Troxy completes dance trio’s London gig trilogy

Troxy’s head of live Simon Eaton has spoken to IQ about hosting the climactic gig in a trilogy of special London performances by Four Tet, Fred Again + Skrillex.

The electronic dance superstars joined forces for a run of three surprise shows in three nights at Camden’s Electric Ballroom (cap. 1,500), Electric Brixton (1,700) and the art deco Troxy (3,100) from 5-7 January.

All shows, which followed the release of Wasserman Music clients Fred Again and Skrillex’s Rumble collaboration with Flowdan, had tickets released on the day and sold out within minutes.

“We got a call from Eat Your Own Ears, the promoter, a couple of days before Christmas,” Eaton tells IQ. “We do a lot of work with them and are good friends of ours. They often come to us with similar ideas, although normally with a slightly longer lead time!

“They wanted to go with three independent venues – bigger venues each day – finishing with that final explosive show. They were looking for something of around 2,000 cap, which is our capacity for club nights, so we fitted what they were looking for. It was finalised around 27-28 December and it was all systems go from that point. I had to cancel my annual leave and work over the Christmas period, but it was well worth it.”

“To sell 2,000 tickets in 16 seconds and there not be a single issue was outrageous”

All three events were not announced until the days they took place, with tickets released in staggered announcements on the artists’ Instagram stories.

“They wanted to split the tickets into three sections, so each artist had their own little pot of tickets rather than everything pulling from one central pot,” explains Eaton. “They wanted the artists to make the announcements themselves, rather than the venue, promoter of anyone else.

“We’d already built all the ticketing behind the scenes and supplied them with the links the day before, so it was ready to go and we were just waiting for them to do it. Four Tet went just after midday and the other two not until a little bit later in the afternoon.”

More than 20,000 fans tried to buy tickets on the first two announcements alone, with over 9,000 users on a waiting list as soon as the final announcement went live.

“I think 16 seconds was how long it took for all tickets to be in baskets, which is insane,” says Eaton. “It’s broken all records here. To sell 2,000 tickets in 16 seconds and there not be a single issue was outrageous, so kudos to Dice, our ticketing provider, for that.”

“We had the most sold-out shows we’ve ever had at one period of time at the back end of last year – and that’s now rolling into this year”

An extended stage platform was built from the venue’s main stage which enabled the DJs to perform from a central location in the midst of the crowd.

“It was an absolute whirlwind, it feels like a dream,” adds Eaton. “It’s such a short period to put on a show of that scale and I can’t believe we pulled it off. It’s great to have it out the way in one sense, but you like to look forward to these big events and I feel as though our biggest event of the year has already come and gone – and it’s only January!”

East London’s Troxy continues its busy start to 2023 with a sold-out concert by Editors (1 February) as part of Independent Venue Week. Other shows include Black Veil Brides (25 February) and The Flaming Lips (25 April), who will be performing their Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots album in full.

“There’s a different challenge every day,” says Eaton. “[The cost of] everything has gone up and it’s difficult at the minute, but everyone’s in the same boat and we’re doing the best we possibly can with it. Fortunately, we’ve got an incredible year of events coming up, which I’m quietly confident is going to offset all those costs.

“We had the most sold-out shows we’ve ever had at one period of time at the back end of last year, and that’s now rolling into this year.”

The building, which opened in 1933, is also undergoing a refurbishment, which coincides with its 90th anniversary and will result in a capacity increase.

“We’re looking at Q4 for that coming into play, but it’s TBC on what the exact number will be in terms of the capacity increase,” he adds. “That needs to be signed off by licensing and police and whatnot, but it’s substantial.”

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