The Super Tour
Transcript of The Super Tour
The Super Tour
Featuring The Black Lips & Lazzy Lung
On a tour of the incredible Middle East
With stops in Tunis, Cairo, Beirut & Iraq
The Tour: The Subar Tour is a groundbreaking tour featuring two of the best young
bands in the world, one from Atlanta, GA and the other from Beirut, Lebanon. This is a
tour that is about building bridges between people and developing understanding. Too
much of the dialogue between nations today seem to encompass threats, fear mongering
and geopolitical maneuvering. That is unfortunate because the people who live in the
world seem to only want peace and harmony. This tour is one way to show that.
The Bands: The two bands who have come together on this tour are the legendary Black
Lips from Atlanta, GA and Lazzy Lung from Beirut, Lebanon.
The Black Lips have been called by many people the best live band in the world today.
They also have numerous fans in the music world including Thom Yorke of Radiohead
who selected one of their songs on his special Election Day playlist back in 2010.
Their catchy songs and vibrant live performances they have excited fans around the
world and have been featured at festivals from Coachella, Lollapalooza in the US, to
Reading and Leeds in England, Primavera in Spain, The Big Day Out in Australia and
Rock and Coke in Istanbul, Turkey. They have also played in Japan, Russia, Mexico and
India.
They are currently getting ready to write their latest album with top producer, Mark
Ronson (Adele, Amy Winehouse, Duran, Duran) which will come out in the fall.
Beirut’s Lazzy Lung was named best band in the Middle East by Esquire Magazine ME,
and also won Rolling Stone’s Battle of the Bands in Dubai in 2011.
They will be recording for EMI/Capitol Records in April or 2012 and have solid fan
followings in Cyprus, Beirut, Doha, Abu Dabai and Dubai. They are also known for their
catchy melodies and energetic live shows.
The cities: The tour will feature stops in historic, Nicosia, Cyprus, the Mediterranean
island at the crossroads of three continents, where there’s always a new world to
discover. Exotic Beirut, Lebanon with one of the hottest nightclub scenes in the world,
Amman, Jordan, Tunis, Tunisia, Cairo, Egypt, Dubai, UAE, and finally two stops in
northern Iraq, Irbil and Sulamaniah. Two of the fastest growing cities in the world and
two of the most exciting
The plan is to start in Jordan on September, then playing dates in Cyprus, Cairo, Tunis,
Dubai and concluding with shows in Irbil and Sulimaniah in Iraqi Kurdistan followed by
a week in Beruit before one final show. There will be local acts joining the tour as
opening acts on some dates as well as plenty of time for TV and radio appearances along
the way.
The Schedule is as follows:
Black Lips Middle East Tour Dates Supporting Act Lazzy Lung of Beirut, Lebanon Sept. 16, 2012 - Amman, Jordan Venue: TBA – Promoter Sara Abu Sept. 19, 2012 - Cypress Venue: Savino Live – www.savinoliverock.com Sept. 21, 2012 - Cairo, Egypt Venue: Culturewheel www.culturewheel.com/ Sept. 23, 2012 - Tunis, Tunisia Venue: Le Squat Sept. 26, 2012 - Dubai, UAE Venue: Music Room www.themusicroomdubai.com/ Sept. 28, 2012 - Hawler, Iraq Venue: TBA Provided by Kurdish Regional Government Sept. 29, 2012 - Sulamaniah, Iraq Venue: TBA Provided by Kurdish Regional Government Oct. 5th or 6th, 2012 – Beirut, Lebanon Venue: TBA Venue and promotion by Lazzy Lung
Cairo
The Film: We will be filming the tour and the interactions between the two bands and
local people along the way. Part of the journey will be this interaction between people.
Whether getting fresh bread when the bakery opens in the morning, or playing music late
into the night.
There is currently too much misunderstanding about the region and the people who live
there. Part of the tour is about breaking down the barriers between the great people who
live in the Middle East and the wonderful people of the US. There are too many
similarities to let differences keep us apart.
By producing a film to go along with the tour, the bridge building can continue for many
years to come. Promoting the region as well as promoting understanding.
Trans-media: Throughout the tour there will be opportunities for blogging, video
blogging and traditional articles. Vice TV and their sister TV outlet Noisey will be
sending a camera crew along to make a documentary on the tour. And there will be
coverage in each of the countries as well with such well known outlets as Kurdsat in Iraq
and other top channels.
Promotional Opportunities: One of the bonuses to this tour will be the opportunities for
promotion and cross promotion. Of course the bands will be promoting themselves and
their music but there will be ample opportunities to showcase things like regional tourism
and business opportunities.
Two years ago there was a big article in the Wall Street Journal that explained that one of
the best ways that cities showcased vibrant economies was having touring performance
acts coming to town from around the world. Nothing says we are open for business and
our economy is strong than a music tour from somewhere in the world. This tour will do
that in every stop it makes. Especially at this time, when understanding is so desparately
needed in the world.
Long Term Benefits: Understanding between people and cultures is always a good
thing. When people build friendship they are more likely to find ways to work together
and create together. Tourism is an obvious industry that can benefit, but other businesses
will be helped as well. Anytime a region puts its best foot forward it is a winner for all
people who are involved.
Both bands have demonstrated the ability to garner coverage on multiple platforms. The
Black Lips have been on network TV in the US and Great Britain, on the cover of
publications like Spin and Filter, featured in Rolling Stone, NME, Billboard, Vice TV,
MTV, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Pitchfork, The Guardian, The Daily
Telegraph and almost every other newspaper around the world.
Lazzy Lung has been featured in Esquire ME, Rolling Stone, ME as well as top
American and Canadian radio stations, including NPR in the US.
The combination of real time coverage and transmedia in real time; followed by a film
that will debut at film festival afterwards gives this project the ability to promote the
region for years to come.
In terms of the fledgling music industry in the region, this can be a start to regular tours
from acts around the world. There was a time in the early eighties that the US had no
regional music venues. It was at that time that a group of young bands like REM, the Red
Hot Chili Peppers began touring the country and building up venues all over America and
Canada. Most of those venues are still around today. They have built business in their
communities and careers for international acts like the Foo Fighters, Oasis and many,
many others.
Not only that but recently a promoter mentioned to me that South America has become
one of the top concert areas in the world for big and medium acts around the world and
that this has paid off handsomely in tourist dollars. As he put it, “First the bands comes,
then the tourists and then the businesses.”
There is no reason that can’t happen around the Middle East, Which will also benefit the
bands in the region who can then go out and play music around the world.
The film and transmedia will also be helped out by local production crews. This will
again build bridges. That will also have continued benefits as the world of film is getting
more global all the time as well. Part of the goal will be to make the entire project go
global in all ways.
Vice TV: Vice is an online content provider owned by the Vice media conglomerate. The
network produces original, short-form, documentary-style video content. Subject matter
includes humanitarian issues, music, insider travel guides, and news. The creative
director of the network is Spike Jonze. They have agreed to help with press coverage and
trans-media for the tour. The Black Lips are also on Vice Records. They also have a sister
station in Noisey TV which finishes each week in the top ten as far as web TV channels
with approximately 11% of their YouTube views from the Middle East (4.4M views)
and about 4% of our views on Noisey.com (1.3M). That means this tour will achieve
massive exposure in and out of the region.
Producer: Bill Cody has made written and produced several films including the seminal
music documentary Athens, GA/Inside-Out which will be re-released by Omnivore
Recordings this fall in a 25th
Anniversary CD/DVD package with the soundtrack included
featuring The B-52’s, R.E.M. and Pylon. His films have played at nearly every major
film festival in the world including Sundance, Full Frame, Rotterdam and his debut
feature Slaves To The Underground was chosen as the opening night film at the Berlin
Film Festival. He is currently working on a feature film for producer Mark Gordon
(Saving Private Ryan, Criminal Minds, Grey’s Anatomy).