Tuesday 27 March 2012

Snow Patrol - Sheffield Tuesday 7th February 2012


INTRO


This entry is part of my 1st year assignment for the module Arts and Entertainment, where we had to be a little more creative than a standard essay or report format and therefore it’s content with appropriate references is in accordance with university plagiarism policy, please if you intend to reproduce any of the following content, adhere to the strict guidelines and correctly cite where you found the information.


I will be looking at the relationships between venue and event alongside the selected artist and the audience profile of the event I have attended within recent months, relating relevant theory to link each together coherently in order to understand why they need to fit together for the event to succeed. I also obtained via a friend who attended the event and also my sister who went with her husband which I had no idea of till after the event itself, their views and opinions of the venue and the event.


THE VENUE –  does it add value to an event and enhance the experience for the attendee?






Ransley and Ingram (2000) acknowledge that mangers of facilities are not just responsible for the unit operations, but also for formulating a strategy that will develop the property to reflect both the needs of customers and the demands of the owners. Sheffield Motorpoint Arena is operated by Sheffield International Venues (SIV) which is one of the largest companies in North of England. It is managed by one of the world’s largest live music companies Live Nation on their behalf. Opened on 30th May 1991 by HRH The Queen, cost £34 million pounds to construct was done to host the World Student Games and since gone onto hosting concerts of all genres, theatre style shows like Riverdance and Les Miserable two big productions in the late 90’s, ice shows of which Disney on Ice is held here annually, ice hockey in turn is now home to the Sheffield Steelers team, sport, exhibitions and conferences.
This venue is versatile to be able to be adapted dependant on the type of event held here. An event manager should exploit this to its potential in order to enhance the event experience for the attendees. The arena has the capacity to hold up to 13,500 people seated and stood in a variety of designs of staging with the lowest capacity being 3000 people in the venue for an event.
The venue is conveniently located near to local transportation links the tram to and from the city centre and within a 30 minute walking distance of a train/bus station interchange. There is car parking available on the site but this can create congestion when everyone leaves the venue after the event.




THE EVENT - Snow Patrol “Fallen Empires” tour.


Tuesday 7th February 2012.
This wasn’t the first time I was seeing the band and I knew what to expect from them and in my mind I already knew that they wouldn’t disappoint.
It was a rather cold evening with temperatures plummeting below freezing at times, doors opened at 1830 hours I had come straight from university to the venue than travel home first, so I was stood outside for 45 minutes, the coldness really didn’t help and all I wanted to do was get inside the venue to warm up. There was only one support act on at tonight’s show called Everything, Everything, who are a quintet and dressed in what resembles RAF jumpsuits, they came on stage at 1945-2030 hours and played 6 songs and though I was quite close to the barrier in front of the stage a prime area for any attendee, as it makes you feel that little bit closer to the artist. I couldn’t make out half the words of the songs they sung nor did they introduce the songs singing, which if a relatively new band which I think perhaps they were to help engage the audience better could have introduced what they were playing. Though they seemingly had some energy or at least the main singer did it wasn’t holding the audience’s attention and many people were just waiting for Snow Patrol to come on stage.
Between Everything Everything leaving the stage and Snow Patrol coming on the stage had to be cleared of the support acts stuff and a total of 8 technicians were on stage methodically clearing and tidying and making things secure if needed to be left on stage, 6 of the technicians had the task of hand rolling the stage banner that was on rigging belonging to Everything Everything.
Snow Patrol opened with this track at 9pm as you can tell this helps amplify the atmosphere of the audience to be welcoming of the band when they appeared on the stage, this was recorded on my iPhone:

 and thus this shows audience and atmosphere became rather unique and enjoyable from the very start of their performance that evening. One of the many things Snow Patrol do is engage with their fans and make them a part of each show by using a camera to record the audience and then automatically projecting this image onto the main screen on the stage behind the band, this combination of footage and camera angling and work undoubtedly enhances the emotions and expectations of anyone attending, some people were deliberately trying the hardest at every opportunity to be captured by the camera man operating the small camcorder device which swung over everyone, to folks that were just caught in the moment. The band played a total of 15 songs with 3 in the encore ranging between old material and songs from their new album “Fallen Empires” Gary Lightbody the singer of the band enjoys having a chat with the audience and can be visible moved by the audiences responses to the songs the all-time favourites of everyone which the audience start singing above Gary is of course “Chasing Cars” and “Run”.
The band have a rapport with the audience which I have never really truly seen when I have attended other events with other artists, maybe it’s down to the band utilising social media having a Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook account that they actively use themselves to speak to the fans to having an app which allows further integration between fans. This also shows that the audience is a passive and active one, rather than one or the other. A passive audience is one that’s highly engaged, loyal but rather spectate than take part, an active audience is those that want to try new and interesting things and join in.


THE AUDIENCE – it’s expectations, emotions!


Audience is a word that has a varied context, Hill et al (1995) states three forms; the audience as ‘arts receptors’; the audience as associates which includes stakeholders present or not and audience as consumers. . It is an interaction between performer and the audience at live events which is quite fascinating development of recent years and one which is continually evolving.
A coin termed by Pine and Gilmore (1999) ‘experience economy’ demonstrates how the changing needs, abilities and expectations of audiences and consumers effect an unprecedented shift towards a creative dialogue between audience members, which are key to an experience within an event through a shared sense of belonging. Any attendance to an event is done through a decision process which can influence the buying process and these vary according to the audience member’s social, personal and psychological need. These are motivations which Maslow (1970) shows with his Theory of Hierarchy and how people with similar motives can be identified and grouped together, an example of a hierarchy within the arts and entertainment sector is shown below:

Self-Actualisation

Aesthetics/Beauty
Transformation
A high transcendence
 


Psychological Need

Unwind/Relax
Escape/Fantasy
Catharsis
 
                                        
Personal Development

Education/Expansion
Nourishment
New Horizons


Social Needs

Interaction/Sharing
Rituals
New Horizons


Stimulation

New Experience
Relief from Routine
Boredom


Thus organisers need to have an understanding of these influencing factors as it affects whether the audience attends or not.
Rutherford-Silvers (2004) states “an event is an experience, carefully crafted to deliver an impact on the person in attendance.” Which is further supported by Bowdin et al (2008) “the event manager must be mindful of the needs of the audience. These include their physical needs, as well as their needs for comfort, safety and security. Over and above these basic requirements is the need to make the event special – to connect to the emotions. A skilled event manager strives to make the event meaningful, magical and memorable. You could sum this up by saying “emotions and expectations run high when celebrations are involved. If your greatest reward isn’t seeing the delight on the faces of your guests and clients at the joy you’ve give them, then it is time to redefine your motivations.”


CONCLUSION – how it all comes together as one!


The venue fitted the event quite well allowing both standing and seated audiences which were able to engage and interact with the show. From the responses I got from my friend and my sister, they were very positive not just about the band themselves, but the venue right down to the customer service levels and security even if my friend commented that maybe a little more security intervention when the mosh pit was formed and a fight broke out between people who weren’t happy as this affected their experience of the event and those people probably left with a underlining negative outcome of an experience that they probably were enjoying after all they paid to attend the event as they wanted to see the band , and in all fairness this I have never known occur at a Snow Patrol show before.
The use of interaction with the audience from the camera footage projected to tweets and tumblr interactions the audiences expectations and experiences are enhanced to engage them on a level that they feel part of the show and interconnected with the band itself, ultimately this is what the audience want and to have this achieved in a short time span is unique and can only allow for future participation to further enhance attendance.


REFERENCES – acknowledging other folks work used!

Bowdin et al, 2008. Events Management. 2nd ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann
Fraser, P; Kerrigan, F and Ozbilgin, M, 2008. Key Issues in Arts Marketing. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann
Hill et al, 1995. Creative Arts Marketing. 2nd ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann
Maslow, A, 1970. Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper and Row

Pine, B.J and Gilmore, J.H; 1999. The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre and Every Business  a Stage. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School
Ransley, J and Ingram, H, 2000. Developing Hospitality Properties Facilities. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann
Rutherford-Silvers, J; 2004. Professional Event Management. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons Inc (US)
Sheffield Motorpoint Arena 
http://www.motorpointarenasheffield.co.uk/home/ last accessed 27th March 2012
Walmsley, B, 2011. Key Issues in the Arts and Entertainment Industry. Oxford: Goodfellows