Langford says AEG ’ s venues are still seeing a larger than usual number of no shows : “ We are seeing the same trend across the European portfolio – there are still some shows that have a large number of no shows and it appears shows that have been postponed multiple times have a larger volume of no shows than those that haven ’ t been postponed . We are
The crowd watch Blossoms play at
Manchester ’ s AO Arena
also finding a correlation with the ticket price , shows which have a lower ticket price have a larger number of no shows than those with a higher price .”
At ASM Global , which operates 325 venues worldwide including the Bonus Arena Hull ( 3,500 ), Utilita Arena Newcastle ( 11,000 ) and Aberdeen ’ s P & J Live ( 16,000 ), the company spent the pandemic lockdown enhancing facilities at existing venues and focusing on expanding its portfolio .
ASM Global executive VP Europe John Sharkey says it is working alongside AEG Presents to manage the refurbished Wolverhampton Civic Halls and will operate the planned 3,500 capacity Becketwell Arena in Derby .
He says business at the company ’ s
UK venues has bounced back strongly since the reopening but some events are more vulnerable to faltering consumer confidence than others : “ It depends on the circumstances not least whether there is a lot of rescheduled events backed up to take place in a short period of time , and also the genre of the event . The older generation is proving more resistant to returning .”
Green matters Langford is chair of LIVE Green , an offshoot of LIVE focused on driving environmental progress in the live events industry . All 13 association members of LIVE have committed to its Beyond Zero Declaration , to deliver measurable and targeted action on climate change , with the aim of reaching net zero emissions across the sector by 2030 . Among the services it provides are a free-toaccess resource hub and industrywide measurement of CO2 emissions .
Langford says the most important step toward the Beyond Zero Declaration ’ s goal for arena operators is addressing energy consumption and supply : “ The simplest and most prescient thing to do is all about energy supply , arenas are big buildings that consume vast amounts of energy both when they are dark but obviously when there is a show in .
“ The key thing is measuring and monitoring , and making every effort possible to reduce their consumption of energy first and foremost . It ’ s blindingly obvious but everybody should be running on renewables . “ If we take The O2 arena for example , its carbon emissions have been reduced by 80 % in the last 10 years simply by following the simple steps of measuring , reducing and moving to renewables .”
Once completed , OVG ’ s Co-op
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