The London E-Prix
A storm approaching Deborah Shilling , co-founder of independent Americana and country music festival Black Deer , says the event was one of the best yet , despite its organisers having to deal with revenue from tickets sold at 2019 prices , and a very real storm hitting the event .
Johnnie Cole-Hamilton
She says , “ Cashflow was a challenge , we had so many roll-over customers stretching back two years , everything was tougher in general , topped off nicely with an electrical storm on the festival ’ s Saturday evening . Evacuating 12,000 people from the arena wasn ’ t ideal but had to be done for everyone ’ s safety .”
Deborah Shilling
Reed says established festivals that have cultivated audience loyalty , in general , did well but it was an extremely challenging year for anyone who was launching a new show or for events in their infancy .
Among the many festivals to be cancelled this year were Gateways in Yorkshire , Leighton Live in Lancashire , Breakout in Fife , Bournemouth High Tide Festival , Northern Love in St Helens , Brainchild Festival in East Sussex , Festiva in Lancashire , and Newcastle ’ s Leazes Live and This is Tomorrow .
The outgoing AIF CEO says his predicted ‘ perfect storm ’ did materialise as expected but the cancellation of events lessened its impact on the supply chain for the events that stuck it out : “ Some of the issues relented as we went deeper into the season , with cancellations seeing inventory released back into the market .”
Isle of Wight Festival promoter and Solo Agency MD John Giddings says that his summer was not just impacted by the lingering effects of Covid , but also Brexit : “ I had Nick Mason on tour throughout Europe , we played 29 countries , and they kept changing the rules about getting in and getting out with visas , and importing and exporting equipment , but we did it .
“ If there weren ’ t problems , our
17