The remarkable rise over fifteen years of the Lytham duo, Daniel Cuffe and Peter Taylor has been fully charted, described and told in the Guardian this weekend. The article, written by Deborah Linton, maps the local duo’s amazing journey from being asked to help out at the Lowther Pavilion to running headline events at six major venues – the Piece Hall in Halifax, Cardiff Castle, Chepstow Racecourse, Bedford Concerts, Scarborough and Lytham – and then extending their reach to national arena tours, major theatres and top venues throughout the UK.
The Guardian article shares how it all began for Cuffe and Taylor back in 2008. At that time, Daniel Cuffe was studying sound engineering, whilst his best friend Peter Taylor was running a hotel on the Promenade and dabbling in local theatre. It was then that they were separately roped in to help with a charity production of the musical Copacabana at Lytham’s Lowther Pavilion – a show which was assisting in the aim to save the venue from demolition.
Two years later, in 2010, the local council approached Peter Taylor to evaluate tenders for the Lytham Proms. Priced out by large events firms, Cuffe and Taylor instead offered to take the project on in partnership with the council. They found an orchestra, and a phone number for soprano Lesley Garrett, and secured her as top billing for 4,000 people picnicking on the village green.
Peter Taylor remembers, ‘It was a bit of fencing and a stage. We thought: ‘How hard can it be?’’
‘Famous last words,’ adds Daniel Cuffe. ‘Turns out it’s ridiculously complicated.’
Taylor recalls in the Guardian: ‘We had no strategy and no money. We thought you just rang an act up and they’d come and do it. I did the VAT returns and designed posters in Photoshop. Dan drew a site plan and filled out spreadsheets. We built the fences ourselves.’
The Guardian says that their naivety paid off. ‘We made £10,000,’ said Cuffe. ‘We met the next day and thought: ‘Let’s just do it 10 times again.’’
Taylor gave up the hotel and they signed up for a three-day proms event the following year. They took on staff and paid interns and ran a ticketing office from Cuffe’s mum’s dance and drama school. The Guardian then recounts their incredible journey to 2023.
The Guardian concludes their full story about Cuffe and Taylor by saying: This summer, they have 64 outdoor shows and 1,000 nights of theatre. But there’s still a wishlist of acts that they’d love to get to the seaside. ‘I’m a kid of the 90s,’ says Taylor, ‘I’ve tried to get Take That to our festival more times than I care to remember.’ And Cuffe? ‘The obvious. Oasis. I’d take them getting back together but it’d be the icing on top, and the cherry, if they played Lytham.’
To read the full, detailed Guardian article about the Lytham duo, Daniel Cuffe and Peter Taylor, go to: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/may/26/lytham-st-annes-peter-taylor-daniel-cuffe-britney-kylie-scarborough
