FEATURE: Far from the Maddened Crowd: Keeping Festivals Alive for 2022

FEATURE:

 

 

Far from the Maddened Crowd

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Keeping Festivals Alive for 2022

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THERE is a lot of anger around at the moment…

 PHOTO CREDIT: @anniespratt/Unsplash

as there are doubts whether the Government will support festivals and ensure that they can return in 2022. It is inevitable that there will not be a lot of live music this year – one cannot blame the organisers at all. What everyone wants is a support package put in place for small and large festivals so that next year can be the best and busiest yet for festivals. Glastonbury announced that this year’s festival will not take place. On 22nd January, NME ran a report that suggested we may see something small-scale come from Worthy Farm in September:

“Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis has said he is considering holding a smaller event in September after it was confirmed that the coronavirus pandemic has forced the festival’s cancellation for the second year running.

Speaking to LBC, Eavis said he hoped to hold a smaller event later in the year to belatedly mark the 50th anniversary of Glastonbury – which was originally set to take place last year.

“I would like to do something in September. I would like to do something smaller somewhere around the anniversary date of when we started, which was the 18th of September 1970,” he said. “I would like to consider possibly doing something around that time.”

When asked if it could involve big-name acts who have previously performed at Glastonbury, Eavis said: “Yes, but I do need to get reassurance from the ethics people.”

A smaller event could potentially take the form of Glastonbury’s annual Pilton Party – a one-off concert held at Worthy Farm every September to thank workers and local people for their help in organising the festival.

Announcing yesterday’s cancellation, Michael and Emily Eavis said: “In spite of our efforts to move Heaven & Earth, it has become clear that we simply will not be able to make the Festival happen this year. We are so sorry to let you all down”.

Maybe festival bosses will be able to stream a pared-down version this year. They won’t be able to have a crowd there but, as there is so much anxiety and loss, providing some form of live music from sites around the country would seem better than nothing. I do feel that we will see all planned festivals scrapped in 2021 because, with no assurance when live music can return in a large-capacity sense, organisers cannot take the risk. I have seen a lot of anger online recently because there are genuine concerns that festivals might not be able to return next year because of financial issues. Glastonbury might be okay but, if a lot of people ask for a refund on tickets that were bought for last year’s event, then that may hit their aspirations for 2022. I do feel like a loyal fanbase will want to attend Glastonbury next year, so that should be okay. There are hopes that big artists will stream from Glastonbury, and there will be optimism for a 2022 revival and huge celebration. Other festivals do not have the same popularity and security. Festivals will want to get going as soon as it safe; organisers say festival planning is impossible without cover. This article from The Guardian explains more:

“Many festivals are not insured for communicable diseases and the insurance market is not offering Covid-19 cover for cancellation and business interruption. In response to the Glastonbury cancellation, the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, said on Thursday: “We continue to help the arts on recovery, including problems around getting insurance.” It is not clear whether insurance was a factor in the Glastonbury organisers’ decision.

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A commitment to backing an insurance scheme would be a substantial change in policy for the government. On 10 December, Liberal Democrat MPs wrote to the secretary of state urging him to underwrite contingency insurance.

In a response dated 13 January and seen by the Guardian, digital and culture minister Caroline Dinenage said that the government was “not yet convinced by the evidence presented to date that insurance intervention is the right form of support for the events sector nor that this is the right time to consider it”.

The “evidence of market failure specific to [Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport] sectors must be clearly demonstrated and robust”, she said. Evidence given at a recent parliamentary inquiry hearing into the future of British music festivals after the pandemic said the vast majority would vanish if faced with a second barren year.

Asked whether the government position on backing an indemnity scheme had changed since Dinenage’s letter, a DCMS spokesperson said: “We are in regular dialogue with public health experts to agree a realistic return date for festivals and other large events. Once we are confident we have this, we will be working with organisers to unlock the barriers they face to restarting – including challenges getting insurance”.

Things are quite precarious right now, and there is rightful complaint and tension from festival organisers and live music fans alike. I am writing this article on 22nd January - so there may well be some development in the next few weeks. Download Festival is still hoping to go ahead, though I do not realistically see how any festival can go ahead this year in any large sense – maybe Download will only admit a small number of people? Music fans are desperate for good news regarding festivals next year. We want small and large festivals to come back, so financial support is paramount! I do hope that the Government provide backing and help, as it is a shame that, when we were hoping to return to festivals this year, things have been pushed back a year. When festivals return next year, one can guarantee that we will see crowds…

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FLOCK in their thousands.

Sam Liddicott