FEATURE:
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IN THIS PHOTO: Florence + The Machine in 2023 (they headlined Glastonbury in 2015 when Foo Fighters pulled out)
At a Time When They Are Struggling with Available Options, Why Festivals Need to Take Risks Regarding Their Main Artists
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WE are starting to hear…
a number of headliners announced for festivals next year. Primavera Sound have announced headliners including Lana Del Rey and SZA. Reading and Leeds announced some names. Their headliners also include Lana Del Rey. Other festivals have declared some names, though one of the big differences between Primavera Sound (Spain) and our Reading and Leeds is the gender discrepancy. The former booking female headliners. The latter only the one. It got me wondering how festivals decide who should headline. What budgets are in place and why a festival like Glastonbury this year featured three slightly older male acts. Not many fresh legs on that stage. I thought Lana Del Rey could have headlined Glastonbury, as she appeared at the festival. Gender equality is something all festivals should be mindful of next year. One issue that might affect things is budget and the availability of artists. I don’t think women are more likely to prefer solo tours to festivals or ask for a bigger fee. Though it is clear that many festival organisers are not taking risks when it comes to artists. Younger or less headline-looking acts that could be booked and make a big impression. I shall expand more on this. A week ago, The Guardian wrote a feature where it is reported festivals are struggling to book headliners. A range of issues that are limiting choices and causing some headaches:
“Set on the front meadow of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, minutes from the Guinness brewery, it is no surprise the first wave of tickets for Dublin’s Forbidden Fruit festival sold out within days.
The line-up – a heady mix of veterans, newcomers and nostalgia acts – is one of many festivals currently being announced for next summer. “We’ve got Nelly Furtado, who hasn’t played in Ireland for 24 years, Bicep and Barry Can’t Swim, who’s from that generation of artists with ironic names that audiences love” says festival booker Will Rolfe.
But behind the scenes, he says, it’s been a “real challenge”. The festival confirmed 90% of its first-choice artists, but that is rare. “The industry is struggling with a shortage of top headliners. The biggest and best artists are doing their own tours rather than festivals because it’s more lucrative.”
Forbidden Fruit is not alone. Festival organisers are reporting that the UK is no longer an appealing destination for global headline acts. With huge numbers of green spaces being given the go-ahead to hold events, organisers say there are struggling to find bands to fill them, and Brexit border delays are making matters worse.
Securing US acts is especially difficult. Many American shows operate a “dynamic” ticketing model, where the cost adjusts according to demand. As a result, prices can be astronomical. US tour tickets for Bruce Springsteen can go for several thousand dollars. For Taylor Swift, it is just shy of $900. Although an A-grade festival headliner in the UK can expect a fee of £2m-plus, financial expectations for US acts are far greater than this.
There will always be exceptions for artists who just want to do the show, such as Glastonbury, or who want the exposure and understand there is a fee difference. “Some will make less money and be OK with that,” says Rolfe.
The fear is that the UK is becoming irrelevant. “The UK just isn’t an attractive offer at the moment,” says Sacha Lord, co-founder of Parklife festival and night-time economy adviser for Greater Manchester. “When you’re booking these huge global artists, you’re competing with the rest of the world. It’s really tough out there.”
Noah Ball, programmer for Dorset’s We Out Here festival and Cross The Tracks in Brixton, says getting headliners locked in is trickier for next summer than it has been in previous years. “The cost of events has gone up 30-40% over the last few years. It was always a risky business and it’s become even riskier. It’s very important for events to hit the nail on the head and really get the line-up right.”
Artists may be asking for more money, but it is more expensive than ever for them to tour, says Claudio Lillo, booking agent for A$AP Rocky, Playboi Carti, Priya Ragu and Ezra Collective: “Festivals are saying they don’t have the budget, but artists’ costs have increased too.”
Sarah McBriar, founder and creative director of AVA festival in Belfast, which is in its 10th year, says people still want to go to festivals and their tickets sell quickly, but the weekend they are on at the end of May, there are now “four or five others at the same time”.
Although electronic star Fred Again has managed to go from backroom pop producer to headline the Reading and Leeds festival in a couple of years, for most it takes years of touring to cultivate a fanbase. The problem, says Ball, is festivals want proven ticket-sellers. “There’s a disparity between the number of acts that build to a large scale and the number of events that have capacity for huge crowds.”
One of the big criticisms is that line-ups look similar, but Lillo thinks festival bookers are not taking risks: “They say there aren’t enough headliners, but how are you going to become one unless someone takes a chance on you?”.
I can appreciate how the factors and drawbacks mentioned in the feature are limiting some headliner choices. Maybe not enough budget for huge artists. Solo tours offer more in the way of sets and design. You can play in many countries and reach more people. You also get to design your own stage and create something intimate and spectacular at the same time. Festivals seem less personal and unwieldy. I can understand why the U.K. is not as attractive as, say, the U.S.. or Spain. I think our track record regarding a lack of female headliners also does not help when it comes to attracting women to play. I do feel like there are problems which need addressing. I am not sure an artist like Lana Del Rey would have been out of Glastonbury’s budget this year as a headliner. She is headlining Reading and Leeds next year, so I don’t feel a potential Glastonbury headliner set would be too expensive and lavish – so instead she played a more stripped back one. That last paragraph of the feature is especially standout. No festival has a measure when it comes to what a headliner is. I think that many assume an artist needs to have been playing for decades and is this monumental success. Too many festivals book the same headliners because they are safe, commercial and tried and tested. It is that lack of bravery and thought that leads to this ‘issue’ with headliners we are seeing now. Maybe some of the bigger acts like Taylor Swift prefer to tour and have sort of outgrown festivals (or feel they are limited and less fulfilling).
If you are going to be book the same headliners or have the same unnecessary standards, of course there will be pipeline issues! It is not the case a headliner has to be this legendary artist that everyone has known for years. Billie Eilish headlined Glastonbury in 2022. She was twenty and had released two studio albums. The youngest artist to headline the festival, that was a risk and chance that very much paid off. I suspect that Glastonbury may do the same thing next year and book Olivia Rodrigo as a headliner (who will be twenty-one when Glastonbury happens next year; she has released two studio albums). How many great artists still coming to their best are booked as headliners?! I posted to Twitter recently with a link to that article from The Guardian. It was pointed out that a few legendary headline slots came from artists booked last moment. Pulp replaced The Stone Roses at Glastonbury in 1995. Without doubt one of the most iconic headliner replacements came when The Stone Roses had to call off their headline set after guitarist John Squire broke his collarbone in a cycling accident. At that point, Pulp had established themselves - though maybe they were not seen as worthy headline material. I am going to mention Glastonbury a lot, though only because it is one of the best festivals in the world and most people will recognise it.
Also, in 2015, Florence + The Machine headlined Glastonbury spectacularly when Foo Fighters cancelled. Dave Grohl broke his leg, so it was a late replacement that truly delivered. Another case of an artist maybe not seen as commercial or stadium-sized as Foo Fighters proving that they were headline-worthy. Epic, passionate and exceptional, one would have hoped that iconic 2015 set from Florence + The Machine showed that unexpected headliners are everywhere. Artists that you may feel are better on other stages, in fact can command that headline slot with aplomb. They do not need pyrotechnics, lavish sets and a lot of set design and dramatics. Just their music connecting with the audience in a very real and powerful way! Right now, all major festivals need to take a chance. I think smaller festivals have more options, as their headliners are often artists not especially massive or on the same level as someone like Taylor Swift for example. It is not a case of promoting a tiny artist to this prestigious slot. Instead, as we have seen with a couple of classic examples, realising there are incredible artists who have produced exceptional music that smashed their headline slots. They were not considered at the time but, owing to unfortunate circumstances, they got drafted in. If artists are not considered and risks are not taken, then that shows festivals are not willing to take chances. They are sticking with the same type of artists. I can appreciate how things are hard and all manner of factors is restricting the options available. However, by opening up their horizons and maybe being less stringent when it comes to their ‘gold standard’, they will find that there are…
PLENTY of headliners out there.