The Variety Bazaar

[splinterbungee]

So where is everyones money on it actually being held?

Neil thinks maybe Cirencester Park but his enquiries say not, so anyone got any ideas - maybe Salperton Park - does anyone know if its big enough - 2000 acres apparently however big that is.

Your clues for wild speculation are its halfway between Pilton and The Midlands - and has only 1 site and 1 landowner

[Harry49]

2 minutes ago, russycarps said:

When she finally gets full control it makes complete sense that she'd want a clean break from the old festival and to build a new one in her image somewhere else. The old site is a relic of the past. It's not sustainable in its current form. A clean break and a fresh start in a more appropriate location without all this hassle is what will happen, mark my words. Michael is just paving the way for a smooth transition.

 

I would tend to agree with this. Glastonbury will always be Michaels festival - rightly so and as with all offspring Emily will want to build her own legacy. A new festival allows her to potentially improve the festival due to better location, ground conditions etc. Michael is doing the dirty work for her, not just with the other farmers but us as well. Maybe his messages have been as much to get us accustomed to the idea and to make sure we blame those nasty farmers rather than Emily!

[michael eavis' beard]

A question that doesn't get asked much is what is the long term plan for the farm?

Worthy Farm is a very good dairy farm.  After ME, who is going to take that over?  Are they going to be willing to negotiate with 22 landowners?  Are they even going to want to put a festival on in their back garden every summer?  I don't know about the inner workings of the farm so have no idea.

But, if you move the festival to another site it potentially secures the jobs of all the people employed by GFL and makes the farm a more attractive proposition for a new farmer to take over.

[shuttlep]

I once bought a coat from a Bazzaar in Turkey, 

 

 

it smelt of old people alcohol and death

[Avalon_Fields]

5 minutes ago, splinterbungee said:

So where is everyones money on it actually being held?

Neil thinks maybe Cirencester Park but his enquiries say not, so anyone got any ideas - maybe Salperton Park - does anyone know if its big enough - 2000 acres apparently however big that is.

Your clues for wild speculation are its halfway between Pilton and The Midlands - and has only 1 site and 1 landowner

Do we even know if it will be of equivalent size to Glastonbury? Probably significantly smaller to reduce the risk of financial outlay. They may go for something much smaller, such as where Green Man Festival is.

[CaledonianGonzo]

2 minutes ago, Harry49 said:

I would tend to agree with this. Glastonbury will always be Michaels festival - rightly so and as with all offspring Emily will want to build her own legacy. A new festival allows her to potentially improve the festival due to better location, ground conditions etc. Michael is doing the dirty work for her, not just with the other farmers but us as well. Maybe his messages have been as much to get us accustomed to the idea and to make sure we blame those nasty farmers rather than Emily!

I don't buy this at all. 

She's not going to throw out the baby with the bathwater purely to satisfy her own ego.  The farm is her home and she's clearly invested in the festival that her family has founded.  She's already part of that legacy.

Looks to me like a twofer move where they can pressure the landowners around Worthy Farm not to rip them off whilst simultaneously providing work for the permanent staff in the fallow years.

[stuartbert two hats]

3 minutes ago, michael eavis' beard said:

A question that doesn't get asked much is what is the long term plan for the farm?

Worthy Farm is a very good dairy farm.  After ME, who is going to take that over?  Are they going to be willing to negotiate with 22 landowners?  Are they even going to want to put a festival on in their back garden every summer?  I don't know about the inner workings of the farm so have no idea.

But, if you move the festival to another site it potentially secures the jobs of all the people employed by GFL and makes the farm a more attractive proposition for a new farmer to take over.

I don't know who is going to run the farm afterwards - it may continue to be run by the current management, with ownership split between his children, but that's just conjecture.

However, in relation to the 22 landowners, that's only a problem for the festival.  Eavis only farms on his own land.

[GMF]

14 minutes ago, splinterbungee said:

So where is everyones money on it actually being held?

Neil thinks maybe Cirencester Park but his enquiries say not, so anyone got any ideas - maybe Salperton Park - does anyone know if its big enough - 2000 acres apparently however big that is.

Your clues for wild speculation are its halfway between Pilton and The Midlands - and has only 1 site and 1 landowner

I think the current site is 900 acres, but I think that is the area inside the fence, if you add all the other things then 2000 acres is probably about right if the size is to be maintained.

[shuttlep]

1 hour ago, Untz said:

Fake Glastonbury.

Or Glastonbury for short.

I can't believe it;s not Glastonbury

[russycarps]

7 minutes ago, michael eavis' beard said:

A question that doesn't get asked much is what is the long term plan for the farm?

Worthy Farm is a very good dairy farm.  After ME, who is going to take that over?  Are they going to be willing to negotiate with 22 landowners?  Are they even going to want to put a festival on in their back garden every summer?  I don't know about the inner workings of the farm so have no idea.

But, if you move the festival to another site it potentially secures the jobs of all the people employed by GFL and makes the farm a more attractive proposition for a new farmer to take over.

I thought it was already known that Michael's children have no interest in being farmers.

Emily is an events organiser. Who in their right mind would hold an event on worthy farm given the choice? The 22 farmers cause a level of uncertainty that no sensible business would even consider have hanging over them every year. Unless those farmers sign a long term agreement that the festival can be held on their land then this situation will be repeated year after year. This will negatively affect the festivals in many ways other than just the stress and hassle of it. Banks will be less likely to lend money for example, or charge a higher rate of interest due to the increased risk. And it's not just the 22 farmers. There are well documented problems with accessibility also. 

The only thing keeping the festival at worthy farm is sentiment and nostalgia. There is no business case to hold the festival at this location. And glastonbury is big business. 

 

 

[thewayiam]

6 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

I don't buy this at all. 

She's not going to throw out the baby with the bathwater purely to satisfy her own ego.  The farm is her home and she's clearly invested in the festival that her family has founded.  She's already part of that legacy.

Looks to me like a twofer move where they can pressure the landowners around Worthy Farm not to rip them off whilst simultaneously providing work for the permanent staff in the fallow years.

Yes but it seems a big part of what the issue is, is that the other owners don't want to negotiate as don't really want the festival there anyway anymore now. I actually think there are aspects of the lineup that have faltered now Emily has more control. 

[michael eavis' beard]

2 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

I don't know who is going to run the farm afterwards - it may continue to be run by the current management, with ownership split between his children, but that's just conjecture.

However, in relation to the 22 landowners, that's only a problem for the festival.  Eavis only farms on his own land.

I know. Probably worded poorly.  Meant would the future owner(s) of Worthy Farm be willing to deal with 22 other landowners in order to put on a music festival each year.  Maybe they would look to scale it back and therefore have to deal with less.  Maybe they would think it's not worth the hassle, sod the festival and just stick to looking after the herd.

[CaledonianGonzo]

2 minutes ago, thewayiam said:

Yes but it seems a big part of what the issue is, is that the other owners don't want to negotiate as don't really want the festival there anyway anymore now.

The other owners do want the festival there - they make a packet from it.  The issue is that they want too much.

1 minute ago, thewayiam said:

I actually think there are aspects of the lineup that have faltered now Emily has more control. 

Which bits do you dislike that are Emily's fault?

Edited January 17, 2017 by CaledonianGonzo

[Gnomicide]

Can't believe they've not gone with GlastonBrummie.

[Keithy]

My take on the article and tweet is:

1. Variety Bazaar will become a 'New Glastonbury' in terms of a festival of comparable size to the current one and if successful will run every/otheryear

2. The current festival will be hugely downscaled to Eavis owned land and something more akin to it's origins and will run alongside the VB one or in the alternate years. Or worst case, become the 'fallow year' festival for VB

2017 will be the last ever full size Glastonbury I fear.

[splinterbungee]

12 minutes ago, Avalon_Fields said:

Do we even know if it will be of equivalent size to Glastonbury? Probably significantly smaller to reduce the risk of financial outlay. They may go for something much smaller, such as where Green Man Festival is.

Yeah that's a good point - as much as you can have the best planning and experts in logistics something similar to the current size would be a huge risk. I doubt they would attempt something the size of Glastonbury at a new location. 

I mean the new one might even have day tickets I suppose they can try whatever they want

[Untz]

#BazzaFest

First three headliners: #RightBazza, #WrongBazza, Barry Evans

[thewayiam]

Just now, CaledonianGonzo said:

The other owners do want the festival there - they make a packet from it.  The issue is that they want too much.

But they clearly don't want it there enough to understand the financial barrier. It's not as if Michael comes out of it every year in massive profits.

1 minute ago, Keithy said:

My take on the article and tweet is:

1. Variety Bazaar will become a 'New Glastonbury' in terms of a festival of comparable size to the current one and if successful will run every/otheryear

2. The current festival will be hugely downscaled to Eavis owned land and something more akin to it's origins and will run alongside the VB one or in the alternate years. Or worst case, become the 'fallow year' festival for VB

2017 will be the last ever full size Glastonbury I fear.

Yes I think it will be.

[dentalplan]

2 minutes ago, Untz said:

#BazzaFest

First three headliners: #RightBazza, #WrongBazza, Barry Evans

Shaun Williamson legend slot.

edit: Oh that is Barry Evans. I'm a massive idiot.

Edited January 17, 2017 by dentalplan

[JBarbour]

What if "Glastonbury" as a brand moved more to promoting? Glastonbury presents:

Could still host events at the farm, but this maybe a long term move away from the beast of "Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts"

What about day events in the pyramid field like Hyde Park? Hosting bigger festivals elsewhere

[CaledonianGonzo]

Just now, thewayiam said:

But they clearly don't want it there enough to understand the financial barrier. It's not as if Michael comes out of it every year in massive profits.

It's a business negotiation.  Both sides are looking to get the best deal out of it.

[mjsell]

4 minutes ago, Keithy said:

My take on the article and tweet is:

1. Variety Bazaar will become a 'New Glastonbury' in terms of a festival of comparable size to the current one and if successful will run every/otheryear

2. The current festival will be hugely downscaled to Eavis owned land and something more akin to it's origins and will run alongside the VB one or in the alternate years. Or worst case, become the 'fallow year' festival for VB

2017 will be the last ever full size Glastonbury I fear.

I'm not sure how you got all of that out of a short article and a tweet.

I fear people are jumping to the worst possible conclusions with this.

[st dan]

Now that Emily has poured one water on the flames, can we forget this was ever said by Michael and just pretend that 'The Variety Bazaar' is just a new indie band opening the John Peel Stage?

Edited January 17, 2017 by st dan

[mjsell]

11 minutes ago, russycarps said:

The only thing keeping the festival at worthy farm is sentiment and nostalgia. There is no business case to hold the festival at this location. And glastonbury is big business. 

 

 

But what if it is sentiment and nostalgia that is keeping the festival as popular as it is. Like ME actually says - moving the festival (long term) would be a big gamble - a risk most big businesses would avoid.

[michael eavis' beard]

12 minutes ago, russycarps said:

I thought it was already known that Michael's children have no interest in being farmers.

Emily is an events organiser. Who in their right mind would hold an event on worthy farm given the choice? The 22 farmers cause a level of uncertainty that no sensible business would even consider have hanging over them every year. Unless those farmers sign a long term agreement that the festival can be held on their land then this situation will be repeated year after year. This will negatively affect the festivals in many ways other than just the stress and hassle of it. Banks will be less likely to lend money for example, or charge a higher rate of interest due to the increased risk. And it's not just the 22 farmers. There are well documented problems with accessibility also. 

The only thing keeping the festival at worthy farm is sentiment and nostalgia. There is no business case to hold the festival at this location. And glastonbury is big business. 

 

 

And his son is a doctor isn't he?

Can't see anyone from outside being willing to deal with what ME has put up with over the years.  The 2 businesses need to be split up to save the future of both of them.  Not what I'd want, but I think inevitable.