249 replies to this topic

[glasto-worker]

Here is my pass for 1993 - I cant find any wrist band which may explain the second card but I did find wrist bands for 1997 so at some stage they switched bit not sure which year..

The Crew pass was a pain as ' Production On Stage ' had been blanked out but because some of it overlapped with ' Guest area ' this did cause some delay as I was working in the Guest Area so those words should not have had any ink on them.Most of the Security would let me in but there was a few who would argue the toss so I would ask them to call a Supervisor as by then I knew most of them.

The WBC Pass is unusual as that was the first pass to use a graphic { up to then they were all very plain } but I never was able to find out why they used a  Witch.

Although the number is 101 the initial start number was 100 which my girlfriend ended up with which caused a few to wonder why we ended up with the first two numbers - at the time the WBC shared a office with the Organisation we were volunteers for so unlike the current system it was common to hand out the passes in advance so we picked up ours two weeks before the event.
Time will tell if it goes ahead and it will be interesting to see where its held.

[Flaminglippy]

luckysalt, on 10 August 2011 - 06:20 PM, said:

I asked Andy Copping [Download Festival booker] what he felt about Phoenix Festival returning and does he see it as competition at all.

He Replied - ''They are stupid trying to launch another festival in an already over-saturated market...ridiculous''

I gotta say I completely disagree, I think theres the market the people who used to enjoy V's more indie based and Readings more Alternative line ups, rather than the chart music festivals

I think if theres one festival I may try to get to next year it'll be this one.

I'm with Lucky on this one...if they can do a 'proper' indie/alt festival (without all the N-Dubz type bollox) I think there would be a big demand. Most people around when indie was really starting to kick off will now be in their thirties so probably looking to relive a bit of the glory years.

A decent mix of new/old indie, couple of big headliners, bit of dance for the Scousers...sounds proper

[eFestivals]

luckysalt, on 10 August 2011 - 06:20 PM, said:

I asked Andy Copping [Download Festival booker] what he felt about Phoenix Festival returning and does he see it as competition at all.

He Replied - ''They are stupid trying to launch another festival in an already over-saturated market...ridiculous''

I gotta say I completely disagree, I think theres the market the people who used to enjoy V's more indie based and Readings more Alternative line ups, rather than the chart music festivals

I think if theres one festival I may try to get to next year it'll be this one.

What right has Copping got to say who can and can't start a new festival? Especially when he's done himself the exact thing that he's criticising.

If new or existing players can't launch a new festival because it might step on the toes of an existing festival then there will be no new festivals, and neither will there be any innovation, and the festivals that exist will look to cut corners because they'd be nothing that might usurp them.

It's new festivals that help ensure the ones we've got don't turn to shit.

[PastCaring]

eFestivals, on 13 September 2011 - 08:21 AM, said:

What right has Copping got to say who can and can't start a new festival? Especially when he's done himself the exact thing that he's criticising.

If new or existing players can't launch a new festival because it might step on the toes of an existing festival then there will be no new festivals, and neither will there be any innovation, and the festivals that exist will look to cut corners because they'd be nothing that might usurp them.

It's new festivals that help ensure the ones we've got don't turn to shit.

Exactly - there's always room for new ideas .....

[VCK]

So what sort of bands do people think they will they book? Looking at the old line-ups it seemed to have bands that would otherwise be playing Reading.

Maybe they should make it like Move Festival (another festival that needs to be brought back!), where the line-up is full of well establised and critically acclaimed Indie acts?

[eFestivals]

VCK, on 13 September 2011 - 02:48 PM, said:

So what sort of bands do people think they will they book? Looking at the old line-ups it seemed to have bands that would otherwise be playing Reading.

Maybe they should make it like Move Festival (another festival that needs to be brought back!), where the line-up is full of well establised and critically acclaimed Indie acts?

I'd say that you'd probably get the best idea of who they're likely to have based on some of the acts they've had at Hop Farm.

Phoenix is a Vince Power festival (which Hop Farm also is), and if it does come back next year it's going to have to fight for its acts against the likes of Reading/Leeds, V, T in the Park, and IoW, which all try to get the acts for the top end of the bill on an exclusive basis.

Back in the past Phoenix was run by Mean Fiddler (now Festival Republic) which Vince used to own but no longer does; I presume Vince kept the rights to use the name when that sale was made. But this means he's fighting against the competition this time around, rather than being a part of the established major players.

Vince also owns (or part-owns) Benecassim, which might help him secure some acts for Phoenix that might otherwise be snapped up exclusively by the fests I mention above, but I suspect those bigger acts will have a first preference for those other fests when it comes to playing in the UK (particularly as one deal will get them more than one of those other fests, and the link from those festival organisers to big UK tours) ... so I reckon, just as appears to be the case with Hop Farm, that they'll be an amount of difficulty in getting what might be referred to as the 'top tier acts' which a big festival generally needs to be able to shift a huge number of tickets.

But perhaps I'm wrong - I hope that I am - and everything will fall into place easily, and Phoenix will be a great fest. I'm not hugely hopeful tho. We'll get to find out when the first acts are announced I guess.

[Flaminglippy]

VCK, on 13 September 2011 - 02:48 PM, said:

So what sort of bands do people think they will they book? Looking at the old line-ups it seemed to have bands that would otherwise be playing Reading.

Maybe they should make it like Move Festival (another festival that needs to be brought back!), where the line-up is full of well establised and critically acclaimed Indie acts?

Was that the one they did in Manchester?? Went to that...great weekend.

Off the top of me head...I'd like to see Foos (I know they play everywhere but they're just so good live), Manics, REM, Flaming Lips, Super Furrys, Shed 7, Charlatans, Vaccines, Jay Z, Teenage Fanclub, James, Cribs, BSP, Kanye, Doves, Editors, Bombay Bicycle Club, Nick Cave, Franz Ferdinand, Pixies, Prodigy, Public Enemy...


Main Stage

Thursday night - Jay Z/Franz Ferdinand/Nick Cave/Public Enemy                
Friday - Prodigy/James/Cribs                                              
Sat - REM/Flaming Lips/Super Furrys                                
Sun - Foos/Pixies/Manics                                                    

Second Stage
Thurs - Doves/BBC
Fri - Vaccines/BSP/Shed 7
Sat - Kanye West/Teenage Fanclub
Sun - Editors/Charlatans

Edited by Flaminglippy, 13 September 2011 - 06:45 PM.

[PastCaring]

Oh dear, what a dismally depressing Thursday night on the main stage that would be
Maybe Mr Power will book Dylan again?

[allan14]

im to young to remember phoenix festival before so i dont know to much about it, thinking of giving it a try next year depending on which direction they take the line up in , if its like previouse years il be giving it a go... just asking is it a four day festival (iv notice people predicting Thursdays) or is there one or two acts on Thursday night?

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

Does the move of IOW fest suggest Phoenix may be heading for early/mid June?

[PastCaring]

That would mean that it would clash with Download

[5co77ie]

I hadn't thought of that - that IOW and Download will no longer clash.

[glasto-worker]

allan14, on 15 September 2011 - 04:08 PM, said:

im to young to remember phoenix festival before so i dont know to much about it, thinking of giving it a try next year depending on which direction they take the line up in , if its like previouse years il be giving it a go... just asking is it a four day festival (iv notice people predicting Thursdays) or is there one or two acts on Thursday night?

The Phoenix was always a four day event so there was always a full line up on the Thursday.

His thinking ' at the time ' was - it was a waste of a day as the vast majority of the costs is down to setting up so in the grand scheme of things it made Commercial sense plotting out a four day event rather than a three day event.

If it comes off then it should be a four day event and will not mimic Hop Farm { where he appears he cant make his mind up over how many days the event should last for - 1 day in 2008 - 2 days in 2009/10 and 3 days 2011 }

I have to wonder if he will go for a variable date where 2012 will be held late June and 2013 July or August - by doing that he can attract the Glastonbury crowd and then by shifting it the following year he is not competing with Glastonbury.

I know Vince and he is a smart cookie he will know there is many more events currently being held than what it was when he started The Phoenix in 1993 so he will be keen to make this a long term venture - he was heart broken when he had to give it up before { due to heavy fees imposed by the Council { and extra conditions } where it just made the whole thing uneconomic to put on}

[PastCaring]

If it was in late June, wouldn't that make it clash with IOW?  It would make more sense, surely, to hold the festival in July, around the date of Benicassim, in order to take advantage of the opportunity to book bands for both events.

[glasto-worker]

Unless Vince picks the Winter it will always clash with something.

If he repeats what he did in the past he signs up acts that can do dates spread all over the summer as it was ' most ' of the same acts that played  Finsbury Park - The Phoenix and Reading .

[Duffbox]

Looking at that 96 line up, Bestival takes that kinda place on the festival season in terms of bands n variation of line up. The scene seems to be moving away from 'Major' festivals to the more low key, indie DIY festivals. The independent festivals, in my opinion can provide superior weekend, at a fraction of the cost or effort. worked the festival circuit this year n out of 9 festivals, Shambala and Fieldview were clear winners.

Having said that, if i could find a way to work it i would definitely go if they could pull of a line up like that, just not a massive fan of vince n the mean fiddler fests

[eFestivals]

sources tell us that Phoenix Festival is going ahead - I believe in August, and that they've booked the Stone Roses to play.

[brfcstar]

Ive been told Kasabian have been approached to play too.

Edited by brfcstar, 18 October 2011 - 12:36 PM.

[luckysalt]

Hmmm August, surprised at that date, Im guessing it will be the first weekend or second weekend. Gunna tred on the toes of V and Reading.

Think V is gunna go more and more pop with the re-emergence of Phoenix, it just won't be able to compete and why should it, its attracting a different sort of crowd these days.

Im not surprised about Kasabian, the only fest they haven't headlined recently is Reading and if they don't want them where do they go? That being said Kasabian isn't the sort of act I was hoping for to be booked, a bit too mainstream. I know they have to shift tickets, but I was hoping more along the lines of Pixies, Massive Attack, Bjork, The Cure, Radiohead, Portishead etc,

August is a big enough break from Download for me though, so could do Download and Phoenix if money and the mrs is permitting.

[j...rox]

Made a page for this in case anyone wants to follow. Hopefully it will give it a little more momentum before next summer:

http://www.facebook.com/PhoenixFest12