Global Festivals’ Bubble Bursts

30 British music festivals went bankrupt last year, the Independent newspaper noted last week, in a feature which asked the question ‘are our field days over?’

Citing ‘an increasing feeling that festivals have shifted too far from their original hippie-spirited ethos’, writer Lena Corner blamed corporate sponsors for diluting many events’ sense of ‘alternative reality’ while eFestivals guide chief Scott Williams identified a new breed of ‘festival tourists’ for doing the same thing.

“(The festival tourist) is someone who would never have dreamt of going to a festival 10 years ago," he said.

"They saw that festivals were fashionable so they go out and buy all the right kit from the high street – Cath Kidston tent, Hunter wellies”.

"The popular festival bubble has burst," he declared. (Independent: http://ind.pn/wuuhAu )

The report emerged just weeks after Australian business journal the Financial Review reported on a similar crisis afflicting the local scene after leading event promoters Big Day Out scaled back productions and admitted losing money for the first time in 20 years.

Citing exorbitant fee demands from A list artists and a ‘glut of rival events’, Big Day Out founder Ken West said revellers suffering from ‘festival fatigue’ were also scaling back as ticket prices rise ever higher.

“Audiences who were going to four or five events a summer are now thinking, ‘how did I afford it?’,” he told the Journal.

“The scene needs to contract and the oversupply of events and under-supply of talent will subside and the future will improve again.” (Australian Financial Review: http://bit.ly/A7Mpfq )

Meanwhile in Malawi, organizers of acclaimed international event the Lake of Stars International Music Festival’ announced they’re cancelling this year’s event‘ following fuel shortages and increasingly tough economic conditions in the Southern African country.

British festival organizer Will Jameson, who also runs acclaimed Liverpool events organization 'Chibuku Shake-Shake', told the Malawi’s Sunday Times, however, that ‘they were taking a break to concentrate on supporting other local arts initiatives’.

"It's not to do with the problems troubling the country but rather we just wanted to take stock of our activities and then come back fresh and bigger next year," he told Malawi’s Sunday Times.

"But we are not going out for good, we just want to take stock and come back bigger and better,” he promised. (http://bit.ly/weyKWf )

http://www.lakeofstars.org/