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Money, money, money… As ABBA once said, it’s a rich man’s world. But even after the immense success of the “ABBA Voyage” digital live experience in London, producers say it has yet to recoup the extraordinary investment required to put into the show.
“No, we’re not even broken,” says producer Swana Gisla. “I don’t even know if we’re even halfway there! The audacity of how much this show cost – it was all a little insane. But we’ll get there…”
Held at a purpose-built arena in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the smash hit show welcomed its one millionth visitor in April and 15 months after it first launched, it’s still rocking delightful, sold-out houses every night Its going on. It’s now booked in London until May 2024, and Gisla, fellow producer Ludwig Andersen and director Baillie Walsh hope to extend the stay.
“If we can extend the lease and we’re still selling tickets, hopefully it’ll be like ‘Mamma Mia!’ or longer,” Walsh explains Diversity, “I would be delighted that this will accompany me into my 20th year as an old man, walking with a stick but still enjoying singing to an audience.”
Despite ABBA’s heavy financial investment and the band’s generational fan base, the team states Diversity There is still a huge element of risk involved in launching a show. “I’m so proud of all of us for making it happen,” says Gisla. “Because we could have messed it up and destroyed ABBA’s legacy forever. That was definitely an option!”
“We can still fuck it!” Anderson says. “It’s never too late for a catastrophe…”
However, in their dreams, they have a plan – the three have been quietly considering expanding the show. The possibility of updating the show is being explored, while there have been rumors of possible openings in Las Vegas and elsewhere. Earlier this year, Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge said in his company’s earnings call that “plans are now being developed to take ‘ABBA Voyage’ around the world,” but Anderson says it’s not that easy.
“In the sense of going on the road, it was never an option, because it’s such a big and heavy thing,” he says. “You can’t turn it around. Do what you can, do the same thing elsewhere and we’ve been thinking about it for a long time. There are still options, but nothing is certain. And if that’s North America, Southeast Asia or Australasia, we’ll see — but we’re fully working on it.
Gisla says the cost of the show remains a barrier for many venues. “Everyone’s interested until you put the budget in front of them and say, ‘How about that?’” she laughs. “You can’t go into a theater in Vegas, put some lights on, and have digital ABBA on stage.”
The team states that this expense may prevent most other artists from developing a similar experience. “People are getting in touch, but you have to be a band of a certain stature to be considered,” says Walsh. “Luckily, ABBA are so creatively curious that they wanted to press ahead despite the huge expense. “
“We didn’t really invent anything,” says Anderson. “We just did one thing — and it turned out to be a beautiful thing. But there’s no blueprint that you take and say, ‘Okay, let’s do this with another artist.’ If you think about it that way, my advice would be that it’s a terrible idea.
Gisla says that the members of ABBA often attend shows in secret and are rarely recognised. But despite the success of digital versions of Agnetha Faltskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Bailey Walsh says he can’t see Avatar shows as a rival to traditional touring.
“People will always want to play live,” he says. “We’ve proven that you can get emotion out of an audience with avatars – it’s amazing and amazing. But the live music is never going to stop.”
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Organizers of the Reading and Leeds festivals may have wished they could book some digital avatars to run their famous stages in recent years. After the late exits of Rage Against the Machine, Menskin and Jack Harlow last year, Lewis Capaldi withdraws from the title in 2023 to focus on his mental and physical health, while Trippie Redd pulls out at the last minute due to illness. Have become.
For the second year in a row, Festival Republic managing director Melvyn Benn turned to 1975 – The Red Adairs of Reading and Leeds – as the replacement headliner, and again paid them “huge sums” to appear.
“They wanted to do this out of love for Lewis Capaldi,” explains Ben. Diversity, “it is so nice [Capaldi] Not playing for your health – as much as it is a loss for us, it is the right thing; He should not play until he is well. But there will come a day when he will come back and we cannot wait for that day.
Ben reports that weekend ticket sales this year were slower than last year (which he called the festival’s “best year ever”), but tickets for the event finally sold out on the weekend it was staged. Sold out. But he doesn’t think massive stadium shows during the UK summer with the likes of Blur, Arctic Monkeys, The Weeknd, Harry Styles and many others have had any significant impact on sales.
“It’s challenging in some ways,” he says. “But it doesn’t seem to have had any effect on festival tickets, which is great and confirms how important live music is. Despite all the economic hardships – and it is very difficult for people – people still manage to find the money to go and see live music. It’s an incredible testament to what our industry is all about.”
The 2022 celebration was marred by some trouble at the campsites on Sunday night – which Ben blamed on “copycats” who had seen the Woodstock ’99 documentary, “Trainwreck”, which was a huge hit on Netflix at the time . Campfires were banned the year after, with no major incidents reported.
Reading and Leeds have become a “rite of passage” for British teenagers, with thousands heading straight to the festivals after receiving their GCSE results. Younger audiences have meant that in recent years the events have moved away from their traditional rock-heavy line-ups, although the upper echelons of this year’s bill include guitar-heavy acts such as the Killers, Sam Fender, the Falls and Imagine Dragons (Billie Eilish). Musicians included. She was the only female headliner this year, Ben says she hopes to improve in 2024).
Further changes are going to happen. “There will be a shift next year,” says Ben. “I’m not announcing what it is, but there is a shift in music among young people and the readings/leads will always have to reflect that. And its relevance has to be maintained. Musically, it’s never stood still – and it’s not intended to.”
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Meanwhile, the UK music industry hopes the launch of a new, northern edition of the famed BRIT School will help create the next generation of British festival headliners.
Trade body BPI has had its proposal for a “BRIT School North” in Bradford – which will be the UK’s City of Culture in 2025 – approved by the government and is now working towards a launch in 2026 or 2027. The bid was a collaboration with the three major record companies, as well as the East London Arts and Music (ELAM) School and the London Screen Academy, Universal, Sony and Warner all committing to contribute funding.
Since opening in 1991, the OG Brit school has had a remarkable track record in producing hit artists: the likes of Adele, Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis and Spider-Man actor Tom Holland have all passed through its halls, while A quarter of the Mercury Music Prize of the Year nominees attended school with FREENOW.
And new BPI CEO Joe Twist hopes the northern site will be just as successful as its southern counterpart.
Twist explains, “I have no doubt that we will see some real stars come out of this school, both in the acting field and in the production field.” Diversity, “We need a diverse range of young people in our industry playing a variety of roles.”
Twist says the Bradford school will “place an emphasis on talented young people from under-served backgrounds” and help young people pursue creative arts careers without having to move to London.
“It is an encouraging sign that the government is taking creative arts education more seriously,” she says. “In the world of AI, we are on the cusp of a different kind of industrial revolution and we need people who have the emotional intelligence that you gain through our creative arts.”
Twist began its BPI role in July, joining Uki, the trade body for UK games and interactive entertainment. He’s already been busy meeting people in the UK music business and learning about its many current challenges.
“There are a lot of parallels with the video game industry,” she says. “An exchange of perspectives is always really healthy. It’s challenging – and that’s exactly what I was looking for.
Although one out of every 10 songs streamed globally is by a British artist (according to the British Phonographic Industry), many local authorities are concerned that due to a lack of recent global successes, the music industry may be punching above its weight. The long history of the UK is at risk. But Twist says they are “confident we can maintain our position and do even better.”
“The investment made by artists and labels in the industry is fantastic,” she says. has set — and we’re very well positioned as a sector to help deliver and power that ambition. I am really looking forward to getting into it.
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Elsewhere, another major UK trade body is looking for a new leader following the announcement that UK Music chief executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin will become Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s new director of strategy.
Njoku-Goodwin joined UK Music in 2020 in what seemed like a leftfield appointment for UK Music, having previously worked as a special advisor to the government. But he soon established himself in the music circle and helped the industry come out of the pandemic’s impact. His contribution has been widely praised by bosses at other UK trade bodies including the BPI, AIM, MMF and Ivers Academy.
But the date of his departure has not been announced yet Diversity He understands that it will happen sooner or later, the search for his successor will begin soon.
Source: variety.com
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