JIM KING
Forwards
of six days of concerts, and four days of free activities for locals known as In The Neighbourhood. Among the headliners this year are Barry Can’ t Swim, Raye and Chase & Status.
Four years later, King launched another new event, this time in Bristol. The promoter staged the inaugural Forwards festival( cap. 35,000) on 3-4 September 2022, having teamed up with Bristol-based Love Saves The Day festival promoter Team Love to work on the event. It took place on Clifton Downs with a lineup including Charli XCX and The Chemical Brothers.
Last year, Massive Attack played a landmark show there, with the band’ s Act 1.5 event billed as the lowest carbon show of its size ever staged. It saw Ecotricity and the Grid Faeries power the event with a battery that replaced the use of 2,000 litres of diesel, saving 5,340kg of carbon emissions. That battery will be rolled out again at LIDO.
Having built a strong relationship with the local authority and community at Victoria Park, LIDO will feature carefully curated music line-ups alongside community-driven activities during the week.
King says a key focus around the planning and execution of the
“ LIDO WILL BE THE MOST SUSTAINABLE EVENT WE ' VE RUN.”
35,000-capacity LIDO, which is named after Victoria Park’ s historic Lido Field, is sustainability.
“ We want to run the best possible festivals that we can and to do that we start by looking at it through the lens of the artists, the fans, and stakeholders. The local community is one of the most important stakeholders. Back in 2011, there was a lot of resistance from the community to the Hyde Park shows, and a great deal of problems with the licence, which we have turned around since taking it on. I learned in my very early days, with Creamfields, that you must build strong relationships with the community.
“ Sustainability ties in with that focus – if we are more efficient and sustainable in the way we deliver events it means we can build quicker, we create less noise, and we create less impact on the green spaces and the communities around them.
“ When we look at new sustainable event technologies and how we introduce them into our operations it’ s about doing it for the right reason, not because it looks good on the press release but because it benefits fans, artists and the community, and builds a stronger business.
“ LIDO is really the summation of many years of sustainability activity. It has been accelerated by the work we were invited to do with Massive Attack on the ACT 1.5 show. When the artist is driving it, it brings everyone else with them; us as the promoter and the producer, our partners, the local authority and the supply chain. Having the artist as the advocate, with a loud voice, really drives confidence from everyone.
“ LIDO, with the coordination of sustainable technologies that exist and us packaging them up in a way that will deliver, will mean it is the most sustainable event we ' ve ever run, and the most sustainable in the UK of its scale.”
Just the beginning
Despite having already significantly grown the reach of AEG Presents in Europe, King says he and the team are only getting warmed up, and there are plans to not only expand the current shows but to launch new festival brands.
Some 30-years since the newly graduated Jim King dropped his paintbrush and jumped in his car back to Liverpool to begin his first real job in the live music, it’ s apparent he has lost none of his enthusiasm or ambition for the industry.
“ Cream gave me the courage to go for it and be bold, but my time with AEG, has given me the belief that the most ambitious things are possible. I have a great team and unbelievable support from AEG’ s leadership to realise these ambitions,” he says.“ I ' m focussed on building our festival footprint around all music genres and in support of AEG’ s wider European expansion plans.”
WHAT OTHERS SAY...
" Jim- congratulations from your friends at AXS on celebrating 30 incredible years in the entertainment industry, it ' s a pleasure to help honour someone whose creativity and passion for production continue to make events like American Express present BST Hyde Park and All Points East such mainstays of the entertainment calendar. Here’ s to many more years of spectacular events and creative partnership."
AXS UK MD Chris Lipscomb accessaa. co. uk 33