Live Nation partners on New Zealand festival
Live Nation New Zealand has linked up with Dunedin Venues Management and local promoter Common People to launch Fortune Festival.
The 5,000-capacity, multi-stage event will take place at the University Oval cricket ground in Dunedin on Saturday, 2 April.
Headliners Salmonella Dub will be joined by Tiki Taane and Laughton Kora, Teeks, Gin Wigmore and Nadia Reid & Her Band, with further acts to be announced.
“We are absolutely stoked to be bringing an amazing lineup of iconic kiwi musicians to Dunedin,” says festival organiser Jason Schroeder. “We know the city and the wider region have been aching for a new large-scale event and we’re ready to make it happen.”
Dunedin has lost many large-scale events and we saw the need to shine a light at the end of the tunnel
“We have been honoured by the support of our Kiwi musicians who were quick to join the festival,” says Mike Ross of Live Nation. “Like us, our musicians see the potential for an amazing new event in Dunedin that will provide the South entertainment and a large number of visitors who will travel to an event of this calibre.”
General sale tickets are priced NZ$109.90 (€65.80), with a VIP Experience package available at $249.90 (€149.63).
“With Covid wreaking havoc on the live music industry, Dunedin itself has lost many large-scale events and we saw the need to shine a light at the end of the tunnel,” adds Terry Davies, CEO of Dunedin Venues Management. “It has come together amazingly with a truly unique event held on a special ground with a lineup of acts that will bring new energy to the city.”
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Australia-NZ bubble to ‘revitalise’ touring
Australia and New Zealand have welcomed the announcement of a trans-Tasman bubble which will allow artists to travel between the two nations without having to quarantine from 19 April.
Live Nation New Zealand managing director Mark Kneebone told Stuff that the promoter has already booked four of five tours for Australian acts over the next month, which are yet to be announced.
“We’ve been lucky to have so many performers in [New Zealand] to be able to fill stages and sell tickets,” Kneebone said. “At this point, however, audiences do want some variety. And while New Zealand acts will continue to perform and do really well, the chance to bring over Australian acts and bands is great for the industry,” he said.
Lucy Macrae, a music publicist and owner of Auckland venue Whammy, told Stuff: “We are now starting to experience some touring fatigue with our local artists. Having a bubble open up between countries will revitalise live music.”
Since October, New Zealand travellers have been allowed to enter most Australian states without quarantine but this had not been reciprocated.
“At this point, however, audiences do want some variety…the chance to bring over Australian acts is great for the industry”
Brent Eccles of promoter Eccles Entertainment, told IQ back in February that without the trans-Tasman bubble, NZ’s relatively small live industry was having to recycle the same acts.
“New Zealand’s limited talent pool has already been used – to great effect – but venues throughout the country are struggling to fill their many vacant diary dates,” he said.
From 19 April, New Zealand will bring in “green zone” conditions similar to those that its citizens face entering Australia.
Passengers travelling to New Zealand will be required to have spent the 14 days before the flight in Australia only.
Those with cold or flu symptoms will not be allowed to travel, and all passengers must wear masks and give details to New Zealand authorities of where they will be staying.
Australia has recorded 909 deaths since the pandemic began, while New Zealand has reported 25.
Read about the opportunities and challenges New Zealand’s post-pandemic bubble has presented its live industry here.
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The NZ Normal: What live is like on the other side
When IQ catches up with Stuart Clumpas, he is at the wedding of Live Nation New Zealand chief Mark Kneebone, and the following morning is flying his plane to Queenstown for an outdoor gig. “How very New Zealand-of-the-moment is that?” he comments, adding how fortunate he feels to be in a place that has dealt so well with the pandemic.
“What New Zealand has been able to do, by a combination of fortuitous positioning on the planet, a little bit of taking a punt and getting it right, and just a very cooperative element throughout society, is to stop Covid in its tracks, and then put up strict-but-fair barriers to prevent the virus getting into the country,” says Clumpas.
However, while going to a gig remains all but a dream for billions of people around the world, the reality in the Land of the Long White Cloud is that live music professionals are suffering from some of the same issues as their peers in nations where concerts remain banned.
“We’re in a bubble that nobody can leave or get into”
Indeed, never has the term Kiwi been more appropriate, as the national icon is a flightless bird, very much symbolising the current dilemma. “I feel like I’m the living embodiment of The Truman Show,” confesses Clumpas. “We’re in a bubble that nobody can leave or get into.”
Former Live Nation chairman Clumpas, who still consults for the company but otherwise runs Auckland’s 12,000-capacity Spark Arena and sister venue The Tuning Fork (cap. 375), contends that New Zealand’s ‘new normal’ comes with caveats. “It’s normal to all extents and purposes, but there is an uncomfortable feeling or an unease behind it; everybody knows that it ain’t the norm, even though you go about life being normal… it’s hard to explain.
“In terms of business, though, we’re able to have shows without restrictions, as there is no community Covid here.” (At press time, the New Zealand government announced that a 56-year-old woman who had completed the compulsory two-week quarantine had subsequently returned a positive test. She was ordered to self isolate at home.)
“Covid-19 [has] had a massive impact on the number of events we’ve been able to deliver”
Staging shows
While anyone remotely interested in live entertainment might be looking enviously at the freedoms the people of New Zealand are enjoying, for those working in the territory the reality is a lot more fragile. Clumpas, for instance, reports that Spark Arena’s business is 85% down, while others disclose similar struggles.
“Covid-19 [has] had a massive impact on the number of events we’ve been able to deliver. Since lockdown we have hosted 61 performance events in our venues; for the same date range in the previous year we hosted more than 130 events,” reports Gus Sharp, event sales and planning manager for WellingtonNZ, which through its Venues Wellington division operates six buildings: Michael Fowler Centre (capacity 2,500 seated); TSB Arena (cap 6,000); Shed 6 (1,400); The Opera House (1,388 seated); the Wellington Town Hall, (2,200 mixed); and the St James Theatre (1,700 seated).
Sharp continues, “The largest single night event we delivered was a drum and bass rave at the TSB Arena which, on the night, had a capacity of 4,000.”
Detailing Live Nation New Zealand’s post-Covid journey, managing director Mark Kneebone, recalls, “We started off with smaller shows like the Together Again series which were among the first socially distanced shows in the world, which we kicked off at the Tuning Fork, Auckland in late May 2020.
“The largest single night event we delivered was a drum and bass rave at the TSB Arena which had a capacity of 4,000”
“Initially, the capacity for the events were 100 people, including all staff. These events were all seated, with fans in pods, and with lots of health and safety precautions such as temperature checks, socially distanced seating, table service, staff wearing PPE and contact tracing.
“As the situation in the country became under control and restrictions were lifted, shows could happen at full scale again and we were back on the road as quickly as we could be.”
Kneebone continues, “The biggest headline show we did in 2020 was Benee, with the tour covering eight shows ranging from theatre to arena level in four cities across NZ, and included two sold-out shows at Spark Arena.”
On the festival front, Live Nation benefitted from the demand for entertainment outdoors at its 29-31 December Rhythm & Vines festival, which with an all-Kiwi line up, selling more than 25,000 tickets and attracting 83,000 attendees across the four days.
“We also had to create our own gigs, which is something that others elsewhere might want to look at”
Away from music, WellingtonNZ also hosted the world premiere of Digital Nights – Van Gogh Alive, an out-door digital projection exhibition of works by Vincent van Gogh. “It had more than 44,000 people through the gates,” says Sharp. “This was a fantastic outcome considering that for part of the eight-week season, crowds were unavoidably limited to no more than 100 people a session.”
Creativity has also been a challenge at Spark Arena, where Clumpas flags up a successful beer festival. “We also had to create our own gigs, which is something that others elsewhere might want to look at,” he says, citing the world’s biggest ever pub gig, which was organised in partnership with promoter Eccles Entertainment.
“This harks back to the 80s when the likes of INXS and Midnight Oil would play to 2,000 people in these huge pubs – nobody would pay to get in but they’d all come in and drink like hell,” explains Clumpas.
“It was Brent Eccles’ idea, where he put on all these Kiwi bands who were big in the 80s. It was fabulous – we had 3,000 people and because we didn’t have an international Spark Arena in Auckland has introduced Covid tests at the venue’s entrances touring production manager to deal with, we ran the room and we were able to do a whole bunch of shit that never in a month of Sun- days we would have been allowed to do – and people absolutely loved it.
“Such ingenuity is needed because New Zealand’s limited talent pool has already been used – to great effect”
“For example, there’s a famous takeaway hamburger caravan called The White Lady in central Auckland where people go in the early hours on their way home after a big night. We brought The White Lady into the venue and put it at the back of the room.
“And above the stage, Brent had this video screen on a loop, saying ‘No shorts or stubbies or jandals allowed in this bar, mate. Get too drunk and you’re fucking getting chucked out.’ The bands love it, and every punter who came up to me thought it was hilarious and begged us to do it again.”
Eccles, too, was thrilled at the success of the format. “We’ll definitely do it again,” he tells IQ. “In fact, I have plans to take the idea to Australia, when it’s possible.”
Delighting at the details of the event, Eccles says, “All the bars were on the floor of the arena, like a pub, and we had signage up for legendary 80s places like The Globe, the Windsor Castle and the Gluepot, which don’t exist any more. Such ingenuity is needed because New Zealand’s limited talent pool has already been used – to great effect – but venues throughout the country are struggling to fill their many vacant diary dates.
“Our local acts are boosted by getting to work with that state-of-the-art production gear”
Boosting the domestic scene
There are, of course, silver linings. Clumpas points to the amazing production support that has flourished thanks to all of the international tours that have visited New Zealand in the last decade.
“Our local acts have worked incredibly hard to deliver some great shows, and they are boosted by getting to work with that state-of-the-art production gear so they can look and sound as good in an arena as any of the international acts,” he says.
“We’ve certainly seen some homegrown success stories come out of 2020,” agrees Sharp. “The 4,000-capacity rave mentioned earlier was a purely domestic line-up: that’s something that probably wouldn’t have happened before Covid reared its ugly head.
“We’ve also had homegrown superstars such as Benee doing three sold-out nights in a row in one of our GA venues. The demand for homegrown talent is a fantastic thing to see and may well be ushering in a golden era for New Zealand performers and audiences.”
“We may well be ushering in a golden era for New Zealand performers and audiences”
Live Nation’s Kneebone observes, “Demand has been really strong as we came out of lockdown which has been great to see. We of course wanted to give extra thought and messaging around health and safety precautions. There will never be a one-sized fits all approach for marketing, so we continue to partner closely with artist teams to determine the right strategy. We’ve found things work smoothest when fans have all the details upfront so their expectations are aligned from the onset.”
Kneebone also tips his hat to the way in which home-grown talent has stepped up to entertain their fellow citizens. “Domestic acts have the spotlight to themselves at the moment and are headlining all the festivals around the country,” he notes. “Fans have been incredibly supportive of that, too, which means the industry can keep the wheels turning while enjoying all the best that Kiwi talent has to offer.”
Although he is the New Zealand representative of Australian giant Frontier Touring, Eccles has had no acts from that agreement to promote during the last few months. However, Eccles Entertainment was established in 2000 and has been built on a roster of Kiwi talent that has helped its founders retain all their employees throughout the pandemic. Indeed, with local act Six60 in the midst of a stadium tour that has sold 120,000 tickets, the company has the biggest tour of the NZ summer.
“Six60 are capable of selling out Western Springs, which is 50,000 capacity and a hallowed ground, as its had gigs by the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Bob Marley – all the massive acts – so they are huge in New Zealand,” he says.
Looking ahead, Eccles is having to pull on all his experience to come up with new and unique ways to maintain interest for his roster of domestic talent.
“There are a lot of challenges to deal with and it’s going to be an exciting year for New Zealand artists”
“I don’t want to give away any secrets, but I’ve been asking the acts if there is somewhere they’ve always wanted to play, or some other act they’d love to work with,” he reveals. “You’ve got to offer something unique, especially after it starts to get cold here in April. But I’m really excited, as there are a lot of challenges to deal with and it’s going to be an exciting year for New Zealand artists.”
The ability to rely on domestic talent has given the industry a lifeline, although it appears to be a limited one. Recalling the shows at Spark Arena with Benee, Clumpas notes that fans were generally being a little more conscious of each other’s personal space.
“Perceptively you can see people standing a little bit further away in the queue and not in each other’s face. And instead of rushing the door, there was a calmness as they gave each other a bit more space.” Indeed, such considerate audience behaviour prompted Clumpas to allow the audience to choose how they wanted to experience the concerts. “We had what we call free-flow, where nothing is allocated, and that allows people to stand for a bit, then go grab a seat. So it’s up to them if they want to go and sit at the front or the back. And it worked really well.”
The arena’s sparse booking calendar also allowed some imaginative formatting for Benee’s visit. Judging that she would sell about 10,000 tickets, the decision was made to spread that across two nights. “It was Benee’s first tour and rather than do 10k on one night, when she’d never even played to half that, her management, who are smart boys, decided to do two shows at 5.5k as that wasn’t so daunting for the artist,” says Clumpas. “We took the view that we could do anything – even a whole number of nights at 2,000-cap, because we weren’t doing anything else.”
“We only have four or five bands that can sell-out half an arena, so we’ve kind of run out of talent”
Skills shortage
Around the world, one of the key issues that the live entertainment business is having to face when it returns is a lack of personnel to kickstart operations.
Thousands of industry professionals have been made redundant throughout the pandemic, while others have simply moved into new areas of employment so that they can pay the bills, creating a significant headache for event organisers whenever the green light for mass gatherings is given. And despite a busy outdoor season currently underway, it seems colleagues in New Zealand are already facing identical problems.
Detailing the precarious nature of the NZ recovery, Clumpas explains: “Unlike in the UK, we have a very thin local market and that goes back to the fact that the business here used to be run out of Australia, bringing in loads of bands from overseas but never developing a local market.
“At arena level, we only have four or five bands that can sell-out half an arena, and the biggest comedian here can maybe sell 3,000 tickets, so we’ve kind of run out of talent: business is down by about 85% and we’ve had to lay people off because we don’t have enough things to put on at the arena.”
“We took an approach of leniency with contracts and generally acknowledged the completely unprecedented situation”
Sharp comments, “We have not escaped unscathed – even the relatively short disruption has had a huge influence on the industry and we are still feeling the effects.”
But, as with countless businesses around the planet, WellingtonNZ and its affiliates have been collaborating with others to try to mitigate the pain. “As a public organisation, our focus is on helping our partners through,” pledges Sharp. “We took an approach of leniency with contracts and generally acknowledged the completely unprecedented situation. This proved to be the right way to deal with the situation as it generated goodwill and strengthened relationships, both of which will bear fruit as the impacts of Covid on the sector start to recede.”
A team of five million
The willingness of the population to cooperate is key to New Zealand’s fight to keep the virus out, according to Scotland-born Clumpas, who emigrated to Auckland in 2002. “One of the first things that struck me about living in New Zealand is that there is a really strong community feel among its citizens, no matter who they are, rich or poor. And with Covid, everyone realised we are all in this together,” says Clumpas.
Highlighting that communal attitude, Clumpas refers to the Grab & Go facilities at Spark Arena, which relies on audience honesty to help themselves to food and drink and then pay before entering the auditorium. “It lets people move more quickly at the intervals and, of course, Kiwis pay – they would not dream of taking stuff and not paying. It’s remarkable but it sums up society here.
“Overall we are seeing similar ticket-buying patterns to pre-Covid times”
“Our prime minister, Jacinda [Ardern], referred to it as ‘a team of five million.’ It’s a genuine thing where people understand this is for the good of your fellow man, so they play the game. I find that hugely different to the US or the UK, where people might ignore the government because they don’t like their politics or whatever.”
Demand & supply
While industry leaders in Asia, Europe and the Americas speculate that the pent up demand of live music fans will propel the business back toward profit when the pandemic restrictions are lifted, it’s interesting to gauge how the Kiwis have handled their restart.
WellingtonNZ’s Sharp contends that marketing is still crucial to selling tickets, although “in the immediate post-lockdown period we did see huge enthusiasm for a return to live events and tickets flew out the door,” he admits. “The second lockdown definitely shook confidence, but overall we are seeing similar ticket-buying patterns to pre-Covid times.”
Eccles is revelling in those promoting challenges, citing his big- gest pub gig strategy as an example where he captured the imagination of ticket buyers. “We had a unique way of marketing the pub gig using The Sound radio station,” says Eccles. “We went on air with 100 tickets priced at $29.90 to announce the event, then as each band was announced we went to $39.90 for the next 100 tickets, then $49.90, right up to $79.90 when we revealed the headliner, and that kept people’s interest all the way through.
“Exemptions aren’t granted lightly, but they do show [that] the government understands the importance of live events”
“It was great fun and allowed people to remember the old days, as well as seeing the bands they used to see in those pubs back in the 80s.”
Underlining the local appetite to find entertainment, Sharp adds, “Overall attendance has been similar to what we’d expect in any other year. It shows that New Zealand crowds have confidence that they can safely enjoy events, which they continued to voraciously attend.”
International artists
New Zealand’s strict border controls make it tricky for anyone who is not a citizen of the country to visit. It’s not impossible for overseas acts to perform shows, but it’s not simple, either.
Sharp says international acts can secure a border exemption place on the grounds of their importance to the local events industry. “These exemptions aren’t granted lightly, but they do show [that] the government understands the importance of live events to both the cultural and economic wellbeing of the country.”
WellingtonNZ has benefitted from a number of acts who have taken the time to process through the quarantine procedures
But outlining some of the hurdles, Clumpas explains, “For anyone to get into the country now, you first have to book a space in the quarantine hotel, three months in advance. When your flight arrives, you go straight from the airport in a bus to the hotel, which is fenced off. The army run the thing and you are there for two weeks in managed self-isolation. If you leave without permission, you face three months in jail.”
WellingtonNZ has benefitted from a number of acts who have taken the time to process through the quarantine procedures. “We had Belgian drum and bass DJ Alix Perez play in November, and UK DJ Sub Focus on 7 January, both playing to sold-out crowds,” says Sharp. Elsewhere, the Wellington-based organisation has focused on securing alternative format events that can run for multiple weeks, such as Grande Experiences’ Van Gogh Alive concept.
“The exhibition was staged twice in New Zealand. The first was Digital Nights – Van Gogh Alive, which was the first time it had been held outdoors. It proved so popular that it returned for a run of indoor exhibitions at venues throughout the country,” says Sharp.
And with Spark Arena remaining dark for much of the time, Clumpas is currently exploring the idea of hosting dance events. “Perhaps by getting overseas DJs to go to their local club to set-up a video link so they can play to Auckland – they see us, we see them. I don’t think you can do that with a band because they need the interaction, but it might work with a DJ set,” he muses.
“Part of the issue is working out how we can scale up [crew] while making sure we retain that watertight border”
To attract others to physically visit, Spark Arena’s management is even looking at getting into the hotel business. “We have an idea to set-up luxury accommodation that we can run in conjunction with the army and security firms, and we pay for it,” says Clumpas. “So maybe we set up 20 suites where we can bring in an artist and they can rehearse there and stuff but keep isolated. It means that anyone who is prepared to come in and maybe do ten dates in 3,000-seater theatres, will be able to do that. I like to think we can get there.”
But looking at bigger international tours making their way to NZ is not on the cards, even though the likes of Six60 are visiting stadia. “We don’t have the likes of 140 crew places for people going into managed isolation, because we don’t have enough nurses and health professionals to manage the facilities,” Clumpas clarifies. “New Zealand is only five million people and you run out of people fairly quickly here. So part of the issue is working out how we can scale up while making sure we retain that watertight border.”
Lessons
As the only significant market to properly reopen after a national lockdown, New Zealand has the eyes of the world on it, as live entertainment peers examine its successes and failures to try to piece together their own strategies for relaunch.
Sharp applauds everyone that WellingtonNZ has worked with over the past few months for being flexible enough to reorganise their operations, name-checking the likes of Live Nation, Frontier and TEG; homegrown promoters Eccles Entertainment, Liberty Stage, Breaking Beats and Plus One; and resident outfits such as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Royal New Zealand Ballet.
“Everyone, through to our smaller promoters and community organisations, has been deeply affected by the pandemic”
“Everyone, through to our smaller promoters and community organisations, has been deeply affected by the pandemic and shown their resiliency and adaptability in rolling with the punches,” he observes.
Our NZ professionals, meanwhile, warn others around the world not to bank too heavily on a surge of interest when markets come out of lockdown. “There’s no pent-up demand with people think- ing I must see loads of gigs,” says Clumpas. “But that might be different in the US or the UK or Europe, because we were not locked up for that long compared to elsewhere.”
Eccles agrees. “In our experience, the market didn’t come back as hard as people thought it would – it eased back in,” he tells IQ. “Demographics-wise, if the show is aimed at kids, or even teens into the late-20s, then they don’t seem to care. But the older age groups are definitely more wary.”
Sharing some of the negative lessons Eccles Entertainment has learned, he continues, “Looking back at 2020, when we came out of lockdown, we experienced quite a bit of attrition, which was hard to take. So, for a show where we’d originally sold 4,000 tickets, maybe only 2,000 actually turned up on the night for the rescheduled gig. It was quite demoralising.”
“We’ve seen some strange behaviour where pre-sales were soft but the general sale was strong”
But there have also been some pleasant surprises. “We’ve seen some strange behaviour where pre-sales were soft but the general sale was strong. That’s the exact opposite of what you’d expect and I’d never come across any pattern like that before. It’s very odd and I can’t explain why it happened.”
Sharp comments, “The NZ market is recovering well – we’ve seen a strong appetite for live events, which has largely been a result of the competent handling of the crisis by the New Zealand government.
“Having coped so well (so far, at least), it may be easier for us to see things in a more positive light. But there really isn’t much use looking at it any other way.”
It’s a precarious situation though, and Eccles is all too aware that the business is constantly on the precipice. “One thing is for sure, if we have another lockdown in New Zealand, then all the confidence in the market will go,” he states. Clumpas concurs, but he believes a better touring industry may emerge in the long run.
“What it might do, going forward, is that audiences might be more demanding in their expectations. So, bluntly, the venues that take care of the fans and who have got their shit together will do fine or probably better. But it could flag-up some of the venues that have been slack, as people will be more discerning and make choices on how safe they feel, according to the customer service they’ve experienced in the past.
“We will get out of this, but will the business be the same? I’m not so sure,” laments Clumpas. “But I’m hopeful that we will no longer see tours with 247 people on them, where artists might tour with a core of maybe 30 or 40, with advance teams of ten who go to a territory early and get local people to do a lot of the work. It would mean a shift but not necessarily fewer jobs: just less people touring, complemented by more people in each territory, which would mean much less of a carbon footprint, as well as giving places like New Zealand a real chance to grow.”
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Sold-out NZ arena show to be livestreamed
New Zealand star Benee, whose ongoing NZ headline tour is the first major non-socially distanced run since March, will livestream the final night to a global audience.
The tour’s finale, which takes place at Auckland’s 12,000-seat Spark Arena on 17 October, will be streamed on the singer’s website, beneemusic.com, at 9.20pm local time. A full replay will then take place at 9pm BST/10pm CEST (1pm PDT/4pm BST) on 17 October (9am New Zealand time the following day).
Tickets are priced at US$10, and ticketholders will be able to access the stream on demand for 48 hours following the performance.
“I feel incredibly lucky to be able to get back on stage”
‘Supalonely’ singer Benee, who has performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Ellen and Late Night With Seth Meyers and recorded 2.2 billion streams globally, began her Live Nation-promoted arena tour of New Zealand last week. It follows a run of sold-out shows in Europe and North America prior to the coronavirus crisis.
“Musicians from all over the place are missing the live connection with their supporters right now, so I feel incredibly lucky to be able to get back on stage,” she says. “I’m so excited that we’re streaming the Auckland show; it means we can bring my fans from all over into the room with us.”
Unlike the rest of the world, there are no social distancing guidelines for live events in New Zealand, which has zero community cases of Covid-19. Non-socially distanced live entertainment (albeit with strictly enforced contact tracing) returned to the Australasian country in June.
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Live Nation consolidates Asia-Pacific division
Live Nation has announced the appointment of a number of senior leadership roles intended to unify its Asia-Pacific division.
Roger Field, currently CEO of Live Nation Australia and New Zealand, has been named president of Live Nation Asia Pacific, with Mark Kneebone taking on the new role of managing director of Live Nation New Zealand and Kei Ikuta promoted to president of Live Nation Japan.
Paul Antonio, currently president of Asia and the Middle East, moves to the new role of chief operating officer of Live Nation EMEA, reporting to John Reid, president of Live Nation EMEA.
Field (pictured) joined the company in 2010 to set up Live Nation Australia alongside Luke Hede (currently vice-president of touring). Following Live Nation’s acquisition of Michael Coppel Presents in 2012, Field has led the growth of the Australian and New Zealand businesses, initially as COO and then CEO from 2017.
In his new role, Field will oversee all of Live Nation’s businesses across the Asia-Pacific region, reporting to Live Nation Asia Pacific chairman Alan Ridgeway. Michael Coppel will continue as chairman of Live Nation Australia.
Serving as co-head of promotions for Australia and New Zealand since 2018, Kneebone’s new role will see him oversee all Live Nation’s businesses in NZ, reporting to Field. Stuart Clumpas retires from his role as chairman of LN New Zealand, but will continue as a consultant for the company, as well as a shareholder in Spark Arena.
“The cohesion of a true Asian-Pacific organisation presents significant opportunities for growth”
In Japan, Kei Ikuta takes over from John Boyle, who had served as president since January 2018 and is now moving back to work with Live Nation in Los Angeles. Under Boyle’s leadership, Live Nation’s profile and scale has grown significantly, launching Download in 2019, being appointed international booker for new Tokyo Olympic venue Ariake Arena and growing the company’s show count and market share. Ikuta, who joined the company earlier this year from Japanese promoter Udo Artists, will report to Field.
Commenting on the new hires, Ridgeway says: “The appointment of these roles provides us with the opportunity to further align our Australian, New Zealand and Asian businesses.
“Roger comes to the role with an impressive record of success and is in a great position to lead our growth strategy as he leverages our resources across the whole region. I wish Roger, Mark and Kei all the best in their new roles in taking our businesses forward in this new era, and thank Paul, Stuart and John for their hard work and dedication in establishing our presence in Asia, New Zealand and Japan.”
“I want to thank Alan for giving me the opportunity to lead the talented teams across the division,” adds Field. “The cohesion of a true Asian-Pacific organisation presents significant opportunities for growth, not only for our business but for the professional development of our people and relationships.
‘New Zealand continues to prove itself as a market that leads the way in the return to live and Mark is a proven leader who has played a critical role in our overall success. This appointment further solidifies our commitment to NZ and will affirm the market as a significant player in the global live industry.”
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Covid-safe shows take off in major live markets
Socially distanced shows, both in venues and in parking lots, are slowly becoming a new reality for music fans the world over, as the live industry finds a myriad of creative and innovative ways to keep the live experience alive despite the Covid-19 crisis.
From virtual shows and in-game concerts, to fan-less performances and “to-go” concert services, new kinds of shows that allow fans to adhere to social distancing measures while putting a spin on the traditional live experience are becoming more and more common.
More recent examples of drive-in gigs and socially distanced shows in real-life venues are allowing the live experience to be recreated in ever-more realistic ways.
The first-ever socially distanced concert took place at a venue in Arkansas, USA, last night (18 May), as venues in some US states are allowed to open their doors once more. Initially due to take place on Saturday, the owners of venue Temple Live ran into licensing difficulting with state governor Asa Hutchinson, who had decreed that venues were only permitted to reopen from Monday, and with a capacity of 50 people.
The show did go on, however, with 229 people – a fifth of Temple Live’s full capacity – watching Bishop Gunn’s Travis McCready perform live, while sitting 1.6 metres apart from those not in their households in pre-appointed ‘fan pods’, or clusters of seating for two to 12 people.
The venue almost sold out, with tickets priced at $20. However, at 20% of its full capacity limit, the show made a loss. Lance Beaty, president of the company that owns Temple Live told the New York Times that, while “clearly not a financial decision”, the show offered “hope to a lot of people” and acted as “an experiment” for a burgeoning socially distanced show model.
As countries including Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain give the go-ahead for live shows to return – subject to stringent restrictions – in the next few weeks, live music behemoth Live Nation is already preparing to launch its first series of socially distanced shows in New Zealand, a country which is widely regarded as having kept the Covid-19 crisis at bay.
“It is an opportunity for us to unite and celebrate the power of live with some of the country’s first socially distanced shows”
Live Nation New Zealand’s Together Again concert series debuts next weekend (29 to 30 May), with shows by singer-songwriter Hollie Smith and comedian Urzila Carlson at Auckland’s the Tuning Fork.
Capacity will be limited to 100 people, with temperature screening and contract tracing in place. Staff will wear personal protective equipment (PPE) and all food and drink orders must be made via an app.
“We are excited to be welcoming back live events in New Zealand,” comments Live Nation New Zealand chairman Stuart Clumpas.
“[The Together Again series] is an opportunity for us to unite and celebrate the power of live with some of the country’s first socially distanced shows.”
Tickets for the first too Together Again concerts go on sale on Wednesday (20 May) at 12 p.m. (NZST), priced at NZ$25 (€14).
In neighbouring Australia, which began to emerge from lockdown at the beginning of the month, live music is returning in the guise of drive-in concerts, following a format that has already been introduced in the United States, Germany, Denmark and Lithuania.
Drive-In Entertainment Australia has teamed up with local councils to set up eight Covid-proof venues across New South Wales and Victoria, which will hold 600 fans each. A free drive-in concert will be trialled at the Robyn Webster Sport Centre in Sydney on Thursday, with a performance by Australian singer Casey Donovan. The full programme will roll out across venues from 18 July.
“Entertainment is what keeps the light on in times like this, we want to keep Australians hopeful and keep entertainers employed”
As well as receiving live audio through their car radios, fans will also have an option to livestream visuals from the shows via video-conference platform Zoom, providing an opportunity for artist interaction.
“We, like most people in the entertainment industry, were left devastated when our gigs evaporated overnight,” comments Drive-In Entertainment Australia managing director Samwise Holmes.
“Rather than let it defeat us, we sought to innovate. Entertainment is what keeps the light on in times like this, we want to keep Australians hopeful and keep entertainers employed – while adhering to strict health regulations.
Under stage three of Australia’s lockdown exit plan, set to be put in place in July, gatherings of up to 100 people will be permitted, but “that is not sustainable for most live performances”, says Holmes.
“With the Drive-In Hubs, performers will have the ability to entertain up to 300 cars. And that’s a lot of people having a great night out – safely!”
Elsewhere, in Europe, Serbia’s Exit Festival hosted the first official post-lockdown event in the country, as restrictions were eased earlier this month. The invite-only event saw DJs play to just 50 people at the festival’s Dance Arena at the Petrovaradin Fortres, which usually accomoodates 50,000 daily visitors.
“Our festival started as an exit from the isolation and civil wars that former Yugoslavia had in the 90s, but now the whole world needs to be united in order to exit from this huge crisis,” comments Exit Festival founder Dušan Kovačević.
A special “Fortress Stream” will be broadcast on the Exit Festival Facebook page in coming weeks.
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LN announces new NZ festival, Soper Reserve Series
Live Nation has announced the launch of a new summer music festival series at Soper Reserve in Tauranga, New Zealand, next year.
The company hopes Soper Reserve Series, which will launch in January 2020, will attract 28,000 live music fans over an eight-show period. The 3,500-capacity greenfield site, located in Mt Maunganui, on the Bay of Plenty, will be programmed exclusively by Live Nation, which plans to bring “a diverse range of local and international acts” to one NZ’s most popular summer holiday destinations.
Live Nation New Zealand’s co-head of promotions, Mark Kneebone, comments: “The Soper Reserve Series is going to be a terrific addition not only to the region, but the overall New Zealand music landscape. By utilising Live Nation’s global expertise and resources, we are extremely excited to be bringing a world-class event to Soper Reserve that will attract a diverse range of acts, including some of the biggest names in music locally and globally.”
“Continuing to develop New Zealand as a touring market of international profile remains a priority for Live Nation”
Live Nation stages hundreds of concerts in New Zealand annually, with 2018 tours including Maroon 5, Post Malone, SZA, Red Hot Chili Peppers with Fleetwood Mac, Metallica, U2, Troye Sivan and Little Mix. Last year, Live Nation acquired a stake in major music festival Rhythm & Vines, and staged Childish Gambino’s festival, Pharos, in Tāpapakanga Regional Park in Orere, near Auckland.
“Continuing to develop New Zealand as a touring market of international profile remains a priority for Live Nation,” says Live Nation Australasia. “Finding a fantastic new venue such as Soper Reserve and creating groundbreaking and exceptional experiences like the new summer festival series is the cornerstone of our strategy.
“We are particularly excited when these opportunities land outside of major capital cities and we look forward to bringing a truly memorable experience to the Tauranga region in 2020 and beyond.”
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Australasian live market an “undiscovered gem”
Australia’s live entertainment market may be worth more than US$1bn, but it’s still an “undiscovered gem” with huge potential for growth, Live Nation Australasia CEO Roger Field has said.
“If you crack it, this is a fantastic market,” Field, who was promoted to CEO last March, tells IQ. “We are still, I think, an undiscovered gem in live music. [W]e punch above our weight in the quality and quantity of events we produce, whether they’re international or local, touring or festivals…”
Live entertainment is increasingly big business in Asia, with “explosive growth” predicted for huge but developing markets such as China and India, and Field adds that Australia and New Zealand are perfectly situated to capitalise on the demand.
“No one has really cracked Asia yet,” he explains. “Australia and New Zealand particularly have the opportunity to be a flywheel to develop stuff and make it grow in Asia and become feasible.”
Across the Tasman, Scottish-born live industry veteran Stuart Clumpas – recently tapped to lead LN’s activities in NZ as chairman of Live Nation New Zealand – says the local music community and live infrastructure has grow up since he migrated there 17 years ago. “We’ve come so far,” he says.
However, “irrespective of how much I love it here,” Clumpas adds, “it’s logistically challenged at the edge of the planet. NZ needs a strong international partner. What we’ve done [with LN New Zealand] is retain a lot of the uniqueness of the personal touch but also use that muscle to be able to grow the territory, bring more people here and make more people aware of New Zealand.”
While all the traditional ‘big four’ promoters – Michael Chugg (founder of Chugg Entertainment), Michael Coppel (who was promoted from CEO to chairman of Live Nation Australasia in 2017), Michael Gudinski (chairman of Mushroom Group and head of Frontier Touring) and Paul Dainty (president and CEO of TEG Dainty) – report a strong start to 2018, primarily with major international acts, the number of local artists making an impact on the global stage is also arguably at an all-time high.
“Australia and New Zealand, particularly, have the opportunity to be a flywheel to develop stuff and make it grow in Asia”
Business right now is “the strongest I have ever seen for the local artists we represent,” says Stephen Wade, CEO of Sydney-based Select Music, which has Aussie artists the Amity Affliction, the Temper Trap and Boy & Bear, and Kiwi singers Gin Wigmore, Tim Finn and Ladyhawke, on its books.
“Many of them have forged paths overseas, so this takes pressure off potentially overplaying the Australian market and diminishing their crowds,” he explains.
Australia has scored a flurry of goals in the past five years, led by the likes of Sia, Vance Joy, Tame Impala, Flume, Alison Wonderland, 5 Seconds of Summer, Courtney Barnett and more, while the DMA’s, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Tash Sultana and others are coming through. New Zealand’s music scene is also on the up, with its best-known export Lorde snagging a no1 on the Billboard 200 in 2017 with her second album, Melodrama.
Gudinski, who attributes his son Matt, also an executive at the Melbourne-based Mushroom Group, for helping reinvigorate the indie powerhouse, adds: “There is life left in bands, and there’s a reality that there will be massive hit songs in the top ten that wouldn’t see a 1,000-capacity pub. The times they are a changing.
“But great music will always come back and stand up – it’s cyclic. And at the moment, within the labels, there’s a great group of Australian and NZ artists who could explode.”
Read the full Australia/New Zealand market report, which also includes contributions from Michael Chugg, Bluesfest’s Peter Noble, AEG Ogden’s Rod Pilbeam and more, in issue 78 of IQ Magazine.
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