Future of the Festival?

[DGrant261]

Gonna put an view out there -

V will be gone in no more than 3 years

I think this for various reasons

• Lack of appropriate headliners
• Dozens of ever growing smaller festivals
• Festivals that better cater for the 'dance' audience V seems to want/need a chunk of
• Repeated undercards seen as 'lackluster' by many who have in the past been, thus meaning the older audience is disappearing I have no evidence to support this but it's a derived judgement I feel
• A shortfall of 'lad rock' bands to make up this chunk of the market (Reverend/Kooks/Stereophonics can't stay on the bill as the only real guitar options forever)
• TITP's sustained popularity and success at booking better/more of the top appropriate acts
• The image of the festival (A minor one, but still a factor in turning people away I feel)

Does this seem a fair judgement? What will be the impacts? Personally I feel it'd be a good thing for the struggling festivals market and What can/should/will V do to keeping going in the future?

Edited March 8, 2015 by DGrant261

[Bisque]

As an ex-Virgin employee, it'll be around for a while, money maker.

[rawaudioinput]

I reckon a lot of their core clientèle probably only know of Glastonbury, R&L and V when it comes to festivals so I don't think smaller events are that much of a threat; some of the locals may be tempted by Brownstock but other than that I can't see any particular festival posing a danger

Teenagers who like pop music will always be around and there will always be enough of them who don't know any better than to go elsewhere

[DGrant261]

As an ex-Virgin employee, it'll be around for a while, money maker.

Will it continue with it's repetition cycle of Kasabian/Killer/KOL as headliners do you think?

I reckon a lot of their core clientèle probably only know of Glastonbury, R&L and V when it comes to festivals

Are Creamfields/Parklife not threats to the Stafford site? Likewise Wireless for the Essex site?

[Rose-Colored Boy]

"Lack of appropriate headliners" is a self-inflicted myth. There are plenty of "appropriate headliners" about, V just never/rarely book them. Off the top of my head Arctic Monkeys, Madonna, Coldplay, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Foo Fighters, Muse, Kanye West and Jay-Z would all be perfect V headliners. But for whatever reason only two of those have played since 2009, and with it probably being Ed Sheeran and Kings of Leon in 2016 it'll be 2017 before any of them do again.

Edited March 8, 2015 by Zac Quinn

[rawaudioinput]

Events like Creamfields/Parklife appeal to parts of V's demographic, but not to the extent that they are gonna be the cause of V's downfall

Luckysalt said that despite the predicted poor ticket sales V will be one of the most profitable festivals of the season

Edited March 8, 2015 by rawaudioinput

[Rose-Colored Boy]

Luckysalt said that despite the predicted poor ticket sales V will be one of the most profitable festivals of the season

Where do you draw the line though. I could put on a festival with a headline act of my pet pig playing the bassoon and make a profit, but if I ran a rotation of said pet pig alternating headlining years with my pet goose and never booked anything interesting to satisfy the customers who'd seen it all before then eventually the sponsors/broadcasters/regulars would start to look elsewhere.

[daniel.k]

Where do you draw the line though. I could put on a festival with a headline act of my pet pig playing the bassoon and make a profit, but if I ran a rotation of said pet pig alternating headlining years with my pet goose and never booked anything interesting to satisfy the customers who'd seen it all before then eventually the sponsors/broadcasters/regulars would start to look elsewhere.

Do you own a farm? Having a pet pig and a goose free to headline a festival, they must demand a large fee.

In all seriousness, I think V will still be around for a good number of years. If you image the festival scene in 5-7 years time, you will have a few more acts around to headline. I think Florence will have headlined at least once, and I could see acts like Bastille and many acts from R&L pushing to headline or co-headline festivals. All V needs is one year of really bad sales at both sites and it could lead to changes behind the scenes, which could make the difference to the type of acts being booked

[rawaudioinput]

Where do you draw the line though. I could put on a festival with a headline act of my pet pig playing the bassoon and make a profit, but if I ran a rotation of said pet pig alternating headlining years with my pet goose and never booked anything interesting to satisfy the customers who'd seen it all before then eventually the sponsors/broadcasters/regulars would start to look elsewhere.

When are tickets on sale?

I don't think V really has that loyal of a following, people seem to go for a few years and then move on

[Rose-Colored Boy]

In all seriousness, I think V will still be around for a good number of years. If you image the festival scene in 5-7 years time, you will have a few more acts around to headline. I think Florence will have headlined at least once, and I could see acts like Bastille and many acts from R&L pushing to headline or co-headline festivals.

It's funny that Ed Sheeran presumably headlining everywhere either next year or in 2017 already feels stale before its even happened.

I was dearly hoping for Jessie Ware to be a headliner in the distant future but she probably needed Tough Love to do better than Devotion for that to have a chance of happening and the opposite happened.

Edited March 8, 2015 by Zac Quinn

[phil the shrew]

Would be interested to know how profits have changed for the festival over the last few years.

Having been to V at Weston the last 12 years, its been really noticeable how crowd numbers have dropped in recent years. Likewise the number of stalls and food shops has gone done significantly. Ten years ago there were 40 or so traders last year there were only about ten

Likewise groups like Mullers; coke; Cadbury's; Strongbow and others had a big presence there with mini stages and activities going on and they don't go anymore

Aside from the Comedy tent nothing new has appeared at the festival in that time which makes me think margins are getting pressed and maybe the future of the festival isn't that great

Wouldn't surprise me to see it reduced to one site in the future

[daniel.k]

Would be interested to know how profits have changed for the festival over the last few years.

Having been to V at Weston the last 12 years, its been really noticeable how crowd numbers have dropped in recent years. Likewise the number of stalls and food shops has gone done significantly. Ten years ago there were 40 or so traders last year there were only about ten

Likewise groups like Mullers; coke; Cadbury's; Strongbow and others had a big presence there with mini stages and activities going on and they don't go anymore

Aside from the Comedy tent nothing new has appeared at the festival in that time which makes me think margins are getting pressed and maybe the future of the festival isn't that great

Wouldn't surprise me to see it reduced to one site in the future

Carling and coke were there last year, as well as pringles and maybe one or two other companies, but I see your point. I wouldnt be surprised if they dropped it to just Hylands. Even if they did that, I dont know if it would sell out because a lot of people wouldnt want to travel

[benus80]

I to thought it was poor last year with the amount of stalls and food places and other stuff their compare to other years which is a shame. Also on the music side I do think that after this year line up will big artistes really want to headline V in the future and think it is a career highlight for them? I think not and thus only do it for the money. Plus does anybody know how much is owned by Virgin? As they made a massive profit last year and could have spend some of the money on amazing 20th anniversary and general improvements.

[luckysalt]

Guys Live Nation basically own V.

They bought it two years ago. Well they're the majority owner.

They decide who they put at Reading and who they put at V. Then they can switch between the two each year.

But they know they can fill V full of pop and whack a few guitar acts on and people are interested.

The main thing about V is they only run 2 days and no early entry, its a minimal staffing, its only Friday, Sat, Sun. Their costs are WAY less than Reading, yet looking weekend ticket to Reading with booking fee £213, weekend ticket to V with booking £199.95. V charge only £13.05 less than Reading, yet Reading have to put on a whole other days acts for this money.

Trust me, V makes a fuck load of money. Its going nowhere.

[KingPin]

Guys Live Nation basically own V.

They bought it two years ago. Well they're the majority owner.

They decide who they put at Reading and who they put at V. Then they can switch between the two each year.

But they know they can fill V full of pop and whack a few guitar acts on and people are interested.

The main thing about V is they only run 2 days and no early entry, its a minimal staffing, its only Friday, Sat, Sun. Their costs are WAY less than Reading, yet looking weekend ticket to Reading with booking fee £213, weekend ticket to V with booking £199.95. V charge only £13.05 less than Reading, yet Reading have to put on a whole other days acts for this money.

Trust me, V makes a fuck load of money. Its going nowhere.

This, I'd be a lot more worried about the Leeds leg of RnL, with only Arctics day last year being busy, and probably not even half the stalls surrounding main-stage as compared to the couple of years before (though I think that was inevitable with them moving lock-up tent, as main-stage is kinda separated from the rest of the arena with the way things are set out now, and I think it would be much more beneficial to move Mainstage round to the (if facing) left back to where it used to be, and then have Lock-up back where it were).

Do we know if Leeds or Download made any money last year? as both had poor attendances compared to years prior (seemingly) and with Leeds having less stalls?

[DGrant261]

This, I'd be a lot more worried about the Leeds leg of RnL, with only Arctics day last year being busy, and probably not even half the stalls surrounding main-stage as compared to the couple of years before (though I think that was inevitable with them moving lock-up tent, as main-stage is kinda separated from the rest of the arena with the way things are set out now, and I think it would be much more beneficial to move Mainstage round to the (if facing) left back to where it used to be, and then have Lock-up back where it were).

Do we know if Leeds or Download made any money last year? as both had poor attendances compared to years prior (seemingly) and with Leeds having less stalls?

Interesting you say that, as someone who always planned on going year after year once I could afford it, it's bad news. Artics day was noticeably busier around the main stage but I wouldn't say the others were quiet on the whole, having said that I have nothing to compare it to. I never dared to visited the dance tent, as seeing it's presence at Leeds makes me cry a little inside, but this years line up has made me think it was busier than the NME quite a few times during the day last year. It's a depressing picture I feel

Edited March 15, 2015 by DGrant261

[sjseabass]

R&L has had a dance tent since the 90s...