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Red Bull Music Festival
Amplify + Red Bull program an epic London line-up...
Challenge
Amplify were challenged to create and produce 11 events across 4 weeks featuring 100 artists, each with their own independent and unique look and feel, to launch the first ever Red Bull Music Festival in London.
Insight + Strategy
London celebrates diversity, from its people to the musical scenes and cultures that populate it. It’s a city with a wealth of talent and a DIY attitude that is part of its DNA.
Celebrate the sounds and scenes of London, past and present, with events that truly tap into London’s home grown talent. We had to make sure we were authentic to the artists and scenes involved whilst also staying true to the brand and wider festival programming.
Solution
Red Bull Music Festival.
This was the first time that Red Bull’s Music Festival came to London, having previously taken over New York, Sao Paolo, LA and Tokyo, and we launched a month of unbelievable activity to celebrate the unique diversity of sounds, scenes and cultures that have shaped the capital. Amplify produced a program of 11 events that represented all corners of the city, from live gigs, conceptual shows and club nights to panel talks that focussed on the state of culture today.
Across the festival we made sure that each event was designed and built authentically around the culture being celebrated in each show. We wanted to explore the long-running histories of emerging scenes.
For example, in the lead up to Notting Hill Carnival, we held a conversation with Dancehall legend Spice at an iconic venue in the area, with a stage design taking inspiration from her music and home in Jamaica. At the British Library, we sat down for a panel talk hosted by Kieran Yates and featuring Wretch 32, AM and Bridget Minamore. They discussed and celebrated the multicultural voices across London’s streets and the way language has evolved. Sitting in front of a banner that depicted Chaucer, Shakespeare and Austen, they represent the new generation of London storytellers.
The ‘Round Robin’ event saw 15 artists come together. Pairing up two at a time, they shared the stage for 20 minutes to improvised duets across different genres from the post-industrial influences of Factory Floor’s Nik Colk Void to hip-hop infused jazz from Ezra Collective’s Femi Koleoso. Setting up the stage to accommodate how each musician works best, the night was an exciting range of different approaches to London sounds.
We also paid homage to early days of UK Garage with a Sunday afternoon rave in Great Suffolk Street Car park for over 500 guests. Shining a light on the past and present of the Garage scene, headline sets by So Solid Crew and Ms Dynamite were supported by a new wave of talent. To pay homage to the history of the scene, we curated an exhibition that included classic cars, imagery, records and tapes from the 90s that provided context to the history of the genre.