GENRE REPORT


LIVE TV


“2020 WAS ONE OF


THE BEST YEARS FOR LIVE MUSIC


PRODUCTION WE'VE HAD IN A VERY


LONG TIME”


SAM BRIDGER, PULSE FILMS


So it’s a surprise to hear Pulse Films executive


producer Sam Bridger say that 2020 was “counter- intuitively, one of the best years for live music production we’ve had in a very long time.” Throughout the pandemic, Pulse has worked with


UK based live streaming specialist Driift, which was set up by artist management firm ATC Management, to produce pay-per-view events specially for audiences stuck at home. The inspiration came early in the pandemic when


artists, at home and without any touring income, took to zoom to play for audiences from their living rooms or even bedrooms. Observing this, Pulse and Driift started to discuss whether there was an opportunity to do something more ambitious. “We talked about how audiences would pay a lot of money to watch a boxing match, so why not an amazing artist filmed with high production values and at a cinematic scale,” says Bridger. That conversation was the genesis of a journey


that led to Pulse and Driift’s first collaboration on a ticketed, live stream event – Laura Marling playing at


Union Chapel, directed by George Testi. She played two live concerts from the venue on 6 June – the first to audiences in the UK and Europe, the second for viewers in North America. Bridger says a lot of thought went into the


Marling concert, particularly about how to create a sense of atmosphere in the absence of an onsite audience. “George (Testi) very quickly discarded the idea of just having Laura on stage – you could place her in the middle of the room, you could also put the camera in places that you could never usually put a camera if the audience was there because you’d be interrupting the audience – so you could get very close to an artist to create a real sense of intimacy." Marling sold a reported 6,500 tickets for the live stream. “That show set a template for what was possible,” says Bridger. Pulse and Driift followed this up with live streams


by Lianne La Havas from the Roundhouse, Gorillaz, and Neil Horan from the Royal Festival Hall. The latter sold a reported 125,000 tickets at £16 each in 151 countries across the globe. Horan eschewed


being filmed on stage, but played in the middle of the Hall and moved around into different areas of the venue – giving a sense of an unfolding event, complete with the jeopardy of a live broadcast, to hold the audience’s attention. Soon after, Believe in Christmas, an online concert


event by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, became the most successful classical music live stream to date, selling more than 70,000 tickets (priced at US$25/£25) to fans in 120 countries. Held at the beautiful Teatro Regio in Parma, northern Italy, Believe in Christmas experimented with lighting, design, movement and costumes. Bridger reckons the pandemic has led to the


creation of a new genre or music production format: “The shows sit somewhere in the space between a live concert, a TV studio performance, and a music video.” Looking ahead, Bridger thinks the high-end livestream format might outlive the pandemic – and prove to be an alternative option for people who are not able to get to a live performance because of geography or cost.


Spring 2021 televisual.com 51


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