Small Stages At Glastonbury

[BlackHole2006]

Hello all,

This year would be my 8th Glasonbury and I'm looking forward to it more than ever. I've been in a band now for a couple of years and I am trying my absolute hardest to get us to play one of the smaller stages at the festival. Maybe even one of those micro venues in Shangri La or something. I really don't care where, or what time, but pretty much every single year I email the same guys to see if I can get a gig and I've had no luck yet again.

I was going to enter the Emerging Talent Competition but unfortunately missed out because I had massive writers block and couldn't think of anything remotely decent.

Anyways, if anybody has any decent contacts for any of the stages, then I will be eternally greatful. So greatful that I would get you a pint at the Efests meet.

Apologies if the thread title is a bit misleading. Also worth noting that we are a Rock N Roll/Punk Band so we probably wouldn't suit some of the stages.

Edited January 28, 2016 by BlackHole2006

[Wooderson]

Kids field?

 

/joke

 

[musky]

The thread title wasn't misleading at all. This comes up every year so it wasn't too hard to second guess the subject matter.

 

The best advice in the past has been along the lines of: These guys book bands all year round, so they've already got a fair idea of who they want on their stage. When they look in to recommendations they've come from people they know and trust. So if you want to play Glastonbury your best bet is to be playing in front of them (or at the very least in their locality) on the other gigs they book throughout the year.

[incident]

Can you expand on a couple things -

- what level of gigs that you'd normally play - pubs? small venues? concert halls? arenas? stadiums? especially away from home when you don't have the family/friends crowd.

- do you all already have tickets or access by another means to this years festival? When it comes to the smaller stages especially, getting a gig is usually the easy part - the hard part is getting one that also includes access to the festival. A lot of the smaller venues don't get anywhere near enough wristbands to go around as it is, which is part of the reason why so many acts play 4-5 times across the weekend on different stages. If you can tell them that you don't need any wristbands, you'll probably find they'll become a lot more receptive than they would for what looks like yet another random band they've never heard of on the blag for free tickets.

Oh, and.. Are you prepared to play whatever slot you're given? Even if it's at the same time that your 3 favourite bands of all time are simultaneously on the Pyramid, Other, and JazzWorld Stages?

Edited January 29, 2016 by incident

[BlackHole2006]

9 hours ago, incident said:

Can you expand on a couple things -

- what level of gigs that you'd normally play - pubs? small venues? concert halls? arenas? stadiums? especially away from home when you don't have the family/friends crowd.

- do you all already have tickets or access by another means to this years festival? When it comes to the smaller stages especially, getting a gig is usually the easy part - the hard part is getting one that also includes access to the festival. A lot of the smaller venues don't get anywhere near enough wristbands to go around as it is, which is part of the reason why so many acts play 4-5 times across the weekend on different stages. If you can tell them that you don't need any wristbands, you'll probably find they'll become a lot more receptive than they would for what looks like yet another random band they've never heard of on the blag for free tickets.

Oh, and.. Are you prepared to play whatever slot you're given? Even if it's at the same time that your 3 favourite bands of all time are simultaneously on the Pyramid, Other, and JazzWorld Stages?

Hiya,

We normally play small venues around London, the biggest gig we played was at a venue called Brixton Windmill and people from Palma Violets and Fat White Family were in the crowd but I tend not to use that in the outreach emails because I completely embarrased myself by going into crazy fan mode in front of them that night when I know I should have probably kept my cool

But most recently we've been doing small venues and our gig coming up is at a venue called The Stags Head in Hoxton.

I personally have a ticket but none of the rest of my band mates do. There's for of us (drummer, bassist, guitarist and me the lead singer) so we might run into some difficulty getting everyone on site which is something that I've already taken into consideration and if we do end up playing I'd certainly be more than happy to try for my band members in the resale.

Yes, whatever slot we're given. I have been asking to play the festival ever since I started being in bands back in the day so I really don't mind what slot we are given just as long as we are playing.

 

[incident]

7 minutes ago, BlackHole2006 said:

I personally have a ticket but none of the rest of my band mates do. There's for of us (drummer, bassist, guitarist and me the lead singer) so we might run into some difficulty getting everyone on site which is something that I've already taken into consideration and if we do end up playing I'd certainly be more than happy to try for my band members in the resale.

To be blunt about it, that's going to be by far your biggest obstacle, and for this year at least might not be something you can overcome. Most lineups will need to be finalised (or as near as) before the resale date in the middle of April, and I can't imagine many stage managers being prepared to offer a provisional slot based on the possibility of resale tickets.

It's sometimes unfortunate, but Glastonbury can be very incestuous, especially when you get to the smaller corners of the Festival. Performer wristbands go to people who are known and trusted, and often that means the same people year after year, or people who are personally known to the bookers - which means that in many cases the small allocation that a stage does get will already be accounted for by now.

[ian the worm]

1) The people I know that book bands won't book a band on the back of a CV, CD or recommendation.  They must have seen them live as its a live event that they are booking for. 

2) If you do get booked for a small stage, expect to be asked to play at other small stages.  Some bands I know play 5 sets a day for 5 days.  Thats working for a living.  Unless you are willing to agree to that, I'd doubt that a small stage booker would have you unless they can "trade" you with other bookers.

Sorry I can't be of any direct help though.  Good luck.  Whats your band called?

[Rumblestripe]

Why not try to get yourself on at a smaller festival. I noticed on twitter that Kendal Calling was actively asking for bands to apply to play. Might be right up your boulevard?

https://form.jotform.com/60044210693951

Beware though Kendal is in the frozen wastelands of Northern England, you may need to bring a jumper (another joke)

[pie_and_a_pint]

Again, not Glastonbury but there's a free local festival near me called Charlbury Riverside. Charlbury's a direct train from London. They're currently looking for bands to play at the 2016 festival (late July). 

http://www.riversidefestival.charlbury.com/

[admscott]

I played last year a couple of times on a couple of different stages. I did this by taking my gear with me and then walking around on the Wednesday morning and asking people if they had any available slots or time in which I could play. There is also a place called the Permaculture Bar who don't book their line up until the day of. Having said that, my show is just me and an acoustic guitar, so it's easy for me to play literally anywhere  and also just turn up and play. I went to the Ancient Futures stage, asked to play, they said yes, I asked when, he said 'in five minutes.'

Maybe this year you could do that without the rest of the band in order to make contacts for next year. I'm booked on a couple of stages this year by people who know me from last year.

[BlackHole2006]

Thank you all so much for your helpful advice - I've been at work all day hence the lack of any reply. I think I will try and get our band at Glastonbury 2017 instead of this years. Judging by most peoples posts it seems as though I've been a bit late on the uptake this year but I will definately convince my band mates that going to Glastonbury next year and playing some gigs at the smaller stages would be a great start! Also I'll definately be applying to the festivals above, infact I'm applying for Kendal Calling as I type. 

For those curious, my band is called Haydn & The Normals, you can find our SoundCloud if you google that name and have a listen to some of our (very poorly recorded) demos. We're currently working on an EP and we hope to write, produce and self release an album by the end of the year. Also (and Neil - feel free to take this part of the post down if it's a bit too much shameless self promotion) we've got a gig on 3rd March at The Stags Head in Hoxton. Free Entry so feel free to come down to that if any of you are in the London area.

Hopefully I can talk my band into getting tickets to Glastonbury next year!

[Mardy]

There was an EOTR email last week about their unsigned bands competition. Worth having a look on their website for the details. 

[Mardy]

Here you go, bruv

http://endoftheroadfestival.com/information/take-part/artists-bands/

[BlackHole2006]

14 minutes ago, Mardy said:

Here you go, bruv

http://endoftheroadfestival.com/information/take-part/artists-bands/

Cheeeeers mate. Have applied. I've always wanted to go to EOTR but funds have pretty much only allowed me to go to Glastonbury and maybe a smaller one each year. The line ups have always looked fantastically diverse and right up my alley so I'd love to go there and it'd be even better if we played there.

 

Edited January 29, 2016 by BlackHole2006

[Mardy]

No bother. I guess pretty much every festival has a similar competition. Could be worth applying to a load of them, would certainly make the summer more interesting

[Gnomicide]

http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2016/02/get-booked-at-your-favorite-festival-an-artists-how-to-mike-snow-jay-sweet.html?utm_content=buffer2e491&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer