Author: Jack Needham

Just over 25 years ago, the Danish festival Roskilde suffered a tragedy that would be unimaginable if it didn’t happen in real-time. Pearl Jam took to the stage. The crowd surged, people became trapped, wet weather hindered people’s movements, and at the of end it all, nine people died, and 26 people were injured . 25 years on, lessons are still needing to be learned. Since Roskilde’s tragic event, we’ve seen disasters at Berlin’s Love Parade, where a crowd crush killed 21 people and injured around 652 more. And in 2022, at Brixton’s O2 Academy, two people were killed during…

EXIT Festival, formerly based in Serbia, has announced a fundraiser after what it says is a result of “publicly supporting the current mass student protests in Serbia.” The festival says it has faced “fierce government pressure and complete withdrawal of over €1.5 million in public co-funding and government-controlled sponsorship,” since showing its public support for country’s student-led anti-corruption protests, which occurred after the Novi Sad station collapse in November 2024. The tragedy claimed 15 lives. The festival says its goal for the crowdfunding campaign is to “ensure the immediate stability of the festival organisation” and “protect over 100 permanent jobs”.  In June,…

The 50,000 capacity UK festival Boardmasters has introduced increased safety and crowd management measures for its 2025 event. The new measures come after seven people were hospitalised due to crowd surges at the festival’s 2024 event. The newly implemented safety features include increased high-vis patrols, additional search lanes upon entry, 24-hour support and 24/7 security coverage across all campsites. The festival also stated it is working closely with Cornwall Council, Devon and Cornwall Police and the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation. This year’s festival will bring headliners Raye, Central Cee and The Prodigy to Newquay from 6-10 August. The…

Festival-goers may be willing to give an arm and a leg to attend their favourite festival for free, but how about a kidney? That’s the proposal from Way Out West’s new initiative. The Swedish festival, who will be hosting the likes of Charli XCX, Iggy Pop, Pet Shop Boys and more, is urging music fans to apply for a free 3-day pass by signing up to the national organ donor register. Entries close on Thursday 7 August. Dubbed the ‘Kidney Pass’, the ‘first-of-its-kind’ initiative was launched in response to a decline in donor registrations across Sweden, says the festival. Those interested can register…

The 2025 UK Festival Awards, powered by Festival Insights, is officially open to all entries. The UK Festival Awards, with Headline Sponsor Ticketmaster, celebrates the very best of the festival industry, and in 2025 our landmark yearly event will take place at DIECAST Manchester on 2 December. We’ll be welcoming key figures from throughout the festival industry for a night that offers vital insight into the ever-changing festival landscape. Guests will be welcomed with a drink’s reception, a banquette style seated dinner, and most importantly the awards ceremony. Whether you’ve curated the ‘Line-up of the Year’ or championed sustainable practices,…

While the dust is still settling on another year of Truck Festival, held in Oxfordshire from 24-27 July, the event has already been confirmed for 2026. Truck Festival will return in 2026 between 23-26 July, and super early bird tickets are available to buy from Friday 1 August. This year’s event welcomed the likes of Kasabian, Bloc Party, The Courteeners, CMAT and many more to Hill Farm, Oxfordshire. The sell-out event, self-proclaimed as being the ‘UK’s most warped village fête’, also acts as a springboard for emerging artists, hosting new acts such as Luvcat, Florence Road, Westside Cowboy, Cardinals and more.…

It’s late-July, and in what seems like a blink of the eye we’re edging ever closer to the end of the UK festival season. We’ve seen Rod Stewart earn his Glastonbury flowers, experienced the second coming of BRAT summer, and witnessed the resurgence of the bucket hat amid Oasis-mania.  But while this year’s live music scene has been dominated by headline acts, there’s a gulf widening in the festival market. The Glastonburys of this world are always going to be vital cultural behemoths, but this is all while smaller festivals continue to struggle. As reported by Music Week in June,…

Dear readers, newsletter subscribers, and anyone with a love for festivals. Welcome to the all new Festival Insights website and newsletter. You may have noticed we’ve changed a few things; from a fresh new logo and reimagined website, to producing more original content than ever before. With this renewed focus, we’ll be continuing to deliver all the latest UK and global festival news, thought leadership pieces, and comprehensive features covering the latest trends from the industry. We send our weekly newsletter out every Tuesday at 9am, so be sure to check your inboxes. You can subscribe to it here.…

As the dust settles on another year of Serbia’s EXIT Festival, the festival said it welcomed “more than 200,000 visitors from around the world” amongst what the festival has previously said could be the final time it is held in the country. The festival shared in a statement that “music festivals can still be bastions of freedom and drivers of positive social change.” The festival’s 25th edition, which took place from 10-13 July, welcomed Tiësto, The Prodigy, Sex Pistols feat. Frank Carter, Solomun and many more across the four day event. “This year, we didn’t just defend EXIT’s freedom -…

Where do new DJs breakthrough in 2025? It’s a pretty rough landscape. In January 2025, the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) released figures that “showed a 32.7% decline in the total activity of the UK’s nightclub sector since March 2020,” it said. That’s 405 UK venues lost in less than five years. The reasons are many. Rising rent and energy costs, a COVID hangover still being nursed all these years later and changing customer demographics all tell a part of the story. But while a myriad of factors continue to shutter venues across the UK, it’s easy to forget that…