My role
As I was a performer on the night, my main roles included loading the equipment in and out of the venue, filling the fridges with the food and drinks for the rider, and just generally making sure that things were happening on time. Before the gig had started, I helped running the merch stand while people were buying t-shirts.
Atmosphere
During the headline act, the atmosphere was buzzing. The venue was filled out, and all the attention was on the performers. We believe the event succeeded in its ambitions, bringing in around 150 people (Figure 2c). After the gig ended, many people came up and said what a great gig it was. The two support acts worked well and this was considered in the planning stage.
The atmosphere was helped by the gig taking place on St Patrick’s Day. It meant that Brudenell was busier than usual, and they were offering drinks deals. In our planning, we were concerned if this would mean that people were less likely to come out to the gig, but it resulted in improving the gig experience. There was a constant lively atmosphere throughout all sections of the venue for the full duration of the night. This is a good consideration in planning future events.
The stage was decorated with lanterns to enhance the visuals (Figures 2a and 2b) and complement the mood. While this was successful, it could have been even better by adding an additional backdrop, as the wall behind us was black, making it look quite dark on stage.
Although 150 people was a good turnout and the venue felt sufficiently full for the gig, Brudenell’s capacity is 400 people. To further improve the atmosphere for future events, hiring out a smaller venue such as Hyde Park Book Club would mean that it would feel much fuller with the same amount of people.
1c
Box Office
The box office was run by Brudenell themselves, with them taking responsibility for the safekeeping of the cash, ensuring financial security. 123 pre-sale tickets were sold and 15 tickets were sold on the door (Figure 2a). The ticket sales were in line with our expectations.
There were some points in the night when there was a queue to get into the venue itself. To combat this, we could have had a second person running the box office to improve efficiency. However, Brudenell do not allow this and the queue was orderly and did not last long so on balance the staffing levels were right. After tickets were shown, they were stamped on their hand to show they had a ticket (Figure 2c).
The names of the people who had physical tickets were also written down on a list in case the tickets were lost (Figure 2b).
There were 9 people on the cheap list and 10 people on the guest list – friends, family and some winners of the wheel, mentioned in the promotion section below, who were on the cheaplist. This was a comfortable number – offering a few free tickets is usual for an event and we did not have many.
We planned to minimise the number of people on the guest list due to the effect on the profit. The number we chose was right for the event and we will probably use similar proportions in future events.
The Box Office arrangements were professional and efficient. For future events, if given a choice, running the box office ourselves would be a better option financially, but allowing them to run it again maintains professional standards.
Security
There was a strong security presence at both the front door and in front of the venue section (Figure 3b and 3c). They were especially prevalent because it was also St Patrick’s day so it was very busy anyway. They were checking people’s tickets and not allowing drinks in glasses into the venue, as shown in Figure 3c.
There was just one security issue – the door staff had let some people through without a ticket in order to use the bar. Some of them were talking loudly through the opening set, distracting the performers. However, they left shortly afterwards so no action was needed.
The green room was a secure room for the musicians to keep their belongings, at the end of a corridor with a no entry sign- to prevent unauthorised access, and all of the artists were supplied with wristbands, as shown in Figure 3a. However, it was noted that there were no security watching this door to ensure that no one else went into the green room.
The cash was kept secure by the Brudenell staff and was sent to us within 7 working days.
Overall, security worked well and we were pleased that we had chosen a venue which maintains high security standards.
Health and Safety
We received some feedback that the lights were pointing in people’s eyes at some points throughout the event. In future, we can make a greater effort before the gig to work out which lights can shine in people’s eyes and make sure that they are never static in that position.
Another health and safety hazard were cables running across the stairs at the back of the stage. To prevent this from being a trip hazard, the cables were taped down.
There were chairs at the back of the room, reserved for people who couldn’t stand for long periods (4e).
While conducting our risk assessment (4a), we located a hole at the front of the stage that was a concern for risk of injury (Figure 4c). The setup of the stage meant that the monitors were covering these holes, mitigating this risk, as shown in Figure 4d.
We learnt the value of our risk assessment process when planning the event, and also how to learn from unexpected issues such as the lighting.
4a
Production
The sound was particularly good and better than many gigs we have attended. We hired Jo, who has engineered for Romy in the past, and has a great reputation all around Leeds.
Additionally, the lighting enhanced the event (Figure 5c), as we hired a specific lighting engineer for the set. While conducting the risk assessment, we took measurements of the stage so that James was able to create a lighting plot design that he gave to Ciaran the lighting engineer. This had cues for different sections, reflecting moods and scenes throughout the set, reflecting a high level of production.
We noticed that the ceiling rattled very loudly when low notes were played (Figure 5a). It could be heard during the sound checks and the main gig, however Brudenell would have to fix it themselves.
5a
5c
Artist Liaison
In the green room, we filled the fridge with 20 beers and 20 bottles of water for all of the artists (Figure 6b). It appears that this was the right amount as they lasted throughout the entire night.
There were also 5 BLT sandwiches that were bought just for the headline band. However these were not all eaten by the end, which suggests that there could have been a better option for food (Figure 6a).
We provided the backline, transporting it across James’ and Oz’s cars, with all of us helping load into the venue. Artists had access to parking, which was used to load in and out of the venue. (Figure 6e)
As shown in Figures 6c and 6d, the event schedule and wi-fi password were shown very clearly backstage.
Overall, the other performers spoke very positively about the night and felt that timings and directions were very clear.
Stage Management
There was a clearly visible schedule backstage, so everyone was aware of timings of different parts of the night (Figure 7d). The sound check for the headline band overran, however we had one hour extra for contingency in case of this, so it did not cause any delays. All of the changeovers between acts were swift and efficient.
All of the backline was shared between bands with the exception of Lauren Mikki’s guitarist, who brought his own amp. If the same amp was to be used, it would reduce the time of the changeovers and likely improve the on stage visuals.
One issue that we had was that the set was not recorded as Jo said that she didn’t have enough time to set it up. This was inconvenient for us as promoters because it made content creation after the gig more difficult, as camera audio wasn’t high quality. We had also told the other bands that their sets would be recorded and mixed, which we were not able to do because of this. In future, to stop this happening it would help to either add more contingency time or have another conversation with the sound engineer to explain the importance of the recording.
7a
Online Marketing
Online marketing was a key component of our marketing plan.
In the weeks leading up to the gig, the official Brudenell Instagram made a post for the gig, as shown in Figure 8a. This increased the reach from Romy’s audience to the 50,000 people that follow Brudenell’s instagram, which has such a strong reputation for holding high quality artists. The supports all individually made Instagram posts at different points in to expand to everyone’s individual audiences. This meant that the audience spread across fans of jazz, pop and soul.
Also, being featured on Brudenell’s website with a bio, as seen in Figure 8b increased the reach likely to people that are less likely to use Instagram, likely people above the age of 25.
As additional content, Romy posted content relating to the single that was released at the gig, such as acoustic covers and lyric videos to build excitement for both the gig and the single release.
Overall, online marketing was a strong part of our event management and would do the same for future events.
Promotion
Our main target was students, especially from Leeds Conservatoire, but we also promoted it to the wider community.
1 week before the gig, we booked out a table in the cafe bar as a way of advertising the gig (Figure 9c). We borrowed a wheel from the SU and filled it with various prizes, e.g, a free plus 1 or a coffee voucher, which was granted to them on the day of the show. In order to have a spin on the wheel, they had to buy a ticket beforehand. This was very effective as the extra prizes were only available if the ticket was bought there, meaning people would much rather purchase a ticket there as opposed to online, also avoiding the booking fee.
For many, the exclusivity created a sense of urgency of people to buy a ticket on the spot.
Once the posters had been finalised, we got many of them printed off on A4 and A3 paper. Many vintage clothes shops such as Blue Rinse (Figure 9b) and Pop Boutique allow posters to be put up there so there were some on display around Leeds City Centre, as well as around the conservatoire (Figure 9a).
Overall, we believe we managed the promotion aspect effectively for our low budget. If the budget was higher, we could have made use of Meta’s advertising tools and boosted posts on Instagram, expanding the reach to people that are interested in similar events.
Financial Outcomes
As shown in the event settlement in Figure 10a, the total gross revenue generated by ticket sales was £1,188. Our main costs included paying the artists and the venue hire itself, which included security and box office. Total costs were £1,186.58 so the event broke even.
Merchandise was another way that people could support the artists whilst having something physical from the night to remember.
We had boxes of t-shirts, designed by local artist Skyla, for sale for £16 each, making them affordable for the majority of the audience. There were also carabiners sold for £3 and pins sold for £2. We sold 9 pins and 4 carabiners. From the merchandise, we brought in £417.53.
One issue that we ran into was that there were only two sizes for the t-shirts, medium and large, and some people were looking for a size small- so chose not to buy one. In future, we will have a larger range of sizes, to appeal to a wider range of potential customers.
Our main aim was to be able to create a great gig while paying everyone around us fairly, while at least breaking even. Because of the income from merch, we actually did make a profit so we exceeded our financial objectives.
If our aims and objectives were more profit orientated, we could have cut costs with lighting and videographers.
We tracked our income and were always in control of the event costs. This event was a success due to good planning in picking the right venue for the right audience and identifying and learning from a few minor issues that arose during the event itself.
Event Evidence Video
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