AP GIVES VODAFONE LIVE MUSIC AWARDS THE RED CARPET TREATMENT
On Thursday 18th September, Carling Academy Brixton opened its doors for the 2008 Vodafone Live Music Awards, produced by Initial, an Endemol Company. Now in its eighth year of residency at the iconic London venue crowd safety specialist AP Security was on hand throughout the evening.
The celeb-packed evening hosted by T4’s Steve Jones and Hollywood actress and rock and roll star Juliette Lewis, saw some of the world’s greatest musicians honoured for their contribution to the live music scene over the past year. Acts as diverse as Primal Scream, Glasvegas, James Morrison, Pussycat Dolls, Bryn Christopher, Will Young, Estelle, The Automatic and The Ting Tings all played to a packed venue of fellow nominees, music industry experts and fans.
The venue is not ideally situated for a red carpet affair, being on a busy road in the centre of Brixton and a narrow side street providing the only suitable drop off point for vehicles delivering celebrities to the door. So, with crowds waiting to see the stars arrive and limited space available, AP’s intimate knowledge of the building and its surroundings came to the fore.
“It’s all about the planning,” says the company’s Southern Operations Manager, Chris Hollands. “There’s not a lot of space outside the Academy, but we make sure the barrier system is right. As long as all the relevant information is collated, which on this occasion was entirely down to Adam Scott who did a fantastic job, there isn’t a problem.”
Hollands continues, “AP’s remit on this occasion was to look after the public and we had a total of 80 staff on site to do that. We were also working with another company - the stars often bring their own staff with them - so we had to liaise with them. We’re happy to work with anyone as long as they’ll work with us and these guys were brilliant. They gave us all the information we needed and we passed our info to them, so everything went very smoothly.
“Although we weren’t directly in charge of the red carpet, we helped out there where the public were gathering, wanting to talk to the stars and take photos, etc.”
With over a thousand events at the Academy under its belt, AP is used to the different challenges that get thrown its way. “There are always celebs in here and we’re used to getting them in,” says Hollands. “But, more importantly, we have to get them out again. At the end of an evening there can be up to 5000 people milling around outside.
“AP’s job is all about moving people into, around and out of a venue with the minimum of fuss. We always emphasise to our staff that they must treat people with respect and be pleasant. We want people to get into a venue with a smile on their faces and we want them to go home happy. That’s what it’s all about.”
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More information about Vodafone Live Music Awards is available at www.vodafonemusic.co.uk/awards2008/index.aspx