Festival News

Osfest, the Shropshire based festival, which was meant to take place over the UK's May bank holiday weekend, has now been moved back to 9-10 Aug. It seems that rhe Wiley and Union J headlined event wasn't selling enough tickets, which organisers have linked to the fact that late-May is the height of exam-time for the festival's target ticket-buyers, who are mainly students and MD Mike Scott also blamed increased rivalry from other festivals, "most notably BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend", moving to the bank holiday, which made booking acts harder.

Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis is to be honoured by the music industry for his outstanding contribution. Michael, who first hosted an event on his land in Somerset in 1970, will be recognised for his achievements in staging live music and in raising money for charity. He will be given the Music Industry Trusts (MITS) Award at a special fundraising dinner on November 3, raising money for music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins and the Brit Trust. Mr Eavis, 78, said: “When I set out on this crazy hippy trip 44 years ago, little did I know how this rollercoaster would run. But now I have to pinch myself every morning when I wake up to the excitement of another day – heading up a team of the most creative artists anywhere in the world.” 

Picture: Portrait of Michael Eavis by Bea Gibson.


Denmark's NorthSide has sold out in record time. In its fifth year, this is the third sold-out event for the organisers of the 35,000-capacity festival. “It’s a fantastic feeling to be able to put the ‘sold out!’ sign in the window, especially this long before we open the doors to three days of fantastic music. It gives us some peace of mind in these last weeks, when we all are really busy constructing and organising the area, which will be rather different than last year,” says spokesperson John Fogde. NorthSide takes place on 13-15 June, featuring Lana Del Ray, The National, Franz Ferdinand, Mew, Arcade Fire, Queens of the Stone Age and Pixies.

A new festival is being planned to mark the 40th Anniversary of the Rumble In The Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The international, not-for-profit festival will be called CONGO14 and will take place over two days with simultaneous events in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Louisville, Kentucky. CONGO14 is a music, sporting and cultural event which organisers say will bring leading contemporary music artists and sporting personalities to Kinshasa in September to perform in the 35,000 capacity Stade Tata Raphaël with a simultaneous international broadcast/stream. Over the same weekend in Louisville, Kentucky, Muhammad Ali’s hometown and headquarters of the Muhammad Ali Center, a parallel event will take place, beamed live via satellite to the Stade Tata Raphaël in Kinshasa. Organisers, Cable Music and Authentic Brands Group say both events will feature well-known names from the worlds of music, sport, arts and entertainment.

Latitude has been awarded Attitude Is Everything's Silver Award for compliance with its Charter Of Best Practice for providing access for deaf and disabled festival-goers. Amongst the provisions Latitude offers are British Sign Language interpretation services for performances at the event, as well as viewing platforms for wheelchair users and access for artistes with disabilities. Melvin Benn, MD of Latitude promoter Festival Republic said: "I am very proud and delighted that Latitude has achieved the Silver level from Attitude Is Everything this year. Festival Republic takes access at all of our events very seriously and we are committed to improving the festival experience to all of our valued disabled and deaf customers. We hope to build on our achievements this season, with the team working in conjunction with Attitude Is Everything to make our 2014 events as accessible as possible". And Attitude Is Everything CEO Suzanne Bull added: "Access provision goes beyond just building facilities for people with physical impairments; there is a wide range of provision for people who have sensory impairments and as a result, Festival Republic have been rewarded with a loyal customer base of deaf and hearing-impaired people. Latitude regularly programmes deaf and disabled artists which is important because it demonstrates the value of programming a diversity of artists to other commercial festivals".

A US concert promoter is annoyed about billboards for a local law firm sited by his music-festival site - that offer legal services to those arrested at the event. Event promoter Jay Goldberg, who organises the 15,000 capacity Summer Camp festival in Chillicothe, Illinois, has complained about the ads - that have included one with the headline "“Arrested at the Festival?" with the law firm’s name and phone number. In Goldberg's view, the billboards by an East Peoria law firm look sensational and crass, the Peoria Journal Star reports, calling the ads "ignorant and stupid". Chillicothe Mayor Doug Crew also dislikes the billboards advertising the services of Hall, Rustom & Fritz. “It does cast the area in a poor light,” he told the Journal Star.