Max SteventonWith BST Hyde Park (cap. 65,000), promoted by AEG Presents, kicking off today (27 June) with Olivia Rodrigo headlining the first of its nine show days, Access All Areas caught up with AEG Presents European Festivals CEO Jim King at the park to discuss the event’s evolution, the focus on sustainability, rise of young headliners, and its close ties to the local community.
Have any of the sustainability practices you trialled at LIDO inspired changes at BST Hyde Park this year?
The inspiration for where LIDO came from was the Act 1.5 event we did with Massive Attack in Bristol.
It started as a Massive Attack headline show, and we were very happy to go on that journey with them. I learnt a great deal from that; we worked with some leading experts. We have done a great deal of work previously with battery power, which we use here. What we saw at Act 1.5 we took into LIDO and then we have taken some of what we did there into BST – we said that it cannot be a full stop, it has to be a comma on the story.
“Before we took it over this was not a popular events space with the local community.”
Some London shows have had a difficult time with the local community this year, how closely do you work with Royal Parks, the council and local community?
There is a number of stakeholders here and Royal Parks is our partner and our landlord of the event. We have a very strong relationship with them. I think we are very in tune with their philosophy, strategy and vision for their open spaces and how they should be managed.
There is also a large number of community associations here, and a residents’ association, which we work very closely with. We have excellent relationships with them. This wasn’t always the case, 15 years ago before we took it over this was not a popular events space with the local community and that has changed dramatically over the last 10 years.
We are proud of the work we have done with Westminster City Council who are the licensing authority for BST. If you look between the council, the Royal Parks and the residents’ associations, the management of that stakeholder group has been one of the key successes.
Could BST grow beyond nine shows, or is this the ideal number for the festival?
Nine is the maximum permitted under the license. I think three weekends is a good run of shows. Past that, it would begin to be difficult to book and maintain the quality of headliners that we have. And I’m pretty tired at the end of three weekends as well..
AEG holds the Hyde Park contract until 2027. What’s your vision for BST beyond that?
We would love to be able to continue this journey of BST Hyde Park for many years to come, ultimately, however, that is not our decision.
“The supply of unbelievable talent I don’t think has ever been stronger.”
Do you have plans to evolve the physical footprint of the festival? Are there new areas of the park you’d like to incorporate?
The space that we are using here is the defined events space at BST Hyde Park and for others events which take place. There is no reason to change that. I think it is designed and designated as the events space for many reasons: its proximity to the transport and the fact it is a large, singular, open space as well. It is a good space to operate in.
Since returning post-Covid, what shifts have you seen in audience behaviour and the demographics at BST?
Those shifts are influenced by the booking policies and headliners in place. The age demographic and break down of fans who come are dictated largely by who is playing.
What we have seen since Covid is a much more plentiful supply of stadium level, contemporary artists. It always amazes me when our industry says, ‘where are our next headliners coming from?’, well they have been here for a long time.
If you look at the vast array of headliners that are playing a huge number of headline shows in London this year, the vast majority of them are under 40 years old. The supply of unbelievable talent I don’t think has ever been stronger.
“London is the most incredible live music city in the world.”
How have ticket sales been this year?
Every show will be sold out. It’s a great testament to the strength of those artists and the support artists who are playing. It is also a testament to the status and importance of London, which for me is the primary live music market in the world – it’s untouched. If you look at the number of tickets that have been sold in the next three weeks around Hyde Park, add on the other festivals that have taken place around London and the number of stadium shows which have taken place, I can’t think of any other city that is anywhere close to having that strength of ticket sales in one city alone. London is the most incredible live music city in the world.