Lars Brandle - Music Journalist Presenter

Time 2020-12-30 09:03:06

Web Name: Lars Brandle - Music Journalist Presenter

WebSite: http://larsbrandle.com

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Live Nation’s Arthur Fogel on U2, David Bowie and the Australian touring landscape November 21, 2019 By Lars Brandle Arthur Fogel is the biggest player in live music who doesn’t sing, dance or strum a guitar.The Canadian-born impresario has been characterised by Bono as “clearly the most important guy in live music.” Madonna called him a promoting “genius.” All with good reason.As Chairman of Global Music and CEO of Global Touring, Live Nation, Fogel guides the concerts giant’s music division in the acquisition of musical shows around the globe. He’s the go-to promoter for the world’s leading acts including U2, Lady Gaga and Madonna, the mastermind behind most of the top-10 biggest box office tours of all time.An inductee into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame, the entrepreneur was the subject of the 2013 film ‘Who The F*** Is Arthur Fogel,’ which documented his move away from the drumkit and into the live scene, through to the Rolling Stones’ ‘Steel Wheels’ tour which revolutionised the global touring business and his mega-tours for the likes of Pink Floyd, David Bowie, The Police and Neil Young and many others.Fogel is currently in Australia for U2’s ‘The Joshua Tree Tour,’ the band’s first visit to these parts since 2010’s 360° stadium jaunt.TIO interviewed the industry legend at the Live Nation Partner Summit last week in Brisbane, where LN’s brand partners gathered at the Fortitude Music Hall.Speakers on the day included Live Nation Australasia CEO Roger Field, artist Mojo Juju, MTV Vice President and head of MTV for Asia-Pacific Simon Bates and Jaddan Comerford, CEO and founder of UNIFIED.Here are some of the highlights of Fogel’s Q A:On U2 taking its ‘Joshua Tree’ tour Down UnderThis region of the world is the most logistically challenging in terms of moving a show. It’s complicated and its expensive but it’s important…the band hasn’t been here for nine years, 14 years to Japan and they’ve never been to South-East Asia in a 40-plus year career.It’s important for artists to properly touch all regions of the world. It’s very easy for people to move on and forget about you if you don’t show them love. That was one of the reasons why it was important to get down here at this time. But it is challenging, there’s no question.David BowieHe was the greatest artist that I ever worked with. One of the greatest ever. He was unbelievably talented, ahead of the curve. Trend setter. If you asked many big-time artists who their influence was, it’s him. He was an incredible live performer and he was a great person. It was quite sad when he passed away, of course, but he did leave us with a great gift. That’s for sure.MadonnaShe is a master of promoting. She’s always had very good instincts of how to be seen and how to make news and how to create a story about herself. That’s served her very well for a long time. She’s a very talented and astute woman, for sure. I’ve worked with her for about 20 years. It’s been quite a remarkable experience.On the growth of LN and the touring industryWhen we formed Live Nation in 2005, there were a number of priorities for us in terms of what kind of company we wanted to shape. One of the top, if not the top item was, global. To build a try global footprint for the company, to expand our touring capability and volume, with artists taking to new places and really expanding the company globally.When I started the global tours on that 1989 Rolling Stones (‘Steel Wheels’) tour, there were maybe 18-20 countries in terms of an itinerary for a tour. Now there are 60-plus. You look at Latin America, Eastern Europe, Middle East, South Africa, South-East Asia. It’s a real place to do shows, to do business.People want to see shows. It is such a driver of our company now, the international segment of what we do. Fortunately we were able to make some serious financial investment to be able to build that footprint and put ourselves in business with some really incredible people.The business of touringThe business itself has exploded in terms of people wanting to go to shows. When I started, touring was about selling records. You toured to sell records. Now it’s gone 180-degrees, where the live part of the business is the driver and the distribution of music is a different subset. It’s about exposure and people knowing your music. The revenue generating is through touring.Lessons to learn from CanadaThe relative smallness of Canada was a huge motivator and driver to build our business outside of Canada. It was not a popular strategy at all. It was very challenging and difficult and everyone wanted us to fail. It was absolutely the right strategy.If I had one observation, I do think the level of competition and fragmentation in the Australian marketplace can very much work against the industry as a whole at times.It’s a 20,000-foot observation of how a relatively small market in terms of population which Australia is, it can be complicated with the number of shows and tours and competition for the dollar. That at times can be very challenging.Australia is a very vibrant marketplace for live entertainment. It’s going to want to continue to grow and flourish if done somewhat carefully.The growth of Asia’s live market and its impact on AustraliaThere’s no question. It all fits together in terms of making things more efficient, cost effective. To borrow a phrase, it’s about giving people what they want. (Music) is such an important aspect in peoples’ lives. Now people all over the world are getting the opportunity to participate.This article originally appeared in The Industry Observer. Filed Under: Music A-ha’s Mags Furuholmen talks ‘Take On Me’ anniversary and the long, long wait between Australian tours October 25, 2019 By Lars Brandle It’s been said, if you can remember the ‘60s, you weren’t there.If you can remember the year 1985, lucky you.Step into the time machine. 1985 was a pivotal one for music. The single most important moment in live music happened in mid-1985, as Bob Geldof’s Live Aid showed the world how the artist community could rally and react to a catastrophe, raise millions and rock you at the same time.As years go, it was a decade at its crossroads. Music was changing. The new wave was gone, the electronic pop sound was done. Stadium rock was about to take charge, with U2, Bon Jovi and Guns N’ Roses ready to rule the next half of the decade.Pop music was a tribal war in 1985. You read ‘Smash Hits’ and ‘Number 1’ imports, magazines that had surprisingly broad appeal which reached into such luminaries as The Smiths, Midnight Oil and Echo and the Bunnymen. If you liked those groups, you hated Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. Duran Duran fans hated Wham. No one really liked Culture Club.Then, in 1985, a-ha came along. Three good looking gents from Oslo, Norway, with exotic names and, according to one of those pop magazines, a passion for climbing trees. No one hated on a-ha.If Frankie Goes to Hollywood was your drug of choice, you’d find space in your world for a-ha. Tears for Fears fanatics (there were some) could secretly dig a-ha.Signed to Warner Bros, a-ha operated in their own lane. Their overnight success with ‘Take On Me’ was at least a year in the making. The song was originally recorded and released in 1984 but failed to bother the charts. A new version was cut and a gamble on an eye-catching new music video paid off, big time.And it continues to.Filmed by British director Steve Barron, weaving pencil-sketch animation with live-action using a technique called rotoscoping, the clip is flying towards one billion hits on YouTube.Only one band from the ’80s has reached the milestone, GNR’s ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine,’ which hit the magic number this month. ‘Take On Me’ has a full 50 percent more views than another iconic video from the era, Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller.’‘Take On Me’ peaked at No. 1 in Australia and remained in the chart for 16 weeks. It went to No. 1 in the United States exactly 34 years ago this week.Since then, it’s had a life all of its own. These days, kids jam to it at school discos. The song featured this week in the U.S. edition of ‘Dancing With the Stars.’“Thirty-five years down the line, even we have to tip our caps and say, ‘you’ve really been a tireless soldier on our behalf,’” says a-ha’s Magne Furuholmen, the keyboardist who gave the world that famous riff.“We probably spent a few years talking it down, trying to get people to focus on new stuff we’re doing. Obviously the video is unique and it has some features that stand up and stand the test of time. At this point, certainly speaking for myself, I’m just surprised and proud that the song has done so well and still finds an audience.”Australian audiences were the first to fall for the charms of a-ha. And they’re arguably the least rewarded for that loyalty.When the group embarks on a tour of Australia and New Zealand early year for a run of arena shows and open-air dates for the A Day On the Green series, it’ll break an agonisingly-long drought. A-ha, comprising singer Morten Harket, Mags and guitarist/chief songwriter Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, last played these parts in 1986, some 34 years ago, when they tore through 14 sold-out concerts. They’ve never visited NZ.“Time flies. You have to put it down to bad management, you have to think,” says Furuholmen with a laugh.“We started out our career on stage in Australia. Perth was our first ever gig as a band. It was a fantastic experience. We always figured we’d be coming back if not every year, at least every two years. Thirty years later you’re shocked to find out its our first time back since then.” View this post on Instagram JUST ANNOUNCED

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