Stuart Galbraith gets on board with Bloodstock Open Air

Promoter and festival organizer Stuart Galbraith, who oversaw the birth of Monsters of Rock, and its evolution into the Download Festival, has joined the board of family-run rock event Bloodstock Open Air and intends to dramatically increase the metal festival's capacity and appeal.

In a statement on the Bloodstock website (here) Galbraith comments, "It’s great to be involved in a pure, heavy metal rock festival again. It will be the third of its kind I’ve been part of. Monsters of Rock in the mid 1980s to 1996 represented the pinnacle of rock at the time and the subsequent creation of Download has taken that into the modern era. But there’s always been a need for a pure, hard rock festival and we hope to build on the great work that Paul and his family have put in."

The hard rock and heavy-metal-themed festival, Bloodstock Open Air is held in the East Midlands over three days in mid August, with acts including Helloween, Nightwish, Dimmu Borgir, Opeth, and Napalm Death. Galbraith's plan is to triple the audience figures by 2011 and greatly expand the festival's profile.

Galbraith is the former Live Nation managing director who, in January, founded the concert promoting operation Kilimanjaro, a 50/50 joint venture with AEG. Kilimanjaro has three main areas of business - festivals, large scale tours and new talent. Already this year Galbraith has gained a controlling interest in the North Wales music festival Wakestock, its sister festival at Blenheim Palace and green festival Big Green Gathering.

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