TEL panel breaks down ‘The State of the Nation’
Industry leaders in live entertainment production gathered to kick off ILMC’s inaugural Touring Entertainment Live (TEL) and share their thoughts on ‘The State of the Nation’.
Chaired by Imagine Exhibitions’ Tom Zaller, the panel — which included guest speakers Liz Koops (Broadway Entertainment Group), Jenny Sirota (RoadCo Entertainment), James Harrison (ASM Global) and David Pitman (Cirque du Soleil) — discussed topics such as booming demand and higher costs, technological advancements, an over-reliance on established IP, and a lack of venues.
Zaller started by bringing up the effects of a post-Covid environment.
“Consumer demand is booming in certain areas, and inflation is causing issues for some of us in certain places,” he explained. “We’re also seeing different types of ticketing deals and dynamic pricing, but we’re also seeing production, operational, and labour costs rise.”
Koops, whose Broadway Entertainment Group has established itself as a key player in the Middle Eastern market with their productions of Disney classics, reckoned that while the increasing interest in the Gulf states is always a positive (“Doing 77 shows of Shrek across the region and within three cities in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Dubai, and Qatar was phenomenal!”), there was still a problem affecting the burgeoning territory.
“The touring world and circuit is getting smaller, unfortunately”
“There’s been genuine interest in developing the market, but while there are many more opportunities nowadays, there aren’t enough venues to accommodate the increasing demand,” she said.
That sentiment was shared by Pitman, who referenced certain geopolitical factors to explain dwindling availability in territories Cirque du Soleil used to sell out in.
“We used to tour Russia for 12 weeks, which isn’t going to happen for a long time now,” he said. “Prior to Covid, we held our ice show Crystal in Ukraine, the big venue in Helsinki [Helsinki Halli] is still shut, and there’s the situation in Israel as well to consider. The touring world and circuit is getting smaller, unfortunately.”
Another major point of discussion was the reliance on familiar IP, which the panel agreed made it difficult for original productions to get booked.
“There’s been such a massive spike in ideas being developed and everyone wants to get stuff out there, but especially after Covid, people crave the big IPs more,” explained Sirota. “It’s “comfort food”, they want to buy tickets to something they recognise,” adding that while the US doesn’t share the same experiences with venues as other territories, it’s still difficult to book fresh programming at present. “Especially with costs going up, it’s a real risk for producers to book anything that’s not heavily branded right now.”
“Customers tend to respond more in secondary and tertiary markets because it’s something different for them. There’s not as much competition”
Sirota also expressed concerns over heightened travel costs and a lack of transport availability.
“Trucking is incredibly expensive, and in terms of availability, buses for tours are booked up from 10 to 100 weeks,” she said, adding that it’s highly unlikely they’ll reduce their fees due to fuel prices anytime soon. “There’s so many shows nowadays, and there should be more trucking and bus companies to keep up with such demand.”
The panel soon moved on to entering new and developing territories. While Asia and the Gulf states have been her company’s bread and butter, Koops also stressed the importance of established markets that are smaller by comparison.
“We found that working with local promoters in the Eastern European markets has been incredibly successful for us,” she said, citing high demand in the likes of Croatia and Slovenia that enables her to develop multi-week touring opportunities.
“You don’t necessarily need to be in the A+ markets like London, Paris, or Berlin to have a successful touring production,” added Harrison. “Customers tend to respond more in secondary and tertiary markets because it’s something different for them. There’s not as much competition, so there’s more opportunities for fresher productions.”
To close out the panel, Zaller asked each guest for a one-word answer on what they’d like to change the most: Pitman responded with logistics, both Harrison and Sirota wanted more original shows, while Koops wished for more venues.
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ABBA Voyage producer hints at new venues worldwide
As one of the keynote interviews during Touring Entertainment Live (TEL) at ILMC, producer Svana Gisla gave a fascinating insight into the creation and operation of ABBA Voyage.
The smash hit show has so far has sold more than two million tickets for the shows in its purpose-built arena in London. And Gisla told delegates that the need to duplicate the tech for the groundbreaking production may soon become reality, as its owners and operators explore building more facilities to entertain fans around the world.
Gisla began by speaking about her background working for a division of Ridley Scott Films, where she was involved in making music videos for the likes of Madonna, Coldplay, the Rolling Stones, Beyoncé and Kylie Minogue among others.
Having created a company with a Swedish film director in 2015, she detailed working with David Bowie in the last six months of his life, and how she swore she would not work with music again. “Then ABBA called,” she laughed.
“In the beginning, we thought it might be a concert and a production that we could take on tour, but it cannot – that is impossible. It needed its own space, so it actually felt very normal that we would build our own arena, so I found myself going around London looking for land… and we found an old car park in the Olympic Park, infested with rats – it was perfect!”
“When you have a team of people who are all already excelling in their fields, and then they raise their game even higher, how can you fail?”
Explaining how the creation of the show happened across various pandemic lockdowns, Gisla noted that the production had to marry the digital world with the physical arena. “Light is the connector – we have five different lighting systems,” she said. But she confessed that there was a fear that if they did not get everything perfect, ABBA Voyage could have become just like watching a film.
Noting another moment that had the potential to end the project, she revealed that during the motion capture element of creation, “The whole project nearly derailed when the boys found out that they would have to shave their beards.”
Costing £141 million, the entire venture was funded privately from Swedish investors. Responding to a question from moderator James Drury, Gisla stated, “The size of it did not scare me because when you have a team of people who are all already excelling in their fields, and then they raise their game even higher, how can you fail?”
Answering a question from a TEL delegate, Gisla shot down suggestions that the ABBA Voyage team is working to create similar shows for other artists. Indeed, she also put the record straight about the many erroneous reports in the press about other companies claiming to be behind the show.
Gisla also ran through some of the astonishing statistics behind ABBA Voyage, saying that the show attracts 21,000 people each week and to date has sold more than two million tickets. “25% of the visitors come from overseas, and 80% of those come to London just to see ABBA,” she said noting that an economic impact study found that the production had generated £322 million for the local area in its first year.
“25% of the visitors come from overseas, and 80% of those come to London just to see ABBA”
Digging further into the numbers she said that 70% of the staff working on ABBA Voyage were hired locally, while the company does its best to be part of the community in its East London location.
“You cannot just come in and take – you have to give something back,” she said. “We do workshops for the local schools and explain to the kids how we did the show, giving them the experience behind the scenes of one of the most high tech shows ever created.”
Describing the purpose-built arena as “the least demountable demountable building,” Gisla concluded that although it is impossible to take the production on the road, its creators are in talks to duplicate the venture in the likes of the United States, Australia and elsewhere in Europe. “It’s a complicated beast, however, because you need to have one million visitors per year to make it a viable business,” she added.
Leading executives from the world’s biggest and most successful touring shows and exhibitions gathered for the inaugural TEL on the final day of this year’s sold out ILMC to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the multi-billion dollar sector.
Companies attending included ASM Global, Live Nation, FKP Scorpio, Kilimanjaro Group, Neon, Semmel Exhibitions, Fever, TEO, RoadCo Entertainment, Terrapin Station Entertainment, Cirque du Soleil, Harlem Globetrotters, Imagine Exhibitions, Broadway Live, Pophouse Entertainment, Layered Reality.
AEG Europe, Great Leap Forward, Science Museum London, lililililil, Imagine Exhibitions, Universcience, Proactiv Entertainment, Let’s Go Company, MB Presents, World on Ice, Expona, Slam Dunk Entertainment, World Concert Artists, Grand Palais Immersif, Fierylight and Opus One were also in attendance.
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ILMC 36: Maria May, Robbie Balfour and more confirmed
A raft of moderators and partners for the 36th edition of the International Live Music Conference (ILMC) have been unveiled.
The three-day conference will welcome over 1,400 of the world’s top live music professionals from over 50 countries when it returns to the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London between 27 Feb and 1 March.
On the opening day, CAA’s Maria May hosts The Open Forum, while cultural disruptor Cliff Fluet from Eleven leads a discussion on the practical applications of AI for live music in Artificial Intelligence: Moving at light speed.
And on 29 February, The O2’s Robbie Balfour asks the pressing questions in Marketing: Planet-ing new ideas.
The Friday of ILMC (1 March) will once again be dedicated to the next generation of live music industry leaders, with the fourth edition of Futures Forum.
On the opening day, CAA’s Maria May hosts The Open Forum alongside a soon-to-be-announced panel of VIPs
Connie Shao from AEG Presents hosts the opening session, Meet the New Bosses: Class of 2024; Marc Saunders from The O2 dives into the details of working relationships in Agents vs Bookers, and AGF’s Claire O’Neill leads a deep dive into tried-and-tested practices and innovative solutions in A Greener Future: The case studies.
Also on Friday, Touring Entertainment LIVE (TEL) will see Tom Zaller from Imagine Exhibitions kick off proceedings in The State of The Nation whilst TEO’s Manon Delaury hosts Quick-Fire Sessions presenting the best up-and-coming productions available to book.
And finally, Semmel Concerts’ Christoph Scholz takes the helm in Standing Out in a Crowded Market, to examine how promoters and producers are finding unique paths to success; and Jonathan Shank from Terrapin Station Entertainment chairs We’ve got 99 problems & here’s how we solve them, to ask how the sector can work more collectively.
TEL is supported by TEO, Fever, and Semmel Exhibitions. The ILMC Production Meeting (on 29 February) has also announced a wave of partners including Freight Minds, eps, and Solotech.
Full information about ILMC 2024, The Arthur Awards, Futures Forum or TEL, visit 36.ilmc.com.
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