12 MusicWeek 02.08.13 THE BIG INTERVIEW ROB HALLETT & JIM KING, AEG ‘WE DON’T DO THINGS BY HALVES’
AEG won the famously tricky Hyde Park live music tender last November. This summer, the company overcame noise restrictions and even a cancelled headliner to make its first festival at the venue, Barclaycard British Summer Time, a roaring success. What’s next?
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EVENTS BY RHIAN JONES
I
n one month this summer, AEG catered to around one million live music fans in the UK. From June to July, the promoter hosted The
Who stadium tour, Leonard Cohen at The O2, gigs from Rod Stewart and Bon Jovi, Rockness, Capital FM’s Summertime Ball and Alton Towers Live - not to mention the small matter of their debut festival at Hyde Park, the 10-day run of Barclaycard British Summer Time gigs. Headed up by Rob Hallett, AEG Live’s UK arm was founded in 2005 and has now grown to a 35-strong team. Perhaps their biggest challenge to date was winning the Hyde Park tender in November, previously held by fierce rival Live Nation. BBST hosted the likes of The Rolling Stones, Lionel Richie, Jennifer Lopez and Elvis Costello – as well as a raft of the best new acts around – in the landmark London location from July 5-14. However, it wasn’t without its headaches: a
highly intricate off-site exercise was setup by AEG to dodge the sound complaints of past years. Meanwhile, the line-up was only finalised in May,
ABOVE
Getting satisfaction: Rob Hallett in front of the stage at last month’s Barclaycard British Summer Time gigs in Hyde Park
“Up until now outdoor events have been someone sticking up a scaffolding stage in a muddy field - we wanted to enhance that experience and bring it into the 21st century” ROB HALLETT
after which the firm had to cope with a cancelled headline slot from Sir Elton John. Miraculously, it all pretty much went without a
hitch. Time to take a breather? Nope, the company is now working to launch two new events next year – as well as planning on how to make the Hyde Park gigs “bigger and better” in 2014. Here we chat to Hallett and AEG’s event director, Jim King...
What was it that marked you out against your competitors for the Hyde Park tender? Rob Hallett:We re-imagined the park. We came up with a site that no one else thought of - everyone else was tendering for a gig in the park and we had a bigger vision. Up until now outdoor events have been someone sticking up a scaffolding stage in a muddy field surrounded by burger vans. We wanted
to enhance that experience and really bring it into the 21st century. Every experience in life has improved: going to a football match now compared to going to a football match in the ‘80s, going to the cinema, even going to the supermarket. The concert industry has got to catch up. Jim King: Hyde Park has always been a real historic venue and we used that as a showcase opportunity for what AEG stands for: we are entrepreneurial and present artists in a very creative way. In order for people to see that, we were prepared to back it with significant investment and a level of customer service that has not been seen before on outdoor shows. The 02 is famous for it being a great concert experience so it was a case of ‘let’s take that knowledge and experience and put that into an outdoor environment’. Most festivals are still using plastic toilets for God’s sake. We sat down and said, ‘Right, we’re going to solve all of these experiences for everybody - flushable toilets, the production levels’. We went way over the normal delivery point.
Hyde Park has a history of sound problems with complaints from the surrounding community and gigs getting cut off, how did you get around that?
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