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Central London venues win 4am licence extension

The team behind HERE & The Lower Third, which form part of the £1 billion Outernet District in Central London, have announced an extension to the venues’ licence.

The 2,000-cap HERE has sold more than 87,000 tickets across 160 ticketed events for club nights and live gigs since opening a year ago, while the 350-cap The Lower Third – the former 12 Bar in Denmark Street – has hosted 225 gigs showcasing rising stars in the same period.

The licence extension will enable the venues to remain open and operational until 4am on Fridays and Saturdays, presenting more programming opportunities and boosting the late night economy. HERE & The Lower Third are the only late-night venues in Soho to have secured a 4am licence.

“We are thrilled to extend our operating hours in both HERE & The Lower Third,”  says venue co-founder, Karrie Goldberg. “Since opening a year ago, we have delivered what we promised – a diverse and wide range of programming, everything from comedy, DJs, bands to fashion shows, product launches and more.

“With this new late licence, it allows us to provide an even broader spectrum of cultural programming”

“Now, with this new late licence, it allows us to provide an even broader spectrum of cultural programming. We will create space for new promoters, for sub-cultures to flourish, so we can welcome even more touring and international artists. It will support diversity and bring more live music back to central London, driving job opportunities in the music and events industries.

“It’s important to us to give up-and-coming artists a new place to launch their careers, as well as be a platform for global stars – and this licence extension will help us continue doing what we do best.”

HERE has hosted numerous events across music, brands, charity and fashion in its first year, including performances from DJs and artists such as Floating Points, Kerri Chandler, Chase & Status, Paul Van Dyk, Jodie Harsh, James Blake, Gabriels, FLO, Jorja Smith, Years & Years, Metronomy, Daniel Avery, Jai Paul, Alison Goldfrapp and Kae Tempest

The venue also collaborated with Annie Mac to launch her Before Midnight brand, presented live shows with the likes of , and worked alongside promoters including Percolate, Louder, LWE, Columbo Group, Parable and Labyrinth.

 


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Outernet reveals opening line-up, Dice partnership

New central London venue Here at Outernet has announced its first wave of live shows.

Annie Mac will kick off the 2,000-cap live events venue’s electronic music programme by bringing the Before Midnight club night to Here on 9 September, while UK broadcaster Julie Adenuga’s Don’t @ Me club night will also arrive at the 2,000-cap live events venue in the autumn.

Here will host the Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust Fundraiser in September to honour the late British music pioneer’s memory and continue his legacy.

In addition, Hercules and Love Affair will appear on 10 September in an event that will also feature the launch of  club night Milk, with West End Does Drag set for 18 September and monthly queer cabaret night and dance party Mimi booked for 29 October.

Plus, shows by rising British stars Alfie Templeman and Miraa May are lined up for 31 October and 16 November, respectively, and the UK’s Eurovision 2022 entrant Sam Ryder will perform from 23-24 November.

“Outernet is set to completely transform live events in central London”

Alongside the 350-cap The Lower Third – the former 12 Bar in Denmark Street, which also forms part of the Outernet complex – Here is the biggest new live music venue to be built in central London since the 1940s.

The venue revealed its programming team at the end of May, with concert promoter, musician and broadcaster Leo Green joining as artistic director, former head of music for the Flat Iron Square district Chloe Mitchell as programme director, and electronic music directors Nicolas Matar and Simon Denby completing the team, under the direction of operating partners Karrie Goldberg and Robert Butters, and COO Tristan Hoffman.

Ticketing and discovery platform Dice has been named as the primary ticketing partner for Here and The Lower Third.

“Outernet is set to completely transform live events in central London,” says Dice’s global head of music Andrew Foggin. “Together, we want to help fans enjoy a live experience like no other, leveraging our technology and platform to discover new artists and events at Outernet.”

Goldberg adds: “We are thrilled that Dice have come on board as the primary ticketing partner for our live events at Here and The Lower Third. Their commitment to delivering the best possible experience for fans and disrupting the live ticketing business aligns with our own values, and we are excited to have their support on our exciting programme of events at the two new venues.”

 


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Outernet London confirms programming team

The programming team and names of the two venues that form part of Outernet London have been confirmed ahead of the complex’s official opening this summer.

The 2,000-cap Here at Outernet is the first new live music venue to be built in central London since the 1940s, alongside the 350-cap The Lower Third – the former 12 Bar in Denmark Street.

Outernet Live programming manager Chloe Mitchell joins from the Flat Iron Square district, where she was head of music following the management of the launch of Omeara in 2016.

In addition, Here at Outernet has appointed electronic music directors, Nicolas Matar and Simon Denby. Matar’s career began as a DJ at Pacha, Ibiza, going on to own New York nightclubs Cielo and Output in Brooklyn. He went on to work with Ian Schrager of Studio 54 fame to launch nightclubs The Miami Beach Edition, The Times Square Edition and, most recently, The West Hollywood Edition Hotel.

“The vision at Outernet Live with Here and The Lower Third is going to fill much-needed gaps for live and club shows”

“I’m elated to be part of a new London venue,” says Matar. “As someone who was involved in the London scene since the early ’90s, it feels like I’m coming home.”

Denby, meanwhile, is co-owner and booker for UK underground dance music promoter Percolate and co-founder of London festivals Waterworks and Body Movements. He will lead on the electronic and club programme for the venues.

“I am really excited to be part of a cutting-edge venue in the heart of the city, that will bring dance music back to central London after the loss of groundbreaking spaces like the End and the legendary Astoria,” says Denby. “The vision at Outernet Live with Here and The Lower Third is going to fill much-needed gaps for live and club shows both for developing the next generation of artists and top tier talent.”

“This is the most exciting development that has happened to London’s music, arts and culture scene in a very long time”

As previously announced, musician and former director of events at Live Nation, Leo Green has joined Here at Outernet as artistic director and will oversee all of the venue’s programming across music, arts, theatre and culture.

“When this opportunity came along, it was simply too good to turn down,” he says. “From a venue standpoint, this is the most exciting development that has happened to London’s music, arts and culture scene in a very long time.”

The news follows the announcement of Green Light Development founders Karrie Goldberg and Robert Butters as operating partners of the venues, and Tristan Hoffman as COO.

“We are thrilled to be joined by this epic team of experts to launch these groundbreaking new venues this summer,” says Goldberg. “We are proud to be a completely independent venue space, open to all promoters and live entertainment operators and we look forward to showing you what the programming team have been busy working on in the coming months.”

 


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London’s Outernet Live reveals operating partners

Central London’s new 2,000-cap events venue Outernet Live has revealed its operating partners as bookings officially open ahead of its full launch this summer.

Green Light Development founders Robert Butters and Karrie Goldberg have been hand-picked as JV partners to manage and operate the venue, which also includes the 350-cap former 12 Bar Club.

Prior to Green Light, Butters was the CFO and VP for business development for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group and SVP of business development for Live Nation forerunner SFX. Goldberg, founder and CEO of venue and talent booking agency The Kagency, has programmed and manage spaces around the world, working with artists such as Madonna, Lady Gaga, Brian Eno and Beyoncé.

“We have two amazing venues that sit at the heart of London’s first music, media and culture district,” says a statement from the duo. “Launching Outernet Live is going to be very special as we combine a world class venue with the power of the wider Outernet campus.”

“This area of London has an amazing tradition of brilliant venues but many of them have sadly gone”

The senior management team includes COO Tristan Hoffman, who has worked on venues in London and New York such as BB Kings Blues Club in Times Square and the Highline Ballroom in Chelsea. Bluesfest founder Leo Green, who was most recently Live Nation’s director of live events, has been named artistic director and The O2’s ex-head of venue management Octavia Harwood joins as operations manager.

Outernet Live forms part of the £1 billion Outernet London entertainment district, located on the corner of Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road. The venue will sit beneath The Now Building, which features 23,000 sq ft of 16K screens and will host a broad range of events.

“This area of London has an amazing tradition of brilliant venues but many of them have sadly gone,” says Outernet Global CEO and president Philip O’Ferrall. “To open Outernet Live as part of our wider culture and music district makes us all immensely proud. It is absolutely vital that artists and fans have a place to go in the centre of our city to perform and enjoy live music and we will welcome many other types of events to our venue as well.

“When you factor in the incredible things we can do with the Outernet screens we move to another level and our offering is something that really can’t be found anywhere else in the world. We love the history of Denmark Street and embrace what the future holds.”

 


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Friday round-up: World news in brief 10/12/21

Welcome to IQ‘s weekly round-up of news from around the world. Here, in bite-sized chunks, we present a selection of international stories you may have missed from the last seven days…

GERMANY:

Slipknot are expanding their festival footprint by taking their Knotfest brand to Germany. The 25,000-cap. Knotfest Germany will debut in and around Rudolf Weber-Arena in Oberhausen on 30 July, 2022. Headlined by Slipknot, the Live Nation-promoted event will feature 10 bands in total, including In Flames and Ghostemane. Brazil and Chile editions are also planned for next year.

UNITED STATES:

In his first interview since the Astroworld tragedy, Travis Scott has said he did not realise that fans were hurt during his performance at the Live Nation-promoted festival. Ten people, aged between nine and 27, died following a crowd crush during Scott’s headline set at the 50,000-cap. NRG Park in Houston, Texas on 5 November. The US rapper has been criticised for not ending his show earlier. “I stopped a couple of times… at the end of the day you just hear music,” he told Breakfast Club presenter Charlamagne Tha God.

SOUTH KOREA:

Korea’s first ever metaverse gig, the K-Vibe Concert, was staged by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organisation on 8 December. Hosted by Asia’s largest metaverse platform Zepeto, the XR show featured acts from the first to the fourth generation of K-pop, including BoA, SHINee’s Key, Aespa, DJ Raiden, Brave Girls, Mommy Son, and Wonstein. The concert also brought together various other aspects of the Korean Wave, from dance to dramas, beauty and webtoons.

UNITED STATES:

Organisers of Elements Festival are facing a class action lawsuit following the event’s ill-fated 2021 edition, which took place in Lakewood, Pennsylvania from 3-6 September. The electronic music festival fell victim to inclement weather precipitated by Hurricane Ida. EDM.com now reports that three claimants allege promoters failed to “properly organise, prepare, and provide ticket purchasers and attendees of the Elements Festival 2021 with the experience defendants extensively promoted and marketed as being a safe, packaged, multi-day camping and music festival”.

SOUTH AMERICA:

After confirming Los Angeles and Chile spin-offs, Spain’s Primavera Sound has now announced Brazil and Argentina legs for 2022. Primavera’s first Brazil event will be held in Sao Paolo from 31 October to November 6, while its inaugural Argentina festival will take place in Buenos Aires from 7-13 November.

UNITED STATES:

Metallica will livestream their 40th anniversary concerts from San Francisco’s Chase Center on 17 and 19 December. The sets will air on Amazon Music and Prime before becoming available to watch on The Coda Collection/Prime Video Channel.

UNITED KINGDOM:

Scotland music convention Wide Days is returning to Edinburgh as a physical event from 19-21 May 2022, with a conference, one-to-one meetings and live performances. It will also feature a range of informal networking opportunities including guided tours, whisky tasting and exotic soft-drink sampling. As part of the convention, Wide Days will showcase the six emerging Scottish acts, selected for the international talent development programme, presented in partnership with PRS Foundation, which is open to musicians, producers and DJs of any genre who apply via a free application process (deadline 13 January). Tickets for Wide Days are on sale now at a special early bird rate.

UNITED STATES:

Madison Square Garden Entertainment has announced that it will be taking its custom camera technology – being developed for its MSG Sphere venue – to space. The company has received a research award from the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space to leverage the International Space Station (ISS) US National Laboratory to develop and test its ultra-high fidelity, ultra-high-resolution camera system. MSG Entertainment is planning to conduct three missions over the next several years, with the goal of developing a custom MSG Sphere camera system capable of capturing the Earth at a level of detail never before possible.

UNITED KINGDOM:

More than 200 guests attended The Blue Moon Gala at the new Outernet London to celebrate UNICEF’s 75th anniversary. The star-studded, special event, which featured performances from Duran Duran and Arlo Parks, raised £770,000 to help UNICEF continue its work for children around the world. A major new immersive media, music and culture district in London’s West End, Outernet fully opens in 2022, with details to be announced in the new year.

GERMANY:
Billie Eilish was virtually honoured with the German Sustainability Award by astronaut Matthias Maurer (ESA), who was on board the international space station ISS. Singers Joss Stone and Chris de Burgh also received the honorary award at the ceremony in Düsseldorf, which recognises ideas for the future and top achievements in sustainability in the fields of business, research and communities.

UNITED KINGDOM:

UK promoter and venue operator DHP Family has announced two key promotions within the marketing team as it continues its commitment to nurture and develop talent within the company. Anwyn Williams has been promoted to head of marketing, while Matt Newton steps up to become marketing manager.

UNITED STATES:

ASM Global has appointed David Feeley as general manager of the Target Center in Minneapolis. An industry veteran with more than 23 years of experience in event and facility operations, Feeley joins ASM Global following a lengthy stint as an operations executive with MGM Resorts.

UNITED KINGDOM:

London-based online platform GigRealm, which provides an end-to-end solution for organising live music performances, has announced a wide-ranging new partnership with The F-List for Music. Founded by former BASCA CEO Vick Bain, the F-List is the first directory of its kind to feature up-to-date information on UK-based female musicians, songwriters and composers. The new partnership will see GigRealm and The F-List team up to create pathways and opportunities for female musicians in the live music space.

 


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