this incredible video where she listed all the things she loves about Britain and London. We appreciate it very much.” Sales have been strong across the board, with the Wonder and Williams nights completely sold out, and the indications are that the BST brand is becoming a draw in itself.
“There have been a number of examples with artists who have played Hyde Park before, where playing it again under the British Summer Time banner has led to more ticket sales,” says Homer. “Someone like Eric Clapton or Paul Simon last year achieved greater ticket sales than they had done when they played previously in Hyde Park.
“The brand is one thing, but there’s a trust within the way that it is organised. We see a large number of people return to look for an event of a similar nature in the following year’s programming because they liked the experience.”
Another sell-out originally set to take place under the BST banner was the Neil Young/Bob Dylan headline concert in Hyde Park on July 12. With the concert already announced and tickets put on sale, Young went public with his objection to the involvement of headline sponsor Barclaycard, briefly throwing the gig into doubt. Homer admits to being caught off guard by the dispute. “It was something that obviously wasn’t anticipated because the event and the artwork was all pre-approved by artists and management, or so we’re led to believe when we do these things,” he says. “It took serious protracted negotiations on all sides to get to a resolution, but it was resolved amicably in the end between all parties. “We’d already sold all the tickets so the primary concern was to make sure the event could happen. All other arguments aside, you’ve got a lot of people who have invested a lot of time, energy and money to see this show, so you want to make sure that it happens.”
B
ST Hyde Park was recognised as best in field for customer service and ticketing without barriers – venue/event at the inaugural Outstanding Attitude Awards earlier this year. It was also commended for recent updates to disabled-access provision, which resulted in a 50% increase in accessible ticket sales between 2017 and 2018. The concert series has welcomed a host of music icons since 2013 including The Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, Carole King, Bon Jovi, The Who, Black Sabbath, Roger Waters, Tom Petty and Bruno Mars, and Homer says success begets success. “British Summer Time has made the initial approach a lot easier,” he suggests. “There is a lot more recognition in the artist, manager and agent community about how prestigious and iconic this event can be. Five years ago, artists like Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion would have been resistant to looking at [Hyde Park] as a viable option. These artists never play standing shows, they always play indoors in a completely controlled environment, so we’d have had difficulty persuading them to do it. “Similarly, with the audience, you’re charging premium prices but there is no resistance. There is no getting away that it involves
“We’re aiming for BST to be the best outdoor music event in the UK, if not the world”
DAVE GRINDLE LOUDSOUND
I know what you did last summer: BST 2018 headliners Michael Bublé, Roger Waters and The Cure
28 | MusicWeek 01.07.19
standing in a royal park – 85% of the tickets that we sell are general admission – so a lot of people are buying into an experience that possibly wouldn’t be their first choice. But I think a combination of the quality of the artist and the environment in which they’re playing means they are more keen to go along.” As with APE’s In The Neighbourhood, AEG runs a free midweek programme – Open House – in Hyde Park between the BST weekends. Tickets have sold out for Sigur Ros’ Liminal Soundbath performance on the main Great Oak Stage on July 9. “We’ve strived to get different things in Open House from [body coach] Joe Wicks a couple of years ago to a Major League Baseball event,” says Homer. “We’ve even got Buddhist monks on one of the days and we’re always looking to attract different audiences.” Operations directors Steve Reynolds and Dave Grindle of event production agency Loudsound, which works across both of AEG’s London festivals, give an insight into the scale of the task ahead. “BST is a longer build period than All Points East,” says Grindle. “It’s quite complicated and it’s a lengthy process. We’re aiming for this to be the best outdoor music event in the UK, if not the world, so we look to make changes and improvements year-on-year.” The England football team’s unexpected run to the World Cup semi-finals hovered over last year’s BST. Having resisted calls to show the quarter-final encounter with Sweden, which clashed with the festival’s second day, organisers cancelled the scheduled weekday activities to make way for the semi-final with Croatia. With 30,000 tickets allocated via a ballot, it was the biggest London screening of a football match since 1996. “We had literally just over 48 hours’ notice,” recalls Reynolds. “It was a huge potential risk event for the Royal Parks, reputationally, and for AEG and BST so it was important that it was well thought through and all of the operational parts of that had a solid plan. It was a very busy 48-hour period, but I’m pleased to say that it was delivered successfully and all the agencies were really happy with it.” Is Homer relieved there will be no repeat this summer (with the men’s team, at least)? “In some ways, yeah,” he laughs. “It is great to be involved in something like that, just not every year! But you’ve got Euro 2020 next year...”
musicweek.com
When pigs fl y: Roger Waters’ eye-catching BST 2018 gig
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