WINTER | AGENDA
What’s your
biggest
festival
bugbear?
Drink queues | 16.67%
Bad sound quality | 18.56%
*264 responded to
Accessaa.co.uk’s
survey
Bad or no Wi-Fi | 16.29%
Toilets | 48.48%
License to fill
A number of festivals across the UK
have been hit by licensing issues, as
Wireless Festival continues its dispute
with Haringey Council over noise
levels and public nuisance.
Live Nation, the festival’s promoter,
is protesting new regulations from
the council which require reduced
bass levels and a finish half an hour
earlier. The council’s request to reduce
the festival’s capacity from 49,000 to
10,000 was rejected.
In Edinburgh, meanwhile, the City
Council is considering a noise ban…
on silent discos. Councillor Jo Mowatt
commented: “Silent discos are not
silent. There is a lot of whooping and
screaming, especially when you have
40 women on a hen party. I have been
contacted by many of my constituents
regarding silent discos. The Old Town
Community Council has been raising
this issue for around nine months.”
Elsewhere in Scotland, a change
of licensing rules means festivals
and outdoor events in Glasgow
are required to consult with all
neighbouring councils, rather than
just the council for the area in which
the event takes place.
Mairi Miller, Glasgow City Council’s
head of licensing, commented: “The
community councils, which cover
a much smaller area, are often not
notified.”
At the opposite end of the UK,
events are also coming under scrutiny.
In Portsmouth, the Rum & Reggae
Festival in Priory Park was postponed
until the new year after objections
from nearby park residents prevented
the event from going ahead.
The many licensing issues which
public events are facing begs the
question: is the Licensing Act
sufficient for our festivals, or does it
need revising?
At least one major festival has
found a solution to the noise problem.
Field Day‘s 2019 edition will move
from Brockwell Park to a series of
four interlinked warehouses next to
Tottenham Marshes – the largest will
hold 7,500 festival-goers – the largest
of its kind in London.
Luke Huxham, the festival’s
director, said the new location will
allow Field Day to continue later into
the evening than any other festival.
He added: “This new site will allow
us to break down the restrictions
that London festivals are normally
faced with, and deliver an unrivalled
experience.”
In praise of the
independent
promoter
Deborah Armstrong, founder of event design
company Strong & Co, honours a departed friend
I lost a friend
unexpectedly recently,
Irish promoter and
Patron of the Arts, John
Reynolds.
His funeral
ceremony gave me
insight into the
huge impact he had.
People’s lives, careers,
relationships all
changed because of
him. We, in the event
industry are literally in
the business of making
memories.
It takes all our
different skills working
together to do that.
The hardships and
joys of the industry are
the forge where life-
changing connections
are made and rare is
the individual that
braves the fire to pull
us all together.
Seamus Heaney
in his poem The
Forge , describes
that individual as he
who opens “the door
into the dark”, who
“expends himself in
shape and music”.
John was a man
with a unique blend
of artistic vision,
bravery, strength,
commercial savvy and
a deep commitment to
family and to freed om.
These elements
together create a ripple
effect that leads to
profound change.
One of the eulogies
to John illustrates
this: “John, do you
remember…the queues
of people in feathers
and the time when
we caused an Irish
shortage of glitter?
John do you remember
the time we had to
make a human chain to
handball the inflatable
baby to the stage?…”
The memories are
light-hearted, but to
know what is behind
them is to understand
the value for us all.
John gave subcultures
space to exist, nurtured
them to create and
to grow, fed their
confidence and fought
for their freedoms.
In Ireland, this
played a huge part in
the cultural shift that
led to the change the
marriage equality laws.
So hats off to “[he
who] grunts and
goes in, with a slam
and flick, to beat real
iron out, to work the
bellows.”
In memory of John
Reynolds. 1965-2018.
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