When U2 comes to town

It’s incredible to see the media go in to free fall when the U2 show comes to town. As an exercise in how to promote your show no one does it better and no one will ever do it better. It’s close to an invasion, no matter what may be going on in the world they literally command centre stage. U2 is the number one news story. In a day when records, sorry CD sales are at an all time low it’s the only way you can hope to trigger off what meagre sales are out there. Let them know you’re here. And when it comes to record sales even U2 are finding it hard going, the public has not fallen in love with their latest album/ CD. However,  wild horses wouldn’t keep those same people away from the live show.

The band are taking plenty of flack for the carbon emissions from taking this gargantuan beast on the road and you can understand why. Personally though, I believe  The Edge when he says they will offset that carbon footprint in some way. They’d probably already thought about it long before all the knives came out.  Unfortunately at around the same time he bought 156 acres on a cliff in Malibu overlooking the Pacific Ocean to build an eco friendly  home. Well five in fact, his own 10,000 square foot palace and another four to flog. Nice work if you can get it! He does want to make it his main homestead though and having seen the place I think I would too! Needless to say the activists came out in force stating that to build whatever he was building they would need to flatten a part of the cliff to build an access road.

No matter what anyone says about U2, whether it’s the new album, the carbon non friendly size of the tour or anything else for that matter the one thing you can’t ignore is the experience almost every single person who attends the show takes home. For them it’s worth every penny. U2 bring them a happiness that a lot of other bands don’t and for them it’s the best night of their lives. Paul McGuinness  has been quoted as saying they don’t break even until the back end of the US tour so you cannot argue about their desire to give people an experience second to none. The Edge on the edge. Of a cliff.

I don’t think the tour will have a significant effect on their record sales either and I’m sure they know that better than anyone. Their motivation will be their desire (no pun intended) to give something back to the people who have stuck with them forever, it’ll be trying to let them experience something unique, something completely different…….to anything. Add to that the corporate, footballer world flocking to the U2 show as the place to be seen and we have ‘the event’. It’s kinda funny too, what about those who haven’t seen a live show before? Where do they go from here, anything is going to seem sub standard after Claw Wars!

And where do U2 go from here, the return of The Claw? I don’t think so , it won’t be anywhere other than rest for a while and I think we can all allow them that indulgence! But what next, where can you go. Personally I think it’ll be stripped right down and four guys will take their songs to the masses. U2 have reached such a level now that being the ‘hottest ticket’ they could do anything. They’ve earned it. They haven’t earned it because of a gigantic claw and a production of epidemic proportion, they earned it from 30 plus years on the road. They’ve earned it from playing every tiny club that wanted to book them to every fan who wanted to see them. They’ve earned it from signing every autograph for every one of those fans who believed in them enough to give them a chance to do this. And through it all they stuck at it. They posed for every picture with every fan no matter how exhausted they were after giving their all in a performance, and for many years to under a hundred people and not a hundred thousand. They stepped out front to meet and greet the fans for as long as it was safe to do so. They paid their dues, they have earned it.

For me U2, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Bruce or Led Zeppelin don’t have to prove anything to me or anyone else. They earned it, damn right they earned it. It’s called a work ethic and it’s called graft. Blood, sweat and tears. It’s called taking chances and making mistakes and it’s called entertainment. It isn’t about any one tour, it’s about understanding why you came in to this business and giving people something they have earned. The opportunity to take their hard earned cash and spend it how they want to. And if that is on two hours of a thrill of a lifetime who are we to judge?  When entertainers get this big let’s not lose site of the fact that they are still meant to entertain. It’s what they do and it’s what they should always do.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, Risk, Uncategorized, David Bowie, led zeppelin, touring, U2, u2 360 tour

Lessons learned and stories to tell

Seeing the U2 show last week reminded me of how they became as huge as they are. They had a bunch of songs that helped but it was so much more than that. I’m using my blog to blatantly advertise how we’ll be looking at how artists become successful and what they do to get there. They’ll be the website( http://www.insightscollection.com) A new You Tube channel called speakmusic.tv , podcasts on I Tunes . Check out http://www.tincan.tv, http://www.manchesterradioonline,co.uk and keep glued to this. And I don’t have a clue what might happen tomorrow

There’s a lot going on and I’m really lucky to have a team of highly talented people around me to help me with the stuff I’m totally crap at. I just found out I’m shit at a bunch of things but it’s the more technical stuff really thats take me an eternity to get my head round. I love what it can do but I get frustrated at the time it takes to get it right. I’m amazed to watch people do ‘stuff.’ Wow, cool is getting cooler. Wouldn’t it be cooler than the cool of cool if someone invented ‘non nerd voice recognition pro tools.’ Software that you can say ‘Edit the stuff out where I sound a twat’ and it does. Mmmm dangerous though, letting a machine decide your level of incompetence. Anyway I think I know what i’m trying to say. Read on and you all might get a chance.

In fact my techo slow go is why I never became a producer. The band would have written another album before I’d recorded the first. Maybe I’m good at people and not machines? That’s OK. If you get on with a computer and you work well you can’t go grab a beer together after work can you? As it happens I like people, a few have let me down over the years but that happens. You dust yourself down and move on. Another slice of life, a stab at growing up. Shit, I don’t want to do that!

You’re lucky you’re at the end of a computer screen, I’m unbearable right now. I’m so excited about where we’re going with all this, so totally fired up and the people I’m working with all are here for the ride too. They can identify my crap better than I can identify it myself. They’re crap savvy. Position people where they work best and everyone benefits. It’s what motivates us all, we are seeing it all start to take shape.

Interpersonal skills are what got me this far, I think. And if they didn’t then I’m fucked because I’ll have no one to talk to. I even want to teach people about people now. How to work with those you admire and how to tolerate those you don’t. Music schools teach students to be adept at pro tools but that’s no good if you don’t know how to interact with a human being. Who’s going to want to work with anyone who’s a plank?

It’s a bit early so I’m all over the place. I’m currently writing to do lists  but it’s a bit early for that too. I can’t read some of them and I can’t find the others.

And now the sun’s coming up.

Later.

Filed under: About The Engine Room, About Tony Michaelides, Uncategorized, Interpersonal skills, U2

Even better than the real thing

I was just catching up on a few of the reviews and comments from the audience regarding last night’s U2 ‘360 Degree’ show. ( Very close to the temperature, too!)Pretty mixed really, and an amazing amount of people who were seeing them for the first time. For them it was quite an experience and for one person it was their first concert! Where the hell do you go after that. Love them or hate them, whichever way you look at it it has to be the biggest show on earth by a mile.

As it’s all anyone is talking about here in the Tampa Bay area I thought I’d make a start on a series of U2 blogs. I just got a note from my old pal Neil who’s about to step on a plane so no doubt we will end discussing this even more over the coming weeks. (Neilstorey.blogspot.com.) In fact Neil goes back even further than I do with U2…… and that’s nearly 30 years. He was responsible for persuading myself and my then lodger, Mark Radcliffe to drag ourselves out on a  filthy wet saturday night to see them supporting Wah Heat at what was then the Art College in Manchester( was it 1981?) It was soon to become the ‘Poly’ and  where they played several times when I was working with them and where I still hold the record guest list……..106 people when I took most of Granada TV along to see them.

Merely mention U2 to me and so many memories come flooding back. I dread to think of how many shows I did with them in the early 80’s and watched them blossom and flourish until they finally exploded. You can’t ever imagine the belief that band had in themselves from the very beginning. Even now they helped inspire me as much as anyone to write my book.

Last night was special. My friend Darrin who did pretty much everything other than write the damn book, Insights from the Engine Room really wanted to go, I was hot and had been all week so the thought of standing in a field for hours sounded like a lot of work. A 72,000 record breaking audience is pretty smelly in this humidity but I thought I should do the decent thing and see if I could get us some tickets. I sent a note to Paul McGuinness their manager and tickets, backstage passes and hospitality was provided the same as it has every year since they managed to make a living without me. I stood on the mixing desk and watched in amazement. I amazed myself, I should be used to it all by now. Somehow I doubt I ever will be.

I’m still tired as it was one hell of an exhausting but fulfilling night so I’ll get to bed and come back and write some more later. And don’t you dare wake me.

Filed under: About Tony Michaelides, Book Tony Michaelides, 360, 360 degree tour, Mark Radcliffe, Paul McGuinness, Tampa, U2

Stories for boys……U2 early beginnings

Again I apologize for the gaps and infrequent blogging, it will improve but have an excuse as I’m frantically trying to finish the book..Insights from the engine room.. sort out promoting it etc etc

Here’s a snippet..

In 1980 I was working with U2, I’d been taking them in and out of radio stations prior to the release of their first single, ‘11 o’ clock tick tock’ and trying to get them in for interviews wherever I could. They released 3 singles in the six months from May to October and we had been working relentlessly driving up and down the motorways to talk to whoever would have us….and then more of the same upfront of the release of their debut album, ‘Boy.’

You hoped all the hard work would pay off and that opportunities would come your way, you’d take some risks, take a chance on something…..it might go pear shaped but you’d never know if you didn’t give it a go…… It’s the reason you try it in the first place.

If you believe it enough you won’t need convincing and you won’t need to convince others.

November that year was incredible. There were a few of us at Island Records who believed in the band and we were all convinced they could be huge. Rob and Neil in the press department had done an unbelievable job getting journalists along to see them play and were starting to get some really good feedback. All their efforts culminated in an NME (New Musical Express) front cover at the start of the year.

At that time there had still been no significant breakthrough with any national radio or television exposure and we all knew we would struggle to survive on press alone. In order to maintain the great press coverage they (the press) would need to see others pick up on the band……… and to get radio and television interested you needed the press, it was catch 22. We were at the crossroads, something needed to give. We needed to get that break otherwise it would be impossible to keep the momentum going.

I received some amazing news. Tony Hale the Radio One producer who was based in Manchester and therefore a contact of mine, loved the band. Were they available to record a session for the Peter Powell show? WERE THEY AVAILABLE……Damn right they were available! Around the same time, maybe a week or so sooner I got confirmation that Granada TV’s network kids show ‘Get it together’ wanted to book them. I couldn’t believe my luck….all my Christmas’s had come at once. I say luck but in all honesty I had been working hard on the band for most of the year, we all had and felt we deserved this break. This was the most significant result we’d had up until now from national radio and TV in the UK……..now we were really starting to get others to believe in them. At this point we were starting to think, just maybe…..

Filed under: About Tony Michaelides, Journey Through The Past, record companies, Neil Storey, NME, Rob Partridge, U2

Times they are a changin’

Part of me thinks U2 can’t fail, they took chances with Pop and Achtung Baby but not with the same impact as The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree, well not for me anyway. It’s good that they are prepared to do that and probably the only band alive that can but in this day of dismal sales how will their new album perform? ( As I’m writing this I have yet to hear the whole of the album but I’m thinking, from what I have heard there are no real killer singles. So where will the mass radio play occur? It’s something that they are used to getting and it’s been instrumental to their sales.Will they hover around the 2 million sales mark like Bruce? Where will the sales they are used to come from? It’s not like they need the money, but the record label will……..what will they be prepared to spend when their profits are diminishing? How will the expense justify the result?

The bottom line, will it make everyone what they are used to earning from a U2 album? Many, many unanswered questions. Time will tell and it’ll give us a sure fire indication of the times ahead. Once the accountants work out what Bruce and U2 have sold it will tell us a lot. Everyone in the industry will be watching, the goalposts have changed.

And what about the tour, where will touring be when they roll out? The promoters will have forked out a fortune and paid up well in advance I would imagine. With the economy in free fall will people just be able to afford it, no matter how good a show it may be? I doubt if anyone has the answer and they’ll all be watching nervously.

Downsizing ….it has to be the way forward. I don’t think anyone can realistically tour in the way they did either. Touring has to be affordable for all, not least of all the fans. If there are no bums on seats then there’s no point touring at any level………but of course touring will continue and now is the time to protect the endangered species before it’s too late.

Touring has been a very lucrative income stream lately for bands. It’s also money they get to keep when they are at the top end and not in need of tour support…..something the record companies would love to change. If they aren’t making on the record they need to get some return on their investment and that’s why they are exploring other income streams.

There we go again…return on investment. That’s the bottom line, what you get back against what you’ve spent…nothing more nothing less. Nothing to do with the act and building something, allowing them to develop and getting a return on their investment…in time. We used to call it careers but I’m not sure it’s a word the music industry uses anymore. Talk of careers and you’ll get a vacant look. We want it now!

 

Filed under: record companies, Bruce Springsteen, record companies, U2

The Wham Bammy’s

They’re over before they begin……at least if you do what I’ve been doing for the last few years, recording the Grammys. And the nominations aaaaaaaargh. A million blogs, endless questions and most of them pondering the same one, do they mean anything anymore? They could have saved some money for next year’s by recording  U2, Coldplay etc and not even bother having them turn up. Coldplay have become the house band. NASCAR whoops,  sorry NARAS ( Not Actually Relevant Artists Serenading) just adore them. They are safe as houses (personally I don’t have anything against them), yet they do seem to be the foundation for the House of Grammy though. You don’t need to see the nominations in advance nowadays, there is no element of suprise They are the standard bearers and let’s throw in some quirky Brits for good measure and to look cool. The Grammys nowadays looks thrown together, it looks like come the end of the year someone thinks…’ Mmm February’s not far off, pass me a pad, I’ll make some notes.’ It has ceased to be an event anymore, it’s appeal lies in it’s history.

The question everyone has is what relevance do they have today? The mere mention of the word ‘Grammy’ used to make you tingle …the big night, night of a thousand stars but now??? What I did learn was that NARAS has had the same production team for 30 years…and the same director ! Does he have no shame. Why on earth would he want to attach his name to show …well silly question, probably for the pay check and none of the grief, leave that to the organizers. It’s formula with a capital F.

These are the ones who seem to think that Stevie Wonder and The Jonas Brothers are a good fit. What the hell does Myley Circus add to Taylor Swift’s song? After all she wrote it and performs it perfectly well  by herself….. or is it saying let’s be all things to all people. That can be the only explanation for Stevie Wonder and The Jonas Brothers. Next year maybe we’ll have  Lindsay Lohan playing pedal steel guitar with B. B. King., possibly Jay Z and Don Williams. Britney and Obama?The only thing it does is remind me is who she  has for a dad…..Billy Ray who?

The sound was appalling. The jury is out on the U2 song. Was it the sound or the song? Personally I was very grateful for the backdrop displaying the lyrics as I didn’t have had a clue what Bono was prancing and singing about. On first hearing it didn’t do it for me, we’ll see…. maybe it’ll grow. I like the band and when they go away to make a record I expect the first track they showcase to be a killer. They need to sell a lot of records and now isn’t the time. Good luck guys. No doubt they’ll be glancing over their shoulder and seeing how Bruce performs, how many records he sells even after the Superbowl performance fresh in people’s minds. Time will tell us all, it’ll be tough.

Filed under: View from the room, Coldplay, Grammys, Jonas Bros, NARAS, U2

Bruce on the loose

If you’re still running around frantically looking for a last minute Christmas present and you’re a fan of The Boss then I suggest you go check out http://www.foryoubruce.com where there is a great new book out. After my last blog I got a comment about Bruce being the reigning king which prompted me to go and check out the site and I was mightily impressed with what I saw. There are some great words and pics and it reminded me once more of what a unique performer he has been for the last three decades.

Springsteen has done well to hold on to his crown but when you look around it’s not hard to understand why. He’s the real thing, he lives and breathes every minute of every show. What I love about him is that even though he has adoring fans he still plays as though he wants to win over a new crowd. His stamina never falters and he has a unique charisma. Springsteen plays like he is playing just for you. I think he is still the greatest exponent at working a crowd, he pushes each and every button, every time. You certainly know when you’ve been to a Bruce Springsteen concert….

Bruce has sincerity, he’s one of us. He feels for the common man and he cares and although he has amassed a small fortune from his many years at the top he still has an understanding of the world we live in and he prays for things to change. He’s the sort of guy you feel you’d like to get to know, the type you could sit and have a beer with him ……if you had a problem, you could tell him. In fact when I met him briefly after the Talking Heads,U2 show in London in the early 80’s he was lovely, a real gent. I wanted to take him home and sit up all night listening to and discussing records. I wanted to find out all about him.

Indeed long may Bruce Springsteen reign, he’s a hard act to follow. When I saw him earlier this year it was a particularly difficult time for him as he’s lost his long time friend and fellow band member Danny Federici after a long illness. The show was on off for a few days but eventually he played and although a little subdued to begin with he still gave us all a great show….I only wished it could have been at a small, intimate venue not just for me but for him too.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, Bruce Springsteen, Danny Federici, foryoubruce.com, Talking Heads, U2

The shows of old

I don’t miss going to gigs. I spent most of my life there for the best part of 25 years either with bands I was working with or choosing to go and see others in the time I had off. And looking back I saw pretty much everyone I wanted to.

Now here’s the difference…………..I actually saw them, I wasn’t just there. Today you can re mortgage your house and get yourself a ticket somewhere up in the Gods to ‘see’ a band. It’s not the same, something is happening on stage and to prove you haven’t been ripped off they’ll show the performance on a couple of screens in the arena and you can then see it’s the show you paid to see.

I feel very lucky though that everyone who ever meant anything to me I’d seen in a concert hall of less than two thousand. Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, The Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen…the list goes ever on. I saw Bruce earlier this year courtesy of my ex who very kindly bought me a ticket to the Tampa show. A huge amount of money to be seated up several tiers and I couldn’t help been taken back to the Manchester show when he was touring around ‘The River.’ I’d bought the best part of the two front rows of the circle and re sold them to my friends at Granada TV…I knew the ticket agency so I got them to reserve some seats and it just grew and grew and grew!

Needless to say the show was incredible but what made it so good was you could see the energy close up, the sweat on his brow, the facial expressions , the interaction with his band, you could see it all. Sound and vision all rolled in to one…..it felt like he was there performing just for you. Bruce isn’t the only one who misses those days, he’ll still turn up and jam at a small venue with someone he likes, he needs the buzz he gets from seeing the whites of people’s eyes. His show has been tailored for arenas for a couple of decades now because he has become so huge but as used to it as he has become I bet he yearns back to that golden era when performances were so much more intimate. It was so personal.

With bands like REM, U2 it was even better as I watched them grow up playing clubs and performing to a handful of people. While the price of success means a greater demand for more people who want to see you, I can’t help but wonder that for so many concert goers today it’s all they have….stadia tours seem to be the norm.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, View from the room, Bruce Springsteen, led zeppelin, REM, The Pink Floyd, U2

Closing the door but leaving the light on

I have just been reading Neil’s blog about the funeral of our friend Rob Partidge (neilstorey.blogspot.com) and would recommend you do the same. It sounded just like a celebration of his life which we had all hoped for and even though everyone mourned the loss of their dear friend and colleague Rob had clearly given Tina his lovely wife the lowdown on how matters be conducted on the day. It would be an injustice to comment on the events of the day when Neil’s blog says it all….you really had to be there, and sadly I wasn’t. What would anyone have given to see the look on his face as he watched the gathering of the masses….or more to the point what would he have said.

I was pleased to see that U2 , Tom Waits and a multitude of others had made the effort to show how much they loved and respected him. It seemed like every journalist of any note was there too, a symbol of just what an important figure Rob was to all of them, and someone they all knew personally. That’s what made him so very special…you could never call Rob Partidge faceless in the music business, he believed in relationships and he nurtured them with both artists, colleagues and journalists. He encouraged others to do the same, an wonderful mentor to so many. Another legend from the engine room sadly departed, gone but never forgotten.

After reading Neil’s blog I thought of how he must have felt after such an emotional rollercoaster of a day, how so many memories must have come flooding back, those wonderful times at Island Records and when they made the decision to set up on their own. They had done as much as they could at Island and without Chris Blackwell as the figurehead how it wasn’t really Island anymore.I wasn’t there at that time…. I just know I would have been right behind them.

Neil and Rob made a formidable team in their time at Island Records and helped all of us do our jobs. If the acts you are promoting to radio and TV are being written about in the press then your job becomes easier. It’s weird but sometimes people needed to know they wouldn’t be the first to champion a band or artist, don’t ask me why, I never understood that one either! I suppose in commercial radio they needed the comfort factor that if people were paying attention then it might just be a hit. It also made me appreciate doing my own show and being allowed to play exactly what I wanted with no interference from Piccadilly Radio who were brave(or stupid!) enough to let me loose on the airwaves all those years ago.

Every time I write about events back then, whether radio or the record industry in general I keep saying how glorious it was….but it was. It was so exciting, so much fun, something I never want to apologize for. I can understand how and why it has changed but could never argue it was for the better. No way! As was the case with Rob it helped created the people I always want to write about….the legends from the Engine Room.They are immortal.

Filed under: About The Engine Room, Journey Through The Past, Add new tag, Neil Storey, Piccadilly Radio, Rob Partridge, Tom Waits, U2

Close to….The Edge

I was just talking with an old old friend who tracked me down on Facebook….really no one does get out of there alive !! He was asking me if I still lived at The Edge, when in fact I told him I hadn’t even lived in the country for 5 years and The Edge for more than twenty. Still, it remains folklore for The Michaelides clan and a good few more. It was simply a case of…..you had to be there. Before I go any further the name did in fact come from U2’s guitar player although at the time he was fairly unknown. Today you say ‘The Edge’ and people automatically associate it with U2’s guitarist but then the family home was bigger than the band, I think we pulled a bigger crowd! People would always ask me ‘Why did you call your house The Edge?’ They got the answer they deserved…’Well Bono is a pretty stupid name for a house, isn’t it?’

I’d been married to Marie for around 4 or 5 years I think and we’d been living just a few miles away in a great little semi detached house in a suburb of South Manchester called Heald Green, the likes of whom Bono had already frequented. I remember one promotional tour around the ‘Boy’ album in particular when we had done a fairly hectic day of interviews and we arrived back at my house(sorry houses were nameless in the 70’s) around 3am after a miserable drive back from Newcastle. It had been raining all day and when we got in we were completely wired, we’d been talking all the time and sleep was the last thing on our minds. Let’s listen to some music we agreed. I had an enormous record collection but most of it was upstairs and I didn’t want to wake Marie so Bono rummaged through what was in cluttering up the living room. It still looked like a record store, albums leaning against the wall and our brand new Sony Betamax video player racked in and ready to go.

I’d taped a bunch of stuff from the Old Grey Whistle Test as well as all the Fawlty Towers so we were never short on entertainment for whoever might turn up, and even back then they did! Bono had a good look through almost everything and started to read a book I had on Bob Dylan. He was fascinated and spent a good hour buried in it when I turned to him and said ‘Oi, here’s a bloke from round your way you should hear if you already haven’t. I slapped Van Morrison on the turntable, it was Astral Weeks….enough said, who wouldn’t be blown away. It still remains to this day one of the finest records I’ve ever heard.

To be fair to the sprightly young Dubliner I was a little older, he had been brought up on punk and was a big Joy Division fan so obviously there wasn’t much point putting something on he was already familiar with………and anyway my record collection was always going to be better than his!

Filed under: About Tony Michaelides, Journey Through The Past, Astral Weeks, bob dylan, Bono, tony michaelides, U2, Van Morrison