JUNE | ME, MYSELF & I
Colin
Chapple
AEG have been touring The Rolling
Stones across the globe since 2013,
it has taken several years to fi nalise
the UK tour which shall see the band
play to their audience across the UK.
With London about to host its first
All Points East, Access talks to AEG
Live’s CEO
All Points East (25 May- 3 June,
Victoria Park) is a game changer
because it has indirectly opened
up two new locations in London.It
means two very well admired and
attended festivals, previously held in
Victoria Park, now have new homes
in Brockwell Park and Gunnersbury.
All Points East is great for local
authorities and stakeholders of
Victoria Park, who went from
having two separate, isolated events
to having one over two weekends,
which means less disruption, just
one build and one take down period.
This also means we can include
local community off erings in the
mid-week.
The model for All Points East ‘s
mid-week is focused on providing an exciting community-minded
programme. We have a few dedicated staff members working year
round to fi nd local catering, retail and entertainment options to
support the event and the community. This ensures the park is
accessible to everyone, because the last thing you want is a festival
with a big shield around it.
Being the size of AEG means we have suffi cient global support
behind us to take a long term view on our events. We’re happy
to invest in staff expertise, providing value for everything from
technology, marketing, data, GDPR regulations and social media
and put in the commitment to local investment. You have to be
careful when planning such an event. Total costs are high, and you
must sell the majority of the tickets or you will be in trouble.
There’s a big change in how the festival market has developed, with
classics like V Festival being rebranded after two decades as the
50
sponsorship dropped off , and
now having to re-establish with a
new identity as RiZE. Elsewhere,
Victorius in Portsmouth has
done amazing things outside
of London, the team there
have grown the festival at a
phenomenal rate.
The ideas surrounding what
defi nes a festival are changing.
Are they synonymous with
camping, or are they about
having multiple stages? It can
depend on how clever you are at
curating the event. Wilderness,
for example, markets its great
food and isn’t ‘headliner driven’.
Field Day is all about the
creativity too, that and the music,
the food and beer.
Reading Festival received
criticism because people have a
certain expectation as to the type
of bands that will play. This year
for their core audience they went
off -piste, but then again it was very much a reaction to what people
are actually listening to. There is massive audience out there for hip-
hop and urban music.
We are a London-centric business so we stick to what we know. We
start with the customer journey, the service and the value at various
price points.
The old saying is location, location, location and its true. When
looking at any site, appropriate transport links must be right.
We have a lot of information and data on customer buying practice,
their demographics, and their favourite acts, but that doesn’t always
necessarily help when putting an event together. We would love to
book a certain line-up, but the reality is you have to work within the
artists’ touring cycle, if they are in Europe at the end of the summer
it won’t help if your event is at the start of the summer.