Dave Woodhall talks to Moseley and elsewhere festival promoter John Fell about the summer’s activities.
Last time we spoke was in 2019 when you talked about the dangers of festivals growing too quickly, then something goes wrong and they’re in trouble. As you’re such a forecaster, what’s the lottery numbers for Saturday?
“I don’t think any of us could have er… Festival promoters always have to have an eye on the things that could happen, you obviously look for opportunities as well but you always have an eye on the negatives of what if… But I don’t think anyone could have anticipated a global pandemic and what followed.”
Something really did happen, but you’ve managed to survive it.
“It did, obviously we’ve got the two festivals but it was the same really. We’ve got the support of the ticket holders who, I think 92% rolled over their tickets for this year. We did two crowdfunders that did really well, all the artists and agents worked with us instead of chasing their deposits. Everyone worked together to survive. We got some government support and we’ve managed to make it through to now. It’s a real testament to how much people need music and festivals to happen.”
When the pandemic started I was talking to Jim Simpson from Big Bear Music, who said he’d had eighteen months of work thrown away. He has a festival to run on top of regular bookings, but everything he’d been putting together had been cancelled.
“That’s true, a lot of our work has just gone. We do other shows but the festivals are the big ones. We didn’t necessarily lose the work we’d done because the tickets have been sold, the website is there and the bands are all ready to go but you do lose a year’s worth of revenue. That’s pretty brutal whichever way you look at it.”
When the festivals do go ahead safety has to be paramount.
“It’s the most important aspect. The last thing we want to do is put on a festival that isn’t safe. We’ve made our decisions based on the government roadmap that says on 21st June all restrictions will be lifted and that’s been backed up by a lot of independent data gained by the festival community. Most of the adult population will be vaccinated by then so there will be some protection. We looked at whether we could hold a festival; social distancing doesn’t work for us, we’re a small site and we have reduced our capacity.
“People want a festival experience and we’d have rolled over until 2022 if we weren’t able to have enough people in. You might have to wear a mask in the queues, we still haven’t had any guidance for this but things like extra cleaning for the toilets, more sanitation stations, making people aware that we have a duty to look after each other as well. We have to be aware that people whose heads might not be back in the full festival mood still want to attend. Good messaging, good signage, clean facilities. Some extra measures where possible, but try not to affect the vibe of the festival.”
You mentioned reducing capacity. How has that been affected?
“For Mostly Jazz we’ve reduced the capacity by about ten per cent, which is thousands of pounds in lost revenue because a lot of our income is in that last ten per cent but it feels right. Moseley Folk has always been a smaller capcity, because people like to spread out and create their own space.”
When the festivals do begin, what will the audiences be watching?
“For jazz we’ve got Craig Charles again, Maribou State doing a DJ set, Nigthmares on Wax, Hannah Williams, then we’ve got Lady Sanity and Call me Unique locally. We’re going to be announcing some new acts in the coming weeks and some replacements but not just yet. For the Folk festival we hope to be into the post-Covid society come September. We’ll still have the extra sanitising, cleaner toilets and again, we might have to have things like spreading the bar over more space but keeping the festival experience. The full line-up’s there, the Waterboys, Wonderstuff, Richard Hawley, Passenger. It’s a really strong line-up this year. Tickets are flying out and we’ll be sold out before it starts.”
How about Lunar and Beyond the Tracks, your other festivals?
“Lunar’s not back but we’re doing camping there from May until the end of September. There’s acoustic music, a craft beer bar, medication centre and socially distanced camping. You can go there and feel really safe. Beyond the Tracks is back, a week before Moseley Folk and the idea is that it’ll be a fully-fledged festival. Again we’ll have more space and more cleaning. Tickets are on sale for that now. We’ve got Hacienda Classical, then the Charlatans and Sleaford Mods. The feedback’s really good for that one.”
Are you worried that after a year of almost nothing, there will be too many festivals this summer?
“I don’t think so. A lot of the big ones haven’t taken the risk but because we’re smaller and there’s no camping our suppliers are still working with us. We want to keep going for the next thirty or forty years. There’s not many staff involved and if our festivals did have to be rolled over they would still be going next year. Everybody would get their tickets deferred or there would be refunds available.
“We want to give it the best shot of happening this year because people want it, and really they need it, and so do we.”
You’ve just got to start hoping for decent weather now.
“Exactly that. I can’t wait to stand there and see people enjoying some normality. It’s been a long twelve months so we need to remind ourselves of what life’s about.”
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