SPLENDID

Splendid news HP Family’s Splendour Festival is expanding to a two-day event this July, taking over Nottingham’s Wollaton Hall and Deer Park. D The family-friendly festival, which has a capacity of 25,000, has not taken place since 2019. Splendour Festival’s Anton Lockwood and Bob Bark discuss Anticipation is building. “We’re really happy to be the festival’s expansion and production plans for 2022 taking Splendour into a second day after going two years without a festival,” explained Anton Lockwood, director of live at DHP Family. “We’ve always had it in mind that it would be great to do two days. After two years of nothing [there was no festival in 2020 or 2021], the appetite was there, and it was the right time to do it. We wouldn’t have pressed the button if we didn’t have the right line up.” With double the stage time, Splendour’s line-up is packed. Richard Ashcroft, Anne-Marie, Supergrass, Craig David presents TS5, The Human League, Razorlight, and Happy Mondays will perform across the weekend of July 23 and 24. “We’re pleased with the bill,” Lockwood continued. “We’ve gone on sale and we’re encouraging people to upgrade. Tickets from 2020 and 2021 are still valid but we’ve made it attractive and we’re giving people the option to upgrade to a weekend ticket. We want people to stay and enjoy the weekend.”

PRODUCTION COSTS

According to Lockwood, Nottingham City Council has agreed the licence change and taking Splendour to two days has helped spread production costs. “Costs are a concern but we’re doing what we can,” commented Lockwood, who explained that things are “pretty hectic” in the DHP office; the company has also recently acquired Bearded Theory. Bob Bark, head of operations at DHP Family, is working alongside Lockwood, looking at costings and budgets. The team is making savings where it can, but with the national minimum wage increasing, natural increases in inflation, and staff shortages, “everything that involves a person” will just cost more. “In the last quarter of 2021, as gigs opened up, we saw difficulties in terms of sourcing site crew and local crew, so the summer will be interesting,” Bark explained. “Most suppliers are also chasing payments and we have had to book in our suppliers earlier than usual. Cabins have been in short supply across the board, and I think once you do have your suppliers booked in, it will be difficult to add extras.”

PURSUING EFFICIENCIES

DHP Family has contracted Trust Events, Excloosive Event Hire, Showsec, and Flying Hire to provide kit and services to Splendour 2022. In fact, Bark is in talks with Flying Hire about power. The upcoming red diesel ban is adding pressures to the budget, so Bark is keen to pursue efficiencies. But it’s not the only tweak. DHP was contemplating making Splendour 2021 cashless. For 2022, Wi-Fi connectivity will be increased and the use of PDQ machines promoted so that more contactless payments can be taken. But what is Bark looking forward to the most? He concluded: “I’m just looking forward to doing the event, being outside and seeing people enjoy themselves, and it will be interesting to see if consumers’ behaviours have changed.”