LABYRINTH trying to hold trucks within Greenwich itself is very challenging if near impossible and that means you must plan the trucking very carefully.
There are highly populated residential areas nearby the venue. What initiatives and processes were put in place to appease the residents?
We began engaging with the residents and all stakeholders 12 month in advance of the shows to make sure they were aware it was happening. There was a nervousness, because it was a different genre from what they ' ve experienced there before. Electronic music can be misconstrued to be louder and more offensive. It meant consistently keeping up that engagement, updating them of any changes, informing them of the production schedule and when we ' re going to be on site, presenting the plan, but also to build excitement and make sure they felt part of it. A lot of the residents were really supportive as were local businesses; many of them thought it was great for Greenwich. That constant engagement was key, not least because residents are more mobilised than ever and, as we saw over the summer, there were some challenges at other shows.
Labyrinth on the Thames was clearly a success, so what ' s the long-term plan? Will Labyrinth return to the venue next year?
There is an aspiration to do more shows there and build on what we achieved and learned there this year. There are often growing pains in year one, and for any historic venue there ' s a nervousness associated with receiving a new event and not yet having seen how it ' s going to be produced, but the feedback has been great from the venue, attendees and the artist. It’ s a very special experience in remarkable surroundings. The artist experience was very high level; it ' s an iconic venue, the sun sets behind the stage, and the VIP bar was in the Painted Hall; which is an absolutely stunning location.
“ WE TRY AND MAKE ALL OUR SHOWS SPECIAL, BUT BEING THERE IN THAT ENVIRONMENT, IT WAS AT THE NEXT LEVEL.”
With the event being built in such a sensitive environment did that impact the selection process when it came to suppliers?
We consider suppliers to be partners because without them there is no show. Particularly, when you have a more complex build and site, it ' s very important to use partners that you know and trust. So, we heavily relied on our existing network of partners.
There are preconceptions that electronic music events are synonymous with drug taking and loud music running late into the night. Do you feel that events such Labyrinth on the Thames, by positioning electronic music in such a remarkable environment and presenting it in a very professional way, are helping to change the public’ s perspective of the genre?
There ' s data suggesting that EDM is going to double in value globally over the next 10 years; it is currently at around
$ 13 billion with festivals and clubs the largest revenue source. Shows such as Labyrinth on the Thames are helping to drive that growth and definitely helping to changing perceptions about the genre. Some of the comments that came back from attendees after the event were remarkable; I ' ve never seen that sort of feedback from shows. One person said it was the best day of their life, which I am more than happy to facilitate. I really do think it was special. We try and make all our shows special, but being there in that environment, it was at the next level. It was great to see that the audience feedback also took the quality of the production into account. Customers are becoming much more educated about what’ s involved in producing events, and broadly their expectations have become higher, so it was heartening to see a lot of comments praising the event on that.
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