photo credit: patti haskins via photopin cc
What does an arena manager dream about at night? It might involve a talking pink bunny with floppy ears, living under the desk in their office. Perhaps it’s more of a nightmare, where every door of their venue falls off the hinges when they go to open them. A really great dream might involve seeing a photo of their venue on a Venues Today cover showing their arena as presenting the “Top 50 Acts of All Time” – now that sounds like a dream that would make a venue manager happy.
While you might not be able to count on the top 50 acts clamoring to play your venue in a single season, you can get some great insight into the hottest acts and tours just by attending this year’s Arena Management Conference, September 8-10, in Toronto, Canada. If you’re looking for a group of people “in the know” about the top tours and hot new artists to make your venue stand out from the competition – AMC is the place to be. And, one of the “don’t miss” sessions to attend will be Tuesday’s “Promoter & Agent Panel: Hot Acts, Cool Cash.”
We spoke to the session moderator, Dave Brooks, Managing Editor at Venues Today Magazine. He told us what he is looking forward to hearing from the panelists.
“The Promoter and Agent Panel has a long tradition at the Arena Management Conference and top priority this year is to help arenas and buyers get the information they need to book more shows. We’ve asked panelist Adam Kornfeld from Artist Group International to come up with his list of breakout acts for 2014 and we’re going to ask big time buyers like Joe Litvag at AEG Live to provide real-time business analysis of these opportunities. We’ve also narrowed our topic list, which we hope allows us to take a deeper dive on everything from co-promotes to the consolidation of the EDM scene, and we’ll set aside plenty of time for audience participation. And since we’re meeting in Toronto, we’re going to take a little additional time to discuss the changing landscape in Canada and we’re very honored to have speakers like Riley O’Connor with Live Nation Canada and Ron Sakomoto from Gold & Gold Promotions, both legends in their careers several times over. It’s going to be a blast with a few surprises, a couple funny moments and lots of great information to help buildings and buyers book their next sell-out show.”
And then on a fun note, we asked Dave to share his own “5-Act Dream Tour” that he would take on the road into your venues. Here’s what Dave had to say, “If I could book any five acts for a tour, I’d have John Fogerty and Gregg Allman co-headline with Zac Brown Band in the support slot. For openers, I’d go with The Civil Wars and Kip Moore.”
Once we hear from the panelists at AMC, we’ll see how many of Dave’s picks are on their own dream tour list too.
Don’t miss connecting with the session’s star-studded panelists: Adam Kornfeld, Artist Group International; Joe Litvag, AEG Live; Riley O’Connor, Live Nation Canada; Ron Sakomoto, Gold & Gold Productions, as they let you in on their picks for which shows are headed your way, upcoming tours, hottest new artists, what’s selling and what’s not, and how to make your venue stand out from the competition. Register today.
