Issue 29 June 2009 £4.75
Concert postponed due to poor ticket sales
Collapse puts event’s future in jeopardy By Christina Eccles THE future of a Derbyshire music festival is in doubt after freak weather caused a stage to collapse, injuring two of the event’s staff – and leaving organisers with a £15,000 bill. Organisers of the Bearded Theory Festival had only allocated £1,000 for health and safety expenses but the clean-up and investigation costs have soared to 15 times more than their original budget. And while fans have pledged to raise money to ease its financial plight, organiser Rich Bryan admitted the incident – caused by winds gusting to more than 50mph – has compromised its future. He said: “You don’t really expect a tornado, so you don’t budget for one. We have a £15,000 deficit which to some events may not be a lot of money. But it is to us.” A member of the security team and one of the crew were injured when the roof of the stage was blown off. Both suffered minor injuries but a full investigation has been launched by the local council and the Health and Safety Executive. Rich added: “This has given us a wake up call and made us realise we need a good contingency fund,
which is part of next year’s plan.” Proceeds from previous events have been donated to charities but now the festival itself is in need of financial help. Fans are organising benefit gigs in the summer to offset the deficit but Rich added: “We can’t be too reliant on the gigs because any happening in August or September are not going to help us in the short term.” He added he was happy with how the matter had been dealt with onsite – with a helicopter arriving just two minutes after the stage collapsed – and the festival did have a comprehensive health and safety plan in place. A full accident and emergency plan had been drawn up and Rich said it worked successfully, earning praise from police and paramedics. The event continued despite the drama and co-organiser James Willis added: “True to the festival spirit, personnel and festival goers pulled together to ensure the continued running of the festival. “Organisers worked hard to accommodate the acts which were due to appear on the main stage at other points during the festival.”
A FESTIVAL which organisers hoped would raise over £1m for the British Armed Forces has been postponed due to poor ticket sales. Festival for Heroes was to take place at Blenheim Palace– with a line up including Lulu and Gabrielle. But organisers pulled the plug after deciding the market was too tough to launch a new festival. Festival director Jack Knowles said: "We had a great line-up of artists, a great location, and a great cause. What we didn't have was a great box office.” Proceeds were pledged to the Royal British Legion and spokesman Russell Thompson added: "Much as we tried to help this event to succeed, we have to be realistic. It's a tough year to launch a breakthrough festival.” Organisers hope to reschedule at a later date. As head of live events at BBC Radio One, Jason Carter was responsible for organising the Big Weekend, kicking off the festival season in Swindon. In an exclusive interview with The Main Event, he talks about how the event has evolved and the challenges that come with putting together something so successful. For full story, page 10
The Main Event is the official magazine of the National Outdoor Events Association