On the back of the prime minister ’ s reopening roadmap , and continued support in the Budget , leading events operators tell Access how they are working to overcome the remaining hurdles to prepare for a comeback this summer .
Words : Christopher Barrett
After many months of Government-induced paralysis , the outdoor events industry finally has something to aim for and ticket buyers are proving hugely supportive .
On the back of the prime minister ’ s 22 February re-opening roadmap announcement , the festival calendar had been re-written . While many major events including Live Nation ’ s 105,000-capacity Reading , Leeds ( 75,000 ) and Creamfields ( 70,000 ), along with independents Boomtown ( 66,000 ) and Field Day ( 25,000 ) have sold out , others including Parklife ( 80,000 ), Pride In London , Isle of Wight ( 55,000 ), Black Deer ( 20,000 ) and Mighty Hoopla ( 20,000 ) have been moved back in order to have the best chance of going ahead this summer .
The UK arm of Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster said it saw a 600 % spike in website traffic to 2 million in the week following the PM ’ s roadmap declaration . According to MD Andrew Parsons 500,000 people visited the Ticketmaster Festival Finder guide alone during the period . “ It ’ s a week unlike any we ’ ve experienced in a typical February ,” he said at the time .
Anna Wade , director of communications and strategy at Boomtown , is equally enthusiastic about the reaction from festivalgoers . “ It ’ s been amazing ,” she says . “ Before the announcement on 22 February we were all feeling that there was a really big uphill climb in front of us and we just didn ’ t know how it was going to be possible . Off the back of it we saw huge swathes of public excitement , and understandably so – all of us felt the same – it was a huge injection of positivity .”
More than half of Boomtown ticket holders for the cancelled event last year held on to them for this year ’ s 11-15 August edition , leaving around 20,000 unsold . Within four days of Boris Johnson ’ s big reveal , all of them had been snapped up .
Wade says the event ’ s capacity will be reduced from 66,000 to 60,000 this year but not because of Covid-19 : “ It will make it more manageable from an operational standpoint . It is such a sprawling festival site , and after 10 years it was time to rework it because it had been kind of building on top of itself .”
Among the festivals to fall foul of the 21 June , Step 4 , roadmap timing were Isle of Wight and Black Deer , both originally planned for 18-20 June .
Black Deer Festival co-founders Gill Tee and Deborah Shilling reacted quickly and within days had announced the festival at Eridge Park , Kent , would be rescheduled to 25-27 June . It is now due to be one of the first major events to be scheduled after the start of Step 4 . With the festival industry not going to find out if social distancing will be lifted until a week prior to 21 June , it ’ s undoubtedly a brave move .
Says Tee , “ I have had such great feedback and support from the industry , it is almost as if the festival will kick off the season . It ’ s given people hope . People have said we are being brave , but I just feel really positive about it .
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