When the Los Angeles trio Haim depart the stage at London’s All Points East on Monday evening, the top of their headline present will mark the shut of one other busy competition season for Anschutz Entertainment Group, the sports activities and music big behind hundreds of venues, reveals and festivals.
Its promotions division, AEG Presents, has lately placed on Bruce Springsteen, Pet Shop Boys and N-Dubz. Behind these touring reveals, its UK boss Steve Homer is pulling the strings, main a workforce of promoters intent on touchdown the most well liked acts able to raking in large sums, as shoppers brush off inflation-squeezed budgets, with analysis suggesting many are spending greater than they will afford to attend reveals.
Homer has witnessed the development first-hand: “With the big shows, people really want to go and experience these artists and will pay almost whatever it takes … where they can’t afford a holiday, or to refit the kitchen, they want something light in the calendar – the impact of the cost of living crisis is not as dramatic on entertainment as other industries.”
However, he provides: “Some perennial acts that tour more frequently have seen a slight dip as people say: ‘I’ll give it a miss this year.’”
The eye-watering ticket costs for sought-after gigs are fastidiously thought-about, he says, noting that the corporate’s margin is between 5% and 10%. Inflation in every thing from transport to lighting, and venues that now cost an vitality levy have pushed up the cost of staging live shows. Homer says massive acts – from Coldplay to Harry Styles – study one another’s pricing. “Artists always look at comparable prices. No one wants to sit as an outlier – people don’t want to be the most expensive show out there.”
So ought to followers anticipate extra of the dynamic pricing the place ticket costs fluctuate based on demand, akin to the airline business? “In America, it’s far more prevalent. We’re a lot more cautious about adopting it here. No one really says: ‘How much did you pay for your seat?’ when you sit down on a plane, but as you’re sitting in a concert or a theatre it becomes a topic.” AEG used dynamic pricing at Diana Ross’s gigs final 12 months, however is not going to for this October’s reveals on the Royal Albert Hall, Homer says.
The stadium gigs he’s accountable for are a far cry from Homer’s first forays into gig promotion, working for Sheffield University, the place he placed on Blur, Happy Mondays and Nirvana. As a drummer, the enterprising Homer even bought a hurried Dave Grohl a part of his equipment when he returned to the Steel City with Foo Fighters.
These days, artists’ requests can differ from asking the crew to not make eye contact as they walk to the stage, to demanding that every thing in a dressing room – beer bottles included – is black and white. “It’s ludicrous,” Homer laughs. “It may be genuine or they’re just seeing how far you’ll go for them.”
After Sheffield, he joined promoter Mean Fiddler, placing on Eminem’s first UK reveals after which spent 16 years at Ticketmaster proprietor Live Nation, the business’s greatest participant.
Homer hopes to develop AEG Presents to fit in behind his former employer because the second-largest promoter as he rebuilds momentum post-Covid-19. During the pandemic, revenues that had reliably been about £140m a 12 months have been eviscerated. In its final publicly accessible accounts, for lockdown-hit 2021, revenues had begun to get well at £39m and losses have been flat at simply over £4m. The business had anticipated a surge again to gigs post-pandemic that didn’t totally materialise, and he says touring patterns are solely simply returning to regular.
The wider AEG mother or father group takes its identify from its proprietor, Philip Anschutz, referred to as “America’s most reclusive billionaire”. Worth an estimated $10.7bn (£8.5bn), he made his money in oil and railroads earlier than getting into leisure with occasions equivalent to Coachella, North America’s largest annual competition. Homer sees him twice a 12 months, and says the tycoon has a “soft spot” for AEG’s British Summer Time gigs in Hyde Park and reveals on the Eden Project, the Cornish ecological vacationer attraction.
Homer additionally has accountability for a portfolio of non-arena venues, together with Hammersmith Apollo and indigo on the O2 enviornment in London. He presided over the recent reopening of the Halls in Wolverhampton – the place he noticed his first gig (the Clash) within the Seventies – and landed Blur for the relaunch. Two additional openings, in Watford and Olympia, west London, are coming down the observe. Although the “toilet circuit” of small grassroots venues is below risk, Homer says bigger ones between 1,400 and 4,000 capability stay engaging, and there’s a “competitive market” to snap them up.
That competitors stays depleted by the closure of Brixton O2 Academy. The south London venue was shut down after two deaths when ticketless followers tried to drive their method right into a gig by Afrobeats musician Asake final December. Homer’s workforce final week staged the Nigerian artist’s underwhelming return to London, on the O2 enviornment. A video paying tribute to the victims was performed, whereas police canvassed gig-goers as a part of their investigation. “It’s devastating when things like that happen,” says Homer, including that the O2 gig had been “emotional” and that further safety measures had caught some followers with fraudulent tickets.
Meanwhile, the comedy division he launched is quick diversifying. The post-Peter Kay period circuit has comedians filling arenas nationwide, offering regular revenues. It’s not with out threat. Father Ted creator Graham Linehan’s difficulties discovering a venue on the Edinburgh fringe underscore how cancel tradition can hit reside reveals. “It is a bit of a minefield, but we have to be very aware of it [as promoters] and respond to it. You have to take a neutral stance – you can’t alienate people.”
There are additionally AEG’s podcast reside reveals, together with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart’s The Rest Is Politics (from Gary Lineker’s Goalhanger secure) and a Dungeons & Dragons occasion at Wembley Arena. “It sold out in under an hour, absolutely phenomenal. I’ll hold my hands up and say I’ve never played Dungeons & Dragons,” Homer says. So how does he calm down? “I go to quite a few shows, it’s still my hobby. It’s nice to go and not have any responsibility.”
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Age “Fast approaching six zero.”
Family “Two daughters, a wife, two cats and an ex-wife.”
Education “University of Leicester where I got a 2.2 as it was all downhill when I found music.”
Pay Undisclosed. “I think I work hard for what I get.”
Last vacation Cornwall after lockdown.
Best recommendation he’s been given “By my dad, who said get a proper job. And that there is always a deal for every act but the trick is getting them to agree to it.”
Word he overuses “Recently ‘so’ for some strange reason. It drives me mad so it must really annoy people.”
How he relaxes Watching Wolves play soccer “which is not at all relaxing but different”.
