Larmer Tree Festival boss talks about the 20th anniversary

Music festival organiser James Shepard started the Larmer Tree Festival in 1990 after stumbling across the Larmer Tree Gardens whilst out jogging. That year The Larmer Tree Festival was a one-day event, the event has grown into five day event, and this year celebrates its 20th Anniversary. eFestivals spoke to James about the festival.

Congratulations on the 20th Anniversary.
It's been a long slog.

For those people who don't know The Larmer Tree Festival how would you describe it?
It's hard to describe your own festival. It's in a fantastic setting, Larmer Tree is a Victorian garden set up by General Pitt Rivers in the 1880s, purely for the entertainment and enjoyments of the local people. There was a stage then, which we still use, which is 130 years old, and it's a beautiful site which I found while I was out jogging 20 years ago and decided to hold a festival there, there and then, and it's gone on from there really.

So, we've got this wonderful setting to start with and the festival has developed from that. It's a very friendly festival, that's the main words I'd used, and exciting as well. We encourage families, but it is much more than just a family festival. We've never called it a family festival even though we do lots of children's workshops, and we always encourage the youth to come along, because they're the future of the festival scene really.

Has the audience changed over the last two decades?
Well, there's one or two who have been to everyone, there's not many of us left, but there are some. Like the country, the festival scene has changed tremendously in 20 years. When I first started it was just the folk festivals like Sidmouth, Towersey, and those sort of things, and Glastonbury and a couple of other big ones going at the time. But, apart from that, there were very few other festivals, and in the last ten years especially it has mushroomed into this massive industry which it is today. There's definitely been a change, the whole country has become more middle class I suppose, there's a bigger, wealthier society in the middle ground, and that's where most of our customers come from. They're professional people, and for them it's a holiday. They want to hear good music, and they want to be in a nice environment which is what we provide.

It has changed, but it's not changed that much. With Julia my business partner and co-director who organises the festival with me, we've been involved since it started, and obviously we make it what it is. We control everything that happens at the festival. We don't hand over stages to one promoter, or the comedy to someone, we actually do everything. We feel that way we give it that Larmer Tree vibe. We have experimented once or twice with giving areas over to different organisations but it hasn't really worked for us because we feel it's what they do and not what we do.

We've kept the festival as it is. It's grown tremendously in numbers of people, although we've kept it to 4,000 a day for the last ten years I suppose. We started of with 100 the first year. It's also grown in length from one day to a five day festival now.

You said you saw the venue while you were out jogging, where you already planning to have a festival?
Yes, I was always involved in music, right from when I was 16, with the blues boom in the Sixties, but I went to the early Bracknell Jazz Festivals which were in South Hill Park, (the same site that Out There used to be held on). It's a lovely venue, a chap called John Cumming used to produce the Jazz Festival in the Seventies, who now runs Serious who put on London Jazz Festival, and are big promoters in London now.

I went along to that (Bracknell Jazz Festival) in these lovely Georgian grounds, and it gave me the inspiration to want to put on an event in a beautiful venue, rather than a field in the middle of nowhere. I was always looking for a venue, and eventually I found the Larmer Tree and thought, "This is the place."

What do you remember of the inaugural event back in 1990?
I know it was a lovely day, I remember that. It was midday until midnight so it was just a 12 hour event, the first band to play were the Bristol School Of Samba, I remember that, I actually asked them back this year to celebrate 20 years of festivals. I don't know if they're coming or not. It was a beautiful day and everybody seemed to want us to do it again.

Did you consider then that you'd still be hosting the event 20 years on?
Oh god no! It was just something that happened and I didn't even think about it then. I just did it because I wanted to do it, there was never any financial thinking really, I just did it because I wanted to do it, and I lost a lot of money, but it didn't really matter because it was more about making something happen than all these financial considerations. Hopefully we've carried on the same way really, just wanting to do it, rather than having to do it.

Are you surprised it's become so successful, with it selling out for the last 15 years?
Yes, it's nice when people come back year after year and say it's the highlight of their year, it's very rewarding in that respect, but it hasn't come without hard work, and we've had a really good team. Julia and I are just as keen as we were 20 years ago. It's still like putting on a party, which is what I felt the first year was like putting on really. The fact that the party costs a bit of money, and I have to charge people for a ticket, was neither here nor there.

Have you found legislation like Health & Safety has made putting on the festival more complicated?
(Laughs) Just a little bit, yes. I think of course there were some things, I must admit, 20 years ago that people didn't really worry about, that maybe were a problem. It's like all things, there has to be reason in it, and the safety of the audience should be of paramount importance for any organiser. Obviously, if somebody gets a bit over the top, you can end with no event, because things can go wrong at any event. We obviously comply with all the regulations.

The sound issues are always a big one now, because one or two people can always stop an event going on late, just because one person doesn't like it, it seems to have quite a big effect on everything. Part of the problem with any countryside setting is there's no ambient noise, and sound can carry quite a long weekend. Therefore people can hear it, we do have a few villages within half a mile, or three-quarters of a mile of the site. They've been very good though actually, and never been a problem for us. But, I do know other events which have had a huge problem.

What's the most memorable moment of the last 20 years?
I've been asked this question a lot. There's been a few I wish I could forget. I think the first Van Morrison gig was pretty special. It was on the stage which was 130 years old, he was in top form really, and it was one of those magical evenings when most of the audience goes, "I'm glad I'm here." He actually did encores, and everything which was great, and that was a good evening.

So, what were the ones you wish you could forget?
Well, they've never been that bad really. The weather has, obviously, been one. At any event you want good weather, it makes the whole thing a lot better for everybody, and the last three summers have been bad for everybody. Nobody has escaped the weather in the last three years. Luckily we're on chalk and we're on a hill so we don't have flooding, but even if you have enough rain, it doesn't matter what drainage you have, it gets muddy. We're hoping for a good summer for everybody, not just for us, for the whole festival industry really.

If you had to pick a line-up of your top headliners over the years, which acts would you call back?
The Cat Empire, I thought they were fantastic, and I'm really pleased we've got Toots and the Maytals this year that's a band that we never dreamt of getting to Larmer Tree, but we worked hard, and that's happening which is great news, and the Van Morrison one was good, he is a true genius, and Ozomatli played a great set as well for us, that was a good night. Seasick Steve was there a couple of years ago, that was when he was fairly unknown, and he really pulled it off that night.

Like all these things, there's always artists you'd really like to get to the festival, but there's lots of things that have to fall into place for it to happen. The artist has to be visiting the country, we're not big enough to fly people in. It's much easier for the bigger festivals.

If you could fly someone in, who would you have on the line-up?
Ry Cooder I think, or Bob (Dylan) I suppose.

You've got Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra playing on Wednesday night, has that always been a regular occurrence?
It's been ever since 1998 I think. It just happened that way, it was a good night, and he loved the place so we did it again and it is a Wednesday night, and it's turned into a bit of a local party really, we get lots of local people out for that night. It's become an event on the social calendar I think. He always brings a festival guest with him and this year it is Alison Moyet, which will be great. I'd love to see her accompanied by a 24 piece band, I think she'll be able to handle it really well, the bigger orchestra will really suit her voice. That should a cracking night.

You mentioned Bristol School Of Samba any plans to bring any other Larmer Tree favourites back?
We've got Shooglenifty back this year, who have played the festival lots of times. We've invited a few back from over the years. Oysterband are back this year, just because they've been a band who have supported us over the years really. We've got a few other surprises in store for this year, which I can't tell you about.

Have you got any special events planned for this year?
At the festival there will be a few things that we've got up our sleeve. We're having a party at Salisbury Arts Centre for everybody that's been involved in the festival over the last twenty years, and I'm actually just sending out the invites now. We've always had a bit of a relationship with Salisbury Arts Centre, in fact they used to sell our tickets in the early days.

You're always limited in capacity at Larmer Tree Gardens are you ever tempted to move to a bigger site?
Well, we are called the Larmer Tree festival. I think we just love the garden, and I don't think it's ever been a case of wanting to get bigger, or anything like that. We just enjoy what we do and Larmer Tree is our home, and it wouldn't be the same anywhere else really.

Have you ever been approached for corporate sponsorship?
We've had the odd approach yes, but that's another thing that we've been keen not to get involved with. Because we feel that there's often too much at events. I went to The Oval cricket ground, and the whole ground was covered in advertising hoardings wherever you looked. Wherever you went there were girls trying to sell you a phone, you had a job to see the cricket for all the advertising. I think you come to a festival to get away from all that personally. If I had my way I'd confiscate all mobile phones and not sell newspapers, as well, but you can't do that. People do want to read a Sunday newspaper and you can't deny them that really. I haven't actually got a mobile phone, believe it or not, so you can tell what I think about them.

You mentioned that you both select all the acts, how do you go about selecting such an eclectic line-up?
Hard work, really. There's lots of ways of finding acts, obviously I have a good relationship with lots of agents now with twenty years of doing it. There's certain people I listen to and respect their judgement. Until you see a band live it's hard to judge from say the six tunes on myspace. It's a long process, in fact I'm still programming now, and it's never an easy thing to do.

Everybody's idea that programming is a job they would like to do at a festival, if they tried to do it, they'd find it's not as easy as they might think. But it's quite exciting, and never dull.

You have two acts I'd have programmed - Otis Gibbs, an artist I really like and you've also got Robert Cray as headliner...
I grew up with blues music, it was my music in the sixties, and he came along at the end of that era, and he's a fantastic guitarist, I'm really looking forward to seeing him, and we've still got some more acts to announce on Thursday, and it's shaping up to be a pretty good evening. Of the acts you've booked so far, who are you most looking forward to seeing?
Otis Gibbs, Robert Cray, and Toots, he is the father of reggae music really, apparently he was the first person to use the word reggae in a song title. I've spoken to a couple of people who have seen him in the last couple of years and said he puts on a great show, and he's still doing the business.

Festivals used to have quite a lot of reggae, do you think it's making a comeback?
It's great music, and I think people at Larmer Tree, and I can only speak about my own festival, do want to dance, and what better music for that? Actually there's also the Hypnotic Brass ensemble I've not seen them yet, but I've had really good reports of them, and they're at Larmer Tree this year, so that should be a good one, and Tunng. There's a few good things already with more to come.

Have you experienced any problems in booking acts because of exclusivity contracts?
Not really, we're operating a bit below that scene in a way. We have our own scene, there's Trowbridge Village the following weekend that is fairly local to us, so, we wouldn't an headline act that they were using, and vice versa really. We have our own sort of exclusivity deal with them, which is the way it's always been and I think that's fair. It's when you get into the higher echelons it all becomes a bit more cut throat maybe. Because we keep it at 4,000 we've never had to go into that, when you go into the 10, 15, 20,000 then it all becomes a bit more of a narrow pyramid.

You also have a huge workshop programme, do you put all of that together yourself too?
We have, and again everything is programmed by us. It's actually Julia and some of the other members of the team, but that's something we've developed. There's something like 150 workshops I think now, which is pretty amazing. It's a bigger programme than the music programme, and takes up more space in the actual programme that's for sure.

Do you think that's what attracts a lot of people to the festival?
Yes, I think it does, you can tell by the number of people that attend the workshops. They're never empty, and some of them are probably over-subscribed. You have to get there early for some of them to actually get a place. Dance is always really popular, and we do the hands on thing, which is making things, for adults and children now, and we have some really good artists to do mosaic and things like that.

All those things are really popular and I think it gives people a chance to try them, I think with evening classes you've got to sign up for 12 weeks, whereas at Larmer Tree you can actually turn up and give it a go, and if you don't like it you can walk away. It doesn't cost anything, because all our workshops are completely free, and they just get in the spirit of it, it's great fun. We'll always make that better and better because it's a big part of Larmer Tree now.

Has it always been?
Yes, I think in the first year I didn't do anything, but in the third year Julia joined me, and she was working at Salisbury Arts Centre at the time, and they had a workshop programme there. So she organised a banner making workshop and that was the first very one, and it went from one to 150.

Thanks very much for your time, and good luck to with this year's event.
Thank you, here's to the next 20 years.



The dates for the 20th birthday of this festival of acoustic folk and world music, that also offers roots, blues, jazz, Americana, reggae are confirmed as Wednesday 14th to Sunday 18th July 2010.

An adult weekend ticket is priced at £184 for all 5 days, £150 for 4 days, and £120 for 3 days, there are Youth (age 11-17), and Child (age 5-10) options also available. Day tickets are priced from £30 to £58 dependant on day. Larmer Tree ticket prices include free parking and camping for tents, caravans and campervans and under 5's are free.

To buy tickets online, click here.

For the line-up details as available please click here.

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