Uber and AEG Europe have inked the largest naming rights partnership in Germany.

The companies have agreed a long-term deal for AEG’s two venues in Berlin-Friedrichshain, as well as the surrounding entertainment district.

From 22 March, Berlin’s Mercedes-Benz Arena and Verti Music Hall will be renamed Uber Arena and Uber Eats Music Hall, respectively – alongside the adjacent restaurants, cinema and bowling alley that make up Uber Platz (currently Mercedes Platz) – in a first-of-its-kind deal in the market.

“In Uber we have gained an innovative, globally renowned brand, who like AEG Europe, are passionate about creating a best-in-class customer journey and guest experience,” says Paul Samuels, EVP for AEG Global Partnerships. “We are thrilled to be collaborating with Uber and look forward to opening the doors of the Uber Arena and Uber Eats Music Hall for the first time in an official capacity on 22 March, yet also extend our appreciation to Mercedes-Benz and Verti, whom Uber succeeds as naming rights partner, for their collaboration over the past eight and six years respectively.”

“This one-of-a-kind investment is a big testament to our commitment to German cities and in particular to Berlin’s art, culture and sports scene”

Attracting 1.5 million visitors a year, the Uber Arena (cap. 17,000) opened in 2008 and was recently ranked the second highest-grossing arena in the world. The neighbouring Arthur Award-nominated 4,350-capacity Verti Music Hall, meanwhile, launched in 2018.

“We couldn’t hope for a better way to celebrate Uber’s 10th anniversary in Germany,” adds Uber Germany head Christoph Weigler. “This one-of-a-kind investment is a big testament to our commitment to German cities and in particular to Berlin’s art, culture and sports scene.”

The Mercedes-Benz brand will be staying on board as a partner of the Uber Arena in a more general capacity. While specific plans will be announced in the coming months, Uber – in close partnership with AEG Europe – is aiming to elevate guest experience at all levels, from transport arrival and departure, as well as bringing innovative new food and beverage ordering options to events.

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AEG has added Dennis Krause to its booking team in Berlin, Germany, effective immediately.

The new senior booking manager will be mainly responsible for booking Verti Music Hall, the 4,350-capacity venue that opened in 2018 at AEG’s Mercedes Platz.

Krause brings over 15 years of experience in the concert and event industry to AEG. Most recently, he worked as an agent for the Hamburg-based a.s.s. concerts & promotion, where he was responsible for concert and tour booking for international artists.

“We are sure that Dennis, with his large network and his background as an agent, is the right person to take the venue forward”

Prior to that, he worked as head of A&R for Prime Tours & Promotion, a Berlin-based company specialising in promoting and artist development.

“Verti Music Hall can look back on a record year and we are sure that Dennis, with his large network and his background as an agent, is the right person to take the venue forward,” says Dirk Dreyer, general manager of the Verti Music Hall.

Dreyer recently spoke to IQ about the Verti Music Hall’s best year yet and how the mid-sized venue has established its place in the competitive German market.

Aissata Hartmann-Sylla, senior director booking AEG Berlin, adds: “I know Dennis as an excellently networked and respected agent and am delighted that we have been able to secure him for us.”

AEG Germany also comprises Berlin’s Mercedes-Benz Arena (cap. 17,000) and Hamburg’s Barclays Arena (15,000).

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Verti Music Hall GM Dirk Dreyer has told IQ how the mid-sized venue has established its place in the German market and achieved its best year yet.

The 4,350-capacity venue, which is nominated for an Arthur Award, opened in 2018 at AEG’s Mercedes Platz, a mixed-use entertainment district neighbouring the Mercedes-Benz Arena (cap. 17,000) in Berlin.

“We needed a lot of arguments to enter the market because there are already plenty of music venues in Berlin – and plenty our size,” says Dreyer, listing off its closest competitors, Tempodrom and Columbiahalle (both 3,500), “We needed to differentiate and find unique points.”

“Our strongest USP is our production capabilities and acoustics – and artists and promoters are recognising this,” he continues. “Often, mid-sized venues are former theatres or cinemas or gyms, or they are used as sports venues. Verti Music Hall is more or less the only mid-sized venue in Germany that is built for music.

“The ceiling is 16 metres high, which is why we get a lot of arena-sized productions here. Dermot Kennedy played the O2 in London and Macklemore played the Lanxess Arena in Cologne and they both played with us. Hans Zimmer rehearsed here with his full orchestra, a week before his arena show, and was able to squeeze the whole production into the venue. The rigging load is 200 tonnes, which is more than the Mercedes-Benz Arena. In terms of the acoustics, the venue is all sound panels so there’s no delay and echo. Sound people love it and so do the artists.”

“Our strongest USP is our production capabilities and acoustics”

Another aspect of Verti Music Hall that’s favoured by promoters, Dreyer says, is the arena-level expertise offered to acts playing the mid-sized venue.

“I can rely on a great team of experts in booking, event management, production management, hospitality and facility management but also the whole overhead structure [of AEG Germany] is shared. The experience of the team is something that is really well greeted by the promoters because the treatment is top notch.”

The synergy between AEG’s mid-sized venue and arena has also proved useful for agents when planning a trajectory for their artists.

“We see Verti Music Hall as a stepping stone for the artists,” explains Dreyer. “If you’re unsure where to position your artist and you place them at Verti Music Hall, there’s the opportunity to upgrade which is a huge benefit. So for example, George Ezra, who was one of the first artists to play the music hall in 2018, sold out the arena this year. Lewis Capaldi, same story.

“The downside of this is the upgrades. We’ve already lost The 1975 next spring to the arena because they sold out so quickly. For me and Verti Music Hall, it’s bad news but for the artist and AEG, it’s great news,” he laughs.

While the GM says Verti Music Hall is still in “the ramp-up” phase of creating awareness among promoters and agents, its nomination for The Venue Award (The First Venue To Come Into Your Head) says otherwise – as does the venue’s record year in 2023.

“The demand in general is higher and the demand for Verti Music Hall is higher than last year”

“We have been in full effect now for more or less than 18 months [since restrictions relaxed],” he says. “Since April last year, we’ve had 170 utilisation days including special events and corporate events, plus spend-per-head has increased.”

A questionnaire to visitors found that 75% of respondents had attended the venue before while, some artists, including Jack White, Architects, War On Drugs and the Lumineers have already returned to the stage for a second time. “So you get in this rhythm that other established venues have had for decades where the band returns every two years,” says Dreyer.

Concerts for 2024 are already stacking up, according to the GM, with scheduled concerts from the likes of Jason Derulo, Zara Larsson, Dave Matthews Band and Róisín Murphy. “I am also very much looking forward to Black Pumas and Slash returning to Verti Music Hall next year, as well as and the country festival C2C,” says Dreyer.

“We were used to a booking window of three to six months and this has definitely extended to six to 12 months,” he says. “So obviously the demand in general is higher and the demand for Verti Music Hall is higher than last year.”

While the venue seems to be successfully overcoming teething problems, there’s still a laundry list of issues in the wider market that are lingering, according to Dreyer.

“It’s not only the post-Covid situation, it’s the energy crisis, inflation, challenges in staffing and the availability of experts and materials,” he explains. “Getting a truck driver these days seems to be a difficult challenge. Also, the habits of concertgoers have slightly changed; everyone seems to be on a budget right now, so they might spend their money more wisely. Plus we have a new generation of concertgoers, as well as artists that are on stage for the very first time. We’re not really back to normal but it’s the new normal – I think it will never be like it was –  but on the whole, I must say everything more or less has changed for the better.”

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Verti Music Hall GM Dirk Dreyer has told IQ the German venue is making up for lost time following the frustrations of the pandemic.

The mid-size venue, which opened in 2018, is located at AEG’s Mercedes Platz, a mixed-use entertainment district neighbouring the Mercedes-Benz Arena (17,000-cap.) in Berlin.

Dreyer came on board as the hall’s first general manager in March 2020, but was unable to welcome full-scale concerts for more than two years until The War on Drugs performed in April 2022.

“It was a spiritual experience – the venue was full of energy,” reports Dreyer. “I remember when I started, we thought [Covid] would be over by Easter 2020, but the good thing is that we were able to maintain the events business even though concerts were not possible. We did a lot of corporate events, trade shows and all kinds of gatherings under pandemic restrictions, which was a good exercise to learn about the venue.”

“We have found our own niche”

Dreyer says the AEG-operated hall will benefit from a small capacity increase from 4,250 to 4,350 this summer, giving it an advantage over its closest competitors Tempodrom and Columbiahalle (both 3,500). Recent and upcoming concerts include Jack White, Deftones, Lukas Graham, Franz Ferdinand and Bastille.

“We have found our own niche,” says Dreyer, who credits the work of his “wingman”, bookings manager Markus Jentsch. “We are still below the arena level but we are the biggest in the mid-size and club segment and this is our major strength. We have to keep in mind that the venue opened in October 2018 and had a little bit more than one year one and a half years and operation until the pandemic hit us. So the venue was closed, so to speak, almost as long as it was open.

“We are still establishing the venue in the promoter market, but also in people’s minds because we are still considered a new venue.”

Prior to joining the Verti team, Dreyer was MD of the 25Hours Hotel Bikini Berlin and had previously had a long career in the music industry, working as a DJ and club night promoter. He also served stints at BMG, Sony Music, EMI and management company 313 Music, among others.

“Running this venue is a mixture of my two career paths so far,” he explains. “I maintained a certain reputation and credibility in the music industry because I kept my music friendships and contacts alive over the years. And I also bring my knowledge of hospitality – we make sure that the beer’s cold, the coffee is hot and the guests have a good time. My task is to spread the word.”

“People seem to be buying tickets more spontaneously…. they don’t plan too far in advance”

Although full capacity shows have been permitted in Germany since March this year, Dreyer points out the domestic industry is going through many of the same experiences reported by other European markets after their own reopening.

“People seem to be buying tickets more spontaneously,” he says. “They don’t buy tickets for a show in November this year because they don’t know if they will be healthy or if the show will be be postponed. I would say that is the main difference – people don’t plan too far in advance.

“We see the common struggles: the travelling, the fear of somebody getting infected and the lack of staff and materials, and there is an unpredictable amount of no shows. We have had some shows that were postponed several times and even changed the promoter and the venue, but everybody still shows up. And then we have shows where we sold out 4,000 tickets and 3,000 people show up. We’ve tried to figure out are they all positive? Did they forget they have tickets? Have they stopped following the postponements and rescheduling and just given up?

“That is something that we have to deal with at the moment but nevertheless, the bottom line is that I am super-happy and excited that I can tell you some stories because, if we would have spoken two years ago, I wouldn’t have many stories to tell.”

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Verti Music Hall booking director Paul Cheetham is leaving his role at the Berlin venue, effective 14 August.

Cheetham has served as the booking director at Verti Music Hall since its inception in 2018, joining the AEG team the year before. Cheetham was among those to attend the opening of the 4,350-capacity venue, which is adjacent to AEG’s Mercedes-Benz Arena (17,000-cap.) in Berlin’s city centre.

“The Anschutz Entertainment Group would like to thank Paul Cheetham for his great commitment and his successful work in recent years as the person responsible for booking the Verti Music Hall,” comments Uwe Frommhold, vice president and COO of AEG Germany.

“Paul was an important part of the team at the opening of the Verti Music Hall in October 2018 and the establishment of the new venue in the Berlin event market”

“Paul was an important part of the team at the opening of the Verti Music Hall in October 2018 and the establishment of the new venue in the Berlin event market. We wish him all the best for his future career.”

Before joining AEG, Cheetham – who has over 20 years experience in the live industry – was managing director for Heartburst Management, where he was involved in staging industry events Popkomm, Berlin Music Week and Reeperbahn Festival.

Previously, he worked for Mean Fiddler (now Festival Republic) and Live Nation Scandinavia in Finland.

According to Stadionwelt, AEG event manger Markus Jentsch will temporarily take over booking for the Verti Music Hall.

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Verti Music Hall, the 4,350-capacity venue at AEG’s Mercedes-Platz in Berlin, has appointed its first general manager, 18 months after opening.

Dirk Dreyer joins AEG as Verti Music Hall GM, reporting to Uwe Frommhold, VP and COO of AEG Germany, and working alongside Michael Hapka, VP and managing director of AEG Operations Berlin. Prior to joining the Verti team, Dreyer was managing director of the 25Hours Hotel Bikini Berlin.

“The Verti Music Hall has had an extremely successful first 18 months. Nevertheless, we have recognised that in order to further establish the Verti Music Hall in the venue market, we need to employ a general manager,” explains Frommhold.

“It feels a bit like coming home”

“Due to the current governmental ban of events, Dirk Dreyer will be joining us under the most challenging of circumstances; however, we are convinced that his presence will notably impact the Verti Music Hall in the future.”

Before moving into the hotel sector, Dreyer had a long career in the music industry, working at Sony Music, EMI and management company 313 Music, among others.

He comments: “I am really looking forward to this new challenge. As I have spent some years working in the music business previously, it feels a bit like coming home. With the Verti Music Hall, Berlin has gained a great venue with the best sound in town; this makes me even more proud to be the general manager for such a premium product.”

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AEG’s Country to Country (C2C) festival is returning in 2020 for the eighth edition of its flagship London event, alongside repeat editions in Ireland, Scotland, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia.

Luke Combs, Darius Rucker and Eric Church will headline C2C’s European festivals, alongside acts including the Cadillac Three, Tanya Tucker, Charles Esten, Brett Young and Old Dominion.

International touring series Introducing Nashville will be present at C2C for the first time this year, with acoustic performances from Abby Anderson, Eric Paslay and Tenille Townes.

C2C 2020 will take place from 13 to 15 March in London’s 20,000-capacity O2 Arena, which yesterday (22 October) celebrated reaching 25 million ticket sales. Simultaneous events will take place at Ireland’s 3Arena Dublin (13,000-cap.), promoted by MCD Productions, and the SSE Hydro (13,000-cap.) in Glasgow, Scotland, promoted by DF Concerts.

The country music festival is also returning to Afas Live Amsterdam (6,000-cap.) and AEG’s Verti Music Hall (4,350-cap.) in Berlin, following successful first outings last year. Greenhouse Talent will co-promote C2C Amsterdam, which takes place from 7 to 8 March, with Semmel Concerts taking charge of the Berlin edition on 6 to 8 March.

“C2C Festival 2020 continues to build on the massive success of Country to Country in the UK and across Europe”

“I am so proud to be part of the C2C family,” said Bob Harris OBE, the main stage host of the London event, at C2C’s line-up launch party at Country Music Week, which began on Monday.

“I can’t wait to listen to the best music in the world, enjoy the fantastic atmosphere of the main auditorium, catch the excitement of the pop-up stages and meet the incredible Country fans that make C2C so special.”

Chris York, C2C Festival promoter for SJM Concerts comments: “C2C Festival 2020 continues to build on the massive success of Country to Country in the UK and across Europe. We look forward to seeing all you passionate country fans in March once again.”

Tickets for all C2C’s European events go on sale on Friday 1 November at 10 a.m. (GMT).

More information about C2C Australia, which also returns for its second year in 2020, will be available at a later date. The Australian version of the event, promoted by AEG Presents and TEG Live, takes place in Sydney and Brisbane with a different line-up to other C2C events.

Read more about country music’s rise to global fame here.

https://www.iqmagazine.com/2019/03/country-music-conquered-world/#.XbAyaJNKii4

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Yamaha Corporation has reproduced the voice of legendary Japanese vocalist Hibari Misora, through its trademarked Vocaloid:AI singing synthesis technology.

The public debut of the technology took place on the television programme Bringing Hibari Misora Back with AI, broadcast in Japan on 29 September by the NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation).

The NHK-led project used Yamaha’s technology to present a live performance of a new song by Misora, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of her death. A high-definition, 3D video reproduced the singer’s likeness for the rendition.

Vocaloid:AI is an adaptation of Yamaha’s original Vocaloid, released in 2003. The new version uses artificial intelligence to improve the reproduction of tonal changes, taking recordings of artists’ songs and speech as machine learning data.

“This new evolution of singing synthesis technology has illuminated new possibilities in music”

“We believe it was the Yamaha technologies and sensibilities cultivated over 130 years of developing and producing musical instruments and audio equipment which enabled us to successfully capture the essence of her singing,” comments Koichi Morita, general manager of the research and development division of Yamaha Corporation’s technology unit.

“Our cooperation in this project with this new evolution of singing synthesis technology has illuminated new possibilities in music by transcending the barriers of time to dazzle listeners with incredible singing.”

Vocaloids, or singing synthesisers, are being used increasingly across the entertainment industry. Hatsune Miku, a Japanese vocaloid embodied by a hologram of a 16-year-old girl, has sold out venues across the United States and is embarking on a 2020 European tour, playing shows at the O2 Academy Brixton (5,000-cap.) in London, La Villette (6,000-cap.) in Paris, Berlin’s Verti Music Hall (4,350-cap.), the Sant Jordi Club (4,620-cap.) in Spain and Amsterdam’s 17,000-capacity Ziggo Dome.

Artificial intelligence has also been used to recreate living celebrities, with “digital twins” being produced for Chinese girl group SNH48 and celebrity television hosts.

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