Muddy fields, warm beer and questionable food stuffs were once synonymous with the festival experience.
Sure, should you be searching for weekend revelry in all its mud-soaked glory, there’s no shortage of options out there. But nowadays, festival-goers increasingly want gourmet foods and clean toilets alongside a great line-up, especially for older generations who no longer have the desire to rough it in the rave.
That’s where events such as Homestead Festival comes in. Debuting in 2025, Homestead offers all the bells and whistles that are expected from a more luxury festival experience – VIP tents, a range of foods, comedy stages et al. However, this is exclusively available for the over-25s only.
The concept comes from Will and Jess Lardner. Until 2024, Will was the Director of Shindig Festival, while Jess is the current Operations Manager at the Bristol-based events company Team Love, the folks behind festivals such as Love Saves The Day, Simple Things and Love International.
Tired of overly branded and oversold festival, the Somerset-based, 1500-capacity Homestead bills itself as a way for punters of a certain age to leave their worries (and children) at home. It offers a free Bloody Mary and breakfast in the morning, Sunday roasts later in the weekend, free parking and more for one single ticket price. And, with the likes of MJ Cole, Erol Alkan and Children of Zeus performing, a pretty banging line-up to boot.
Here, Will offers his music festival insights, the need for an age restricted festival and why we need to empower the next generation of promoters.
Jack: How did the idea for Homestead happen?
“It’s a new thing that we’re trying to do, and it’s a new concept and way of looking at festivals. As far as I’m aware, we’re the only festival for over-25s in the UK, and it certainly feels like it’s an area that’s not being looked at in the UK festival market.
We always thought that there was scope to do something slightly different for a more intimate, older crowd where we can take the hassle out of going to festivals. From buying the ticket to car parking, it’s become very difficult going to festivals. We want to sort of eliminate all that and make it really simple for the customer.”
“We book acts that we genuinely love. It’s always been a hill I’ve died on as a booker.”
Jack: Why is now a good opportunity for you to create Homestead?
“There will always be a place for large events like Glastonbury and Reading and Leeds, but I think that this over the last few years, themedium sized festivals have never recovered post-COVID. We can sit here and blame the costs and talent budgets going up, but I think that people now want something that feels a little bit more honest. Something that doesn’t feel corporate branded, or something that doesn’t feel like a like a money grab at every opportunity.
“We’ve set out a few goals for Homestead. We wanted the food to be as important as the music and and the comedy, but we wanted to include things like a Sunday roast available, include breakfast and Bloody Mary’s every day. We thought it would be a lovely chance to get everyone together in the morning and debrief from the night before.”
Jack: How has your own personal experiences with ageing and having kids inspired you and your wife to create Homestead?
“We wanted to do something that we felt wasn’t being catered for, and there wasn’t a plan to follow. But we just felt like there wasn’t anything being catered to for us.
There’s nothing that really focuses on that 30-50 age group who still want to go out, dance and party, but they might not want to see their favourite headliner at 4am.”
Jack: How do you create a lineup that appeals to people over-25 without it being a bit cheesy and overly nostalgic?
“We book acts that we genuinely love. It’s always been a hill I’ve died on as a booker.
For the last ten years, I programmed every artist that played on every stage on Shindig. I’m very fortunate to have a wealth of contacts, but what it all comes down to is booking artists that we love who champion their scenes. I like people to discover things at festivals, but it’s about balance about booking acts that we have loved for years with acts who appeal to those who have a modern knowledge of music and that festival-goers can discover.”
Jack: Between you and your wife, you have the knowledge and experience to create something like Homestead, but is it getting harder to book acts for new festivals?
“We’ve been very lucky. I’ve built up a 20 year career with a lot of agents, managers and artists who I can speak to on a personal level, and they really understood the concept of what we were doing. But independent festivals are closing all the time, so it’s really important for people to try new things otherwise we’ll only be left with the giant festivals. That’s certainly not the festival scene that I grew up with and came into 20 years ago.
We have to try new things, because if we don’t the industry is going to get very stale very quickly. I feel that as a promoter, it’s our duty to try these things. Because if not us, then who?”
“It’s more important than ever that we inspire the next generation of promoters.”
Jack: So if a new festival wanted to do something like Homestead, is that possible without having incredibly deep pockets or being massively branded?
“I do think it is possible. There are people out there who value what we’re trying to do, because it is an ecosystem. As much as the artists are important, if there’s no promoters there’s no industry.
I think now it’s even more important that we get the next generation into it and that we inspire the next promoters, so we can hand the torch over at some point. It’s not as easy as it has been, but it’s not impossible. That’s the thing we all have to take away from it.”
Homestead Festival takes place from 18-20 July. More information about the festival can be found here.
