FIELDS OF GOLD Festivals
During the 20-year life of Access All Areas, British festivals have evolved into diverse cultural experiences that offer much more than live music. Mark Cunningham tracks the progression and talks to some of the players who have been at the front line of change. What a difference 20 years makes. In 1993, the Great British Festival landscape was another world compared to the one we now inhabit. With its current, overwhelming range of health and safety-conscious events, the festival has gained establishment respect and grown from simply being somewhere to watch a varied bill of artists on a summer’s day, to an all-encompassing entertainment village with a myriad of attractions and rich, cultural experiences on offer… let alone the music. For many, a festival is now an alternative to a short summer break and it’s arguable that the commercial twist introduced by V in 1996 marked a turnaround in popularity. Finding its feet with a powerful identity, when V settled in its twinned Chelmsford and Staffordshire sites, it began to attract a new teenage audience. As Gareth Williams, director of Fairport’s Cropredy Convention since 2004, explains: “More so than at any other time, school leavers have targeted festivals as the default ‘rite of passage’ destination, and it’s often more about ‘being there’ than the music itself. Events like Bestival, Secret Garden Party and In The Woods are ripe for this kind of audience, and they really demonstrate how the market has changed.” The emergence of ‘boutique’ festivals came with The Big Chill in 1995. Suddenly, doctors and lawyers who wouldn’t previously have been seen dead at a festival started to don loud shirts and wellies. Initially an unlicensed event, it soon ‘went straight’ and pioneered an alternative scene with ‘fluffy’ side attractions including holistic therapies. “You chose these events if you wanted to eat well and not get dysentery!” jokes Fiona Stewart, MD of the Green Man Festival. “The ‘boutique’ label simply des cribed a different class of environment; one that provided rare mod cons.” “These events have shown that multiple stages aren’t always necessary,” continues Williams. “The top end is already well covered and audiences want greater choice. Organisers
4
ACCESS ALL AREAS SUPPLEMENT
Gareth Williams
Fiona Stewart
have become hip to the fact that a specialised image is key to any new venture. Festival No.6 is a fine example of an event that presents a very original package.” Located in the picturesque Welsh village of Portmeirion, made famous by TV’s ‘The Prisoner’, Festival No.6 was an instant hit upon launch in 2012, when it scooped two prizes at the UK Festival Awards. The Guardian argued that it could rival Montreux Jazz as the “most sophisticated festival in Europe”. Clearly, this instant success didn’t arise from delivering the norm. “It’s a maturing market and our targeted demographic wanted something truly different – a more rounded arts experience in a fascinating location where the menu is curated by Michelin chefs,” says Bradley Thompson of Festival No.6 organisers Broadwick Live. “It’s a premium festival for people who like to party as hard as anyone, but will perhaps attend just two festivals a year. “We like to experiment with surprise
elements and allow ourselves the freedom to run with new ideas rather than play safe. It’s a magical place and our audience will discover something new about it, year after year.”
Face value
Ticket prices at major UK festivals including T In The Park, Reading/Leeds and Download (the 21st century reinvention of Monsters Of Rock) are currently hovering around the £200 mark. Meanwhile, Glastonbury’s increase to £210 in 2014 represents double the fee charged exactly 20 years ago. But are British festival promoters asking too much? Glastonbury’s production manager, Dick Tee is quick to defend. “There are many valid reasons for the steady rise. Maintaining a safe environment in line with strict legislation is very expensive, as is the provision of proper welfare facilities, more toilets and water, and increased security. But today’s audiences have become so accustomed to the ‘spectacular’ as
Festivals festivals REVOLUTIONISING COMMUNICATIONS
Dick Tee
a live standard that we’re constantly pushing boundaries with the technical production. “Providing the most secure structural engineering available is a given today. Contrast that with our original Pyramid stage, which was constructed from telegraph poles and tin sheeting, and you instantly grasp how far this industry has come.”
Safe & secure
Around 2003, the fortunes of the event security business received a boost when the police sought to charge more for their services and it became a prime driving force behind festival operators turning to more costefficient solutions. The move coincided with the recognition that concert audience safety requirements are beyond those at other types of large public gatherings. Fairport’s Cropredy Convention was one of many events to be affected by the change, explains Gareth Williams. “Just after I came onboard, we hired a security firm for the first time and it took a while for the punters to accept it. Back then, we had a spate of 120 thefts over the three days but since then our security team have been extremely successful in reducing on-site crime to the point where this year there were only three incidents.” Says Dick Tee: “Security IT has become a lucrative business. WiFi enables discreet
In 1993, mobile phones were still luxury items and email had barely arrived. The entire world has since moved in leaps and bounds, taking festivals with it. Glastonbury’s ability to sell out its 2014 event in a recordbreaking 87 minutes is testament to the enabling IT systems now in place. Chris Beale realised that festivals were seriously lacking in IT facilities when he left SSE in 2005. A year later, he launched CBA to bring on-site IT up to the standards of audio and lighting. Within two years a whole new service industry was born. Beale comments: “The demand for festival IT has grown dramatically in the last three years, particularly in terms of bandwidth for CCTV, streaming, broadcast and public use, as well as the requirements of cloud sharing and storage by production staff. Most of the larger sites now have 100Mb fibre bearers to the field, some have 1GB services and many now have buried fibre infrastructure to distribute the network around the site.” CBA is looking forward to playing a part in the development of cashless payment systems and access control using RFID chips in wristbands. “Fast turnaround at gates and sales outlets, secure payments without cash on site and more efficient stock management can result in turnover uplift of 20% or more for promoters and can more than pay the technical costs,” comments Beale. “There is no doubt that event networks will become ever more sophisticated and capable.” cameras to be positioned in otherwise inaccessible places to monitor audience movement. Along with ‘smart’ pit barriers, it has allowed for vastly improved realtime analysis of crowd dynamics and often prevented life-threatening incidents.”
Taking a gamble
Since the late ’90s, when the Napster controversy forced the record industry into legalising downloads, the music business has changed dramatically. While artists rely more than ever on touring income to cover for the downturn in record sales, reduced development funding has led the commercial lifespan of ACCESS ALL AREAS SUPPLEMENT
5
Festivals BATTLE OF THE BRANDS
newcomers to shrink. The festival market has not been immune from the effects. Williams reflects: “If you went to an established festival in the ’90s, you would probably be familiar with most of the line-up. Today, the range of acts is usually massive and some of the names are unrecognisable. But more and more of them rise and fall within a year without label support, so you’re often taking a huge gamble when you book a newcomer. But sometimes that gamble can pay off if a band suddenly goes stratospheric. I’m sure Bastille made a lot of festival promoters happy last year.” According to Green Man’s Fiona Stewart, compared with 2009’s average figures, it now costs 40% more to run an event, thanks to the fuel costs for production haulage and quadrupled artist fees. She says: “It’s really hit some organisers because the fees demanded are so out of sync with the recession.” Williams continues: “The richer festivals will always secure the artists they target and the ones organised as part of a corporate brand’s portfolio are prepared to make a loss. But some end up with a massive failure because, despite their budget, they have little experience.” And when failure occurs, it is common for the innocent to get caught in the ripples. Says Stewart: “It used to be difficult to get a license for any kind of live event. But it’s now become far too easy for the wrong people to obtain them. Too many organisers plan without a realistic budget and their failure has resulted in contractors losing their homes because there’s no money left after paying the artists.”
Camping to glamping
When Access All Areas was launched, festival camping was still regarded a pastime reserved for hardcore revellers. Twenty years on, camping has not only become de rigueur, its popularity has begun to exceed availability. “Even the more mature festival-goers have turned to camping because it’s become more comfortable,” says Gareth Williams. “You can
6
ACCESS ALL AREAS SUPPLEMENT
now buy tents so cheaply that people can afford to dump them. Some even club together to buy an old caravan, leaving us to dispose of it! “Such is the popularity of camping these days that site hygiene is constantly being improved to meet demands. A few years back, we instigated a pre-dawn clean every day to ensure that the toilets are sparkling by 5am. They’re now of a standard that was virtually unheard of 20 years ago.” Dick Tee observes: “For older people with a large disposable income, a basic sleeping bag in a tent won’t cut it. They want hotel luxury in a field. The proliferation of Winnebagos and even designer tents that can be pre-erected on order is quite remarkable, and at Glastonbury we’re noticing that the standards are rising every year.”
Upscaling
As an example of how audience figures have rocketed in 20 years, when T In The Park was launched in 1994, it attracted 17,000 people over two days. ‘T’ now runs to three days with 85,000 attending. In the same period, Glastonbury has grown from an 80,000 audience to 150,000. The latter’s commercial fortunes changed when a clever deterrent to non-paying fans was introduced. “The advent of our new perimeter ‘super fence’ 10 years ago did a lot to control the numbers and make Glastonbury so audiencefriendly,” comments Dick Tee. “Glastonbury isn’t just about the two main stages. It’s really
In stark contrast to the hippie philosophy of ‘sticking it to the man’ that characterised the pioneering festivals of the late ’60s and early ’70s, many of today’s events have become synonymous with branded stages, VIP enclosures and premium ‘gold circle’ experiences that target the wealthy. Neil Young famously railed against corporate rock in his song ‘The Note’s For You’, but abstainers are on the decline in an era of decreased record sales. Although hardly a new concept, it is true the festival as part of a corporate brand’s portfolio has become a much more common endeavour around the UK, with Hard Rock and Barclaycard reaping the largest benefits at their London summer time events in partnership with Live Nation and AEG Live. Meanwhile, brands such as Persil (Camp Bestival) and Dairylea (Dorset Festival) have also been boosting their profile amongst Britain’s youth, by creating bespoke zones. “Brands should bring meaningful quality to a festival otherwise there won’t be long-term benefit for either party,” says Jägermeister brand manager Mike Swingwood. “Our brand is completely music-led. We’ve been pleased to have our own Jägermeister acoustic stage at Download which has genuinely added to the audience experience.” Festival No.6’s Bradley Thompson agrees that the sponsorship is not to be sniffed at if integrated in a respectful manner. He says: “Volvo has been playing a valuable role for us by offering a park and ride service as a VIP alternative to coach shuttles. They’ve supplied their luxury models for pick-ups and it boosts the premium feel.” Meanwhile, although not opposed to the principle of corporate sponsorship, Fiona Stewart fears damaging compromises. “There are people who don’t care if an event is heavily branded or not. But the Green Man audience would be horrified and they’d probably never return.” In general, Glastonbury remains true to the values that Michael Eavis upheld when he launched his event. Although ‘assisting’ corporate bodies such as Orange and The Guardian Group have been present, the festival continues to fight shy of overt sponsorship and branding, as Dick Tee explains: “Glastonbury prefers to give profile to the charities it supports – Greenpeace, Oxfam and Water Aid – and that’s why artists still love to play there in line with the ethos.”
20 festivals in one and more popular than ever. Installing the fence meant that we could limit the audience to ticket holders only and it’s made a huge difference.” And so it would appear that the UK festival market is currently at the peak of its game, and is hardly recognisable in comparison with its younger self back in 1993. There have been casualties but the newer events have learned from old mistakes, while the more established festivals continue to bring fresh ideas and content to a bigger, more discerning audience. We just need to work on the weather.