Future of the festival?

[Niblet]

I only went to the Saturday of the festival this year, the site was very quite, no queues at the bars at all.

I wonder if the festival will return next year?

[SweepingTheNation]

https://twitter.com/#!/summersundae/status/103055064863752192

"Thanks to all who came and made @summersundae 2011 so special. Look out for 2012 dates to be announced in Autumn."

[Niblet]

I would still wait until they have taken stock of how much they lost.

They would have to pull some good artists out the bag next year for me to consider going, I could have gone to Headstocks for the whole weekend for £10 more than my day ticket cost.

[andyblack]

if vince power does as he threatens and returns the phoenix festival in 2012, that completely changes the midlands festival map.

[Shoppers]

if vince power does as he threatens and returns the phoenix festival in 2012, that completely changes the midlands festival map.

[Rob ic]

Hi All,

We're all knackered from a the weekend. We thought it went very well.

Saturday was our quietest day, however box office figures just in confirm that we had similar crowds to 2007 and 2008.

Before we can announce 2012 dates we are going to take a few weeks assessing this year, hold some discussions with Leicester Council and DMH etc.

All I can say for now is that I would like to see more Summer Sundae Weekenders as enjoyable as the one we've just had. It was a really special vibe this year.

Thanks for all those that came.

[Rob ic]

PS it is relatively quiet on the 'boards post festival. That might be because a number of people are posting their comments on a certain social media platform.

[Completewasters]

PS it is relatively quiet on the 'boards post festival. That might be because a number of people are posting their comments on a certain social media platform.

Edited August 15, 2011 by Completewasters

[SonyaR]

Definately quieter this year but I hope it survives. One of my favourite festivals- great location, great camping at Regents (thanks for the Poshwash showers), friendly people. Really enjoyed our weekend, thanks to all involved.

[fullfathom5]

One of my favourite festivals too, hope to see it survive for years to come.

[JKFB]

We really enjoyed it again this year - pretty much perfect for us, and a great advertisement for Leicester and it's people - though to be viable obviously it needs to attract a bigger audience.

I think it really needs to play to it's strengths - it has a great real ale bar (which completely sold out before the end of Sunday night) - a lot of the folks on the real ale threads on the glasto forums say real ale festivals are often a bit like music festivals, so why not do a promotion with Camra for example? Apart from anything else, Real Ale fans are unlikely to bring their own booze!

Camping puts a lot of us oldies off from festivals (not me though!) so being in the heart of leicester with budget hotels in easy reach should be pushed as another major selling point.

I'm happy even though there weren't many big names, but perhaps it needs a few more slightly bigger names that need to be promoted locally to sell day tickets to people who would come and see bands at DMH anyway.

I'd be interested to know if McFly pulled in the numbers or not? My guess would be not, but then it's not my demographic.

I think the proposed limitation of alcohol would have been a bad idea - not just because it would put people off who were intending to bring their own alcohol to save the pennies - but the searching people's bags and marking their wristbands would go against the laid back spirit of the festival IMHO. One of the things that put me off Bestival was the agressive "Border patrol" between campsite and arena.

Personally I only bring my own booze when I'm skint, and otherwise couldn't afford to attend. When I'm flush I'd much rather go to the bar for a cold pint than carry around a load of warm cans all day!

In any case the only other two festivals (that I'm aware of) that allow you to bring your own booze are FomFest and Glastonbury - there is no Glastonbury in 2012 so 175,000 people are looking for an alternative festival to go to ... so time to start promoting to them! Not too hard though, don't want it to be too busy next year

[saintupnorth]

Interesting to see FOM Fest mentioned. To my knowledge it lost a lot of money, hasn't paid some suppliers and is banking on an insurance payout (lost stages) to give it any chance of breaking even. I'd guess there wont be a Bring You Own festival next year.

On drink, why have a strict no glass rule and then a) make nominal effort to enforce it sell glass bottles of Cider from the bar in the Last FM tent.

[JKFB]

Shame about Fomfest, for me it had the most "must see" bands of any festival this year.

We were already budgeting for Glasto and Summer Sundae so couldn't really afford Fomfest, but when we saw it was only £80 inc camping (with voucher code) and you could bring your own booze - that was the clincher.

In reality we got there and you could bring your own booze, but not tins (which wasn't mentioned on the website and felt a bit of a swizz - glass I can understand).

The food stalls were way overpriced - stall holders said the price had been set by the festival, and they weren't happy either because people were refusing to pay £5+ for a bacon roll and storming off.

It was the same weekend as Liverpool Sound City - where a lot of the smaller bands also played, so that would take a lot of potential audience away from Merseyside / parts of cheshire. Certainly I knew a few people from Liverpool who would have gone otherwise.

Perhaps it was under-promoted, I found out about it via facebook, the people I showed it to hadn't heard of it. And with older bands like The Charlatans, The Fall, A Certain Ratio etc as main attractions - maybe you need to target people in their late 30s upwards, maybe FB isn't the place. Shame Channel M doesn't do music anymore - would have been perfect place to advertise.

[saintupnorth]

Agree JKFB, FOM fest had a great line-up, venue and prices. Just didn't advertise it well enough.

I worked on the build and the comment that stuck in my mind was from the head of security. He said the sites not as big as Glastonbury but ain't far of the IOW ... and that's 100K plus.

I think they just got carried away. A little one-dayer would have been a much better start. Few big festivals start big without a financial backer.

[andyblack]

2000 trees also allows booze to be brought in, and sold out 3 months in advance this year.

FOMfest was just bizarre, and if other local events hadnt happened then FOM could possibly have broken even. It had a great bill, but someone was clearly in cloud cuckoo land when booking all those bands and thinking they could afford them, whilst competition had risen close by (chester rocks / flaming lips at jodrell bank).

and the flaming lips gig was brilliant. one of my highlights of the summer so far.

Edited August 18, 2011 by andyblack

[Completewasters]

Interesting to see FOM Fest mentioned. To my knowledge it lost a lot of money, hasn't paid some suppliers and is banking on an insurance payout (lost stages) to give it any chance of breaking even. I'd guess there wont be a Bring You Own festival next year.

On drink, why have a strict no glass rule and then a) make nominal effort to enforce it sell glass bottles of Cider from the bar in the Last FM tent.

[saintupnorth]

Cheers Completewasters, glad to be corrected.

So I didn't need to worry about getting "brained" by a cider bottle ... just an Alpro yoghurt

[Completewasters]

Cheers Completewasters, glad to be corrected.

So I didn't need to worry about getting "brained" by a cider bottle ... just an Alpro yoghurt

[saintupnorth]

Alpro seemed to be quite responsible over most of the weekend, it was just Sunday PM. They just appear to have handed out all the remaining stock before packing up.

There were a few being throw around at the front of the stage.

I guess the issue is with perishables and not wanting/being able to return then! Alpro were probably given optomistic attendance figures and stocked for them.

Maybe they'd have been better to hand then out as people left the venue or better still in the camp sites on Monday morning.

They did taste really nice!

[Brother Grimm]

So any news on 2012 now that a few months have elapsed?

[eFestivals]

From memory I think it's the case that the following year's festival gets the go-ahead (or not) in early November.

[mpop]

Anybody got any idea when there will be any news?

[eFestivals]

Soon.

There's no reason to worry.

[mpop]

Will we hear anything before Christmas?

[eFestivals]

I think you just might do, yeah.

I think you might hear something a bit sooner than that.

I think you might hear something quite soon.

I think you might hear something very soon.

I think I might know what I'm talking about.

But I can't talk.