As the live events industry begins to emerge from the catastrophic effects of COVID-19, we at TPi believe that it is the ideal time to give our beloved magazine a bit of a facelift. The more observant of you will have already noticed that as well as a slick new design, this issue is marked ‘September/October’. No, this is not a misprint… we are taking TPi bimonthly.
This decision has been taken for a multitude of reasons. However, the first and most important thing to note is that each issue moving forward will essentially be a double edition, so there will be no drop-off in the quantity of articles or the quality of coverage. On the contrary, this change has been made to give the TPi team more time to do more site visits, both in the UK and internationally, covering the biggest and best productions in even greater detail.
As well as a more in-depth print publication, the bimonthly cycle will also allow us to put even greater resources into our digital offering, with more original video content, online articles and social media exclusives giving our followers genuine 360° coverage of the live events industry.
With this redesign comes several new sections in the magazine, including one that I am incredibly excited about: Feedback. While we are proud of the original content TPi produces for every issue, we are keen to welcome some new voices into the magazine. Feedback is a section that does exactly that, allowing industry thought-leaders a space to express their views on the major issues. For example, this month, James Gordon and Tony Williams discuss the difficulties facing manufacturers in 2021, with the global shortages of everything from steel to silicon chips; PSA’s Dave Keighley and Chris Parry-Jones of Gallowglass share the issues of crew shortages and The Zoo XYZ’s Nadu Placca describes the response to her Black in the Boardroom report.
Another addition to the new-look TPi will be the greater inclusion of digital event coverage. After covering everything from streaming to hybrid and virtual events for over a year-and-a-half, we want to continue to follow these stories as the technology becomes ever present within album cycles. In our September/October issue for example, we have coverage of The Heavy Music Awards – a hybrid event at O2 Forum Kentish Town.
As for the rest of the issue, it gives me great pleasure to say that in-person events are well and truly back. Jacob paid a visit to the grand opening of the O2 with the one and only Gorillaz; we took a behind-the-scenes look at The Chemical Brothers’ outstanding headline slot at Latitude; and I headed down to the Nevill Holt Opera to see how d&b audiotechnik Soundscape offered an elegant solution to bring the company’s summer season outdoors. There’s also coverage of some of the summer’s biggest festivals, from Lollapalooza to Reading & Leeds and everything in-between, in our Festival Focus section.
On behalf of the entire TPi team, thanks for your continuing support. We are so excited to start on this next chapter and, of course, get out there to see you all face-to-face again.
Until then,
Stew Hume
Editor
