Festival Saturation

Since the 1970’s, when Michael Eavis first dared to dream and the nomadic ‘National Jazz, Blues and Rock Festival’ finally settled for Reading, the UK summer has become synonymous with the music festival. Once established, from those tiny acorns T in the Park, Guilfest and V festival all grew, offering joyous locals the chance to experience pleasures they had previously only read about. Soon it became possible for enthusiasts of other genres to immerse themselves in the sounds they loved, with the emergence of the likes of Download, The Big Chill and All Tomorrow’s Parties scattered around Britain. Truly, we were spoilt for choice, and it became apparent that somewhere amidst the exhausting list of hedonistic (lost) weekends and ‘spiritual discovery’ sites, there was a festival for you. Maybe there were two. In fact, if you’re anything like me, there were scores of them.

Which, according to Melvin Benn, Managing Director of Festivals Republic (previously Mean Fiddler), is becoming a problem. In a recent interview with virtualfestivals.com, Benn claimed: “My belief is that we are at a level of saturation”. The festival mogul, responsible for overseeing the Carling Weekend and Latitude, argues that the market has become full, and details the cancellation of Fflam and LodeStar, and the waning ticket sales of Guilfest and the Big Chill, as evidence. But is he right? Have we now reached the point where there are an unhealthily large number of live music events, and the public is reacting accordingly? Or is it more the case that, with festivals being such a vibrant source of enjoyment, culture and human interaction, they will continue to have a seemingly ever-expanding audience?

Certainly on first glance, the evidence available seems to suggest the latter is true. Established festivals such as Glastonbury sold out as quickly as ever in 2007, despite extra tickets being made available, and according to virtualfestivals.com, average festival attendances are up twenty per cent in the last two years alone – hardly a reaction of apathy.