KENDAL CALLING’s 15th anniversary will be marked with the unveiling of two new stages within a newly created zone named Carneville. Festival co-founder Andy Smith says it will be an immersive funfair destination. “We are moving a lot of things around on the site this year and creating Carneville; a…
Read moreWOMAD director Chris Smith says a large part of the 40,000-capacity event will be powered by mains electricity for the first time this year, in partnership with the green energy company supplier and event sponsor Ecotricity. Smith says around a third of the festival’s main arena, the backstage areas and…
Read moreBOOMTOWN FAIR (cap. 66,000) will feature two news stages this year and include a new multi-stage show that will take place throughout the duration of the festival and across five stages. The biggest of the new outdoor stage areas will be a 4,000-capacity space dedicated to hip hop and grime…
Read moreAMERICANA AND country music festival Black Deer has been extended to a third day this year. Attendance at the inaugural event in 2018 was 3,000, the following year that rose to 10,000 and organisers expect 17,000 at the forthcoming 19 to 21 June event. “We have hit the ground running…
Read moreAS PART of the management team which has assumed control of ‘80s-themed festival brand Rewind from radio group Global, the event’s founder says it is being taken “back to its roots”. Rewind was the last festival asset that Global, whose radio stations include Capital, LBC and Classic FM, divested after…
Read moreA festival site can switch from being a green field utopia to hellish mud bath within hours if bad weather hits. Fortunately, the industry has a wealth of experienced infrastructure suppliers dedicated to making things run as smoothly as possible, come rain or shine. Christopher Barrett reports The festival market…
Read moreInspired by Leeds club night Back2Basics in 2006, while studying at Newcastle University, Jonny Edwards ran club nights and live shows for students and then at Digital, where audiences reached 2,000. Relocating to London in 2015 and seeing an opportunity for a festival in a Brixton park, he launched GALA…
Read moreKerry Marks’ dream of establishing an all-inclusive music and family event has been hard-earned. Launching Meraki Festival in 2017, the St Albans event attracted 4,500 people in the first year, and with line-ups including Tony Hadley, Bonnie Tyler, 10cc and All Saints, grew to 7,500 last year. This year features…
Read moreGLOBAL PROMOTER AEG Presents has launched a new European Festivals arm to grow its presence in the festival market, appointing Jim King as CEO of the division. King, previously the company’s executive vice-president of live music, oversees events such as British Summer Time (65,000) in London’s Hyde Park, headlined this…
Read moreLONDON-BASED EVENTS payment and point-of-sale business Lolly has joined forces with digital ordering app developer Preoday to build a system which it says will allow traders to make real-time offers to customers and reduce queues at festivals. By using the system, its clients – event caterers and concessions who work…
Read moreDESPITE REPORTS that radio conglomerate Global had fully divested its festival assets this year (see LIVE UK Issue 233), it appears that the ‘80s-themed Rewind brand remains under the company’s ownership, The three events – Rewind South (cap. 40,000) in Henley, Rewind Scotland (30,00) in Perth and Rewind North (20,000)…
Read moreTHE GLAMPING Show, expects to attract about 200 festival organisers out of its overall attendance of 3,500. According to organiser Swan Events, festivals are an important part of the sector with Glastonbury (cap. 147,500) Cornbury (14,000) and Larmer Tree (5,000) among those using glamping to provide VIP and family facilities…
Read moreThe COMPANY behind 5,000-capacity Electric Fields, Rocksevents Ltd, has gone into liquidation following the departure of key backers last year and a failed attempt to relocate the festival. The event moved from Drumlanrig Castle near Dumfries to 2,500-capacity event space SWG3 in Glasgow. Rocksevents was run by the festival’s co-founders…
Read moreTHE TRADE body representing the manufacturers of bottled gas has called on festival organisers to crack down on the illegal use of Nitrous Oxide (N2O) – also known as laughing gas – by preventing the substance from getting onsite. The appeal by the British Compressed Gases Association (BCGA) particularly highlights…
Read moreTWO SEPARATE festival sustainability initiatives have revealed the extent of diesel pollution at festivals and appealed for funding for resources to help the industry make 50 per cent carbon emission cuts by 2025. The first report, issued by environment sustainability businesses Hope Solutions and Zap Concepts, reveals that the UK…
Read moreSound engineer Mathew Podd launched Happy Days in 2011 with ex-police officer and bar operator Chris Holding, and session guitarist Eddie Cox. What they saw as a “no-brainer” became a baptism of fire, before the event began to attract more than 6,000 people per year, featuring artistes ranging from Tony…
Read moreTHE MD of Showsec, Mark Harding, is standing down as chairperson of the UK Crowd Management Association (UKCMA) after 10 years in the position, to be replaced by Eric Stuart, director of crowd management and training company Gentian Events. Meanwhile, Steve Blake of Storm4Events will join Tony Ball of Show…
Read moreDRINKS COMPANY Mast-Jaegermeister UK has continued its partnership with All Points East (cap. 40,000), re-designing its JägerHaus venue at the event. Jägermeister UK head of events Samantha Green says the venue, which has its own artiste line-up, attracted 60,000 attendances over the 10 days of the festival last year, as…
Read moreFOLLOWING DEMAND for greater sustainability from festivals, including last year’s Drastic on Plastic campaign by the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), ID&C has launched a new wristband made from recycled plastic bottles. In addition, it has devised a new locking mechanism for the band made primarily of bamboo, reducing the…
Read moreA REPORT by parliament’s Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS) Committee into Live Music has called for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate competition in the festival sector. This follows evidence it heard from the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), which pointed out that Live Nation Entertainment controls…
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