Electric Picnic still a nice little earner

Electric Picnic Republic, the holding company for EP has declared profits for 2017 of €1.9m.  Thats a five fold increase on the previous year.  Attendance at the festival was raised in 2017 from 51,000 to 55,000 weekend tickets. Despite the larger attendance, the festival sold out in advance of any acts being named.  The same happened this year and sales have been reported to be strong for next years Picnic.

With 2018 a decidedly mixed year for concert promoters in Ireland, the importance of cash cow events such as EP is pretty obvious.  It seems likely that a number of high profile shows in 2018 were loss making.  EP not only generates revenue, but by selling out up to 7 months in advance, it bank rolls a lot of other activity.

Cher Ching!

I will have a longer piece over the weekend on the LN-Gaiety results, which were published a little while back.

 

 

 

All Time Low nail a Slam Dunk

Just a few days after their controversial announcement, moving outdoor in Leeds and cancelling the Birmingham leg, Slam Dunk has announced their first tranche of bands.

Leading the way, with a UK exclusive performance will be All Time Low.   The Maryland Rockers headlined Slam Dunk before in 2013.

NOFX and New Found Glory were the other big names announced today.  Also announced were Waterparks, Story of the Year, Gallows, Mad Caddies and Silverstein.

The bands will play Leeds on May 25 and then move south to Hatfield in Herts on May 26th.

Tickets which are priced about £65 per day, will go on sale on Friday 19th.  Further details are available here.

Rock en Seine announce ticket date and first headliner

Rock en Seine has announced their first headliner and the launch date for ticket sales.  The Cure, who are firing out confirmations like confetti have been confirmed for the Paris (west of Paris) festival.  Rock en Seine will take place on 23, 24 and 25 August 2019.

Tickets for the event go on sale on Novemeber 7th.  No word on pricing yet.

 

Cure to Exit

The Cure have added a headline slot at Exit to their impressive list of Summer gigs.  The multi award winning festival, once described by The Guardian as ‘the best festival in the world’, was attended by almost 200,000 people in 2018.

Exit, held in the city of Novi Sad, Serbia, was born out of the movement for freedom and democracy in the Balkans.  It has grown steadily over the years and annually boasts a strong line up.  Last years menu included; David Guetta,  Grace Jones,  Fever Ray, Jax Jones, LP, Ofenbach, Nina Kraviz, Richie Hawtin, Asian Dub Foundation and Daniel Avery.

Exit is crazy cheap.  4-day tickets are well under a hundred quid.  You could score a VIP ticket for less than a ticket to Reading or Electric Picnic.  Tickets will go on sale on October 23 at noon.  Beware, Serbia is an hour ahead of us.

Pink added to Rock Werchter

Three time Grammy winner, Pink has become the latest act to be announced as a headliner for Belgium’s Rock Werchter festival.  The Pop icon, who this year released her seventh album joins The Cure and Mumford and Sons at the top of the bill.

Pink will take her Beautiful Trauma World Tour to Rock Werchter.  This was announced alongside a slew of major concerts across Europe.  Pink last played Rock Werchter in 2010. Interestingly, this seems to be the only festival on her European tour, with all her other dates stand alone shows.

Tickets for the festival will go on sale on October 26th.

Slam Dunk has the Birmingham Blues

Best UK Metropolitan Festival winner in 2017, Slam Dunk. has announced changes to their operations for 2019.  The festival which had been running in three locations, Leeds, Birmingham and Hatfield in Herts, will now reduce to two days, with Birmingham losing out.

In addition to pulling the Birmingham leg, organisers are changing the format of the Leeds event, moving from a number of venues to one single outdoor venue at Temple Newsam Park, just outside Leeds City Centre.

Organisers have also promised to improve facilities at the Slam Dunk Festival South site at Hatfield Park.  They indicated that they would be paying particular attention to feedback on toilets and car parking.  They have asked festival goers to contact them with more feedback regarding the site at info@slamdunkmusic.com

2018 saw Good Charlotte and Jimmy Eat World tour the country with the likes of Frank Carter and Taking Back Sunday.  Organisers say that they will be announcing the first acts soon.

Midlands festival goers are being urged to take specially arranged buses from Birmingham to both venues.  Given the number of festivals out there, that may be a stretch.

NME Vo5 festival gongs announced

NME has been one of the key publications for generations of music fans.  They have partnered with Vo5, them of the gel and shampoo bottles, to honour the best of the festival season.

Among the winners were the following

Category Winner
Best New Festival Act Shame
Best Line Up Mad Cool
Best Atmosphere Sziget
Ultimate Headliners Arctic Monkeys
Most Stunning Site Boardmasters
Festival Anthem Brockhampton – Boogie

 

Hurricane Festival – Spotify playlist

Yesterday’s Hurricane announcement was as great as it was surprising.  One advantage of a fairly hefty first announcement is that it gives us a chance to put up a playlist.

One of my goals in doing this blog was to expand my own taste in music by looking below the headliners, particularly at bands who are local to the festival.  Lots of German bands in here, so plenty of new discoveries await.

Madon-no and Fleetwood Lack for Glastonbury

Sorry, that is truly terrible.  Rumours abound that Emily Eavis has ruled out Madonna, Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin as headliners for next years Glastonbury festival.

Twitter Account, The Glasto Thingy reported on answers supposedly given by Eavis at a charity event in Taunton.

Madonna was favourite with some bookies.  Fleetwood Mac were also fairly highly backed to appear.  No mention of other favourites, The Cure.

 

Hurricane goes large

Hurricane Festival, which will take place near Bremen from June 21 – 23, has splurged and announced all its headliners in one go.  Mental behaviour in this era of drip drip announcements.

The German festival has announced Foo Fighters, Mumford and Sons, Die Toten Hosen and The Cure.

In addition to this impressive list, they have also announced:

AnnenMayKantereit, Bilderbuch, Papa Roach, Bosse, Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, Enter Shikari, The Wombats, 257ers, Trettmann, The Streets, Bausa, Ufo361, Die Orsons, Muff Potter, OK Kid, Fünf Sterne Deluxe, Yung Hurn, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, Teesy, Schmutzki, Montreal

Not bad oder nicht schlecht, depending on what you’re having yourself.

Tickets here