SIX YEARS AGO
The Day the Music Stopped... and Terra Nueva Began
Even though I had been working in the music, movie, motorsport, and entertainment Industry for nearly forty years, six years ago today, House of Tours Global was born. At the time, I believed I was launching a new company. Looking back now, I realise I was also planting the seed for something much bigger. That seed has grown into Terra Nueva. When COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill, the live entertainment industry faced an unprecedented crisis. Tours disappeared overnight. Festivals were cancelled. Venues closed their doors. Theatres fell silent.
For many people, it meant missing their favourite band. For those of us who work behind the scenes, it meant something far greater. Thousands of artists, musicians, crew members, truck drivers, bus operators, freight companies, production suppliers, venues and freelancers suddenly had no way of earning a living.
The music had stopped.
Rather than asking "When will things get back to normal?", I found myself asking a different question. "How do we keep live entertainment alive when people can't attend live events?" That question became the driving force behind House of Tours Global.
My vision wasn't simply to create another logistics company. It was to build a trusted network that brought together some of the very best people and companies across the live entertainment industry under one philosophy...One Call Gets It All.
At exactly the same time, another challenge presented itself. If audiences couldn't come to the shows... Could we take the shows to the audience?
Working alongside the incredible team at Pytch, we built our own professional livestream platform from the ground up, complete with integrated ticketing, a secure paywall and broadcast-quality production. At a time when most people were still hoping lockdowns would only last a few weeks, we were investing in what we believed could help keep artists performing and the wider touring ecosystem working. Our first livestream featured four outstanding British rock bands—Hollowstar, Wolf Jaw, False Hearts and Black Tree Vultures—and showcased the initial freight, trucking, bus and production partners that made House of Tours Global possible at that time.
The objective was never simply to livestream concerts. It was to create income. To keep crews employed. To keep suppliers visible. To keep artists connected with their audiences. To remind people that live entertainment was still alive. Over the months that followed, we continued producing livestream events, including UK Metal Merger at KK's Steel Mill, while constantly challenging ourselves to think beyond the immediate crisis. We explored concepts for socially distanced nightclub "safe zones", discussed broadcasting club nights directly into people's homes, and held conversations about bringing West End productions into film studios for premium livestream broadcasts. We even explored hybrid theatre productions that combined socially distanced audiences with global online viewing.
Not every idea reached the finish line. But that was never the point. Every conversation pushed us to ask a bigger question. "What if live entertainment didn't have to be limited by the walls of a venue?" That question became the birth of what I later called the Triple Live Experience. One performance. Three audiences. The people inside the venue. The people watching around the world. And, ultimately, people will experience that same performance through immersive digital technologies.
At the time, it sounded ambitious. Today, thanks to advances in virtual production, volumetric capture, gaming technology and artificial intelligence, it feels closer than ever. Looking back, it's clear that Terra Nueva wasn't a sudden idea. It evolved naturally from everything we were trying to achieve during the pandemic.
House of Tours Global taught me the power of collaboration. The livestreams proved that audiences were willing to experience live entertainment in new ways. The Triple Live Experience showed that technology could enhance live events without replacing them. Together, those ideas became the foundation of Terra Nueva.
Today, House of Tours Global continues to do exactly what it set out to do—connecting artists, production companies, freight specialists, logistics providers and trusted partners through one collaborative network. Terra Nueva takes that same philosophy one step further. It asks how music, film, gaming, immersive technology and community can work together to create new opportunities and new revenue streams for everyone involved. It isn't about replacing live entertainment. It's about strengthening it.
Six years ago, we were responding to a global crisis. Today, we're doing it again and building for the future.
House of Tours Global was the beginning.
Terra Nueva is the evolution.
And somehow, I think we're only just getting started.