Confessions of a Female Tour Manager: In conversation with Kim Hawes
Wednesday 16 June
11.15am - 12.15pm
Confessions of a Female Tour Manager: In conversation with Kim Hawes
A genuine trailblazer, Kim Hawes broke new ground for women in the music industry, tour managing some of the biggest bands in the world across a rollercoaster 30-year career. At a time when there were very few women working at the top end of the live sector, Kim pioneered an uncompromising pathway which challenged the largely male dominated structures of the time and saw her reach the very top! Join us as she sits down with tour manager Olly Long for a gripping journey through some of rock 'n' roll’s true champions of debauchery, to Kim’s career as a writer, and her passion for supporting the next wave of young women looking to enter the industry!
Speaker: Kim Hawes
Chair: Olly Long
Chair
Olly Long
Tour Manager / Production Manager, XpoNorth
Olly has been working as Tour Manager and Audio Engineer in the live music industry for 20 years with acts including The Ting Tings, Jessie Ware, Lamb & Nadine Shah. Undertaking tours across the globe as part of top-ten album campaigns with experience of working for crowds of 50 to 50,000 he has garnered a reputation as one of the UK’s leading live-music sector specialists. During the coronavirus pandemic and an enforced period of shutdown for the live music industry, Olly joined XpoNorth in the role of online Production Manager utilising those years of experience to help develop and produce the 2020 and 2021 live digital conferences.
Speakers
Kim Hawes
Author/ Music Industry Pioneer
Kim Hawes has worked in the music industry for over 30 years with some of the biggest and baddest bands there are. She blagged her way into working merchandise for Elvis Costello which led to a job merching Rush all around Europe. She spent many years sleeping underneath Lemmy from Motorhead….on a tour bus. She toured with Black Sabbath just as Ronnie James Dio entered the band and they unleashed Heaven & Hell on the world. She threw Madonna of her stage, turned Courtney Love down, had to say no to Nelson Mandela, and had to deal with the aftermath of Chumbawumba drenching the deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. Yes there are tales of Sex, Drugs & Rock’N’Roll, debauchery and fights, suitcases full of cash and Hells Angels….there might even be a TV thrown out of a window, but Kim’s story is so so much more.
