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Michael Gudinski: the Rolling Stones tour was an epic gamble (Read 1,639 times)
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Michael Gudinski: the Rolling Stones tour was an epic gamble
Jul 24th, 2015 at 11:36am
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Michael Gudinski: the Rolling Stones tour was an epic gamble



STUART COUPE THE AUSTRALIAN JULY 25, 2015


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Crisis mode: Gudinski on the day the Stones cancelled their Hanging Rock concert. Picture: Alex Coppel Source: News Corp Australia



You can never, ever let them cancel.

Postpone, yes, but never cancel. That’s the only thought going through Michael Gudinski’s mind. It’s approaching 2am, Wednesday, March 19, 2014. In his room at the Hyatt Regency in Perth, Gudinski is beside himself. Angry. ­Frustrated. Feeling helpless and powerless. Gudinski doesn’t like situations he can’t ­control. This is one of those situations.

The Rolling Stones landed in Perth 48 hours earlier — and now are minutes away from ­cancelling the tour and leaving the country. The tour is due to gross $52 million over six ­concerts. So tight are the Stones deals that a promoter can lose millions if even a tiny ­percentage of the venues don’t sell out. Gudinski doesn’t want to think about even one show being postponed or cancelled, let alone a whole tour.

The Rolling Stones had arrived in Perth in their private, customised Boeing 767 late on the night of Sunday March 16. They’d posed for a few media photographs before departing for their hotel. On the Monday things had been as routine as they can be on a Stones tour. They travel with a large entourage and their party of 117 immediate staff is augmented by several dozen key Australian figures plus hundreds of workers employed in each city the band will play. Each Stones band member has his own manager and each manager has an executive assistant and assistant.

There are several hundred people on the road. There’s a team of carpenters, who work on the stage sets. There is someone in charge of pyrotechnics. There’s a logistics director. There are tour accountants, road managers, a chief make-up and hair artist, wardrobe head, physiotherapist, digital media head … it goes on and on. They have to be flown to Australia and put up in hotels; they travel constantly with the band. All at the expense of Gudinski and overall tour promoter AEG Live. Two stages had been brought to Australia in 52 shipping containers. That’s how the Stones do it: while they play on one stage, the other is being constructed in the next arena on the tour. More than 50 semi-­trailers transport equipment between venues. The Stones leave absolutely nothing to chance.

Stones World doesn’t need Gudinski. Most of the Stones tour party don’t even know who he is. They don’t know of his extraordinary career, one that has seen his fingerprints all over four decades of Australian popular music. As founder of Mushroom Records he nurtured the careers of many artists including Kylie Minogue, Jimmy Barnes, Paul Kelly and Skyhooks. With his Frontier Touring Company, Gudinski has toured Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Springsteen, Madonna, Sting. He is unquestionably the most powerful and influential figure in this country’s music industry.

To the Rolling Stones, though, he’s a local contractor hired to do a job. Gudinski is OK with that. He’s promoting the Rolling Stones. He didn’t think it could get any better than ­promoting Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band a few weeks earlier.

Gudinski’s preoccupied with making sure everything is running smoothly with this tour. He’s as relaxed as anyone ever gets touring the Rolling Stones — which is not very relaxed. He has rarely risked this amount of money before.

On the Monday night, Mick Jagger goes out to dinner. It’s a late one, almost midnight when he’s interrupted with the news that his long-term partner L’Wren Scott is dead. He’s told it’s a suicide.

Gudinski is in his hotel room watching TV. It’s approaching 2am. A banner starts rolling across the bottom of the screen. “Mick Jagger’s long-term …” Gudinski looks again. “Are you f. king kiddin’ me?” he yells at the television. Gudinski looks at a bottle of scotch in his room. He unscrews the top. As he is about to pour a big glass he looks at the wristband he’s worn on his left wrist since a major health scare a few years earlier. There are three words printed on it: Don’t F. k Up. He puts the scotch aside.

This wasn’t on Gudinski’s list of things that might go wrong. He can’t sleep. He chews his fingernails even more ferociously than usual. He paces. Constantly paces. Looks at the phone. Yells. He calls Reegan Stark, the publicity and promotions director of the Mushroom Group in Melbourne and fills her in. There’s not much more he can do till the new day breaks.

By early morning the tragic death of Scott is global news. Media are assembled outside the hotel. Gudinski talks to Paul Gongaware of AEG. Gongaware is tour director for the Stones on the road, and is in Perth.

What’s the deal with insurance? How many millions of dollars are they looking at losing here? Can they minimise any losses? What the f. k can they do? What the f. k do they do now? There’s a show scheduled in two days — absolutely everything is in place for a national tour. In the middle of the morning, with no word coming from Camp Stones, Gudinski is told to at least continue with the setup for Wednesday night. Keep assembling the stage, fine-tuning security, backstage, catering … business as usual.

At 5.20pm Gongaware tells Gudinski that the Perth show is not going ahead. Suddenly, everything looks bad for the whole tour. The impetus for the tour was a concert to open the revamped Adelaide Oval. The South Australian government had guaranteed Gudinski free use of the venue and a substantial fee if he could deliver the Rolling Stones. This concert, with more than 50,000 tickets sold, is three nights after Perth. The Adelaide connections are desperately pleading for at least that performance to go ahead. The Stones camp aren’t saying ­anything beyond the fact that the band won’t perform in Perth.

Gudinski knows that this tour can’t be cancelled. He knows that when a promoter says “cancelled”, everyone automatically gets a ticket refund. The tour machine grinds to a halt. It’s over. Finished. All they can do now is wait. And wait. Tuesday night arrives and there’s still no movement. This is starting to creep Gudinski out, big time. After midnight, the phone rings. It’s Reegan Stark. The media and marketing liaison person travelling with the Stones had phoned, alerting her to the contents of a press release about to go out announcing the cancellation of the band’s 2014 Australian tour. Gudinski repeats the same five words. Never. Ever. Let. Them. Cancel.

The press release must not go out. Gudinski picks up the phone and dials another room in the hotel. “Paul, what the f. k …” he yells down the line. Gongaware hadn’t even seen the ­proposed announcement. The Rolling Stones don’t need to explain themselves, even to their global promoters.

Gudinski tells Gongaware that the Stones have to announce a postponement, to allow time for arrangements to be potentially restructured. They just can’t cancel now. It’s a short conversation. Maybe three minutes. Gudinski reminds Gongaware that a cancelled tour never comes back. He stresses how much money he — and AEG and the Stones — will drop. He questions whether insurance will cover it. He implores Gongaware to buy more time so that he can put in place a new run of dates. He knows he can do it. He has that self-belief. Now he needs Gongaware to totally believe him and sell this to the Stones’ management. Gudinski is at his most convincing. At this point he could have Gongaware believing the Earth is flat. This is Gudinski in full flight.

Gongaware tells Gudinski he’s right. He calls the Rolling Stones’ people. Gudinski paces. He’s aware that the next few minutes are beyond critical. There is no telling how the Stones camp will react to the suggestion that they change their plans. A few minutes later Gudinski’s phone rings. It’s Gongaware. The Stones have agreed to announce a tour postponement. Gudinski and Frontier Touring are still in the game.

Never. Ever. Let. Them. Cancel.

What were he and Frontier staring at, loss-wise, if that hadn’t happened? “Millions mate, millions,” he says, reclining on the couch in his office in May 2015. “And they would have lost millions too.”

The immediate ripple effect of any tour delay is enormous. All the equipment has to be returned, venues cancelled, hotels unbooked, caterers, security staff and contract staff laid off. What happens to tens of thousands of T-shirts and other merchandise specifically manufactured for this tour with dates and venues emblazoned on them? There is as much work in a tour postponement as there is in an actual tour. The main difference is that the outgoing costs are enormous and there’s no money coming in. Gudinski has to get this tour back on track.

Adelaide is key as the South Australian ­government is donating the venue. The first possible date is October 18, at the end of the football season. A proposed new run of dates is presented to the Stones’ management, via AEG. Gudinski has done this in a matter of days. But there is Gudinski time and there is ­Rolling Stones time. Almost a fortnight goes by and there’s no news. What the f. k is going on? He’s starting to get a bad feeling. Despite this uncertainty, refund requests are minimal. The audience is still expecting, still hoping that new dates will be announced.

In the midst of this seemingly endless ­waiting game Gudinski’s wife, Sue, calls one morning early in April to let him know that Keith Richards’ daughter is appearing on the Today show. Gudinski turns on the TV and hears Alexandra Richards being asked whether her father and his mates are coming back to Australia. She says that she’s not meant to say anything but it looks like they’re coming back in October. Gudinski punches the air. He yells. “F. k me drunk, we’re looking good here!”

In October, the Stones arrive. This time they’re not match-fit after a break from shows. They rehearse for 10 days in a film studio in Adelaide. They get an unheard-of 52,000 crowd in Adelaide, and kill it in Perth. Melbourne sells out. It’s a Stones tour in full, totally organised mode. Gudinski’s pulled it off. Bring on the concert at Victoria’s Hanging Rock.

Gudinski’s phone starts ringing at 6.05am on Friday, November 7, the day before the show. He knows that nothing good comes from 6am phone calls. It’s the news that Jagger’s voice, which was showing signs of wear and tear at Rod Laver Arena two nights earlier, has deteriorated. Gudinski wonders why this is happening. Jagger may still act like he’s a teenager, but he’s now 71. He can’t keep up both the lifestyle and the performance schedule. The Stones are cancelling Hanging Rock.

Gudinski can’t take it. This is f. ked. Totally f. ked. He deals with the barrage of the day. Dozens of calls. Refunds. Meetings. Abusive postings on social networks. It’s chaos. It’s a mess. That night he looks at his wristband. He ignores the word “Don’t” on it and gets totally pissed. The following Saturday the Stones play the Hunter Valley. It’s a great show. Gudinski is deflated. All he can think about is how great Hanging Rock would have been.

Would he tour the Stones again? He doesn’t think they’ll ever return to Australia but says he’ll be disappointed if they do and he’s not the promoter. And did he and Frontier make money on the tour?

“We didn’t make a fortune, but I’m certainly not in the club of people who lost money on a Rolling Stones tour,” Gudinski says. “It knocked me around a lot and we didn’t make as much as we should have. But if the tour had been cancelled I’m not sure that it would have ever happened again. Those first three minutes on the phone to Gongaware were crucial. That’s where I really came into my own.”

This is what makes Michael Gudinski the formidable, awe-inspiring — and phenomenally successful — figure he is. His intellect is astonishing, his presence commanding, often frightening and totally persuasive. He has the ability to convince anyone that his way of doing things is in fact the only way to do things.

Edited extract from Gudinski: The Godfather of Australian Rock’n’Roll by Stuart Coupe (Hachette, $32.99)


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-magazine/michael-gudinsk...
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Re: Michael Gudinski: the Rolling Stones tour was an epic gamble
Reply #1 - Jul 24th, 2015 at 12:28pm
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" Gudinski’s phone starts ringing at 6.05am on Friday, November 7, the day before the show. He knows that nothing good comes from 6am phone calls. It’s the news that Jagger’s voice, which was showing signs of wear and tear at Rod Laver Arena two nights earlier, has deteriorated. Gudinski wonders why this is happening. Jagger may still act like he’s a teenager, but he’s now 71. He can’t keep up both the lifestyle and the performance schedule. The Stones are cancelling Hanging Rock.

Gudinski can’t take it. This is f. ked. Totally f. ked. He deals with the barrage of the day. Dozens of calls. Refunds. Meetings. Abusive postings on social networks. It’s chaos. It’s a mess. That night he looks at his wristband. He ignores the word “Don’t” on it and gets totally pissed. The following Saturday the Stones play the Hunter Valley. It’s a great show. Gudinski is deflated. All he can think about is how great Hanging Rock would have been.

Would he tour the Stones again? He doesn’t think they’ll ever return to Australia but says he’ll be disappointed if they do and he’s not the promoter. And did he and Frontier make money on the tour?

“We didn’t make a fortune, but I’m certainly not in the club of people who lost money on a Rolling Stones tour,” Gudinski says. “It knocked me around a lot and we didn’t make as much as we should have. But if the tour had been cancelled I’m not sure that it would have ever happened again. Those first three minutes on the phone to Gongaware were crucial. That’s where I really came into my own.”


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A  cancelled   Stones' gig hurts .............. Deeply .


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Re: Michael Gudinski: the Rolling Stones tour was an epic gamble
Reply #2 - Jul 25th, 2015 at 10:02am
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You wanna talk epic gamble?
www.maxlugar.com
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Re: Michael Gudinski: the Rolling Stones tour was an epic gamble
Reply #3 - Jul 25th, 2015 at 10:27am
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Good article, thanks for sharing it.

It was a real shame about Hanging Rock being cancelled a second time.  That would have been an amazing setting for a Stones gig.
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Re: Michael Gudinski: the Rolling Stones tour was an epic gamble
Reply #4 - Jul 25th, 2015 at 11:01am
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Great read...not sure that i would be able to take an entire book of it though...

I certainly wish him luck with it.

I only wish this entire Aussie tour(s) debacle  could have been on film!! It would have been like a Gimme Shelter II...death, tragedy, dispair...will they/won't they...the highs/lows...actual headlines...rumors...lawsuits...psychological profiles...the obligatory "no comments"...and that blazing 3 minutes between it's cancelled and it's postponed...a total shit-an-effin-brick moment for him, I am sure! The anit-climatical cancellation of Hanging Rock...then the completion of the tour...EPIC!!

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Re: Michael Gudinski: the Rolling Stones tour was an epic gamble
Reply #5 - Jul 26th, 2015 at 11:39am
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That was a very good article. I always like to peak behind the scenes at how things work for a Stones tour. Never ceases to amaze me the huge entourage they have. No wonder why tickets are so expensive. Everybody needs to get paid.
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Re: Michael Gudinski: the Rolling Stones tour was an epic gamble
Reply #6 - Jul 28th, 2015 at 9:19pm
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Well maybe if Australian promoters had been more accomadating to the Stones over the years it may not have happened. Gudinski's rep' is overblown. He's a greedy, money grabbing git! And Hanging Rock is a total shit hole. It's out in the middle of fucking nowhere, it's Deliverance time. Altamont just waiting to happen all over again.
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