Pino Sagliocco appointed UNWTO tourism ambassador
Live Nation Spain chair Pino Sagliocco has followed in the footsteps of the likes of Giorgio Armani and Lionel Messi in being unveiled as the United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s (UNWTO) newest special ambassador.
Italian-born Sagliocco, who will be tasked with championing tourism as a pillar of sustainable development and opportunity in the new role, was recognised both for his career as a promoter and for his support of UNWTO, as illustrated by his presence at the 112th session of its executive council in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2020.
He received the honour from UNWTO secretary-general Zurab Pololikashvili at a ceremony at the MOM Culinary Institute in Madrid.
“Music and tourism are both powerful vehicles for bringing people together”
“Music and tourism are both powerful vehicles for bringing people together, to celebrate culture and to peace and understanding,” says Pololikashvili. “UNWTO is proud to welcome Pino Sagliocco into our growing family of ambassadors and l look forward to working closely with him to grow sustainable tourism, both in Spain and worldwide.”
Sagliocco has worked with music legends such as Prince, Elton John, Queen, Madonna, the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney.
In 2017, Sagliocco was appointed a cavaliere (knight) of Order of the Star of Italy, an order of chivalry awarded to those who have boosted the profile of Italy abroad.
The knighthood, granted by the Italian president at the recommendation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recognised what Caserto-born Sagliocco “has worked at ceaselessly for more than forty years: to keep Italian culture alive outside of Italy”.
Other career highlights included Sagliocco’s executive production of the Festival La Nit in 1988 – an event commissioned by the Barcelona 92 Olympic Organising Committee to celebrate the arrival of the Olympic flag to Barcelona.
The event included the official presentation of the song Barcelona by Montserrat Caballé and Freddie Mercury, with Sagliocco coming up with the idea to fuse the two styles and use the two artists.
Revisit IQ‘s feature on Sagliocco’s first 40 years in the music business here.
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Live Nation Spain spearheads industry benefit campaign
Live Nation Spain president Pino Sagliocco has galvanised some of the biggest names in the music, sport and film industries for a benefit campaign supporting the music industry.
Under the umbrella ‘The Carbonería del Siglo XXI’, Universal Music Spain, Sony Music Spain and Warner Music Spain have come together to re-record Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ with more than 40 artists including Queen’s Brian May.
Renowed tennis star Rafa Nadal and film star Paz Vega are among the celebrities who appear in the video for the song, recorded in the studios of The Art House Records in Miami and produced by Grammy-award winner Julio Reyes Copello.
The stars that participated on the record will come together for a benefit concert
The single and the video were launched at a press conference hosted by the Live Nation Spain president in the Atletico de Madrid stadium last Thursday (15 April).
Following the success of the campaign, the stars that participated on the record will come together for a benefit concert as soon as the current Covid restrictions allows.
Sagliocco formed non-profit cultural association Carbonería del Siglo XXI to support and give voice to a sector especially devastated by the pandemic.
The associaton also comprises members of Es Música and Federación de Música, FPM Entertainment, the Latin Grammys and Lionfish Entertainment.
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Music will bring us back 2gether 4ever
I had a dream…
It started as a nightmare where a cruel and strange monster threatened everyone, spreading terror and silence through the streets. Time stood still for everyone, separating each one of us from those around us, turning each household into a refuge.
But it turned into a pleasant and unexpected dream, where every home, even the smallest, became a place of salvation.
In my dream, people stayed in their homes, reading and listening to music, watching shows on TV or simply relaxing. Parents started to play with their children once more, and people sung from their balconies to the streets below.
In my dream, we gradually learned to live a different way of life, a simpler and more sincere way, one where we all learned to value the most important things in life: a hug, dinner with friends, going out for a stroll with nowhere in mind.
In my dream we all took stock in our own ways – some of us meditated, others prayed, some danced and some of us looked to our inner selves.
Music brings the harmony that rids us of our differences
People started to think in a different way.
We had started to do things that had no reason, sometimes with no heart or soul in our actions, each unto their own. And now, by some strange twist, life was was gifting us a clean palette to start again, this time with a conscious awakening.
Faced with danger, it was time to open our souls and start along a new path.
We were devastated by the passing of those who fell by the wayside, sad for the loss of them and for their families…
It was inevitable that we should look inside ourselves to find out who we are, from where we came – all a necessary part on the journey towards where we wanted to go.
In my dream we were able to cleanse ourselves – both individually and the world around us – and we finally made it happen.
Music was our constant companion. It was music that helped us feel close to those around us, music that freed us from fear and brought sweet memories back to everyone.
We will emerge from this stronger; I’m sure of this
Music that can make us dream and fly…
Music, and live music especially – more necessary now than ever before – will help us release our emotional power, the ability to cry, to laugh, to fill our hearts with hope and belief, sure of the fact that we will build a future that is more fair and more just and where we will all find our place in the world. Music brings the harmony that rids us of our differences.
We will emerge from this stronger; I’m sure of this.
We will emerge as new beings, out of this tragic storm.
Now is the time to fight our fears, to be strong and stand united.
Between us, we will begin to enjoy our space under the sun again, in a world that will be deeper, more real, where we will embrace solidarity and shared values.
Music will bring us back 2gether 4ever.
+ While the international concert industry self-isolates, do you have any thoughts or ideas you’d like to share with your colleagues around the world? Please email [email protected] with submissions
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Pino Sagliocco: 40 years in the music business
Just how do you organise a surprise feature for the shrewdest, most organised man in the music business?
It began when Pino Sagliocco took part in the Think Tank at ILMC 30 and a number of “accidental” meetings and conversations since: lunch, drinks and enough scribbled notes to fill a book. But as we go to press, Pino is still blissfully unaware of our birthday/work anniversary surprise, so thank you to each and every one of you who managed to keep this secret.
It’s somewhat ironic that Spain’s most popular promoter is an Italian. Born in the village of Carinaro on the outskirts of Naples, in 1959, Pino contends that he never really fitted in.
“I was an alien in my own village,” is how he describes his childhood. “I was pretty good at school but I had no passion for it and I became used to just sitting in class and reading by myself. I was tall and looked a lot older than I was and I simply didn’t belong in my village any more,” is his explanation of why he left home at just 12 years old.
Setting off on his adventures, Pino simply walked to the village railway station with no clothes other than the jeans and t-shirt he was wearing and boarded the first train. When the train stopped, he found a hotel next to the station, asked for a job and began his working life carrying luggage for guests. Next, he found himself selling fruit in the local market, building the foundations of what would become a highly successful entrepreneurial career.
Making Friends with Folk
“At the age of about 15 or 16 I joined a hippy community and entered an alternative cultural world,” he says. It was in this environment that he started to become involved in music, organising concerts and events for the likes of The Chieftains and other folk acts.
“Franco had recently died and the city of Barcelona was just full of energy, so it was an exciting time and place to be”
Then, as is the case in so many epic tales, along came a girl. “She was from Barcelona, so at the age of 18, I moved to Spain,” he recalls. “Franco had recently died and the city of Barcelona was just full of energy, so it was an exciting time and place to be.”
Now, with a growing appetite for promoting, Pino set about building his business, starting out with a show by Celtic harp legend Alan Stivell using a local Barcelona church as a venue. “I wanted to do things that nobody had done before, so everything had to be a bit different to make the experience special – I remember doing shows with Greek singer Georges Moustaki, who was the boyfriend of Edith Piaf.”
Interested in anything avant garde, Pino found himself falling in love with Studio 54 in Barcelona and, exercising his legendary powers of persuasion, cajoled the club’s owners into allowing him to put on similarly branded events in Ibiza and Madrid.
“At the time, all the bands that were coming to Spain were big and established acts – Guy Mercader had the likes of The Stones etc, sewn up. But I got bands like ABC, Spandau Ballet, Talk Talk, Imagination, Simple Minds and Sade to start coming to Spain when they were still relatively unknown,” says Pino.
Having established Ibiza as his second home, one evening Pino bumped into Queen drummer Roger Taylor in one of the island’s nightclubs. “It was 1985 and Roger was kind enough to introduce me to the band’s manager, Jim Beach, and on the back of that, I got to work on the Magic Tour.”
Pino’s association with Queen and iconic frontman Freddie Mercury started there. The Queen tour broke the mould in Spain, as it visited the country in August, a month when everything traditionally closes down for holidays. Anxious that the three dates in Barcelona, Madrid and Marbella would flop, Pino convinced Mercury to do a press interview ahead of the first show – something that the singer rarely did – and the result was three massively successful nights.
“I wanted to do things that nobody had done before, so everything had to be a bit different to make the experience special”
“Around the same time, I was getting an idea to do something big for television in Ibiza and one night I was hanging out with a Spanish band at my house when an interview with Queen was shown on TV that I had never seen before. During the programme, Freddie was asked if there were any Spanish artists he would like to work with and he mentioned the opera star, Monserrat Caballé.”
Following much collaboration with Jim Beach, Pino managed to arrange a meeting between the two singers on 24 March 1987 at a hotel in Barcelona, where Mercury brought along a demo of a song he had co-written in the hope Cabellé would agree to record a duet with him.
“On 29 May they opened my Ibiza 92 show with the premiere of the song ‘Barcelona’ – it was magical,” says Pino, adding that acts also on the bill for that TV extravaganza from the White Isle included Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Chris Rea, Poison, Nona Hendryx, Marillion and Spanish acts Hombres G and E Último de la Fila.
“The TV show was seen in 31 countries worldwide and the collaboration between Monserrat Caballé and Freddie Mercury was a huge hit. They performed together for the last time in 1988 when they sang the song to celebrate the arrival of the Olympic Flag in Barcelona from Seoul.
“I had been asked to organise something for the occasion, so they performed to 100,000 people in front of the Fountains of Montjuïc and shared a stage with Spandau Ballet, Eddie Grant, Jerry Lee Lewis and Suzanne Vega, as well as Rudolf Nureyev and flamenco dancers, with Freddie and Monserrat closing the show. It was amazing – I won a gold medal for the show, which I like to joke was the first gold given for the Barcelona Olympics.”
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Live Nation acquires Latin promoter Planet Events
Live Nation has acquired a majority stake in Planet Events, the leading concert promoter of Latin artists in Spain.
Prisa – a major Spanish-language media conglomerate whose properties include El País, Spain’s newspaper of record, and Los40, its most popular radio station – retains a minority stake in Planet Events, and the two companies have established a “strategic union” that gives Live Nation Barcelona the “opportunity to reach new audiences in the region”, according to Live Nation.
Live Nation Barcelona, established in 2006, operates across Spain and Portugal, and has previously cooperated with Prisa/Planet on shows by Latin American artists Luis Miguel and Juanes (pictured), as well as Paul McCartney’s Madrid concert in 2016.
“We have worked with Live Nation Barcelona on some great shows and events in the past,” says Chen Castaño, general manager of Planet Events. “We now welcome the chance to strengthen our relationship and connect more Spanish and Latin artists with their fans.”
“We welcome the chance to strengthen our relationship and connect more Spanish and Latin artists with their fans”
Live Nation also has a presence in Barcelona through its joint venture with Barnaby Harrod and Elie Muñiz’s Mercury Wheels.
Pino Sagliocco, chairman of Live Nation Barcelona, comments: “The opportunity to combine Planet Event’s local expertise and Prisa’s vast audience network with Live Nation’s scale and resources is quite unique and aligns with our commitment to bring more Spanish and Latin music to fans around the world.”
Latin music is growing in popularity in both Spanish-speaking and non-hispanophone Europe, with new crossover styles and growing audience familiarity driving a vibrant new touring market. Live Nation, meanwhile, launched its own dedicated Live Nation Latin division for the US market in late 2017.
Planet Events has a varied roster of Latin tours, festivals (including Noches del Botánico and Fitur is Music) and industry events (Oro Viejo and the Los40 Music Awards). Following the acquisition, it remains based out of Prisa’s offices in Madrid.
Photo: © Jörgens.Mi/Wikipedia, Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0, Source: Wikimedia Commons
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We are not afraid
We are reeling from the senseless cruelty of the two terrible attacks that have hit Barcelona and Cambrils.
First and foremost, our thoughts are with the victims caught up in this random violence, and their families and loved ones, and we wish a speedy recovery to those injured. We are all one of them; we have all spent afternoons strolling carefree down Las Ramblas.
There is a deep sense of shock at the savage horror of these shameless cowardly deeds, but there is a unity that binds this city, and this country, and which brings us strength. Barcelona is a city of radiant light and will continue to be so, even in the face of those who wish to darken it.
The cruelty of these acts does nothing but strengthen Barcelona’s resolve in the face of evil – and to say out loud, “there is no space for you here”, “we are not afraid”, “we are a united city”.
The cruelty of these acts does nothing but strengthen Barcelona’s resolve in the face of evil
We know what winning is and we are a proud city, with a heart of stone and an inextinguishable spirit. Barcelona will stand tall and strong, as it always has, while together we defeat that evil.
We are free; we love each other, because we are brothers in solidarity, and we live in peace. This is our legacy.
I moved to Barcelona 38 years ago, and I consider it to be my home city. Here is where my first daughter was born 26 years ago, and here is where my children live, where they go to school… I want to see them grow up happily in this marvellous city, in peace and in harmony.
The mood here is of defiance, of resilience and of the sure knowledge that Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain will emerge stronger than ever from this atrocity.
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Knighthood for Live Nation’s Pino Sagliocco
Live Nation Spain chairman Pino Sagliocco has been appointed a cavaliere (knight) of Order of the Star of Italy, an order of chivalry awarded to those who have boosted the profile of Italy abroad.
The knighthood, granted by the Italian president at the recommendation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recognises what Caserto-born Sagliocco “has worked at ceaselessly for more than forty years: to keep Italian culture alive outside of Italy”.
“The brotherhood shared by people the world over has been a priority in Pino Sagliocco’s career, especially the brotherhood between Spain and Italy – nations he considers to be ‘blood brothers’,” says a statement from Live Nation Spain.
“Spain is where he has forged a career that leaves an historical legacy with televised shows of international artists: The Rolling Stones and Madonna live in Barcelona, Soñadores de España with Placido Domingo and Julio Iglesias in Seville; George Michael live in Madrid and Leonard Cohen in San Sebastian; from Whitney Houston in La Coruña to Sinatra in Barcelona; Ibiza 92 and La Nit, which celebrated the arrival of the Olympic flag in Barcelona with the unforgettable song by Freddy Mercury and Monserrat Caballé!
“The brotherhood shared by people the world over has been a priority in Pino Sagliocco’s career, especially the brotherhood between Spain and Italy”
“With this the world [has taken] notice – this espousal of the best of each culture, the bringing together of two countries.
“Pino Sagliocco has spent many years helping Italian artists find their voice in the world, never forgetting the country that spawned them and helped them grow. Italy is a philosophy and a way of life that he carries inside of him, always present…
“Pino Sagliocco is a true representative of La Grande Italia.”
Other recipients of the Star of Italy (Stella d’Italia) include Spaniards Fernando Alonso and Penelope Cruz, former US president John F. Kennedy and Italian-American singer Frank Sinatra.
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‘Everyone has the right to resell their tickets’
Pino Sagliocco, chairman of Live Nation Spain, has waded into the long-running debate over secondary ticketing, arguing that anyone who has bought a ticket to a show owns it outright and has the right to sell it on the secondary market.
“Resale is inevitable and has always existed,” Sagliocco told the Association of Music Promoters’ Javier Herrero. “Everyone has the right to take their ticket and put it back on the market. And what I like most is that this process is controlled, to ensure the tickets are good, […] unlike what happened to us with Lady Gaga, who had a big problem with a forgeries.”
While a concert ticket represents a contract between a promoter and a gig-goer, in most countries, including Spain, there are no restrictions on selling that ticket on to a third party – unlike, for example, an airline ticket or (in the UK) a ticket to a football match.
This lack of a clear legal definition was touched upon by DHP Family promoter Anton Lockwood last month following the release of the Waterson report on secondary ticketing. The biggest thing [the report] is missing,” he told IQ, “is that nowhere that I can see has Professor Waterson addressed the question of, What is a ticket?'”
“Resale is inevitable and has always existed, and everyone has the right to take their ticket and put it back on the market”
“The ideal policy is that resale wouldn’t be allowed,” continued Lockwood,” but that is predicated on the position that the ticket is a contract between the concert provider and the customer – and you can’t just go, ‘Well, it’s not that customer, it’s a different one.’ It’s like an airline: you can’t just say, ‘I can’t be bothered to get on a plane today, my mate can go instead.’ It just doesn’t work like that.”
Sagliocco also touched on the explosion of new festivals in Madrid in 2016, arguing that supply now outstrips demand in the Spanish capital. “I do not think there is so much demand for [these new festivals], but there is a gap [in the market],” he said. Mad Cool Festival and Utopía/Madrid Dance Island are both new for this year and compete with Live Nation’s own Dcode.
Local rival Doctor Music in March filed official complaints against Live Nation/Ticketmaster-owned Seatwave, Viagogo and a number of other secondary outlets, alleging that the sites are “harmful to the world of music”.
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