CONCERT promoter Geoff Ellis believes a “change in the language” used around Covid messaging from the Scottish Government will convince more people it is safe to attend events.

The chief executive of DF Concerts and Events, Scotland’s leading promoter and event management company, said: “There is a pent-up demand but there is still a fear of going out.

“People listen to Government advice in Scotland more than I thought they ever would. When you are told not to meet in big groups… that is a mountain we need to overcome, and I hope there is good news in the coming weeks.”

Speaking on the Go Radio Business Show With Hunter & Haughey, Mr Ellis reiterated the much-anticipated TRNSMT event in Glasgow last September did not lead to a spike in transmission of Covid-19, even though 50,000 people attended each day.

“Restrictions are one thing, but the language is another,” he said.

Mr Ellis, who started his career as an entertainments manager at Middlesex Polytechnic – where he booked The Stone Roses for one of their first concerts in London – before going to the famous Marquee Club, moved to Glasgow in 1992 to join DF Concerts as promoter of the company’s legendary venue King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut after seeing the job advertised in Music Week.

He later created T in the Park, the internationally renowned music festival that started life at Strathclyde Park in 1994 before moving to a site at Balado, near Kinross, where it remained for 17 years. “At that point there was really only Glastonbury and Reading,” he noted.

Asked by show host Donald Martin, editor of The Herald and The Herald on Sunday, how T in the Park started, Mr Ellis said: “We didn’t want to give up on promoting acts at venues like the Barrowland and SECC, but we wanted something where we had control.”

Paying tribute to the support of lager brand Tennent’s and its former marketing boss Mark Hunter who was responsible for sponsoring the event, he said: “Tennent’s and T in the Park became the longest-ever music sponsorship programme – we ran for 23 years.

“It was longer than Barclaycard’s sponsorship of The Brits. From a business perspective it changed the landscape. Loads of brands are now involved in music sponsorship.”

Asked by Lord Haughey how significant the Hydro venue in Glasgow has been to the music industry in Scotland, Mr Ellis said: “It’s been huge. When we are not in a pandemic, the Hydro is usually in the top three worldwide for arena sales.

“It is purpose-built for concerts – it is much more family-friendly as a venue, you can get bigger productions in, whereas the halls at the SECC[now called the Scottish Event Campus] were built for conferences and exhibitions.”

Upcoming events on the DF Concerts and Events roster include TRNSMT at Glasgow Green in July, and the Summer Sessions series in Edinburgh and Dundee. Mr Ellis also revealed the Connect event previously held in Inveraray in 2007/08 is to be relaunched this year “closer to an urban environment”. Details are due to be announced towards the end of this month.

The man who has brought the biggest names in music to Scotland was put on the spot by Sir Tom Hunter, who asked him to name his own personal “best” gig. “The Who at T in the Park,” he answered. “Townsend was known for smashing up guitars at the end of a gig but here he was, smiling and hugging Daltry, saying this was better than Woodstock.”