Gemma Muirhead is one of our Client Account Managers based in Glasgow. Gemma joined Ticketmaster at the start of this year following 11 years at Hampden Park, so we did a Q&A to get to know her a little better…
What was the first venue you ever worked at and what was your role?
The first venue I worked at was the O2 Academy, Glasgow (then known as the Carling Academy) where I worked on the bars.
Since then I’ve worked in various live music venues around Glasgow in various roles from bar work, cloakrooms and chargehand through to Supervisor.
My most significant role in a venue has been working at Hampden Park, Scotland’s National Stadium where I started on Reception and then moved from Debenture Services Assistant to Debenture Services Manager
What was your favourite part of the job?
The favourite part of my job was the buzz and atmosphere on event days. There is absolutely nothing like it. Being part of the fan experience and seeing the look on people’s faces when they are seeing their favourite artist or team is amazing
What was the most memorable event you’ve worked on?
There are so many to mention and all for different reasons. In terms of the unusual set ups at the venue and unusual stages, the U2 360 tour (2009), Beyonce – The Formation World Tour (2016) and The Commonwealth Games at Hampden Park (2014) stick out the most.
The U2 – 360 Tour was fantastic to see being installed in the Stadium bowl, Beyonce had the biggest staging set up we had ever had on the pitch at Hampden Park and it looked amazing, and watching the Commonwealth Games turning a football stadium into an Athletics Stadium was fantastic to see.
How does your venue experience help you in your current role?
I feel my venue experience and live event experience helps me massively in my current role as Client Account Manager as I know where the venue is coming from and what they are looking to achieve. It helps me see the bigger picture and I feel this puts me in a great position to help venue clients get the best out of Ticketmaster to achieve their goals, I know what it takes to prepare and put on an event at a venue.
Why do you think venues are so important?
I think venues are a massive part of the whole experience for the customer. You want people to enjoy their event from the moment they buy their ticket to the journey home from the event and everything in between, and the venue have a huge part to play in this. Venues have such an important role in providing the best customer experience possible and with that helping to create memories that will last a lifetime for the fans.
