FROM U2 to AC/DC, Jake Berry’s worked with them all. Now he’s taken Batman under his wing, he tells Entertainment Editor Gordon Barr.
FOR decades now, Jake Berry has worked with some of the biggest names in the music business, co-ordinating tours for the likes of the Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, AC/DC and U2, to name but a few.There is little he hasn’t done when putting stage shows together.
But even he, after all these years, can't contain his excitement at the thought of Batman making the giant leap from comic book to arena.
Jake is the technical manager for the Batman Live World Arena Tour, which comes to Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena from July 27 to 31 next year.
“From my aspect the process has been phenomenal,” he tells me as we chat at DC Comics HQ in Manhattan.
"I'm working for the biggest comic book hero right now, Batman. How great is that?
“I think it has all the ingredients of being something totally special.
"Nick (Grace, producer) and I have been through a few family experiences, such as with Walking With Dinosaurs, and I think as a family night out we know what to give a family, know what not to give and where we have to stop and draw the line.
“When you acquaint this to myself working with some of the biggest stars, in some respects because this is so totally new and so totally different, there is an air of pure excitement and of ‘let's go and do it’ because it is that cool.
“You see the enthusiasm and passion that comes from here (DC Comics). It would be very hard to see how it could go wrong.
“It is going to be pretty spectacular and a massive production and we've really gone out of our way to get the right people we feel as a group can work collectively.”
Tickets for Batman Live go on general sale tomorrow, although Chronicle readers have been able to take advantage of a special pre-sale from today.
Newcastle will be only the second city in the world to host the show and Jake is looking forward to returning to the Toon.
“I’ve been around the block a few times,” he admits.
“I had long associations with the City Hall and Mayfair. I was there with AC/DC when the place caught on fire.
“We were loading in the show there. I was also with them when Brian (Johnson) got the gig with them. He still owes me £10 for a loan of fuel to get the car home!
“I’m just this kid from Devon. One of my school teachers said ‘You will never make anything of your life Berry’.
“So I guess if being a production manager for U2, the Rolling Stones, Tina, Cher, AC/DC and Metallica is a failure, then I don’t want to know what success is all about.”
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