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Ice Breaking Entertainment

Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
Rockaoke

Ice Breaking Entertainment

 

Corporate parties and conferences are fun but they can also be intimidating enviroments for the novice attendee and a good event planner will consider many different ways of encouraging dialogue , making people feel comfortable and breaking the ice.

Todays blog concentrates on the many ways that booking  ice breaking entertainment can help your conference be the talk of the town (and not the whisper in the village.)

Book Entertainment Which Is Inclusive And Encourages Participation

Team building style entertainment can be provided by a live karaoke band AKA Rockaoke or Bandeoke and for the right kind of event this lively entertainment is perfect at breaking down walls and encouraging participation. Don’t be put off by the rock tag. Live Music Management have supplied Swingeoke swing bands for events with an older guest list and set lists can often be tailored to the attendees.

 

Create A Talking Point

There are a number of entertainment ideas which create a talking point. A costumed stilt walker or fire breather can be enough to break the ice upon guests arrival. An even more impressive start to the evening would be a stilt walking band who can perform music whilst walking around the venue (or outside the venue) on stilts. Perhaps an even bigger surprise ice breaking entertainment is our Pop Up Musicians who can tailor their entrance to offer an impressive wow factor which will definitely get the conference attendees talking.

Include Your Guests

With close up magicians strolling around the tables or guests you are sure to include all delegates in conversation. By giving a focal point for guests to consider (and be amazed by) the shy guy in the corner can find an easy way to converse with the other conference attendees.

Involve The Guests

Live Music Management have launched a new concept in live music with a show we call Beat The Band. Beat The Band is in it’s most simple terms a pop quiz involving a live band. The Beat The Band concept can be tailored to the event with some rounds requiring stage participation if it is felt that this will suit your guest list.

Above are just a few of the many ice breaking entertainment ideas available from Live Music Management. Remember that creating the right ambience for the right event is an art form and there are a number of factors to be considered (even down to ensuring that the volume of music is correct and that people can hear themselves talk.) Should you wish to talk through any ideas with an industry expert then call Live Music Management …our team are available for a chat between the hours of 10am and 6pm Monday to Friday on 08454 900515

 

 

 

 

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What To Look For When Using An Entertainment Agent

Wednesday, February 20th, 2013
Entertainment Agency

Entertainment Agency

What to look for when using an entertainment agent?

I could answer this with a simple one word answer….integrity….and I wouldn’t be far off the mark but of course that wouldn’t make for much of a blog.

First of all I must declare Live Music Managements interest in answering the question of what to look for when using an entertainment agent. Live Music Management are an entertainment agency booking bands and DJ’s into events,parties,weddings, nightclubs and holiday parks etc etc. So we are answering the question with some degree of bias. We believe entertainment booking agencies to be, fundamentally, a good thing.

An entertainment agency with integrity works for both the act and the client to ensure that all parties are happy with the arrangements and details of an engagement. From the offset an agent with a great deal of knowledge of his roster and field will be able to advise the right band for your function or the perfect mobile DJ for your wedding. He will want the act and the event to be a perfect marriage so that all parties have a great evening. A good entertainment agent will know the going rate for a job and charge this rate making his cut from the long standing arrangement with the act with the act happy to pay commission as the agent gets them a volume of work which would not be achievable if working alone.

Having said all of the above we would then say that these are the things to look for when using an entertainment agent.

Does the agency have long established , repeat booking clients?

For instance Live Music Management have been supplying DJs and party bands to the Walkabout Bars, Butlins Holiday Centres, The UK Military, Marks and Spencers (through a third party events company) , Wahoo Bars and many more for a decade plus (in the case of the Walkabout we have been sole supplier for over fourteen years.) This is important because weddings are one off bookings. There is very little that a client can do once the event has gone.They can’t choose to not book with them again as they will ,in most circumstances,never use a live band or DJ again. Live Music Management supply literally thousands of acts to repeat bookings every year. Every single one of them goes off without a hitch (or we deal with the problems on the day to ensure that a suitable replacement is offered.) We know our acts inside and out and soon get to wheedle out the unprofessional players who ,inevitably, litter the industry.

Is the agency a member of the Agents Association Of Great Britain?

This is the only organisation that legitimate agencies can belong to in the UK.It upholds the highest level of conduct amongst agents and we would suggest to be suspicious of any act not a member of the Agents Association.

Does the agency have a registered company name and address?

The unfortunate thing about the internet is that it has allowed a number of one man band, bedroom agencies enter into the marketplace without the same scruples as larger companies such as Live Music Management. Some of them look legitmate but don’t have offices, company registration and may not prove to be as accountable if anything goes wrong.

Live Music Management hold all customer deposits in a client account untill after the date of the function.We contract by legally binding, Agents Association contract.Live Music Management have a tried and tested confirmations system and a brilliant two man emergency phone call service available 24 hours and seven days per week.

Call 08454 900515 for more details or pop into our office or email for more information info@lmmuk.com

 

 

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Bands For Events

Monday, February 18th, 2013
Bands for events

Bands for events

Live Music Management specialise in supplying bands for events , both large and small.

Live Music Management are a London based entertainment agency with offices in the Midlands and bands for events based throughout the UK. LMM have been established over thirteen years and are trusted by some of the largest corporate companies in the UK to supply the bands for their events. Live Music Management work with some of the UKs largest events companies supplying the bands for events from Scotland down to Cornwall.

Amongst the companies who have hired LMM bands for events are Marks and Spencers, Price Waterhouse Cooper, Tesco,Irwin Mitchell,McDonalds,The BBC,SKY,ITV,Hbos Plc,Fugro Holdings,The Labour Party,i-level,Harveys ,National Lottery Promotions Unit,Southern Railways,Damovo UK Ltd,Banks Sadler Ltd,Inspace Partnerships,Advanced Elastomer Systems Ltd,i-CD Publishing UK Ltd,Sega Europe Limited,Pareto Law,Coors Brewery,Double A Productions, National Federation Of Young Farmers,HLM Architects,German Events, Rolls Royce, BMW , Volkswagon,Morgan Motors,IKEA, Qatar Gas,Thomson Holidays etc etc

Our bands for events have played at most of the UK’s most prestigious venues and LMM bands were chosen for the December events at Silverstone Racing Circuit and for the VIP room at the Gatsby Club during the 2010 Wimbledon Tournament. LMM bands played the winners party for the final of the Rugby Superleague and played at an event to welcome the Australia athletes to the UK during the 2012 Olympics.The Australia Rowing team chose a number of Live Music Management bands for their events during the 2012 Olympics. In February 2013 Live Music Management sent several acts to Qatar to perform during the warm up to an International soccer game which was one of the preliminary matches building up to the 2022 World Cup , which is to be held in Qatar.

Regardless of our involvement in wonderful,prestigious events like those above every single party Live Music Management book entertainment for is as important as the next.Our bands for events are available for small parties as well as major international product launches and Live Music Management pride ourselves on being able to offer a wide range of entertainment to suit every budget and type of event.

The Live Music Management entertainment team have, between them, over forty years experience of booking bands for events and are very happy to speak to any potential clients about the right approach and the right act for an event. So whether you are planning a surprise birthday party for thirty guests or a corporate event for two thousand delegates Live Music Management would be happy to offer our help and advice. Please call 08454 900515 for further information or email info@lmmuk.com

 

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Morale Boosting Show For Troops

Monday, February 4th, 2013
Two Man Trio

Two Man Trio

Live Music Management were very pleased to read the recent  review in The Sixth Sense online newspaper which is the voice of the British Forces German community . The review was praising the high quality of the acts supplied by our friends at CSE for a show held as part of the Christmas celebrations for wounded , sick and injured soldiers in Germany.One of the acts booked by CSE was Live Music Managements Owain Pennington who on this occasion performed solo rather than as part of his two man trio (he was joined on stage by the, as always excellent, dancers supplied by CSE.)

Owain was “thrilled” by the review which ran as follows

“The final act was a New Zealand born solo guitarist, Owain Pennington. Tall, dark, square-jawed and with designer stubble, the ladies very quickly forgot the scantily clad dancers and concentrated their attention towards the stage and a man who knew how to play to his physical and musical strengths.
He was, quite simply, excellent. His musical repertoire spanned the ages assembled and was punctuated with the kind of wit worthy of a stand up comedian, but delivered with a twinkle and a smile that allowed the ladies present to completely ignore the gyrating dancers that occasionally accompanied his songs.

A further glance around the audience revealed some starry eyed and intent stares from the girls as they followed his every move and hung on his every word.
The evening was a roaring success, and while in itself immense fun, it’s capacity as a recovery accelerator cannot be underestimated.”

Owain was very pleased to be a part of this special evening and we at Live Music Management are immensely proud of our small part in supplying acts to entertain the troops both here in the UK and overseas. The importance of these events for both the able bodied service men in far flung corners of the world and , perhaps, even more so for the wounded soldier is something our acts have always recognised when they have been booked to play these kind of events but I will leave the last word to the writer from Sixth Sense who summed up the feeling amongst the attendees for this particular morale boosting show for the troops.

“The recovery process, for those unfortunate to find themselves wounded, injured or sick, is fraught with highs and lows and the kind of difficulties that most of us will fortunately never encounter.

Events such as the CSE Show allow WIS soldiers and their families to to get together in an environment free of judgement and punctuated by a shared community of understanding.
The importance of such gatherings is difficult to quantify in empirical terms, but glaringly obvious in terms of the reaction of those present. What price the gift of a few hours free of the shackles of injury or illness in good company and an atmosphere of fun; priceless I would suggest.

The after-show postmortem was nothing but positive and while most of the quotes were punctuated by the usual expletives resplendent in military speak, perhaps one epitomises the value of the evening: ‘that was brilliant, for a few hours I almost forgot how bad my back hurts’. Priceless.”

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Corporate Hospitality

Friday, January 25th, 2013


There have been a number of articles in the Events Industry press over the last two years about corporate hospitality and how the Bribery Act affects the Events Industry. The Government made the following points in it’s definitive guide lines to the Bribery Act

“Bona fide hospitality and promotional, or other business expenditure which seeks to improve the image of a commercial organisation, better to present products and services, or establish cordial relations, is recognised as an established and important part of doing business and it is not the intention of the Act to criminalise such behaviour,” said the guidance.

“The guidance makes clear that no one is going to try to stop businesses getting to know their clients by taking them to events like Wimbledon, Twickenham or the Grand Prix,” said Clarke. “Reasonable hospitality to meet, network and improve relationships with customers is a normal part of business.”

There is no doubt the Corporate Hospitality is a valuable tool to be used when building and maintaining business relationships .

If your company is not fortunate enough to have that multiple thousand pound box at  The Arsenal Ground or one of the Arenas it may well be that one of the off the shelf packages from one of the corporate hospitality companies suits your company and the clients tastes whether that might be a night out at a special event or a golf weekend or a sporting event. It may also be that you want to throw your own party and you may find that this is not only a cost effective way of planning corporate hospitality but also offers an opportunity to reward a larger number of clients and valued employees.

Live Music Management offer a range of entertainment for corporate hospitality events and these can include jazz swing bands or classical musicians or even pop acoustic duos for drinks receptions right up to full party band line ups for evening parties. We are also experts on offering bespoke or unusual entertainment for corporate events and you may want to speak to one of the Live Music Management team for the latest ideas on how to deliver a truly memorable evenings entertainment for clients.

Live Music Management have supplied live acts for a hundreds of corporate events including supplying the entertainment for the Wimbledon fortnight, for events at the o2 arena , for Games Awards evenings, for BMW product launches, for The Rolls Royce Launch in Qatar etc etc.

 

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Birmingham Walkabout

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013
Walkabout Birmingham

Walkabout Birmingham

Birmingham Walkabout reopens this weekend after a £1,000,000 refurbishment and Live Music Management managed to get a sneak peak of the venue last night when we held a DJ meeting in the venue.

The Birmingham Walkabout has been an institution on Broad Street for well over a decade surviving where others have failed by offering a great,memorable night out in friendly surroundings with fantastic entertainment (supplied by Live Music Management folks!) The refurbishment takes the Walkabout to a whole different level with a beautiful wave bar on the upstairs level and some spacious VIP areas . Of particular interest to the Deejays present yesterday was the DJ booth which has been moved to an area where it will be more accessible for your valued requests and shout outs.

The downstairs club room has been dramatically transformed with an attractive aquarium screen behind the bar itself and many different areas for seating.Again the DJ booth has been made more accessible to put the DJ right in the centre of the action.

Live Music Management have a line up of the best DJs in the Midlands ready to work seven nights a week for your enjoyment and you should check out the Walkabout listings for the different events happening.Of particular interest might be Sundays where you can take part in and watch extreme party games with DJ Jim Brown and Doug E Love holding court. Mid week will see theme nights like Tuesdays Pash N Pop celebration of Cheese and party pop with Thursdays offering a “no lighty no likey” style fun night of on stage shenanigans with Playtime.

Live Music will be back this Saturday for Birmingham Walkabout Australia Day celebrations featuring one of our favourite party bands , Lucas. Fridays will feature regular after work acoustic music for the wind up to the weekend with acoustic duos. Thinks Friday we have our Freak Out duo doing the honours between 7pm and 9pm.

Live Music Management will be back down at Birmingham Walkabout this Thursday (January 24 2013) for the VIP opening party with The Hi Fidels party band and DJs Matt Munroe and DJ Barri offering two floors of fun. I am sure you will be made very welcome if you manage to make it down yourself. If you live in the Birmingham area or planning a visit to the capitol of the Midlands then you should make this fantastic, friendly venue part of your itinerary. Live Music Management  Manager Vince, Darren and the rest of the staff down there all the best for a brilliant and succesful opening weekend.

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Australia Day 2013

Friday, January 11th, 2013
Australia Day 2013

Australia Day 2013

The final preperations are being made by Live Music Management for the Australia Day 2013 celebrations. Australia Day is one of the biggest nights in the Live Music Management calendar given our long standing relationship with the Walkabout Australian bars and this is our sixteenth year of supplying live bands and DJs to Australia Day events.

Australia Day 2013 looks like being a really great evening in our bars and clubs. Australia Day is January 26 and this year it falls on a Saturday so there is even more opportunity for partying. For the reader who is not familiar with Australia Day the background is that it is the national day of Australia celebrating the arrival of the first fleet into Sydney back in 1788. Like many of these celebratory days (ST Patricks Day anyone?) Australia Day has morphed into a day when people of all nationalities unleash their inner Australian and celebrate.This has been accelerated ,no doubt,by the prescense of Walkabout bars in most major towns.

As in previous years Live Music Management have some fantastic entertainment lined up for Australia Day 2013. The London Walkabout bars will be rammed from lunchtime and we are offering the very best in Aussie party bands for these venues.

Shepherds Bush Walkabout kicks off around 1pm with Front Cover who are an Australian power party duo and have a great set. They will be followed by sets from The Bondis and The Hi Fidels. All three bands are fronted by Australians and will be throwing in some of the great Aussie anthems amongst the party sets.

Temple Walkabout will be doubling up with Shepherds Bush and both The Hi Fidels and The Bondis will make their way over to Temple after their sets at the Bush to offer brilliant cover band sets at Temple.

Both Temple and Shepherds Bush have DJs on playing Aussie anthems and the Triple J hot 100.

Covent Garden Walkabout has a four band line up with Brooke Supple, Front Cover, Check Mate and Tim Barton offering a full days entertainment mixing Aussie anthems and party classics. Its is worth checking out these party duos and solos if you looking to book some first class entertainment for your party in 2013.

Barnsley Walkabout are celebrating with a set of Rockaoke aka Bandeoke or Live Band Karaoke.

Liverpool Walkabout will having some live music from Tony Urchin followed by two great Deejays.

Nottingham Walkabout have a class AC/DC tribute band playing followed by party DJ.

Bristol, Plymouth and Exeter Walkabouts all have live bands playing following by DJ entertainment.

The list goes on so check out your local Walkabout bar for local listings.

On a seperate note Live Music Management are also proud to be supplying the mobile DJ for the annual Australia House ball on Australia Da

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What Did You Do On New Years Eve?

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013
what did you do on new years eve?

what did you do on new years eve?

If I had a pound for every time someone had asked me “what did you do on New Years Eve?” in the last twenty four hours then I would have exactly £6! Not enough to make me rich but enough to let me know that what you do on New Years Eve is of interest to pretty much everyone and shapes their view of who you are.

I would love to have answered that I was at Roman Abromovichs party on St Barts celebrating the new year with 400 guests who boogied the night away to the sound of The Kings Of Leon (how very rock n roll of this quintessentially rock n roll band who famously quit their last tour because they had a fall out and haven’t been seen on stage since…proof that pretty much any band can be booked for party if the money is right.) Anyway I wasn’t invited to Romans bash but I did spend the evening at a nice restaraunt bar where we ate too much food and then danced the night away. The place was absolutely packed although from the midnight fireworks display coming from surrounding houses many people had chosen the night to have a house party.

Live Music Managements Alex Howie spent the night Deejaying at his favourite local bar and it’s fair to say that for most people music will have played a significant part in the evenings proceedings even if your own New Years Eve consisted of stopping in with a bag of twiglets and the Jools Holland Hogmany show on TV.

Of course for most of our acts, party bands and DJs New Years Eve is another working day/night. Many of them would,perhaps, preffer to stay in with snacks and a bottle of shandy but they are required in venues the length and breadth of the UK in order to entertain people on the biggest party night of the year.

Live Music Management had a number of function bands booked into house parties on New Years Eve. A popular choice was also acoustic acts and many of our house party style bookings were chosen from our acoustic solo and duo section on the Live Music Management website.

Besides the live music bookings on New Years Eve we had DJs working in well over 100 venues . The fact that our emergency number didnt ring once on New Years Eve is testimony to the reliability of the guys (and girls) working for Live Music Management and ,indeed, we recieved several calls both on New Years Eve and in the days leading up to it from night club managers and private clients who had booked entertainment from other sources only to be let down at the eleventh hour.They were hoping to be able to book last minute entertainment from Live Music Management.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the acts working for Live Music Management on New Years Eve and for the LMM office team for putting in the hours over the busy Christmas and New Year period in order to ensure everything ran smoothly.It is because of this great team that when I was asked “what did you do on New years Eve?” I was able to answer “relax and enjoy myself!”

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Live Music Management Showcase

Thursday, December 20th, 2012


Many thanks to Matt and the team at Shepherds Bush Walkabout for their hospitality last night at the Live Music Management showcase.

It was a pleasure to be in the audience last night watching the phenomenal sets from the likes of Lucas , Soul Policy, The Hoops, West Coast, NRG and Treacle and the LMM team felt a great deal of pride watching the acts put on their shows. Despite the number of bands playing at this showcase we didnt hear the same song twice. In fact most of the bands took extreme pleasure in playing the most diverse and versatile sets possible. It was a night for pulling out all stops and trying to impress and I got the impression that there was some healthy competition amongst the bands who enjoyed showing off some of their talent to their peers.

Soul Policy started off proceedings with some great charty pop music. This fantastic female fronted function band always put on a great show and Jesses vocals were brilliant on the opening song “Please Don’t Stop The Music” “The Only Girl In The World” was amazing and final number “Show Me Love” sounded awesome with Jakes astonishing live keyboards and Jesses soul diva vocals.

Treacle came on second. Treacle are long time favourites of the Live Music Management team and we know we can rely on them to cram a million and one ideas and songs into ten minutes at a showcase. They got the crowd bouncing around with their renditions of Cotton Eyed Joe and Sweet Child Of Mine, Tequila and Zorbas Dance featuring tons of multi instrumental shenanigans.

The NRG duo featuring Lee from Treacle played an Olympic themed set with indie and chart tracks and clever versions of Tinie Tempah tunes in the mix. With quality backing tracks they played a high powered set and are one of the UKs best power duos for parties and events.

Party band The Hoops played a short set which went from Michael Jacksons Billie Jean through to Livin On A Prayer and the female lead singers powerhouse raspy vocal’s really commanded the room. No wonder The Hoops are proving to be one of the busiest party bands on the London circuit.They had the audience in the palm of their hand. What was most amazing was that the singer had pulled a muscle in her back and yet she still rocked out on stage and gave it her all. We had to medicate her with a red wine after the set though!!

West Coast played a perfect pop set. Again female the vocals were really strong and the track choice was perfect for the crowd who lapped up both the chart tracks and the Fleetwood Mac song that the band finished with. West Coast are a newish band to the Live Music Management roster but they proved themselves to be capable of standing alongside some quality competition with a great set.

Lucas are another long time favourite at Live Music Management showcases. They always surprise us and last night went from the opening Queen number through to a medley of old skool house all played live by a fantastic three piece party band with a great way of working a crowd and a brilliant sense of fun and humour.

Live Music Management would like to take this opportunity to thank the bands for their hard work and also to thank James Riddley for the brilliant sound last night. It was a fantastic showcase of Live Music Management acts.

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Corporate Entertainment

Thursday, December 13th, 2012


Corporate parties are events which are organised by companies for their employees and clients. A corporate event might be organised with a variety of goals in mind. It may be a reward for employees after a particular target has been hit or just as a year end bash. There may be awards attached to this kind of party with a ceremony making up part of the evening. Some corporate events are designed to incorporate a brand or product launch or enhance awareness of a product. There are a number of reasons for a company to want to work outside the day to day machinery of work life in order to get across a particular message or drive employees to a goal.

With the above in mind Live Music Management are experts in providing corporate entertainment in all it’s different manifestations. Live Music Management have over thirteen years experience of providing the right corporate entertainment at the right budget and in these days of corporate austerity Live Music Management are growing the corporate entertainment side of their business as they are recognised by the events industry as an honest broker of quality acts at reasonable prices.

Live Music Management have amassed years of experience of supplying the best quality party bands , deejays , swing bands and tribute acts to events throughout the UK and beyond. Some of these are hired by the companies themselves and , indeed, this Christmas we are proud to be supplying live bands to several companies who have used LMM for many years trusting our entertainment team to deliver the right act for their event.

“This is the second time we’ve used LMM to provide live music for our corporate Xmas party.Both events went off without a hitch.The bands – Docs and Duke – were on time, tight, great covers and thoroughly entertaining.

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend LMM to arrange the entertainment – or either band to provide it.”

Equilibrium Healthcare December 2012.

“DJ Dean Courtney did a really great job. He was able to work the audience and even got them out of their seats to play them off against one another – which really helped increase funds. He was keen to get involved and help out as much as he could which was great as we really needed an extra pair of hands.
We would be happy to recommend him for other events.

Many thanks

Polly Manchester Events Company December 2012.

If you are looking for quality corporate eventertainment for your event then Live Music Management  will help you identify exactly what is required and which act to book in order to make your event memorable for all the right reasons. You can call our office team on 08454 900515 during office hours or email info@lmmuk.com

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