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The Future of Live Events Could Look Like Friends

The Future of Live Events Could Look Like Friends

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In early 2020, Jonathan Mayers and his three partners at concert promoter Superfly made a well-timed sale of their stake in Bonnaroo, the Tennessee music festival they’d founded in 2002. The proceeds helped the company to weather the worst year for live music since at least World War II, and also to invest in a new project: in-person experiences set in the worlds of popular movies and TV shows.

Following test runs with shows including Seinfeld and The Office , Superfly will open the Friends Experience in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park neighborhood in March, charging fans $49.50 for a 45-minute trip through re-creations of the sitcom’s two main apartment sets and more. The company plans to expand into fantasy and other genres, combining flagship operations in cities such as New York and London with 60- to 90-day pop-up stints elsewhere.

The Future of Live Events Could Look Like Friends

Mayers spoke with Bloomberg Businessweek about the past and future of live entertainment. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

How would you describe the last 10 months in live music?
It’s been a s--- show. It’s come to a standstill. I’m hopeful we’ll see some in late 2021.

When did you know the pandemic would be a total freeze, as opposed to a brief shutdown?
In the second week of March, I had no understanding of what the next 10 months would look like. I thought we’d work from home for a couple weeks. The universe speaks, and you have to adapt. It’s been a challenging but productive and fruitful period for me and my team.

What’s been your hardest decision?
We were planning on opening our flagship of the Friends Experience in May. We were 90% done with construction and a couple weeks away from announcing it. We had to pause. We couldn’t even continue construction.

What is the Friends Experience?
In 2019, with Warner Brothers, we did a proof-of-concept licensing of Friends for its 25th anniversary. We dropped a 30-day pop-up shop in New York; we sold out 50,000 tickets in two hours with one social media post. It was $30. We re-created Joey and Chandler’s apartment, Monica and Rachel’s apartment. We had props and costumes. And you exit through the gift shop. I took it to Boston in 2019. We crushed it—we sold 65,000 tickets. Then I retreated. I knew we had something.

How do you make it Covid-safe?
You take a temperature check as you enter. You have to wear a mask. It’s small groups of people. We have social distance markers and hand sanitizing stations throughout. Monica from Friends is a clean freak. We call it our Monica rules.

Are you still comfortable going ahead in March?
Right now we are, but you monitor every day. If you are booking a festival with 100 bands, it’s tough to move. This show isn’t going out of style.

You started Superfly in 1996 with some friends from college. What was your vision?
I was a New York kid. I interned at the New Orleans Jazz Fest and fell in love. I was an entrepreneur and liked organizing. I did the first show under the name Superfly at Tipitina’s. My first job out of college was booking that venue.

When did you start to realize the market for music festivals was too crowded?
At least five years ago. We saw a lot of festivals with great lineups springing up. Fifteen years ago it was Bonnaroo, Coachella, Lollapalooza. Jazz Fest was the grandfather. At the beginning, Bonnaroo was successful because people traveled from all over the country and the world. But that’s changed.

Are these entertainment-based experiences the main way you’re rethinking your business?
This is the direction. It’s one I’ve been focused on for years. I’m going to license top-tier intellectual property in TV and film and expand into music and gaming. After the Bonnaroo deal, I did some soul- searching and went out into the world and saw experiential products out there. I went to [art collectives] TeamLab in Japan and Meow Wolf [in Santa Fe, N.M.]. I visited all the different theme parks. I wanted to step back from working year-round for a three-day event. I wanted to be in business 365 days and go into a more controlled environment.

Did you see any of the virtual concerts that popped up in the past year?
[The Belgian electronic music festival] Tomorrowland—I liked the user experience. It felt like a show as you navigate between stages. Others have felt like what I’ve seen before. Streamed festivals, we’ve been doing it for years. It’s cool, but it’s not the same.

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