things,” adds Nicky Chance-Thompson MBE DL, CEO of The Piece Hall Charitable Trust. “This year, we had Boygenius, Queens of the Stone Age, Sting, Madness, and all of them sold out. There’s something about being in this beautiful building and enjoying the concert that really resonates with people.
“It’s often said to me by local people, ‘I can’t believe who you’ve brought to Halifax.’ But I’ve always thought the venue, the town and the borough deserve it. It is an amazing building, being utilised in the right way – a living heritage, as opposed to museum heritage.”
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.
LN’s Cuffe and Taylor partner with Forest Live
Cuffe and Taylor have agreed to an exclusive seven-year contract to present Forestry England’s outdoor live music series, Forest Live.
The Live Nation promoters, who were awarded the contract following a competitive tender process, will programme, present and provide the framework for outdoor shows at up to seven forest venues across England from summer 2024.
Cuffe and Taylor have pledged to ensure the events work towards Forestry England’s net zero ambitions and Live Nation’s Green Nation Charter.
“We are incredibly excited to announce this brand new partnership with Forestry England,” says Cuffe and Taylor founder Peter Taylor. “For more than 10 years we have presented live concerts and shows to millions of people across the UK – with the vast majority of those in an outdoor setting. Leveraging our wealth of experience we now look forward to working in some of the most beautiful locations across England to build on and potentially expand the brilliant Forest Live concerts.”
“With our new partnership, we will continue to deliver high-quality live music experiences for our customers while securing high profile artists for our concert series”
More than two million people have attended a Forest Live gig over the last 22 years, with Cuffe and Taylor set to give Forestry England access to even more global and high-profile artists with plans to present up to 32 concerts a year to a combined audience of more than 250,000 people at sites in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Suffolk, Gloucestershire, Kent, North Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.
“We are delighted to have selected Cuffe and Taylor as our chosen co-promoters and are excited to work with them as we build on the success of Forest Live in this exciting new chapter,” says Dan Bell, head of events and commercial visitor programmes, Forestry England.
“Over the last 22 years, we have welcomed audiences to our forests to experience some incredible live music with us. We want to express our sincere gratitude and thanks to David Barrow, who has been our principal contractor and booker over that period. What David and his team, alongside all our loyal contractors and suppliers, has helped Forest Live achieve has been truly incredible.
“Cuffe and Taylor are experts in the live entertainment industry and with our new partnership, we will continue to deliver high-quality live music experiences for our customers while securing high profile artists for our concert series. They share our ethos to provide a sustainable future for people, nature and the climate. That attitude is very important to us as we strive together to make sure the nation’s forests will thrive and be enjoyed for generations to come.”
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.
Paul Weller named Forest Live’s best-selling artist
Annual UK concert series Forest Live has named Paul Weller as it best-selling artist ever, with ticket sales surpassing 145,000 over the years.
Forest Live, a concert series taking place at seven forest locations across the UK, is organised by land manager Forestry England. Other artists to play the 2019 series include Foals, Jess Glynne and Stereophonics.
Weller most recently completed a run of seven Forest Live dates, including four sold-out shows at Cheshire’s Delamere Forest and Staffordshire’s Cannock Chase Forest, among others.
The capacity of venues included in the series ranges from 5,500 to 9,750.
Forestry England presented Weller with a commemorative inscription to mark the achievement.
“I’ve loved playing the forest shows: the settings and crowds are always fantastic”
“It’s an honour to receive this plaque. I’ve loved playing the forest shows: the settings and crowds are always fantastic,” comments Weller.
Forestry England event manager Simon Hough says he is “extremely grateful” for Weller’s “massive contribution” and “commitment to be a part of Forest Live.”
Weller made his Forest Live debut in 2004 and has since played three more times at each of the seven venues. Money raised from ticket sales goes towards forest conservation.
Launched in 2001, past artists to perform at Forest Live include Pulp, Van Morrison, the Pet Shop Boys, Ed Sheeran, Blondie, Little Mix, George Ezra and Paloma Faith.
Pictured (l to r): DB Event Services’ David Barrow, Paul Weller, Forestry England’s Rob Lamb.
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.