IQ 118 out now: Doc McGhee, Måneskin, ChatGPT and more
IQ 118 – the latest issue of the international live music industry’s favourite magazine – is available to read online now, with the physical magazine arriving on desks within the week.
The April 2023 edition celebrates 40 years since legendary artist manager Doc McGhee launched his McGhee Entertainment enterprise, and hears from the architects of Måneskin’s sell-out Loud Kids tour.
Elsewhere, IQ‘s deputy news editor Lisa Henderson talks to the founders of women-led production company Ginger Owl, as they celebrate their 10-year anniversary and Adam Woods investigates how Austria’s live entertainment business has changed in recent years.
This issue also examines the rise of ChatGPT and looks at its implications for the live music sector, and wraps up the coverage of ILMC 35 at its new home.
For this edition’s comments and columns, Rebecca Kane Burton tells readers why innovation is key to meeting customer expectations across the venues and live entertainment industries and Jon Chapple writes about the experience of living and working with cancer.
As always, the majority of the magazine’s content will appear online in some form in the next four weeks.
However, if you can’t wait for your fix of essential live music industry features, opinion and analysis, click here to subscribe to IQ from just £6.25 a month – or check out what you’re missing out on with the limited preview below:
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Sodexo Live! Lounge launches at M&S Bank Arena
Venue services company Sodexo Live! has officially launched its Sodexo Live! Lounge at the M&S Bank Arena Liverpool.
Senior business leaders and media came together to celebrate the official opening last week, coinciding with a headline show at the 11,000-cap venue by Kaiser Chiefs.
Hospitality and live events specialist Sodexo Live!, which has partnered with the ACC Liverpool team since 2008, appointed former The O2 and Alexandra Palace boss Rebecca Kane Burton as its UK and Ireland CEO earlier this year.
“Our partnership with ACC Liverpool has grown ever stronger over the past 14 years, and we are delighted to be able to celebrate this so visibly with the launch of the Sodexo Live! Lounge,” says Kane Burton. We are looking forward to the future with fantastic times ahead with the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023 and a host of exciting artists coming to the venue.
“Our mission is to use the Lounge to make the incredible events at the arena even more special for our guests, giving them an experience that they will remember for the rest of their lives. The launch of the Sodexo Live! Lounge is just one of the many exciting initiatives we have planned, which plays into our strategy of engaging differently in the live marketplace.”
“We have no doubt that the partnership between ACC Liverpool and Sodexo Live! will continue to be a great success”
The Sodexo Live! Lounge has a maximum capacity of up to 110 guests and offers a menu curated for each event, along with a selection of premium drinks and before and after arena performances, with up-and-coming local music artists making guest appearances.
“It’s been great to officially launch the Lounge and showcase what it offers guests,” adds Ben Williams, commercial director of M&S Bank Arena parent company The ACC Liverpool Group. “We have no doubt that the partnership between ACC Liverpool and Sodexo Live! will continue to be a great success and will make use of both our combined expertise as the region’s leading arena and Sodexo Live’s world-class hospitality offer.”
A global leader in hospitality and live events, Sodexo Live! manages several top UK stadia and venues, including Fulham FC, Newcastle United, Royal Ascot, Bateaux London and Glasgow’s Hampden Park.
It was recently confirmed that the M&S Bank Arena will host the 67th Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine on Saturday 13 May 2023, as well as the semi-finals on 9 & 11 May. Other upcoming concerts at the venue include Rod Stewart, Westlife, Paolo Nutini, N-Dubz, Lewis Capaldi and Jamie Webster.
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Sodexo Live! hires Rebecca Kane Burton as UK CEO
Venue services company Sodexo Live! has appointed former The O2 chief Rebecca Kane Burton as its new UK and Ireland CEO.
Kane Burton served a four and a half year stint as VP and GM of AEG’s 21,000-cap London arena before stepping down in 2016 to become chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End venue chain LW Theatres (formerly Really Useful Theatres), where she played a key role in the London Palladium’s Covid-safe socially distanced shows in 2020 as part of a UK government pilot scheme. She departed the company last year.
Prior to The O2, Kane Burton was MD of the 10,400-cap Alexandra Palace, also in London, and previously held a senior role at English Heritage.
“I am looking forward to driving our strategic ambition and accelerating growth in a market that has high development potential”
“I am excited to join Sodexo Live! as we head into a busy summer season of events,” says Kane Burton. “I am looking forward to driving our strategic ambition and accelerating growth in a market that has high development potential.
“Sodexo Live! has a talented team delivering excellence in all the services they deliver and I can’t wait to meet them and see their expertise first hand.”
Founded in Marseille, France, the Maryland, US-headquartered hospitality and catering giant now operates in more than 70 countries, partnering with stadiums, arenas, convention centres and museums, among other facilities. Clients include Hard Rock Stadium Miami, ACC Liverpool and Royal Ascot.
In addition to joining the firm’s UK and Ireland regional leadership committee, Kane Burton will also become a member of the Sodexo Live! global executive committee. The Sodexo Group created the Sodexo Live! brand last year to “unify and leverage its expertise” in the sports, events and hospitality sector.
“The UK is a key part of Sodexo Live! global growth strategy”
The company has also hired 15-year veteran Nicci Clarke from Punch Pubs & Co as marketing director.
“I am delighted to welcome Rebecca and Nicci to the UK and Ireland team,” adds Sodexo Live! worldwide CEO Nathalie Bellon-Szabo. “The UK is a key part of Sodexo Live! global growth strategy, the business is recovering well from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and is starting to show signs of strong growth.
“We look forward to supporting Rebecca and her team as they deploy their expertise across major venues and events to provide the best service to our clients and customers.”
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Rebecca Kane Burton: “Socially distanced venues don’t work”
Beverley Knight’s landmark 23 July show at the London Palladium was a “blessed relief” for everyone involved – but it also showed that socially distanced concerts aren’t viable for the vast majority of music venues, according to Rebecca Kane Burton, CEO of West End venue chain LW Theatres.
British soul singer Knight played to a crowd of around 640 – some 30% of the Palladium’s normal capacity – as part of government-backed ‘pilot’ scheme designed to how venues might operate with social distancing ahead of the planned return of indoor shows on 1 August (now pushed back to at least the 15th). A second pilot event took place at another London venue, the the 1,250-capacity Clapham Grand, on 28 July, with Frank Turner playing to a 20% full room.
“The most horrible thing about the past 19 weeks has been not being able to open these doors,” Kane Burton, reflecting on the Palladium pilot event, tells IQ. “The excitement and thrill of working with my team again to put on that show was a blessed relief.”
Kane Burton (pictured) is full of praise for both Knight and the Palladium team, describing the former as the perfect performer given the circumstances.
“Not many people would be ballsy enough to get on stage with the room only 30% full,” she says, “but Beverley did it with gusto – she got everyone up on their feet dancing, which in turn made people feel like they were allowed to enjoy themselves.”
“The excitement and thrill of working with my team again was a blessed relief”
As for the LW/Palladium team, the message from Public Health England was that “they couldn’t find one flaw” in how the show – which featured temperature checks and a host of hygienic gadgetry – was organised.
However, while she says she considers the Palladium show a success, Kane Burton – like Ally Wolf from the Clapham Grand – is clear that it should not be used a blueprint for how live events may reopen safely in the UK.
For a start, both shows lost money – “Normally the ratio of staff to customers [at the Palladium] is 1:40,” explains Kane Burton, “but for Beverley Knight, it was 1:10; no promoter is going to pay for that” – and while Knight did her best, even the PHE officials present noticed the lack of atmosphere present with a sparse, mask-wearing audience.
“Socially distanced venues don’t work,” says Kane Burton. With a 70% empty venue, “you’re not allowed to have that moment of escapism” that comes with seeing a show at a packed venue, as the Knight gig showed, she adds.
“To get an atmosphere you need to fill the place to the rafters. That’s how you get a rocking Palladium, and that’s how you bring venues back to life.”
Knight agrees. “I would not encourage any performer to step inside an auditorium where they’re playing to 30% capacity,” she tells IQ. “Financial considerations aside, that energy that you need isn’t there.
“To get an atmosphere you need to fill the place to the rafters”
“And equally for the audience listening: they appreciated what we’re doing on stage but they didn’t feel ‘in’ the gig. The euphoria wasn’t there.”
Along with much of the UK live music industry, Kane Burton is now pushing the British government for a reopening date for non-socially distanced shows, as well as working with PHE to develop guidance for post-Covid-19 performing arts.
While the Beverley Knight show didn’t provide a roadmap for the future of live in the UK, it did signal to the rest of the concert business that venues are pushing hard to reopen when they’re allowed, concludes Kane Burton.
“We wanted to send a message to all promoters and agents that we, as a venue industry, are not resting on our laurels,” she says. “We’re here in the trenches, and everything we’re doing is about getting the industry back on track.”
“We need to get going again, because without live music, this country loses its soul,” she adds. “We can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
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Really Useful plans music push with Gaydon hire
Really Useful Theatres, which owns and operates six theatres in the West End of London, has appointed ex-Roundhouse head of music Dave Gaydon as its head of programming.
Gaydon will work alongside Rebecca Kane Burton, formerly general manager of The O2, to present more live music at Really Useful’s venues, particularly the 2,286-capacity London Palladium.
The Palladium, described in a press release as the “jewel in the group’s crown”, recently underwent a £1 million refurbishment, and has in the past 12 months hosted shows by Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Coldplay, Bon Jovi and Kaiser Chiefs. (Dylan’s agent, ITB’s Barry Dickins, describes his three nights at the Palladium as a “wonderful experience”.)
Gaydon (pictured) will remain as a director of GOAT Music, the events agency which last year staged its first festival, GOAT Festival, in Goa, India, although Really Useful says his “focus” will be chiefly on his new role.
“I am delighted and feel privileged to be part of the move into a new era for this incredible venue”
He comments: “I am delighted and feel privileged to be part of the move into a new era for this incredible venue. There are a whole host of both heritage and contemporary artists that I know will work fantastically well in the intimate setting of the Palladium, and I’m looking forward programming some great gigs.”
“Since taking the helm here, I’ve been keen to secure the right music person to propel the London Palladium forward and secure the calibre of acts this world-famous stage deserves,” adds Kane Burton.
“Dave’s credentials at the Roundhouse and beyond speak for themselves. I’m thrilled he’s joined us and can’t wait to see how the place flourishes under his creative direction.”
Really Useful Theatres is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lord Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group. Its other venues are Her Majesty’s Theatre (1,216-cap.), Adelphi Theatre (1,500-cap.), Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (2,196-cap.), Cambridge Theatre (1,231-cap.), New London Theatre (1,024-cap.) and the newly acquired The Other Palace (312-cap.), which opened as the St James Theatre in 2012 on the site of the former Westminster Theatre.
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The O2 general manager steps down
Rebecca Kane Burton, vice-president and general manager of The O2, is to step down after four and a half years at the London entertainment complex.
As of 1 September, Kane Burton (pictured) will become managing director of West End theatre owner-operator Really Useful Theatres (RUT), a division of the Lord Lloyd-Webber’s Really Useful Group.
Tom Miserendino, CEO and president of The O2 operator AEG Europe, says Kane Burton has been a “valued member of our management team” and “can be rightfully proud of the legacy she leaves and the excellent team in place at the venue.”
“We wish her well for the exciting things she has planned next,” he adds.
Kane Burton was previously managing director of the Alexandra Palace, which she joined in 2008 from English Heritage.
“The world’s number one music venue will always hold a fond place in my heart”
Her appointment reflects “a change in emphasis for RUT”, says the company, which plans to grow its concert business, secure a number of new sponsors and launch its own ticketing company in the new few years.
“I am thrilled about this appointment and cannot think of a better or more exciting time to join Really Useful Theatres,” says Kane Burton. “I have a real passion for theatre and historic buildings and I am fortunate that this role combines the best of both. Working across some of London’s most iconic and innovative theatres in the heart of the West End is a challenge that I am delighted to accept.
“It has been a wonderful four and a half years at The O2 and I am hugely proud of what the team have achieved during my time as VP and general manager. The world’s number one music venue will always hold a fond place in my heart.”
The O2 Arena was once again the world’s best-performing in 2015, selling a total of 1,819,487 tickets, over 700,000 more than second-placed Manchester Arena.
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