Your Shout
“Who was the most surprising person you met at a gig or added to a guest list?”
TOP SHOUT
The most surprising person I added to a guest list was Nelson Mandela for Michael Jackson’s Cape Town History concert in 1997. On his arrival, he received a standing ovation from everyone in the stadium and, at his request, I took him to Michael’s dressing room to pay him a surprise visit. When Michael saw Madiba, he burst into tears and hugged him. Attie van Wyk, Big Concerts International
President Obama turning up in a pair of jeans and sweatshirt to watch Jeff Beck rehearsing. And Bill Gates found wandering around Hyde Park for Live 8.I put him on the side of the stage with Peter Blake who was sketching the artists. Bill Gates couldn’t understand what Peter Blake was doing. Harvey Goldsmith David Zard brought Sophia Loren to the opening night of Notre-Dame de Paris at the Dominion in London. I thought it was a joke when he told me, but I walked round the corner straight into her. Her heels were so high, I was shoulder height. John Giddings, Solo Agency Seeing David Cameron strolling around Cornbury festival site with his family and a couple of very discreet security people while he was still prime minister. Very few people even did a double take and I thought then of the truly heartening difference between this and the entourage and general palaver that would surround a visit by, say, the US president.
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Mind you, if I’d known he was about to unleash Brexit on us, I might have been tempted to have a few strong words with him, accompanied by a knee to the bollocks. Bryan Grant, Britannia Row Eric Clapton appearing and playing at a Sting show in Milan, back in the 80s. And Axel Rose appearing on the Foo Fighters stage at FirenzeRocks in 2019. Both came out of the blue. Roberto De Luca, Live Nation Italy The Crown Prince of Bahrain, at Glasgow Fruitmarket of all places. He is a big Sturgill Simpson fan. Rob Challice, Paradigm I had Space play three Christmas gigs at Liverpool Royal Court, which, in those days, didn’t have a lot of investment and was freezing backstage. A bunch of the (in)famous Liverpool FC Spice Boys came along to the show including Steve McManaman and a hero of mine, Robbie ‘God’ Fowler. I eventually found a reason to say
something to them and invited them to meet the band in the dressing room. The band were delighted to see them and to make the night better, the legendary late promoter rep John McBeath brought some champagne that had been in his freezing office all night. As anyone who has ever opened frozen champagne learns, it does not stop spraying until it’s completely empty. Yep, I soaked ‘God’ and everybody else in the room… skillz! Geoff Meall, Paradigm I was producing a gig at the Bakersfield Civic Auditorium in California in the summer of 1968 and I had a room next to Jim Morrison. We hung out after the show. He was very quiet and introspective and I watched TV with him when others were partying around us. Gary Smith, quarantined entrepreneur C
Lyor Cohen and the entire YouTube Music crew of execs at Bigflo & Oli’s show at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC, in 2019. Jad El Alam, Bleu Citron Production & Tournée The biggest surprise was when I met Frodo from the Lord of the Rings, actor Elijah Wood, at Colours of Ostrava in 2006. He was there with his girlfriend from the band Gogol Bordello who were on the bill. Patrik Kohut, Ostrava Plamanech I had a tiny show in Antwerp with the Pink Slips who were touring with Guns ’N Roses (Pink Slips’ singer is Duff’s daughter), and I was told some crew members would probably show up. While scanning tickets, Duff and Axl Rose appeared – they weren’t on the list, but you can’t really say no, can you? They hung out at the bar all night and looked like they were having a good time. I was a mega GNR fan when I was younger so that’s probably the only time I’ve really been star-struck. Natalia Zabkar, Live Nation Belgium Mine is a story of who didn’t get on the guest list. We had a RedMan & Method Man gig at HMV Forum Kentish Town in 2010. A guest list request came from a PR agency that represented footballers from Chelsea and Arsenal. I replied telling them that being an Arsenal fan it was difficult for me but I would have to decline, as players earning minimum £40k to £50k a week could afford to pay for all the attendees. Marcus Anthony, KSO Entertainment
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