Harvey Goldsmith Blog
5th Feb. 2012.
05.Feb.2012 18:17
5th Feb. 2012
Last Monday my wife and I returned from an amazing holiday in India.
India is the most complex country I have ever been to, yet somehow it seems to work. We visited extraordinary sites and Palaces and stayed in fantastic hotels.
We landed in Delhi and stayed at the incredible Imperial Hotel where we had one of the best meals ever at the Spice Route restaurant.
From Delhi to Agra where the Taj Mahal exceeded everything I have read or seen.
Then to Jaipur and Udaipur in Rajasthan, where each Palace Hotel outdid the next.
We then travelled down to Kerala to Cochin and up a mountain to stay on a Tea Plantation.
From there we went to Hyderabad where we stayed at the Nizam’s Summer Palace. To say it was stunning is an understatement.
Finally we arrived in Mumbai and were royally entertained by Shailendra Singh of Percept Media for the weekend.
There are few words that can describe this remarkable country.
However what astounded me was how many schools and colleges we saw in every city. No wonder India is thriving. The people, however rich or poor were
Immensely proud and had one goal... how to better themselves.
It is a crying shame that we have forgotten this in Europe where we spend more time bickering than getting on with the job.
My experience today at Heathrow trying to get to Los Angeles (see Gripes) personifies the terrible malaise we currently suffer.
5th December.
05.Dec.2011 14:32
I have been very busy over the last few frustrating weeks dealing with Government and local Government “ GREY “ people.
Firstly our fight to get Westminster Council to rethink its ridiculous policy of new parking restrictions after 6.30pm is coming to a head. These are the most difficult financial times that anyone can remember. London’s nightlife with afterhours shopping, restaurants and bars and the best entertainment in the world is under threat. Removing single yellow lines and continuing parking meters until midnight jeopardises the economics of business in London. It will make it much more difficult for customers and workers alike and will ultimately cost everybody more. The reason for this is that Westminster cannot balance its books. So it is yet another tax on people visiting and working in London.
The dogmatic approach of Colin Barrow , the Leader of Westminster Council and his cohort Lee Rowley defies logic. They have put a three line whip on Conservative Councillors in order to drive this madness through.
The overwhelming opposition has been ignored and they won’t allow a Council debate before they institute the new regulations. On average it will now cost over £25 per day more for those who need to park in those restricted areas, if they can find a meter. Mr. Barrow takes pride in boasting that he does not drive his Masserati in London but still maintains an empty parking space. Well it’s time for Mr.Barrow to either rescind or resign. We don’t need arrogant asses running our city. We need politicians who can stimulate business not destroy it.
Secondly our Entertainment license laws need changing as they are too cumbersome and expensive. They need changing NOW.
Thirdly the Entertainment and Sports Industry wants to once and for all stop ticketing for events from being able to be resold at vastly inflated prices. I have been fighting this for years as everyone knows.
It took minutes to pass a law outlawing the resale of tickets for the Olympics, so why not extend those laws to all forms of ticketing. A ticket is a means to enter not a commodity to be traded. We in music agonise over costs to ensure that music fans get the best value to see their heroes. Yet we have a system where thousands of tickets are allowed to be hived off so that they can be resold at inflated prices, often outside the means of fans. Further it is damaging the opportunity for fans to try new artists, the lifeblood of our future, because they simply do not have enough spare cash as they have to pay way over the top to get a ticket for the known artists. We currently cannot prevent tickets being siphoned off for resale.
Last week a cross section of the industry including Artists, Managers, Agents, Promoters and Festival Organisers met with Government to ask for help. Yet still no positive response. All we want is to limit the resale of a ticket to a maximum of 10% by law. This will then enable the industry to police the business properly and with teeth. It is in everyone’s interest to do so, yet Government still does not see it.
Now we have a new madness to contend with... The Bribery Act. It transpires that we can no longer give workers who have looked after us all year a Christmas Box. This is a way of thanking the cleaners, dustmen, postal delivery workers and service people etc. for all their hard work over the year at Christmas time. Why because an act of Law dealing with Bribery for contracts was badly thought out.
I have come to the conclusion that the problem of PC correct UK lies with the Civil Servants who draft these laws for Ministers to enact. These are the real “ Grey People” that run our Country. All they ever do is protect their own backsides without any thought of the knock on effect for the citizens who have to deal with the issues. They do not seem to be answerable to anyone, yet they constantly cause havoc.
It’s time for change not just fiscally. We need to stimulate the Country, not to constantly beat them up.
October 31.
31.Oct.2011 16:02
I have been in computer meltdown.
It started the night before I was departing for a trip to Canada and I was updating my laptop, it suddenly had a ‘heart attack’ and went into blue screen. So I arranged for the office to pick up the laptop so that Alex our IT genius could fix it. I arrived in Canada with only my Blackberry to find that they were suffering from a major breakdown.
This meant for the first time in a long while I could actually concentrate and enjoy the tour.
Jeff Beck is undertaking a cross Canada and Northern California tour, the last with his current line up (Jason Rebello, Rhonda Smith and Narada Michael Walden). I do not think I have ever seen such consistently rave reviews for an artist as Jeff is receiving on tour.
It is quite amazing that you can actually both survive and thrive without technology and the daily torture of dealing with on average, 150 emails.
I saw that a group of wonderful US citizens were commencing a class action suit against Blackberry, no doubt spurred on by one of their wonderful ambulance chasing law firms. I think quite the opposite. Blackberry should be the first to institute a no email day every so often, where one can restore the normality of life for a day.
So Alex fixed my laptop and it was decided to ship it to me so that it would be in Montreal ( where I was stating for 3 days) when I arrived.... Well that was the theory. The Sofitel hotel kindly took up the challenge of trying to get DHL to tell us the whereabouts of my laptop. The online tracking system told us that the package was in Montreal. However that was as far as we could get as there wonderful helpline message service was full ( g-d forbid they would answer the phone!!). Any way the laptop arrived in the hotel 3 days after I had departed. My computer finally arrived back in the UK 7 days later.
The contacts on my Blackberry a have glitch which I , nor Alex can repair. So every time I go to synch my Blackberry blows up. So I took contacts off the synch to update the rest. This weekend I set myself the task of going through 3800 contacts to look for issues. I found, I think, the major problem on Sunday where one contact showed up 14 times in the list. But I have not for some reason been able to delete 13 of them off the Blackberry!!
I think I will go back to Pigeons and Semaphore. Much safer!!
Then Jeff Beck and I took a 4 day trip to LA & Vegas as Jeff was asked to perform with Steven Tyler, Sting, Randy Jackson and Tal Wilkenfeld for second night of the iHeartradio bash in Las Vegas. A lot of fun was had by all and they opened the show with a bang. Then Jeff and I were invited to the Premiere of ‘Iris’ at the Kodak Theatre in LA, which was excellent. Jeff managed to also record a killer version of Like A Rolling Stone with Seal. What a long 4 days!!!
Whilst in LA , Jed Leiber, who owns Nightbird Studios played me a song by Big Mountain called Leap Of Faith. What a fab song. Off Jed went to Hawaii to work with another artist. Suddenly I received a call from Jed telling me the Station Controller for 98.5 FM had heard the track and insisted on playing it. Well suddenly it is being played all over the islands, so we had to hastily arrange to release the song on itunes.
Take a listen it’s going to be a hit.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/leap-of-faith-single/id473383370?utm_source=NightBird+Newsletter&utm_campaign=9a7db5a981-Big_Mountain_Press_Release-10_17_2011&utm_medium=email
Next week Jools Holland is going to receive the Music Industry Trust Award.
Two days later Jeff Beck will receive The Living Legend Award from Classic Rock magazine.
Both well deserved honours.
And now read my gripes on the gripe page.
Harvey
6th September 2011.
06.Sep.2011 18:49
I have not written a blog for ages.
To be honest I became bored with all the moans I wanted to write about.
Its been a great summer and I have had my first long vacation for years.
I have spent my last day soaking up the sun before returning to London… rain, wind and autumn.
I did come back to London at the beginning of August and landed in the middle of the riots. What a horrible mess. Stoked up by horrible chancers, who thought by joining in they could pick up free TV’s etc. What a terrible testament to our society.
The economical situation is bleak. None of our leaders have a clue how to deal with it. The banks seem to be carrying on as normal, screwing their clients with new products that no doubt down the line will have repercussions. It seems that no one has learnt a lesson.
We need to stimulate the juices by encouraging creative people to come up with new ideas and products. We need industries to knuckle down and provide people with products they want at a price they can afford. We need to instil confidence in our children and stimulate them to do better.
We need to look at the tax structure that is far too complicated in the UK. It is not just taxing the so called rich. It is a balance so that everyone pays a fair share and at the top end a stimulus to create more worthwhile jobs.
We do not need an over cumbersome beaurocracy of form stampers.
I am personally sick of filling out forms. I want freedom to run my business without all the busybodies interfering. Yes of course we need to route out those that try and break the system. But currently we are using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
Lets be brave and change the banking system. Lets stop banks creating new ways to hide problems. We need to be more transparent.
It’s the same in the music business. I have been going on for ages about ticketing. The situation is not getting any better and sales are suffering.
We need new people in the business with new ideas.
New talent needs a chance to develop.
We have to stop the greed at the top end and let the money flow to the bottom to help our future.
The education system in the UK is a joke and that is the start point. It is no good having a system that allows the many to have a sparse education without teaching the basics well. The number of young people who are illiterate is alarming.
Jeff beck is playing a show with Steven Tyler and Lady Gaga in Las Vegas on 24th September and then starts a cross Canada Tour on 12th October.
Cirque du Soleil’s Totem returns to the Royal Albert Hall in January and goes on sale next week after a fantastic run this year.
I am giving a speech on 14th September at the Hospital Club for Penfolds titled 'My Vintage Year'. I have chosen 1985, a watershed year for me.
Jools Holland has added Sandie Shaw to a number of dates in addition to Shane MacGowan for his autumn tour.
I am working on a number of big events for next year, which will be announced later.
Lets hope we start the new season with a fresh look.
I hate the way things are at the moment in the world.
Harvey
14th April .
15.Apr.2011 11:23
I am in Denver with Jeff Beck. We finished the Rock ‘n’ Roll Party tour on a high in San Francisco on Saturday. Imelda May and her band backed Jeff for 13 sold out shows across USA with every show being fantastic.
We recorded two extra songs in Austin which will shortly be released. We also played on Jay Leno’s Tonight show and had a lot of fun with guest Gary Busey.
Last night we opened the second leg of the tour with Jeff’s regular band. What a night! Jeff rocked with Rhonda Smith, Jason Rebello and of course Narada Michael Walden. This tour will continue until May 7 ending in Clearwater, Florida. Jeff will return to the best US Festival, The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on April 29.
Life is very busy at the moment. We are preparing for a big fun event at Althorp in July and a Festival in London in September.
As we travel across America the tough times that everyone is facing is becoming more obvious. San Francisco for instance, is full of people begging in the streets. Shops and stores are empty and they all have sales that have been going on for a while. It does seem quite bizarre how long it has taken the US Government to agree a budget.
The weather does not help either. It was snowing most of the way from Salt Lake City to Denver, being pretty cold everywhere.
I am returning to London tonight for a week where the weather has been unseasonably warm.
All very odd.
25th March.
25.Mar.2011 12:37
I am in Washington at the start of the Jeff Beck Rock n Roll Party Tour with Imelda May and her band.
All good so far.
I have a T-Mobile pay as you go phone for USA. My credit ran out so I contacted T- Mobile to load $100 into my phone. I gave them my UK Dollar credit card number and my UK address. I then phoned my bank to be told that T-Mobile had taken the $100. I checked my phone to see if they had credited the money to find they had not. So I phoned T- Mobile to ask for an explanation.
These morons told me that they do not take foreign credit cards.......... I responded that they had taken the money from my account and that I had given them my UK billing address. T-Mobile said they don’t take foreign credit cards!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is this the modern world of madness or what???
Watch this space for more .
Harvey
19 Feb, 2011.
19.Feb.2011 19:28
It’s been a crazy start to the year. On Jan 5th, 'Totem', Cirque du Soleil’s new show opened and has sold so well that tickets for Jan 2012 have just gone on sale.
After the opening of Cirque we had the fantastic Killing Cancer Concert at Hammersmith Apollo. This was such a great success that we doubled our fundraising target. Not only have we raised enough to complete the final year of trials for Pancreatic Cancer but we have enough left to distribute funds to other groups working around the country to continue the amazing work on curing many forms of Cancer. I would like to thank our audience and all the artists and crew for participating.
We then had the replaying of 3 Jools Holland concerts that were postponed last year due to the weather. See 'Shows & Events' and 'Ticketing' for this year’s tour which promises to be really exciting with new guest artists that will be performing with Jools. The show is now on sale.
I then left for Cannes to the annual MIDEM Music Conference. My trip started badly as i missed my train by seconds and arrived 4 minutes late at the dreaded Terminal 5. BA would not let me check in and then told me the good news that my return ticket was invalid!!!!! I managed to get on an Air France flight to Paris with 40 minutes to catch a connection to Cannes. The Air France staff were very helpful (unlike BA) and they whisked me to the right terminal in time for the flight.
MIDEM had less people than last year but everyone said that more business was done. Cannes was buzzing with the news that Warners were up for sale and then came news that EMI had been taken over by Citi Bank. This year is certainly going to be interesting as the major record companies figure out where they sit in the business and how they are going to survive. I met some very interesting new Tech. companies who are figuring out new ways to monetise the business and thus artists earnings.
I also gave a presentation to all the Warners European Licensees who met together for the first time. It’s great to see that under the belly of the gig labels there are still people enthusiastic about breaking new and existing artists in their territories.
Back in London I gave a speech at the All Access Sessions at Olympia. The points I made were about the ridiculous Health and Safety regulations, the inconsistency at the way Local Authorities charge for Licenses and of course the way fans are so badly treated when trying to buy legitimate tickets. The speech seemed to go down well judging by the number of the audience that came to talk to me afterwards.
The next trip was to Dallas for the US SuperBowl. What an amazing Stadium, 103,000 fans all with great views of the field. My company Ignite handle the activation for the NFL games at Wembley, so I was the guest of the NFL. There were many parties on during the run up to the final on Sunday and nearly every record company had artists playing in various venues in Dallas. It’s the most incredibly entertaining weekend and the game itself was very exciting this year.
From Dallas to LA for Grammy Week. Everyone is in town for this and my hotel , The Sunset Marquis, was at the hub. Klaus and his team really know how to look after so many music luminaries at one time. Parties galore and very little sleep was the order of the day.
This year MusiCares (the industry charity) honoured Barbra Streisand and Jeff Beck received a standing ovation for his rendition of 'Come Rain or Come Shine' with LeeAnn Rimes and BB Wynans tearing the room up.
Finally the Grammys took place on Sunday and Jeff won 3 Grammys which made the whole trip worthwhile.
Jeff, his wife Sandra and myself left LA on Monday and just made it to the Brits on Tuesday.
The BRITS were much more fun than the Grammys and were held at The 02 for the first time. The BPI did a great job and kept the British sense of humour going throughout. It was wonderful seeing so many people using boats to start and finish the journey partying all the way!
Next week is going to be another crazy week. On Tuesday we are presenting Bryan Adams, Bond, Katie Melua and Chris Difford for the first time at the Guildhall for a fundraiser for Coram, the children’s Charity. On Wednesday is the leaving party for David Campbell who has just finished as CEO of The 02. Thursday we are presenting the launch of Jeff Beck’s new CD and DVD, “Rock n Roll Party” a tribute to Les Paul at the BME. The CD and DVD are on sale on 21st Feb. and is the show we shot at the Iridium Club in New York last year.
Finally this is my first weekend off and I am relaxing at home.
HG
December 29.
29.Dec.2010 12:18
I am having a break at last. Boxing Day was interesting. Watching the play "When Harvey met Bob" and then the Live Aid documentary brought home some fascinating memories. Difficult to believe that it all happened over 25 years ago.
I cannot believe what a mess the UK is in.
The farce before Christmas withthe weather was appalling. It feels like we are a third World country. We need some strong leadership and it was sorely lacking.
Between the cock up at Heathrow and the train strike where on earth were the Government. Its all very well trying to mitigate the huge losses they inherited but we also need the Government to actually take the lead and run the country.
If anything does happen in the New Year the BAA heads should be sacked and Boris must get a grip with the Unions.
Having costly enquiries is precisely what we dont need. Action is what is required so that this farce is not repeated.
Global warming means extreme of temperatures and that is what is happening. Everyone seems to be aware except those in charge. We are down the drain financially so spending some money on being weather prepared will make little difference to the overall economy. The money wasted on an enquiry will probably go a long way to buying the required equipment.
My year starts on 5th Jan with the new Cirque du Soleil production Totem at the Royal Albert Hall followed by our fundraising events on Jan13 for Killing Cancer and the Coram Trust event at the Guildhall in Feb.
The 3 postponed Jools Holland shows will take place in mid January. Please check your local media for info.
Lets hope 2011 brings some joy to us all.
We need to move forward and break the economy deadlock. This will only work with positive leadership and everyone playing their part.
Happy New Year
Harvey
16th December 2010.
16.Dec.2010 12:10
I have just returned from a fantastic of South America with Jeff Beck.
We finally arrived back on the weekend after 9 flights in 21 days.
I flew back from LA on British Airways, the flight was comfortable, the crew great but the food however was disgusting. Do you think that any of the so called Celebrity Chefs who create the food for the flights has actually ever eaten the meals on a flight?
My first course looked like regurgitated vomit, my main course was indescribable.
When breakfast was served the following morning, is it possible to have anything that doesn’t have half a ton of sugar in it? We landed at Heathrow and my favourite Terminal 5, five minutes early. Of course we could not end up at a gate and were finally parked somewhere closer to Richmond or indeed Paris. We then had to wait 35 minutes because of a new scam that only those working at T5 could cook up, which was that we were not allowed to depart from the plane until the freight had been unloaded. Even our captain was dismayed by this new excuse.
I hope you will have a chance to watch ‘WHEN HARVEY MET BOB’ a TV drama which will be aired in the UK on BBC2 at 9pm on Boxing Day and in the USA on BBC America at 9pm on the 30th December. It is a dramatisation of how Live Aid was put together and the relationship between Bob Geldof and myself. There is a reasonable amount of artistic license in the play but is very enjoyable.
We open the New Year with Cirque Du Soleil’s brand new production of Totem on January 5th and then we go straight into The Killing Cancer Concert on 13th January.
Finally I do hope all those fans who were inconvenienced in Bradfield and Sheffield for Jools will be able to attend his replacement shows in January.
Happy Holidays to all.
Harvey
From Mexico City.
06.Dec.2010 23:31
6 DECEMBER
I am in Mexico City with Jeff Beck.
Its the last show tonight of our S.American run. The response e verywhere has been fantastic. Buenos Aires had the best audience. Whilst in Bogota the audience was very young and unbelievably enthusiastic. Despite having 3 power cuts the show was wild.
We forget how big S. America is. It is the new growth area of the world where everyone has a fever for what is new.
When you consider that we had to postpone two shows with Jools Holland in Bradford and Sheffield because of the weather, or rather because the local authorities could not grit the roads, Everywhere in S.America makes sure that things work, somehow.
The rains in Bogotga were scary, but we still had a show. In Bradford, Jools was there but the venue were scared that the audience would not be able to get to the show.
It does not say much for the UK.It is not as though the weather people weren't aware. They just could not get it together.
Jeff has received more Grammy nominations for his latest album than any other Rock act. Yet in the UK it has gone virtually unnoticed.
We seem to be more concerned about the X factor gang than real artists.. It's very sad !!!
I am being asked to tip the new artists for next year and I am really struggling.
Andrea Bocelli's concerts were brilliant and we look forward to his return after a new album.
I am watching the Ashes... we have to win this round. Thank goodness we have one sport that we can excel in.
I am putting the finishing touches to The Killing Cancer Concert at Hammersmith Apollo on Jan 13. Its going to be a fab. show with some very interesting collaborations.
If you can get a ticket you are in for a treat.
Don't forget to watch " When Harvey met Bob" on Boxing Day on BBC2. Its a fine drama.
Finally the new Cirque du Soleil show will enthrall all when it opens on Jan.5 at The Royal Albert Hall... dont miss it.
