APRIL | COVER FEATURE
H
arvey Goldsmith CBE is one of
the most legendary names in
the music industry. He toured
with the Rolling Stones, organised
Live Aid alongside Bob Geldof,
and is currently at the forefront
of the experiential world with his
new agency Nvisible. Access sat
down with Goldsmith at the Event
Production Awards in February to
hear same tales from his long career,
and what direction the industry is
heading in.
Goldsmith at Actavo’s stand during the Event Production Show 2019
In the recent Queen film, Bohemian
Rhapsody, Live Aid takes centre
stage. Did the film bring back
memories for you?
I’m gobsmacked at how well
Bohemian Rhapsody has done. It’s the
highest grossing music biopic ever,
and that’s extraordinary. Freddie
Mercury was one of our most
treasured talents, but Queen really
appeared at the event by accident.
We held a big press conference in
Wembley stadium, and the amount of
media in attendance was crazy. Bob
Geldof got up to announce which acts
were playing and rattled off every act
you’ve ever heard of, including Queen
– who knew nothing about this
whatsoever, and were touring in New
Zealand at the time.
I kept kicking Bob under the table
every time he announced a new
act, and Queen’s manager called
afterwards and said: “People are
talking about us being involved in a
new gig! What are you talking about?
We’re on tour!”. “But,” he said, “now
we’ve been announced I guess we
don’t have a choice!”.
I deliberately chose the time slot for
Queen when programming the sets,
as I just knew they’d rev the audience
up. On the night, I remember Freddie
was really pumping himself up
backstage to let rip and they just tore
the place apart. The rest is legend, and
we got £800m at the box office.
How did the event come about?
30
When Bob came to see me, I
was certainly aware of what was
going on in Africa. The surplus food
we produced just down the road
contrasted with the pictures on the
television showing all these people
starving. These were truly horrific
scenes, but when Bob went to Africa
he realised that it was just the tip of
the iceberg.
It was a weird time. I’d just
overseen Bruce Springsteen at
Wembley and was managing Roger
Waters’s solo album, which we were
launching in New York. After that I
was on my way to meet Wham! And,
frankly, when this opportunity came
to me I couldn’t wrap my head around
it. But the day after I got home, Bob
was there and he said: “We’ve got to
do this”, and the journey began.
How hard was the event,
logistically?
I insisted we had a clean stage at
all times. We set up three stages on a
turntable, with one band in the front
ready to go, and one ready to go off, so
we kept it continuous. We were very
conscious of keeping the right timing.
I spent most of my time saying: “I
don’t care when a band goes on, but I
care when they go off”. I even wore a
huge clock around my neck all day to
remind people of time. If a band went
on too late it was out of their time.
I spent my whole time on and
around the stage managing really,
really tight changeovers. We had a lot
of crew on stage who were all geared
up for it. They did a tremendous job.
Which other events do you reflect
on especially fondly?
The biggest concert I did was The
Wall in Berlin. 400,000 turned up for
that. Most big open air shows aren’t
so much about the music, they’re
about the largesse of the event and
people gathering together, but the
one that stands out as being all about
the music was the Bob Dylan and Eric
Clapton show at Blackbushe in 1978
for 175,000 people. It was an amazing
event!
Which events do you look back on
and cringe?
One stand out gig that could have
been a disaster was a Pavarotti
concert. The night before the event,
the police were concerned people
wouldn’t have enough water for the
heat, but it started raining and didn’t
stop until the next morning. The
concert went ahead, regardless, and
it was a great classical concert with a
96 piece orchestra – who were under
cover – but when Princess Diana
decided to get rid of her flunkies with
umbrellas, the whole concert really
took off and it was extraordinary.
Another experience I look back on
and cringe over was when I ran