AAA White Paper The political economy of informal events, 2030 | Page 26

“ It’s Glastonbury that
years, especially as outdoor,
campsite-based festivals
really established the West
have been saturated for a
of England as a location
while now. We’ll probably
for music festivals. Talent
see new kinds of events
settled in Bristol because of
created to serve markets that
Glastonbury. Unlike the big
aren’t being catered for: at
corporations that do events,
the moment big technology
myself and others were
companies, for instance, don’t
festivalgoers who ended up
quite know how to showcase
in the festivals business, not
themselves to the wider
leisure multinationals that
public. But if independents
one day decided to go into
can say to widget-makers:
festivals.
‘we’ll get you a Bjork for a
“To their credit, the big guys
music-meets-tech showcase,’
tend to professionalise things, the proposition starts to look
and have the clout to animate interesting.
whole cities. They often let
“The UK licensing system is
independents establish a
markedly less liberal than
new market before they take
advantage of our groundwork. Europe’s. In village squares
all over the continent you
We’ve done that in Bristol
can dance with old women
city centre, where we’ve
till 5am. OK, so family and
experimented with Simple
kinship structures aren’t
Things, a festival with six
quite the same in the UK.
day-time stages and five
But consistent and regularly
night-time ones – all of them
updated guidelines on best
just 10 minutes away from
practice and acceptability
each other.
– particularly in relation to
“In fact it’s urban outdoor
noise – could allow towns and
events and metropolitan
cities to smooth processes
festivals that have really
and cool tempers. ”
boomed for the past five
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