Tsunami Relief Cardiff 20 years on

The event marks one of the most important nights ever held at the Stadium, in response to one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history.

On the eve of this anniversary, we sit down with two members of staff working at the stadium and charged with delivering the huge event in a matter of weeks which ultimately raised over £1.25m for the areas decimated by the tsunami.

On 26 December 2004, at 7.58 am local time a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 Mw struck with an epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake was caused by a rupture along the fault between the Burma plate and the Indian plate.

Waves of up to 30 metres (100 feet) were produced by the ensuing tsunami, which devastated communities along the surrounding coasts of the Indian Ocean and killed an estimated 227,898 people in 14 countries. Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives bore the brunt of the devastation.

It was an event that rocked the world as everyone watched in horror as buildings, people and animals were swept away by the unstoppable surge of water. Paul Sergeant who was CEO of the Millennium Stadium, as it was named at the time, saw it all unfold from his Cardiff home and, as the CEO of the Millennium Stadium, felt he had to do something to help.

The question was, what? He paced up and down, thought about the possibilities and finally discussed the situation with his colleagues. Then, over a beer in a Cardiff bar with music impresario Pablo Janczur, who was the director of the Brecon Jazz festival, our days after the carnage the intrepid pair dreamed up the idea of staging a concert.

“It really was initially a back of a beer mat plan. Pablo thought I was nuts but he said he was up for the challenge as we came up with an estimate cost budget of around £50,000,” said Sergeant, who these days has risen to the rank of Executive Vice President, Operations Asia & The Gulf Region or the world’s leading venue management and producer of live event experiences, ASM Global.

“We had the stadium, but we only had three weeks to organise any event because of clashes with other dates in the diary. There was a window of a single day – Saturday 22 January.

“We both thought we needed a big name to make quick progress. After getting a headline act we felt things might fall into place, although without a quick decision we were up against it.

“I had become pretty close to the Beckhams, so on New Year’s Eve I rang and spoke to Victoria’s mum Jackie to see if Victoria would be willing to help out. Jackie phoned me back later that afternoon and said that although Victoria would love to do it, she couldn’t because she was eight months pregnant.”

Time was running out. Events of this magnitude normally take months to arrange, but that wasn’t possible.

Sergeant wanted to use the massive media coverage of the disaster to give momentum to possible ticket sales and in desperation he leaked the prospect of a concert to see how much interest there was. The response was huge.

Yet nine days on from his bar room planning session with Pablo there were still short of a headline act however, Welsh band, Goldie Lookin Chain and opera singer Katherine Jenkins had given them a good start by agreeing to perform.

“To stand any chance of success we needed an A-lister, and quickly! South Wales Police told me they couldn’t support the concert anymore because they had a statutory requirement to give police officers a two-week warning if they were going to cancel holidays and roster additional days.

“They gave us a two-hour window to let them know if we were going to go ahead or not. We hit the phones and with seven minutes to go to our deadline, Eric Clapton’s manager called and said he would do the show.

“The confirmation fax came through at 2.58pm. I rang back South Wales Police to say the show was on. We were up and running!”

While the legendary guitarist Eric Clapton and his agent will be high on Sergeant’s toast list on Wednesday night, so too will be Pablo and his WRU colleagues Rupert Moon, then commercial manger, and Alex Luff, Principality Stadium’s current Head of Event Sales & Operations.

With Clapton as the headliner, and four other acts confirmed, tickets went on sale. The public reaction was amazing.

Although only five acts had been confirmed when the tickets went on sale the next day, 21,000 were bought within the first hour and the event was a sell-out in three days. Eventually, 66,000 fans turned up for what was the biggest music charity event since Live Aid.

“It was a monumental ask, but one that I will always be proud of.” adds, Alex Luff.

“The entire business came together to pull off something remarkable. There was a collaborative attitude from day one, it was extremely special and the camaraderie that was felt amongst everyone involved was something that has stuck with me.

“We’d all been rocked by the news footage and that feeling of helplessness quickly turned to utter determination to pull this off to raise as much money as we could for the relief fund.

“As soon as we secured that headliner, we were away. It was a global event, attracting global attention. It was relatively early in my 20-year career at this iconic stadium and there were many sleepless nights, but worth every second.

“We get to work across some spectacular events and brilliant people in this job but to play a part in delivering such as important event that’s had a lasting positive impact on people, was a privilege.”
Sergent adds, “It was an event and a moment in my life that has stayed with me all these years. I wasn’t sure at the start how much money we would make, and the main concern was to break even.

“When we were ultimately able to hand over a cheque of £1.25m to the Department of Overseas Emergencies I was full of pride. From where we had started and given the short period of time we had to put everything together, it was an amazing team effort.

“Everyone gave their services for free. Eric Clapton drove himself to the stadium, took his guitar out of the boot, went on stage and then drove home. The band Keane flew back from Spain and slept overnight in their car because they didn’t want to incur any costs.

“And the bill of the ‘Green Room’ where the stars were able to relax and have a drink came to £130 – unheard of!”

The seven-hour event, which was broadcast by the BBC, certainly helped to put Wales on the global map and relaunched the stadium as a must-play destination. For Sergeant, it also led to him being put forward for an OBE.

He became one of the most recognizable figures in Welsh life as he was featured in every promotional event wearing what became known as his trademark tsunami jumper. The multi-coloured knitwear became synonymous with the concert.

“It was pretty cold being January and I went into my office, where I always kept a few jumpers, and picked up the multi-coloured one. I wore it for that launch press conference and then kept on using it.

“It seemed to strike a chord with the Welsh public and the rest, as they say, is history. The support from the public was amazing.

“I loved my near four year stay at the Millennium Stadium and was proud of what the staff achieved there during that time. But the Tsunami Relief Concert stands out for me.

“That’s why I’ll be raising a glass to everyone who was involved and took part this week to commemorate the 20th anniversary.”

Watch ‘The Impossible Show: Tsunami Relief Concert’ at 8.00pm on Wednesday, 22 January on BBC Cymru Wales and BBC iPlayer.