Control Room to produce World Cup concert

Wednesday October 7, 2009

In an announcement at MIPCOM in Cannes this morning, the international governing body of football FIFA will reveal details of the concert, which will feature artists from around the world performing on the eve of the tournament in June 2010.

As well as celebrating the biggest football competition on the planet, the three-hour concert will showcase the music, sport and visual pageantry of South Africa, with ticket and broadcasting proceeds from the event going toward a FIFA project to build 20 community education centres throughout Africa.

Speaking to Music Week ahead of the launch, Wall says that although the concert will not be a 24-hour event like Live Earth, it is set to break broadcasting records as a result of the number of countries who will tune in to the coverage.

“The plan is to make this the greatest live music event ever to come out of Africa,” says Wall. “We’re lining up some of the biggest stadium acts in the world to perform alongside African bands and artists, while the concert will emphasise the connection between music and sport.”

The concert will be held in the newly-renovated Orlando Stadium in Soweto, Johannesburg, where a crowd of around 50,000 is expected to witness some of the biggest stars on the planet mix with supporting artists from across the African continent and personalities from the world of football.

“We chose the venue because of the symbolic nature of Soweto,” continues Wall. “We’ve been working with FIFA for four months on this and we’re confident we’ll cover 99% of the footprint of broadcasters that are showing coverage of the World Cup itself.

“We’ve already cleared all 54 countries in Africa to take the coverage on terrestrial TV, which is the first time that’s ever been achieved.”

The June 10 concert will be broadcast live around the world from 8pm local time, with a number of US television stations also choosing to run the footage again during prime time.

“It will be a three-hour show that will be seamless in coverage, incorporating live performances, guest appearances and using FIFA’s extensive archive for on screen footage,” adds Wall.

The artist line-up will be announced at a later date.

As the executive producer of the concert, Control Room will develop the creative vision, identify broadcast partnerships, secure global sponsorships, select artists for performances and bring well-known football players, celebrities and culturally significant representatives to participate in the event.