PRODUCTION PROFILE: Vevo Halloween
VEVO HALLOWEEN WITH THE UK BECOMING MORE AND MORE RECEPTIVE TO THE IDEA OF CELEBRATING HALLOWEEN, VEVO’S ANNUAL EVENT HAS CERTAINLY STRUCK WHILE THE IRON IS HOT. TPi’S STE DURHAM BRAVED THE DARK CORRIDORS (AND SCARY CLOWNS) OF MANCHESTER’S VICTORIA WAREHOUSE TO CATCH A GLIMPSE OF THIS AMBITIOUS AND MULTI-FACETED PRODUCTION. Despite 2015 marking only the third Vevo annual event, the team behind the scenes let their imaginations run wild, striving for bigger, better, and more terrifying than ever before. The concept was to convert Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse, in all its imposing, industrial glory, into a macabre circus. This included a bespoke interactive ‘scare-maze’ for attendees to confront and a line-up featuring some of the most soughtafter names in pop. VP of Content and Programming, UK and International at Vevo, Tom Connaughton, said: “We want to make sure that as a music company, we don’t get stuck in London, there are so many great music cities across the UK, we wanted to bring a special event like this to music fans outside of London, so we chose Manchester and the Victoria Warehouse.” A total of five acts graced the stage in Manchester - Years & Years, Little Simz, Wolf 38
Alice, Nothing But Thieves, and the ubiquitous James Bay. Connaughton, who heads up the content and programming team, continued: “It was all born out of a programme we have called LIFT, which creates exposure for emerging artists. We didn’t have an event for the programme in its first year, but we felt like having a live focus would be the perfect complement to our work with these artists. We have worked with some amazing acts, and to culminate in a big live event for music fans seemed like a great fit for LIFT.” The following year, Vevo staged its first event at the 1,000-capacity Oval Space in London featuring Bastille, Lorde, John Newman, Iggy Azalea, and Nina Nesbitt. The team chose Halloween as it was during the school half term break in the UK, and clearly a night growing in popularity with the UK’s youth. Connaughton commented: “This year there
will be more tickets sold for Halloween events than New Year’s Eve events. The audience is all up for wearing costumes and having a really fun night, so it’s a great atmosphere.” This year, the production design channeled a great deal of effort, creating bespoke looks for each artist, while ensuring that the staging, lighting and sound is of the highest standards. “When they walk off a Vevo stage, we want to ensure that they feel happy with the show, from the staging to sound, it’s important they trust us to put on a great live experience for their fans. Media owners sometimes get it wrong but we’re fortunate to have a fantastic team here,” Connaughton said. “It’s quite exciting that after 10 months of intensive planning it comes down to one week where we have to execute it all correctly.” This ethos of pushing the production envelope has been instilled in the team by Events Production Manager for Vevo, Ed Walker, who