Andy
Marsh
aCcEsS ALl AReAs IN THE PUB
The Victorious festival director on
the importance of strong line-ups,
catering to families, and his
favourite festivals
It’s crazy to think that, with 79,000 people attending our festival, it is now
ranked as one of the country’s largest. We’re talked about in the same breath
as Bestival and Glastonbury.
Th e festival industry is still very much a business, and so it should be, but
I’m always humbled by how the likes of John Giddings and Rob da Bank,
who run festivals nearby, are happy to help out and share their knowledge.
Th e line-ups at Victorious tend to cater for a lot of tastes. Th ere are often
legacy acts we’re keen to give a boost, like Th e Lightning Seeds and Dodgy,
but, we are also always promoting local talent from the Portsmouth scene.
A real highlight act was Slaves, who played in 2017. Th ere was a lot of
buzz about the band, but you’re still always apprehensive how they will go
down. Luckily they absolutely killed it, and the crowd were singing along
and dancing.
We’re keen to keep the festival at a low price point. Th e prices for kids are
very low, because as a parent myself, I realise how much these things can add
up when you have a whole family to pay for. Th e event is during the students’
holidays, so there is less of a student contingent, but many do stay in the area
and attend.
Our pricing strategy is to off er bolt-on packages depending what people
want. We made deals with the University of Portsmouth to use their halls
54 FEBRUARY 2018
of residences for people to stay in, and we have deals for local hotels too.
Th ere are value tickets for weekend camping nearby.
After the fi rst year we took over, around fi ve years ago, we started working
with Ian Evans, who works in programming for Y Not Festival and Truck
festival. He helped us to pool our resources, and he had a good black book of
clients to widen our options.
I still think headliners and line-ups are very important for a festival.
While there is a portion of people who go for the buzz and aren’t fussed
who is playing, you only have to look at the buzz on social media after a
line-up act is announced to see that it still matters.
Spotify and other streaming sites get a lot of criticism, but I think they are
great for exposure. I used to be in bands myself, and I’d have loved to have
had that sort of reach.
Working with Broadwick Live has opened my eyes to a lot of great events,
and has given me more insight into new models. Visiting Festival No.6,
and experiencing the atmosphere there was great. Boardmasters and
Kendal Calling are also favourites of mine.
Andy Marsh of Victorious worked in sectors including pubs and bars, focused on
Portsmouth’s Albert Road, before joining the festival industry where he specialises
in artist management.
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