Tenth gala evening at the Festhalle Frankfurt: Fifteen prizes for organisers, artist managers, agents and venue operators

Celebrity guests and first-rate live acts at the jubilee of the PRG Live Entertainment Award

The PRG Live Entertainment Award (PRG LEA) was presented for the tenth time on the 14 th of April 2015. More than 1,300 guests from the national and international music, special events and entertainments scene came together to celebrate at the jubilee gala in the Festhalle Frankfurt, which also signalled the start of the Musikmesse Frankfurt exhibition and the “Prolight + Sound” technology show, which takes place alongside it.

The LEA award ceremony, the highlights of which will be broadcast by Hessische Rundfunk on the evening of the 15 th of April in a half-hour broadcast, welcomed not only the prize- winners, but also top-notch national and international live acts to the stage. Musical contributions from eighties “new romantics” Spandau Ballet, Norwegian singer- Marit Larsen, Johannes Oerding, Austrian breakthrough artists Wanda and Jan-Josef Liefers’ Radio Doria – all of whom performed 100% live – ensured a party atmosphere in the tradition-steeped Festhalle. The famous guests and participants included Campino, Marius Müller Westernhagen, Klaus Eberhartinger, George McCrae, Till Brönner, Mrs. Greenbird, Elaiza, Marco Russ and Patrick Owomoyela. The event was hosted in typically masterful style by TV journalist Ingo Nommsen.

“The LEA intends to give the events industry and its major players – concert and tour organisers, artist managers, concert agents and venue operators – a face the general public can recognise”, explains Prof. Jens Michow , Chairman of the German Association of Event Organisers ( Bundesverband der Veranstaltungswirtschaft – bdv) and Producer of the LEA. “The events sector has long been a key pillar of the German and is second only to the book market in terms of national live entertainment markets. The astonishing thing is that the economic significance of the industry and the companies, on which consumers spend almost four billion euros to purchase over 126 million entrance tickets, is barely known amongst the public.”

The success story that is the LEA “The presentation of the LEA has become one of the most important industry events in ”, comments Dieter Weidenfeld , Chairman of the supporting association, the LEA Committee. “Despite all the competition, it has become a firm fixture in the showbiz diary, and the award itself represents a true seal of approval for the winner, of which he or she can be rightly proud.” Stefan Zarges , Deputy Chairman of the LEA Committee, likewise emphasized the thoroughly successful development of the event: “Like every success story, the LEA started life ten years ago as a small project. Nobody could have predicted that it would now be one of the most important dates in the events calendar”, Zarges enthused. “The

idea of taking a different path for once and recognising not the artists, but rather the movers and shakers behind this industry is as convincing as ever. And the fact that the show captures the imagination with something new every year is another guarantee of success.”

Stage design in a class of its own The live performances are framed by an extraordinary technical backdrop specially designed for shows of this kind. The entire stage set was produced on white, polygonal-shaped stage elements which could be moved mechanically during the show and served as mobile projection surfaces. The stage design then developed with the help of eight high-performance video projectors, which beamed various “decorations” onto the elements and were synchronised with the movement processes. In addition, Germany’s top light designer Jerry Appelt, who was also in charge of the design for the in Germany, used over 700 light fittings to facilitate limitless variations in mood. Since power consumption was also a factor to be considered, highly-efficient LED lights were used almost exclusively.

Posthumous honour for an outstanding manager In spite of the relaxed, celebratory mood, there was also room for a few contemplative moments during the gala evening at the Festhalle. On the spur of the moment, the organisers decided to expand the list of award-winners in order to posthumously honour one of the industry’s major players: Jochen Hülder . Hülder, who died in January 2015, was the manager of “Die Toten Hosen”, and was honoured with a special award for his life’s work as an artist manager. The award was accepted by Campino, the frontman of the legendary German band.

Award presenters ranging from Revolverheld to Owomoyela A total of fourteen awards were presented during the evening in the Festhalle Frankfurt, with Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion having receive the award for its JazzNights events series in advance of the gala evening. The 2015 LEAs were presented by a range of well-known faces, including TV presenter Sonya Kraus , cabaret artists Florian Schroeder and Timo Wopp , musical comedian Lars Redlich , ECHO founder Gerd Gebhardt and British John Giddings, organiser of the Isle of Wight Festival as well as tours by the Rolling Stones, Peter Gabriel, Madonna, Muse, Paul McCartney and countless other global names. Those introducing the various categories included folk-pop duo Mrs. Greenbird , Revolverheld , Eurovision participants Elaiza , breakthrough band Tonbandgerät and the former national footballer Patrick Owomoyela .

Three trophies for Lieberberg At his “home game” in Frankfurt, Marek Lieberberg and his concert agency were yet again among the big winners of the LEA. Germany’s most successful concert organiser was the proud recipient of no fewer than three trophies at the Festhalle. In the “Arena/Stadium Tour of the Year” category, the coveted trophy went to “The 20/20 Experience” tour by superstar Justin Timberlake, which had been organised by MLK. And the latest edition of Lieberberg’s “Rock am Ring” event at the original location of the Nürburgring also impressed the LEA jury enough to win an award. Together with its twin festival “Rock im Park” in Nuremburg, it was a winner in the “Festival of the Year” category, presented by PRG. And Lieberberg’s third success of the night was for the “Show of the Year”, which went to the Frankfurt impresario’s presentation of the “KOOZA” show by the Cirque du Soleil.

Dual honour for DEAG and Four Artists Lieberberg was not the only organiser able to celebrate multiple successes at the gala evening in Frankfurt. DEAG Deutsche Entertainment AG received two LEAs. Last year the company, which is managed by Prof. Peter Schwenkow, brought the Rolling Stones to one of just two appearances in Germany at Berlin’s Waldbühne, and thus organised the “Concert of the Year”, the jury decided. Together with artist Marius Müller Westernhagen, Schwenkow was also presented with the “Club Tour of the Year” LEA sponsored by the outdoor advertising firm Ströer. The pre-listening marking the release of the “Alphatier” was organised by DEAG and impressed the jury as it took the popular German rocker to smaller locations where fans could get up close to the artist. Another winner of two LEAs was Artists Booking Agency . The Berlin-based concert organiser won the category “Hall Tour of the Year” for rapper Marteria’s “Zum Glück in die Zukunft II”. In addition, Four Artists was able to walk away with the best “Artist and/or Youth Preomotion of the Year 2014” for its involvement in the ARD New . RBB ’s youth programme Fritz , which is representative of all ARD youth radio, was also commended.

Hoppe’s record year and Rieger’s life’s work A familiar face took to the stage of the Festhalle to receive the LEA for “Organiser of the Year”. Ossy Hoppe and his agency Wizard Promotions , likewise based in Frankfurt, already triumphed in this category back in 2011. This time the LEA jury honoured the “record year 2014” in which more than 700,000 people attended events organised by Wizard. During this time Hoppe and his team presented a broad range of musical styles from Lady Gaga and Bryan Ferry to Black Sabbath, and all the way through to the successful open-air by Böhse Onkelz at the Hockenheimring. Peter Rieger , from the concert agency of the same name, was presented with an award for his life’s work. The Cologne-based event organiser can look back on a career spanning four decades, during which he has organised concerts by stars such as Genesis, Elton John, Paul McCartney or Pink, as well as Roger Waters’ legendary performance of “The Wall” right in front of the Berlin Wall.

Organisers present two awards In two categories at this year’s LEA the presentation of the awards was not down to the jury, but rather twenty German tour organisers. For the category “Artist Manager/Agent of the Year” their votes were weighed up in cooperation with the German Association of Music Managers and Consultants ( Interessenverband Musikmanager & Consultants e.V. – IMUC) with the eventual decision going in favour of Sascha Stadler (VOLL: KONTAKT), in recognition of her many years of work with the band Revolverheld. The group of tour organisers also decided on the winner of the LEA for the best “Local Organiser of the Year”. Here they chose ARGO Konzerte from Würzburg as their favourite.

Tempodrom and Zeche as the best venues Last but not least, the country’s most outstanding venues were also a focus at this tenth edition of the PRG Live Entertainment Award. In the category “Hall/Arena of the Year”, the LEA jurors opted for the Tempodrom in Berlin , which hosted around 250 events attended by 400,000 people during the year 2014. The jury praised the futuristic building close to the Anhalter Bahnhof for its “flexible spatial concept, good acoustics and environmentally considered infrastructure”. The “Club of the Year” was named as Zeche in Bochum , which was already one of the three LEA nominees in this category back in 2010. This time the highest honour went to the club, which has been active as a venue in the Ruhr area for three decades and has welcomed stars such as Tina Turner, R.E.M. and Depeche Mode to its stage.

PRG LEA organised by associations in the concert industry Since 2006 the German Live Entertainment Award has been organised by the LEA Committee e.V., whose members include the German Association of Event Organisers (Bundesverband der Veranstaltungswirtschaft e.V. – bdv) as initiator of the award, the Association of German Concert Agencies ( Verband Deutscher Konzertdirektionen – VDKD), Musikmarkt Verlags-GmbH with its industry magazine “Musikmarkt”, and numerous other businesses in the German events industry. The main partners of the German Live Entertainment Award are, in addition to the event- technology outfitter PRG (Production Resource Group) and the Frankfurt Musikmesse exhibition, the ticket operator CTS Eventim, the City of Frankfurt am Main, and Frankfurt Economic Development. Further sponsors of the 2015 PRG LEA include the company Ströer, GEMA, the ÖVB Arena, the Arena, PMS Crew Support, Riedel Communications, accente, Skoda, Düsseldorf Congress Sport & Event, PMT – Professional Motion Technology, Elements Entertainment, beyerdynamic and the exclusive industry media partner “Musikmarkt” magazine.

Arena Tour of the Year 2014 Justin Timberlake – „The 20/20 Experience” – Marek Lieberberg Konzertagentur GmbH & Co. KG

Concert Hall Tour of the Year 2014 Marteria – „Zum Glück in die Zukunft 2“ – Four Artists Booking Agentur GmbH

Club Tour of the Year 2014 presented by Ströer Marius Müller-Westernhagen – „Alphatier Pre-Listening Tour 2014“ – DEAG Deutsche Entertainment AG

Festival of the Year 2014 presented by PRG Rock am Ring / Rock im Park – Marek Lieberberg Konzertagentur GmbH & Co. KG

Concert of the Year 2014 The Rolling Stones – Waldbühne, Berlin – Deutsche Entertainment AG

Show of the Year 2014 Cirque du Soleil – „KOOZA“ – Marek Lieberberg Konzertagentur GmbH & CO. KG

Event Organiser of the Year 2014 Wizard Promotions GmbH, Frankfurt am Main

Artist and/or Youth Preomotion of the Year 2014 ARD New Music Award – organised by Four Artists Booking Agentur GmbH by order of ARD-Jugendwellen (leading: Fritz / RBB)

Club of the Year 2014 Zeche, Bochum – Zeche Bochum GmbH

Concert Hall / Arena of the Year 2014 Schwerpunkt der Jury: kleinere Hallen mit einer Kapazität zwischen 2000 und 5000 Besuchern Tempodrom, Berlin (Tempodrom Betriebsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG)

Local Organiser of the Year 2014 Basierend auf einem Votum von 25 deutschen Tourneeveranstaltern ARGO Konzerte GmbH, Würzburg

Artist Manager / Agent of the Year presented by IMUC Basierend auf einem Votum von 25 deutschen Tourneeveranstaltern Sascha Stadler – VOLL:KONTAKT UG (haftungsbeschränkt) & Co. KG

Jury Award 2014 JazzNights – Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion GmbH

Lifetime Achievement Award 2014 Peter Rieger Konzertdirektion GmbH

Life’s work as an artist manager Jochen Hülder – JKP Jochens Kleine Plattenfirma GmbH & Co. KG

For more information, please feel free to contact us.

LEA – Live Entertainment Award Committee e. V. Position – Public Relations GmbH Postfach 20 23 64 Katharina Ernst 20216 Hamburg Tel.: 0221 / 93 18 06-46 Tel.: 040 / 41 30 55 05 Mobile: 0162 / 93 18 06-46 Fax: 040 / 46 88 14 17 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]