Eavis's - Glastonbury goes on - but no Prince in 2015

Michael Eavis has told the Guardian was that Glastonbury's 50th anniversary might be the right time to personally retire from active involvement in the enterprise. He told the newspaper "I think I can run on another six years, which would take me up to 50 years, then [I'll] see what happens after that" adding "Every single person here last night wanted to shake my hand and say it's the best thing in their life. It really is quite phenomenal that appreciation of the event - 44 years and people love it more than ever". Eavis also told the paper that 2017 would be the festival's next fallow year, and that the Pyramid Stage headliners for 2015 were already booked, although he said the much rumoured Prince wasn't in the frame saying "We're always having a go at [getting] Prince", he admitted, talks seemingly getting further this year than most. "Most of the people in the world want to play here, so I did ask him to hop on the train and come down to Castle Cary station and I'll show him around the farm some time. [That offer] hasn't been taken up yet though".  Eavis's daughter Emily Eavis said that her father had been enjoying the event, saying on the Monday "He got back at 4am last night! I think he got caught up in a singalong in the Underground Piano Bar, or something. But I think he’s thrilled with how this year went. He still absolutely loves it" and confirming that she and husband Nick Dewey "are already pretty far along with next year’s line-up" adding  "we’ve nearly confirmed all three headliners. I couldn’t be happier with how it’s shaping up" and added on the future of the Festival "We’ve got an incredible wave of young people who are now heavily involved with this festival, along with all our fantastic long-term team. It’s an amazing position to be working alongside so many great creative minds, spending an entire year planning these hugely ambitious shows that exist for one weekend! So, yes, I’m very excited about the future. And not just for next year, but for many, many years to come."



Picture (c) 2013 Ben Challis.

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.

Eavis dampens festival frenzy

Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis has told the Times newspaper that he believes that the UK's love affair with festivals is "on the way out" saying "we've probably got three or four more years". Noting that Latitude and Womad haven't sold out this year, Eavis adds "its a scary business" putting the blame for shrinking audiences on the recession and the fact that people have "seen it all before". The article also comments that cheaper European festivals with the same headliners are often attractive to fans, that the Reading and Leeds festivals have almost 40% of their tickets remaining and that the recent Prince headlined Hop Farm festival in Kent had ticket sales well below its 50,000 capacity. Viagogo has Reading tickets discounted from £192.50 to £120.00.