UK: Tom Sutton-Roberts, the General Manager of London venue The Troxy, has commented on the recent and incredibly controversial closure of Fabric. “Another venue in London has closed, falling foul of an ever growing list of challenges,” he said. “Archaic licensing laws and unattainable licensing conditions, a rising population and a growth in demand for property meaning higher rents and huge development potential on land holdings, rising business rates, lack of subsidies and little protection from planning laws are all challenges for venues from pubs to clubs. “The decision on September 6 on the future of Fabric London isn’t just…
Author: Michael Baker
UK: Colour Sound Experiment provided lighting and LED screens to the dance tents at two major UK festivals for the first time this summer: T in the Park at Strathallan Castle in Perthshire, Scotland, and the double sited V Festival, for which it serviced both Weston Park in Staffordshire and the Hylands Park site in Chelmsford, Essex. For the Slam Tent at T In The Park, the Colour Sound team worked with regular Slam Tent LD Scott McDonald to provide the kit to his specification, while for V, two very different and dynamic designs were developed by Colour Sound’s Fletch.…
Jacob Little is the Digital Marketing Manager at Fiasco Design, a multi-award winning creative design agency based in Bristol. Fiasco’s work ranges from creating the new visual identity of the Larmer Tree Festival to a full rebrand of the Tobacco Factory Theatres. We live in an entertainment-saturated world. Throughout the summer, there are thousands of things vying for our attention, from festivals and gigs to pop-up stores, events, sales and deals. Having recently carried out a refresh of the Larmer Tree Festival’s brand identity, here are a few things we learned on the importance of creating a strong, established and…
Pohoda Festival celebrated in 20th anniversary this year, with Drowned In Sound referring to the event as a ‘Utopia’ – citing its jarringly friendly atmosphere, ‘mind boggling’ food & drink, and a total absence of landfill acts on the line-up as reasons to why no place does it better. The exemplary line-up included James Blake, PJ Harvey, Flying Lotus, Sigur Ros, DJ Shadow, PJ Harvey, Nina Kraviz, Thundercat, Ash Koosha and a litany of other assorted innovators. Supplementing the diverse music on offer was a programme of literature, dance, visual art, film and theatre. Insights spoke with Pohoda’s founder and…
UK: Philips Lighting, has revealed that 40 Philips Showline SL NITRO 510C LED strobes delivered maximum impact for chart-topping British DJ Wilkinson’s packed out live performance at Manchester’s Parklife festival. Following on from his live shows at more than 20 venues around Europe, the drum and bass giant has embarked on a string of festival dates. One of the first stops was Parklife, with Wilkinson performing his live show on the Sunday of the Heaton Park takeover. Lighting designer James Baker of Creative Video Design chose the Philips SL NITRO 510C strobes as part of his dynamic yet flexible floor…
CROATIA: The ninth instalments of the Outlook and Dimensions festivals will take place over the last weeks of August in Pula, Croatia. The two festivals have become major highlights in the European summer calendar for discerning dance, roots and electronic music lovers. Both festivals were among the first dance music weekend long events to make their home in Croatia and are now known for their shared fort location and towering Void sound systems. The Outlook festival dedicates itself to reggae, drum & bass and jungle while Dimensions focuses on the deeper side of techno, house and other electronic music. The…
UK: Eventbrite – the world’s largest event technology platform that powers two million events around the globe each year – has released new research revealing a UK music festival market driven by ‘Super Fans’. Of the UK festivalgoers surveyed, one out of every four – the Super Fan – spends more on tickets in a year than the other three combined. Comprising just 28% of attendees, they collectively account for 56% of total ticket spend. They attend more festivals than others, spend more on individual tickets and act as tastemakers to their friends. Despite reports of increasing festival closures, the…
UK: Three of the UK’s premier independent music festivals – Kendal Calling, Sound City and Bluedot – have teamed up with fellow music lovers Louder Than War in launching a brand new emerging multi-venue music event and conference in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, the heart of what has been ranked as the best city in the UK for live music. Taking place on November 4, Off The Record is all about new music and innovative ideas. During the day at Methodist Central Buildings, Sound City and Louder Than War will curate a music conference featuring the new guard of the music…
NETHERLANDS: In collaboration with Dave Clarke Presents, Mysteryland has released an exclusive vinyl sampler featuring artists from its 2016 line-up. The sampler showcases artists playing on Sunday August 28 at Dave Clarke’s hosted stage ‘Dave Clarke Presents’ and features tracks from Unsubscribe, Rebekah, Gary Beck, and Joran van Pol. The EP is limited to 300 copies and won’t be for sale. However, vinyl aficionados have the chance to win a copy via exclusive giveaways featured on Mysteryland’s social channels. This year, Mysteryland takes place from August 27 – 28 in Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands. The world’s longest running dance music festival…
UK: Void Acoustics will debut the all new Arcline 8 line array at the 2016 BoomTown Fair. The festival rose up from its humble beginnings in 2009 to become one of the UK’s wildest and most inspiring independent festivals. It is now a sprawling creative metropolis and home to every species of artist. Void’s technicians will be onsite at BoomTown to tune and position the systems, ensuring sound does not spill over to neighbouring stages and is contained within the festival’s boundaries. Void’s flagship system ‘Incubus’ was a popular fixture at last year’s edition of the festival – with many…