Sad times

[luckysalt]

On 9/28/2017 at 11:07 PM, thewayiam said:

But V did do it for years and successfully, Download is a completely different mart that doesn't even set itself sellout ticket standards any year as the promise to put it on again, they know they can't whatever Copping thinks. One thing is for sure though, without LN behind the fest being financial from all other areas it would be in a lot more trouble, and speaking of others Leeds would have ages ago too. 

The same Live Nation which has ran V for the past 3 years? 

Im not sure what your point is.

[thewayiam]

16 hours ago, luckysalt said:

The same Live Nation which has ran V for the past 3 years? 

Im not sure what your point is.

You can't just keep going if you fail to target your audience though and fall on your arse whereas Download has the same market as per, it's not changed and it hasn't relied on sellout crowds every year. V however are pretty screwed because R&L have intergrated a lot of what would sell to a V crowd now as well and even they only pull it off well at one site. Tbh I don't think V which targets some acts for Creamfields and SW4 got helped this time as not onlydid Cream go right out but SW4 benefited by crossover too.

[eFestivals]

1 hour ago, thewayiam said:

You can't just keep going if you fail to target your audience though and fall on your arse whereas Download has the same market as per, it's not changed and it hasn't relied on sellout crowds every year. V however are pretty screwed because R&L have intergrated a lot of what would sell to a V crowd now as well and even they only pull it off well at one site. Tbh I don't think V which targets some acts for Creamfields and SW4 got helped this time as not onlydid Cream go right out but SW4 benefited by crossover too.

er... the same Live Nation which is running Creamfields...?

[Hugh Jass]

V needs bold, fresh new ideas to stay afloat. As I type this their people are on the phone to The Killers and Kings of Leon.

[bakershake]

Any further news on what might (or might not) be happening in Hylands Park next August? Still no official word from FR yet and we're half way through the month!!!

[BeddingatReading]

@eFestivals have you heard anything yet? Does anyone at least know a date of any sort of announcement. Guess it’s looking unlikely to be running next year with them not selling tickets yet but why are they taking so long to announce it? 

[NickisGinger]

4 hours ago, BeddingatReading said:

@eFestivals have you heard anything yet? Does anyone at least know a date of any sort of announcement. Guess it’s looking unlikely to be running next year with them not selling tickets yet but why are they taking so long to announce it? 

I came across this article. Not that it could mean anything though..but the article had been *updated*

https://www.expressandstar.com/entertainment/2017/09/28/doubt-cast-over-future-of-v-festival-at-weston-park-staffordshire/

[kingcrawler]

 

[luckysalt]

Sounds like both sites still. 

Forum needs changing to the festival formally know as V

Or symbol

[eFestivals]

2 minutes ago, luckysalt said:

Sounds like both sites still. 

Forum needs changing to the festival formally know as V

Or symbol

Sounds like it's just Virgin bowing out really, then.

Give the promoters an easy chance to re-think it and relaunch it tho. Given that V Festival's standing was on the slide it's probably a good thing.

 

[luckysalt]

Confirmed both sites

http://www.nme.com/news/music/v-festival-rebrand-new-name-2018-2154681?utm_content=manual&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nme

[Gucci Piggy]

Sounds like it's going to three days, too.

[eFestivals]

8 minutes ago, Will-2609 said:

Sounds like it's going to three days, too.

Yup. Good to hear Melvin sounding confident about it, too (tho i wouldn't really expect anything else).

It'll be interesting to see what gets served up.

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/news/17/171030b.shtml

[phil the shrew]

Does sound promising that there might be a future for the festival, but it is a little unusual to announce one sponsor is ending without a new one in place

Next August seems a long way off but to arrange a 2/3 day festival on two sites requires a lot of planning and finance behind it and to not yet have a major sponsor would be a worry

Do hope it can continue and maybe return to a mixed line up that gets teenagers and oldies like me through the gates. Both sites are big enough to offer a range of acts, and think the only way to get a lot of punters through the gates is a varied line up and some decent non music entertainment too

[eFestivals]

11 minutes ago, phil the shrew said:

Does sound promising that there might be a future for the festival, but it is a little unusual to announce one sponsor is ending without a new one in place

Nah, not really. There's almost no festivals left which are branded at the same high level that V was. That's more of a hang-over from a different age that ended 10+ years ago now.

11 minutes ago, phil the shrew said:

Next August seems a long way off but to arrange a 2/3 day festival on two sites requires a lot of planning and finance behind it and to not yet have a major sponsor would be a worry

Festival Republic/Live Nation run a large number of the world's biggest festivals - most (nowadays) without major sponsorship and have been running V Fest for a number of years already. It won't be a struggle for them.

 

11 minutes ago, phil the shrew said:

Do hope it can continue and maybe return to a mixed line up that gets teenagers and oldies like me through the gates. Both sites are big enough to offer a range of acts, and think the only way to get a lot of punters through the gates is a varied line up and some decent non music entertainment too

The hard bit is pitching the acts right, particularly in the pop market where things are so fickle. 

That's the part wheret being a big player doesn't give a huge advantage (apart from with securing the acts), cos if you get a booking right you get it right, and if you get it wrong you've stuffed up. Being a big player doesn't give you any better chance of getting it right than anyone else.

Nothing of the change guarantees a rosy future, but it does give the chance of a rosy future - which is probably more than V had. It had had its day.

[Gucci Piggy]

Wonder if they'll go back to having bands headline rather than just outright pop acts. If so, The Killers, Florence and Liam Gallagher (big enough?) could be in the mix. And on the pop side there's Taylor Swift and maybe Kanye. What other possibilities are there? Drake?

[eFestivals]

8 minutes ago, Will-2609 said:

Wonder if they'll go back to having bands headline rather than just outright pop acts. If so, The Killers, Florence and Liam Gallagher (big enough?) could be in the mix. And on the pop side there's Taylor Swift and maybe Kanye. What other possibilities are there? Drake?

I reckon they'll think it thru and decide on a booking policy which is more sustainable than what they've done with V recently, particularly if they're doing three days. 

So i'd expect a fairly broad definition of 'pop', wider than it's been at V in recent years.

[Gucci Piggy]

Just now, eFestivals said:

I reckon they'll think it thru and decide on a booking policy which is more sustainable than what they've done with V recently, particularly if they're doing three days. 

So i'd expect a fairly broad definition of 'pop', wider than it's been at V in recent years.

Yeah I was thinking the expansion to three days probably made it more likely. Not really enough pop headliners out there for them to get 3 a year. Struggling to think of many at all for 2018.

[NickisGinger]

I’m looking foward to see these changes. Wonder if any of the line up will get announced with the name?

[Jcatley]

Glad they will be turning to 3 days, potentially this could be great for the festival.

[Amy Lawn]

2 hours ago, eFestivals said:

I reckon they'll think it thru and decide on a booking policy which is more sustainable than what they've done with V recently, particularly if they're doing three days. 

So i'd expect a fairly broad definition of 'pop', wider than it's been at V in recent years.

Get sponsoring it Neil, I think eFestivals Festival is a catchy name.

[Mattymooz]

Do you really think they'd go towards more of a rock festival again? I assumed they'd go more hardcore pop focused and stop booking people like Killers and Kings Of Leon etc. and focus more on the Lady Gagas, Taylor Swifts, Harry Styles etc.

[phil the shrew]

19 hours ago, eFestivals said:

Nah, not really. There's almost no festivals left which are branded at the same high level that V was. That's more of a hang-over from a different age that ended 10+ years ago now.

Festival Republic/Live Nation run a large number of the world's biggest festivals - most (nowadays) without major sponsorship and have been running V Fest for a number of years already. It won't be a struggle for them.

 

The hard bit is pitching the acts right, particularly in the pop market where things are so fickle. 

That's the part wheret being a big player doesn't give a huge advantage (apart from with securing the acts), cos if you get a booking right you get it right, and if you get it wrong you've stuffed up. Being a big player doesn't give you any better chance of getting it right than anyone else.

Nothing of the change guarantees a rosy future, but it does give the chance of a rosy future - which is probably more than V had. It had had its day.

Yeh I guess with Festival Republic/Live Nation on board they can afford to bank roll the festival costs over the winter or until the ticket sales start to come in if/when they go on sale

Shrewsbury Fields festival lost a sponsor a few years ago and issued a similar statement to V, saying they would be back next year but ended up going bust, but that’s less likely with a big player who can afford to bank roll the project for a few months, particularly in current climate where access to credit is seriously reduced 

I guess a lot depends on where they see it in their portfolio of festivals - might be they pull out of others and focus on V (let’s call it that till we know otherwise) as potentially a large two site festival, if done correctly, has potential for more profit than a smaller one or two day event

Hope they manage to sort it out as the location and time of event is ideal for my summer festivaling, have missed going in recent years

[eFestivals]

8 minutes ago, phil the shrew said:

Yeh I guess with Festival Republic/Live Nation on board they can afford to bank roll the festival costs over the winter or until the ticket sales start to come in if/when they go on sale

Shrewsbury Fields festival lost a sponsor a few years ago and issued a similar statement to V, saying they would be back next year but ended up going bust, but that’s less likely with a big player who can afford to bank roll the project for a few months, particularly in current climate where access to credit is seriously reduced 

I guess a lot depends on where they see it in their portfolio of festivals - might be they pull out of others and focus on V (let’s call it that till we know otherwise) as potentially a large two site festival, if done correctly, has potential for more profit than a smaller one or two day event

Hope they manage to sort it out as the location and time of event is ideal for my summer festivaling, have missed going in recent years

Yeah. Small operators have major difficulties with finding the money for the up-front costs, but that's not really a factor for the new 'V'.

Live Nation have owned V for a few years already, having chosen to buy into it. At the same time they've expanded both what they do in the UK music market and with UK festivals/outdoor events, so I don't think they'll be dropping anything, at least not by choice.

They have bought a few festies (both within & outside the UK) over the years which have folded fairly soon afterwards, but that's the way it sometimes goes; what's popular can change, and leave a festival short of audience quite quickly.

Edited October 31, 2017 by eFestivals

[JBarbour]

1 hour ago, Mattymooz said:

Do you really think they'd go towards more of a rock festival again? I assumed they'd go more hardcore pop focused and stop booking people like Killers and Kings Of Leon etc. and focus more on the Lady Gagas, Taylor Swifts, Harry Styles etc.

Quote from Festival Republic boss Melvin Benn: “It will very much continue to have a pop and dance focus,”