Evaluation
Overall our event ran smoothly, starting on time at 7pm on the 19th February 2026, with music ending at 10pm and audience gone by 10.30. We had lots of positive feedback and the artists were happy throughout the night.
Event Evidence Video
Event Atmosphere
A very important thing to me for this gig was ensuring that guests felt engaged and comfortable, allowing them to feel close to the artists and the promoters. We achieved this in multiple ways, the most effective was having the artists mingle with the crowd as a friendly face, eliminating any disconnect between artist and guest. I sat by the door at a table as people walked into the venue space, handing out ear protection to anyone who didn’t already have them, as well as stickers from TONII, the headliner. I got to say hi to most people walking in, immediately showcasing a care for their safety at the event. I believe this made everyone relaxed enough to let loose and have a good time.
The main atmospheric element we wanted to produce was the allowance of the audience to dance throughout. To achieve this, we hired volunteer dancers for each act to dance in front of and behind the acts in elaborate outfits, inviting the audience to dance along with them, which worked exceptionally.
Box Office
Tommy Handley agreed to sit on box office for this event, stationed at the top of the stairs, where he clearly explained ticket pricing as well as accounting for any cheap list guests (of which there was only one). He was there from 7pm until 9.30pm, half way through the last act. At that point, everyone who bought a ticket in advance was in the room, and anyone walking in now has already missed a large enough percentage of the show where buying a ticket was not necessary, although we had no more walk ins after that.
Everyone in the gig was marked with a sharpie and an X – very important that it was an X each time to ensure people couldn’t guess the sharpie marking beforehand and do it themselves to sneak in. We used SumUp to collect tickets; originally we were going to use a card reader for payment but the reader malfunctioned before the gig started, so Tommy used his phone to take contactless transactions, as well as accepting cash as long as the guest was aware that change may not be an option.
Security
There were two entrances into the venue space; one from round the back where we loaded and unloaded, and one from the upstairs of the venue where audiences enter. The entrance from the back is very obvious if left open, so to ensure we had everyone come in from the same direction we locked the back door as soon as everything was loaded in, using the front entrance to go in and out after that. We always ensured a member of the group was in the venue at all times before, during and after the gig to make sure no unexpected parties entered. We also had the green room locked during performances to ensure no one could steal anything while it was unattended.
Health and Safety
As mentioned before I was handing out ear protection as guests walked into the main area. Tommy also had some free ear protection at the box office desk that people could hand out. Ear protection was a main priority in terms of safety, along side the safety of the musicians on stage.
The lineup was a mix of live instruments and electronic desks, meaning there was a lot of moving around and a lot of wire organisation, creating trip hazards all over the place. To keep the wires in place we used thick black tape to tape it to the floor, preventing any loose wire tripping someone up. We then assembled all the synths and electronics needed on one desk that could be shifted to the back of the stage for Deff60’s set that doesn’t use the electronics. This organisation meant everything was safely compact and musicians were way more free to move around the stage without danger of tripping. Dancers by the sides of the stage guaranteed that no guests stepped too close to the stage at any time.
Production
In hiring out Book Club we opted for the extra payment to hire out their house sound engineer Tom as he has the most experience with that venue in particular; I recommended him as I have played and been to shows with him at the sound desk and everything has ran smoothly each time, which it did again this time. We had Tom working the sound throughout the night as well as a colleague from Book Club helping with the main lights. We also hired Brandon Hinds (Bundy) to build and set up a projection behind the stage using the in house projector, which reacted and pulsated to the sound on stage. Each set had a different projection behind it, themed around the specific act, adding unique character and visuals to each set.
Artist Liaison
We found the best way to ensure the artists were comfortable and able to play their best was to involve them in every step of our process of arranging the night, making them feel as if they are as responsible as us for creating a good night, as well as eliminating any power differences between promoter and artist, ensuring they have the right to speak up if they are uncomfortable on any part of the arrangement of their set or the night as a whole. This created a great atmosphere between us and the artist. We supplied a kettle, tea bags and water in the green room to make that space in to a break area for them. There was a lot of equipment to store in that room as well, so I went in regularly to organise the space to make sure the artists could relax in a de-cluttered space. I also hired a photographer to shoot the artists and atmosphere during their sets to give to the artists after, which gave artists another reason to perform well.
Stage Management
The stage at Hyde Park Book Club has quite a high incline off the audience floor space, so we used a small step on the side of the stage to move everything and everyone on and off. Matthew Rowell was appointed to help people and equipment on and off stage between each set to further ensure there are no health and safety risks. We also encouraged guests to leave the venue area for a break outside while we set up in-between sets to give the team more space to rearrange everything, as well as hiding the set up process from the audience each time, maintaining the magical atmosphere of the event.
The first two support sets were 30 minutes long with a 15 minute gap to turn around for the next act. For the turnover from ShotbunGullet to Deff60 was rather easy, as we kept the drumkit for deff60 on stage the whole time – there was plenty of space for it in the far right corner of the stage across all 3 acts, which meant we kept it on stage the whole time to avoid spending time taking it off and on again. We re-used the guitar from ShotbunGullet’s set, as well as the amp for Deff60, also eliminating time changing that set up. Everything else that ShotbunGullet had set up was on a table, so we pushed the table to the back with all their equipment covered with a blanket. We took time to ensure all the musicians in Deff60 had enough space to comfortably move around once we did this. Every other part of set up for Deff60 happened relatively quickly – simply a matter of setting up microphones, bass amp and keyboard. We get help for all of this from the in-house sound technician Tom.
Once Deff60 were finished we immediately got to work changing the stage for Tonii’s set, which mostly included getting the Deff60 musicians unplugged and off stage, removing the microphone and keyboard, then pushing the table back to the centre. We managed to fit all of Tonii’s equipment and ShotbunGullet’s equipment on the same table, eliminating any change over of equipment there. The only thing left to do was plug back in. We were very efficient in change over and stage management as everyone had their eye on the stage at all times: we managed to guarantee extra time for the musicians before each set to relax and get in the right headspace for performing.
Online Marketing
Each performer we were working with had their own unique and active presence on Instagram mainly, so we put that platform at the forefront of our online marketing. We first announced the gig through artist TONII’s account on the 8th Jan, followed by posts promoting her single release on the same day as the gig (which in turn promoted our evening). We also announced the gig separately on ShotbunGullet’s home page on the 3rd Feb, and again on Deff60’s page on the same day, in hopes to remind and advertise specifically to their audiences now, not just TONII’s. Each post featured the different personalised flyer we made focusing on each act individually, giving each artists a good sense of importance in the night, highlighting the entire act instead of focusing on just the headliner.
We also pushed artists to release clips of their rehearsal sessions for the gig on social media, of which short stories were released at 6pm in the days coming up the gig at prime social media hours to try and get the most attention online.
Promotional Materials
We made two sets of merch for TONII and ShotbunGullet’s sets, set up on a merch table at the back during the gig that people could buy to remember the night. We also set this stall up multiple times in the two weeks before the gig in Leeds Conservatoire, where we sold merch specifically for the gig, as well as handed out stickers with URL’s printed on that lead to the ticket link for the event. To spread the word even more around Leeds Conservatoire, I hung up a batch of 15 printed posters, which every member of the group matched (tried to match at least, we were limited by printing credit). I also printed 15 more Deff60 posters to hang around the University Of Leeds Union buildings, which attracts a lot of attention from students who may new to this world of local gigs.
Financial Outcomes
We managed to make a total profit of £243.76 after the cost of hiring the venue and POS fees, which was shared equally among the artists and the promotion team (as a group), giving everyone £60.94 each
References
McNamee, S. (2025). Best times to post on social media in the UK (2025). [online] Sprout Social. Available at: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/best-times-to-post-on-social-media-uk/.
