Two Festivals Proposal

[DGrant261]

Born out of boredom and dissatisfaction with the direction the festival is going in I have come up with an idea. A two festival proposal.

I'm probably living in dreamland but I feel it would go down alright with punters, even if the cost of running tow festival would make it near on impossible. I'll give you my pitch anyway in the hope Richard Branson is reading

Festival 1 - VHits. Not too dissimilar to what the festival is now but a dedicated pop festival, instead of one trying to balance this and rock music. The festival would appeal to families and teens with a few additions to this years real lineup to make up the rock acts. It would be heavily promoted by MTV and would serve pretty much the same market, with the headline booking of Swift pulling in more punters.It would continue and increase the dance music focus the festival seems to be going for. I feel the festival could easily sustain a future going down this route as a dedicated pop festival. It's line up (Well 1st announcement) would be as follows

CALVIN HARRIS

THE SCRIPT

ELLIE GOULDING ^ BEN HOWARD ^ PALOMA FAITH

GORGON CITY ^ CLEAN BANDIT ^ REBEL SOUND

CHVRCHES ^ OLIVER HELDENS ^ ELLA HENDERSON

JESSIE WARE ^ DUKE DUMONT ^ GREGORY PORTER

ELLA EYRE ^ IMELDA MAY ^ MARVIN HUMES

TAYLOR SWIFT

SAM SMITH

OLLY MURS ^ DISCLOSURE ^ NERO

TOM JONES ^ ANNIE MAC ^ LABRNYTH ^ JAMES BAY

ANDY C ^ JESS GLYNNE ^ FUSE ODG ^ YEARS & YEARS

MARINA & THE DIAMONDS ^ GRANDMASTER FLASH

THE PROCLAIMERS ^ HANNAH WANTS

Festival 2 - VRocks. A new festival to cater for the rock music fans who are increasingly turning away from the festival and many veterans also dissatisfied. Mainly indie bookings but with a selection of heavier bands to take on this section of the market (Possibly taking on Sonisphere and potential former R&l goers). It would have a handful of young indie bands I feel are increasingly getting shut out of festival like V and would appeal to the fans of which there seemed to be loads who were only really satisfied with the rock based bookings this year. This 'rock' core would allow it to be more creative with headlining bookings, I've chosen Morrissey for this year to represent a 'coup' for the festival but this could easily be Foos/Blur/QOTSA/Prodigy/Cure if they went for these. The festival would be shown and promoted on MTV Rocks and I really feel if pushed enough there would be a market for this. Athlete/Supergrass type bands would be added along with new bands and a few more heavier bands maybe.

KASABIAN

PLACEBO

BRING ME THE HORIZON ^ BLACK STONE CHERRY

JAMIE T ^ ENTER SHIKARI ^ GEORGE EZRA

THE KOOKS ^ MASTODON ^ KODALINE

TEMPLES ^ BAND OF SKULLS ^ CIRCA WAVES

PALMA VIOLETS ^ HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD ^ ASH

MORRISSEY

STEREOPHONICS

YOU ME AT SIX ^ HOZIER ^ COURTEENERS

TWIN ATLANTIC ^ CATFISH & THE BOTTLEMEN

JESUS & MARY CHAIN ^ DEAF HAVANA ^ SHED SEVEN

REVEREND & THE MAKERS ^ DJANGO-DJANGO

DROPKICK MURPHYS ^ INSPIRAL CARPETS

I know this wont be happening anytime soon, but how you would all take it? and how would it be received on the whole?

Edited March 15, 2015 by DGrant261

[Rose-Colored Boy]

Be nice if there was a version of Reading without the shitty crowds.

[Amy Lawn]

Be nice if there was a version of Reading without the shitty crowds.

I believe it's called Leeds

[Rose-Colored Boy]

I believe it's called Leeds

trying Leeds instead this year so I hope you're right..

[luckysalt]

Born out of boredom and dissatisfaction with the direction the festival is going in I have come up with an idea. A two festival proposal.

I'm probably living in dreamland but I feel it would go down alright with punters, even if the cost of running tow festival would make it near on impossible. I'll give you my pitch anyway in the hope Richard Branson is reading

Festival 1 - VHits. Not too dissimilar to what the festival is now but a dedicated pop festival, instead of one trying to balance this and rock music. The festival would appeal to families and teens with a few additions to this years real lineup to make up the rock acts. It would be heavily promoted by MTV and would serve pretty much the same market, with the headline booking of Swift pulling in more punters.It would continue and increase the dance music focus the festival seems to be going for. I feel the festival could easily sustain a future going down this route as a dedicated pop festival. It's line up (Well 1st announcement) would be as follows

CALVIN HARRIS

THE SCRIPT

ELLIE GOULDING ^ BEN HOWARD ^ PALOMA FAITH

GORGON CITY ^ CLEAN BANDIT ^ REBEL SOUND

CHVRCHES ^ OLIVER HELDENS ^ ELLA HENDERSON

JESSIE WARE ^ DUKE DUMONT ^ GREGORY PORTER

ELLA EYRE ^ IMELDA MAY ^ MARVIN HUMES

TAYLOR SWIFT

SAM SMITH

OLLY MURS ^ DISCLOSURE ^ NERO

TOM JONES ^ ANNIE MAC ^ LABRNYTH ^ JAMES BAY

ANDY C ^ JESS GLYNNE ^ FUSE ODG ^ YEARS & YEARS

MARINA & THE DIAMONDS ^ GRANDMASTER FLASH

THE PROCLAIMERS ^ HANNAH WANTS

Festival 2 - VRocks. A new festival to cater for the rock music fans who are increasingly turning away from the festival and many veterans also dissatisfied. Mainly indie bookings but with a selection of heavier bands to take on this section of the market (Possibly taking on Sonisphere and potential former R&l goers). It would have a handful of young indie bands I feel are increasingly getting shut out of festival like V and would appeal to the fans of which there seemed to be loads who were only really satisfied with the rock based bookings this year. This 'rock' core would allow it to be more creative with headlining bookings, I've chosen Morrissey for this year to represent a 'coup' for the festival but this could easily be Foos/Blur/QOTSA/Prodigy/Cure if they went for these. The festival would be shown and promoted on MTV Rocks and I really feel if pushed enough there would be a market for this. Athlete/Supergrass type bands would be added along with new bands and a few more heavier bands maybe.

KASABIAN

PLACEBO

BRING ME THE HORIZON ^ BLACK STONE CHERRY

JAMIE T ^ ENTER SHIKARI ^ GEORGE EZRA

THE KOOKS ^ MASTODON ^ KODALINE

TEMPLES ^ BAND OF SKULLS ^ CIRCA WAVES

PALMA VIOLETS ^ HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD ^ ASH

MORRISSEY

STEREOPHONICS

YOU ME AT SIX ^ HOZIER ^ COURTEENERS

TWIN ATLANTIC ^ CATFISH & THE BOTTLEMEN

JESUS & MARY CHAIN ^ DEAF HAVANA ^ SHED SEVEN

REVEREND & THE MAKERS ^ DJANGO-DJANGO

DROPKICK MURPHYS ^ INSPIRAL CARPETS

I know this wont be happening anytime soon, but how you would all take it? and how would it be received on the whole?

Richard Branson has absolutely NOTHING to do with V festival.

Live Nation are the major shareholders in V.

They have Reading and Leeds, they have Download, they have Lattitude.

V is doing exactly what they want it to do and thats be a pop fest with a splash of chart indie and some old school. Nothing is going to change. If you don't like what V now is, simply find another fest that ticks your boxes. Everyone had to do it, V was my first festival 15 years ago. Its local to me so I still hold an interest but this will be my 5th in a row I haven't gone to.

The rock line up you list is so mixed, pretty cool

what were you going for ? A two stage line up?

I always believe theres a spot in the market place for 25+ aged festival with a rock indie line up of older artists, the trendy new acts dont need to be on the bill, it doesn't need to be a big capacity.

To keep costs low, one main open air stage, a tent of unsigned acts, a tent of tribute acts and it would be enough IMO.

[KingPin]

Richard Branson has absolutely NOTHING to do with V festival.

Live Nation are the major shareholders in V.

They have Reading and Leeds, they have Download, they have Lattitude.

V is doing exactly what they want it to do and thats be a pop fest with a splash of chart indie and some old school. Nothing is going to change. If you don't like what V now is, simply find another fest that ticks your boxes. Everyone had to do it, V was my first festival 15 years ago. Its local to me so I still hold an interest but this will be my 5th in a row I haven't gone to.

The rock line up you list is so mixed, pretty cool

what were you going for ? A two stage line up?

I always believe theres a spot in the market place for 25+ aged festival with a rock indie line up of older artists, the trendy new acts dont need to be on the bill, it doesn't need to be a big capacity.

To keep costs low, one main open air stage, a tent of unsigned acts, a tent of tribute acts and it would be enough IMO.

It's what Sonisphere should become IMO, as the maximum capacity for the place is only 65k (I believe), so they should just got a for a mixed line-up of older acts from both indie rock and metal (not extreme metal) and just run it low cost like you said, Main-stage, a tent for something else, and then a load of unsigned stuff on another stage, and perhaps a comedy stage to add some variety?

[DGrant261]

The rock line up you list is so mixed, pretty cool

what were you going for ? A two stage line up?

I always believe theres a spot in the market place for 25+ aged festival with a rock indie line up of older artists, the trendy new acts dont need to be on the bill, it doesn't need to be a big capacity.

To keep costs low, one main open air stage, a tent of unsigned acts, a tent of tribute acts and it would be enough IMO.

You make some very valid points about V. The problem is an indie fan who dreams of the lineups that were commonplace in 2006/7/8 kinda thing thing I don't feel there is that much out there to float my boat. I think the >25 rock festival things I as good idea and probably the grounds for which this idea has come from, even if the V association part of it was a bit too far fetched. Back when R&L sold out very quickly I believe (From what I've read) I did appeal to more people in their 20's than the mostly teenage audience it gets now.

It terms of the practicalities of it, this was my idea for stage break up. With a main stage, 2nd stage, new bands (FR at R&L type thing) and older mid sized bands integrated tent, and a heavier tent (But again older focus to separate from R&L's lock up). With a bit of shuffling round this was my rough idea for the lineup

Day 1 -

KASABIAN

PLACEBO

JAMIE T

THE KOOKS

KODALINE

BAND OF SKULLS

HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD

BRING ME THE HORIZON

JESUS & MARY CHAIN

ENTER SHIKARI

MASTODON

CIRCA WAVES

HONEYBLOOD

HOZIER

TEMPLES

ASH

Day 2 -

MORRISSEY

STEREOPHONICS

TWIN ATLANTIC

GEORGE EZRA

DEAF HAVANA

WE ARE THE IN CROWD

REVEREND & THE MAKERS

YOU ME AT SIX

COURTEENERS

CATFISH & THE BOTTLEMEN

DJANGO-DJANGO

PALMA VIOLETS

INSPIRAL CARPETS

BLACK STONE CHERRY

DROPKICK MURPHYS

SHED SEVEN

Edited March 16, 2015 by DGrant261

[eFestivals]

Richard Branson has absolutely NOTHING to do with V festival.

Live Nation are the major shareholders in V.

Branson owns 10%. It's his "fee" for the use of the Virgin name.

I know LN bought out Desmond's share, but I'm pretty sure the other half(ish) remains owned by Metropolis, SJM, and Branson.

[luckysalt]

Branson owns 10%. It's his "fee" for the use of the Virgin name.

I know LN bought out Desmond's share, but I'm pretty sure the other half(ish) remains owned by Metropolis, SJM, and Branson.

But he has nothing to do with the festival, he may have a token percentage but he wouldn't make any decisions, he wouldn't book any acts or say I want the festival to go down this direction and it would happen. He would just get a percentage.

And on the other point if the other halfish is split between 3 parties, then that still makes Live Nation the majority shareholder.

Even if they have 45% even and the other 55% is split between the three they would still have the most percentage, I don't understand why everyone wants a piece of V and surely its only a matter of time before Live Nation either increase their share or fuck off what they have and create a new festival and bully V out the market, you know Live Nation like to control the market as well as I do Neil.

Sadly its destroying the soul and creativity of festivals.

[eFestivals]

But he has nothing to do with the festival, he may have a token percentage but he wouldn't make any decisions, he wouldn't book any acts or say I want the festival to go down this direction and it would happen. He would just get a percentage.

And on the other point if the other halfish is split between 3 parties, then that still makes Live Nation the majority shareholder.

Even if they have 45% even and the other 55% is split between the three they would still have the most percentage, I don't understand why everyone wants a piece of V and surely its only a matter of time before Live Nation either increase their share or fuck off what they have and create a new festival and bully V out the market, you know Live Nation like to control the market as well as I do Neil.

Sadly its destroying the soul and creativity of festivals.

Branson has enough to do with it to turn up and prance around the stage now and then, to remind everyone of his existence. And because it's using his company name, it's very likely he's set some rules around how the festival is to be done so that the name isn't damaged.

But, yes, as far as i'm aware LN now have the largest stake - tho that doesn't necessarily pan out as being the controlling stake. It'll probably depend on what was agreed when V was first started; Desmond was remote to it's operation (tho heavily involved in the bookings), whilst Bob and Simon had a feet-on-the-ground role in running them.

And yes, I suspect that LN will end up owning it all, but probably only when Bob and Simon are (separately) looking for an exit from the music biz, when they'll probably sell-out to LN on everything they each do.

Edited March 16, 2015 by eFestivals

[sjseabass]

This idea is almost exactly what Reading and Leeds and V already are. As explained, Live Nation have sizeable interest in both so they're hardly gonna start another almost identical festival. What a pointless suggestion.

[stainton1534]

Branson doesn't even own Virgin Media the main sponsor now

[eFestivals]

Branson doesn't even own Virgin Media the main sponsor now

sponsorship is something distinctly different and unrelated to ownership.