30 MusicWeek 06.07.12 PROFILE FLYINGMUSIC
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Business did pick up, however, and soon Thriller
dates established themselves around Europe. In January 2009 Walden and Nicol decided to bite the bullet and launch the show in the West End. It was the right decision. As positive reviews started to mount, ticket sales continued to climb even after the real Michael Jackson announced what would become 50 O2 dates as part of his last ever tour. But, just five months later,
The King Of Pop unexpectedly passed away and, all of a sudden the Flying Music show became a tribute of a completely different kind. “We had two productions
ABOVE Motown’s greatest: The whole cast of Dancing In The Streets fill the stage
“It became a shrine. The public were coming and
laying photos, wreaths, candles and messages at the doorway of the Lyric Theatre.” With the Jackson production still going strong,
Flying Music now looks to the future, as it attempts to revive one of UK music’s most iconic institutions with Top Of The Pops Live. “We’re going to recreate how the whole thing
running on the day he died,” Walden remembers. “We had a show in Manchester and a show in the West End. It was really very difficult for everybody involved. We debated whether we should carry on or cancel but the reaction from the fans was amazing, people were ringing up the box office and saying ‘You have to do the show, it’s a great tribute to him.’ “Ours was the only show featuring his music
anywhere in the world on the day he passed away. It was amazing. We put out a book of condolence at the show and I think we filled something like 24 books.” Nicol remembers the performance itself. “There
were a lot of tears from both the cast and the audience,” he says.
“With Top Of The Pops Live, we’re going to recreate how the whole thing looked when you were sitting in your living room in an evening. We’ll use a strong cast of singers and dancers with a live band and a couple of presenters hosting like Tony Blackburn or Dave Lee Travis did back in the day” DEREK NICOL, FLYING MUSIC
looked when you were sitting in your living room in an evening,” says Nicol. “It’ll have all the ingredients; the chart run down, the iconic music and the various hooks that went with it. “We’re not using original artists but it will use a very strong cast of singers and dancers, a live band
and a couple of presenters hosting like Tony Blackburn or Dave Lee Travis did back in the day.” Of course it will have been no small feat to get a
company as careful as the BBC to do something so unprecedented with Top Of The Pops, a brand as precious as it is powerful. But with 30 years behind it, Flying Music has a track record that shows itself as a firm to be trusted. “I think they were comfortable with the things
we had done with Dancing In The Streets, The Rat Pack and Thriller, the director for which will be directing Top Of The Pops Live,” explains Walden. “They were aware of how we’d created these
shows and taken them from touring productions to the West End. They, like us, feel there’s a future for a live version of Top Of The Pops.” And that’s always been at the centre of Walden
and Nicol’s entrepreneurship – the ability to see the potential future in the past. Taking artists, brands, genres and eras that have had their time, repackaging them and rejuvenating them. The great thing for Flying Music is that the
catalogue corridors of labels and publishers are long, and it has the keys to unlock their continued value. Although it’s not a simple task - Nicol
warns that it’s more complicated than bunging two big names on to the top of a live bill: there has to be an underlying reason behind two stars coming together. But, as long as music continues to soundtrack
people’s lives, Flying Music can look forward - because there will be plenty of fans who want to look back.
PAST MASTERS 10cc AND GREEN DAY SHOWS TAKE FLIGHT THIS YEAR
Flying Music’s future has far more in store than Top Of The Pops Live. Nicol and Walden tell Music Week about more shows and a bigger international presence.
“Our 10cc Live In Concert show is this summer,” says Nicol. “We’ve been working with them for three years. We started playing to reasonable numbers but the second tour built to very, very good business. We just finished a short stint of major concert tours and an Albert Hall show, which did phenomenal business. There are members of the public that are buying into 10cc again and there’s a market for them. Graham
Goldman has a solo album coming out, which he performs as part of the opening to the show before 10cc. “We’ve also licensed
Green Day’s American Idiot show (above) in from the US,” adds Walden. “We’ll be presenting that here and co-producing it with SJM. That opens in October in Southampton and runs for three
months all around the country with a West End transfer planned for next year. “With our September
season of shows we’re also going to be launching our own box office,” Walden reveals. “So whereas today all of our ticket sales are managed by venues or London ticket agents on our behalf, we’re going to launch FlyingMusicBox
Office.com. That’s something new that we’re
going to be developing over the next couple of years so that we can develop a closer relationship with our audience. “And we want to continue to expand the
international side of the business,” he continues. “We’ve taken our shows to over 25 countries all around the world including China and South Africa and Singapore, Europe, Scandinavia and America. “Thriller’s going to be opening in Japan in
September and in Brazil in January. It’ll run for four months in Japan and four or five months in Brazil. Then we’re going to move on to Australia and New Zealand and South East Asia.”
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