One of the many things ITB offers to clients is decades of experience – and not just in booking shows. We also offer the service of promoting shows. And when it comes to producing and promoting major live events, Annette Robinson has seen it all. Although to be honest, few of the thousands of great artists she’s worked with carry more prestige than her very first. “My first job as a teenager was a secretary to the chairman at the Beatles management company NEMS, in 1968,” she says. “On my first ever day I walked home with a promo copy of Abbey Road, which I’ve still got.”
She moved on from there to the production company that later became Showsec, before Barry Dickins, an old friend she knew from her native Essex, offered her the role of his assistant at MAM.
Annette began to focus on the shows Barry was promoting, with the result that she joined her boss when he set up ITB in 1978, in time to put on iconic shows such as ELO’s Out of The Blue tour (where they emerged from a spaceship) and Six ABBA Wembley shows.
She took a break from the job in 1980 to get married and have her daughter, but returned to production and promotion on a freelance basis.
Naturally, working in production, you have to expect the unexpected, as Annette learned one night in 1983 when working with ITB acts Diana Ross, who was playing at Wembley Arena, and comedienne Joan Rivers, performing a recorded TV special at Drury Lane theatre the same evening.
“I was at Wembley and our production man from Joan Rivers called us from Drury Lane. The camera crew kept stopping the show for the TV, and a lot of people, who had paid for the best seats, couldn’t see because of the telly cameras, and they were in uproar. He said ‘I’ve locked myself in the toilets, and I can’t get out. The building’s surrounded, the police are here, and the crowd have gone berserk!’ I think Barry had to go over there in the end to smooth things out!”
She later returned to ITB in a permanent capacity in time to work on shows such as Michael Jackson’s 1992 Cardiff Arms Park show – which was nearly abandoned mid-show due to torrential rain. “There was horizontal rain on the night and we had to stop the show, mop up the stage with towels while Michael was singing, ‘cos it was like an ice rink.”
Still, such traumatic memories are far outweighed by the experience of working with some of her heroes.
“Promoting artists like Neil Young, who I’ve always loved, is such a privilege,” she says. “Just feeling part of a production that makes such a special experience for people – it’s a great feeling.”
First gig that blew me away
“The Roundhouse in Camden used to have pop proms on a Sunday, and I remember seeing Jimi Hendrix there. That was incredible.”
Pre-show drink
“We don’t tend to drink during the show – too much to keep an eye on! But afterwards I’ll have a vodka and tonic, thanks!
Non-musical passion
“I love antique fairs and collecting vintage stuff – always have done.”
