The co-founder of Parklife Festival and clubbing brand The Warehouse Project has hailed the companies’ “incredible” partnership with Live Nation.
LN-Gaiety - the UK music promotion joint venture between Live Nation and Gaiety Investments - acquired a majority share in both Parklife and The Warehouse Project back in 2016, allowing the events to benefit from Live Nation’s leadership and the combination of both parties’ experience in the sector.
“It’s amazing to be in partnership with such a machine, something that has such huge strength. What they have brought to our company is incredible,” said Sacha Lord-Marchionne, who runs the Manchester-based events with business partner Sam Kandel.
Lord-Marchionne (pictured) was effusive in his praise of Festival Republic MD Melvin Benn and Live Nation UK chairman Denis Desmond.
“Melvin Benn has to be a machine, you can get him on the phone at 2am, 3am, 5am - the guy doesn’t sleep!," he laughed. "Then there’s Denis Desmond, who you can pick up the phone to at any point for help or advice. They have helped us along the way in the last 18 months and given us some great advice. It’s not a faceless company; there are some great characters there. They’ve really welcomed us and vice versa.
“What’s really good is that when we first had our meeting with Denis, we were very keen that we wanted to control our own destiny. We didn’t want to feel like we were working for someone else and that isn’t the case. It is very much a partnership and they let us do our own thing, but they’re always at the end of the phone if we need them.”
Parklife held its eighth edition in June at Manchester’s Heaton Park, with headliners The 1975 and Frank Ocean, while The Warehouse Project returns to Store Street from September 16-17 with two sold-out shows by LCD Soundsystem.
Click here to read Music Week's full Big Interview with Lord-Marchionne and Kandel.
