How smaller music festivals keep the show on the road

Nene Valley Rock Festival will be held at Grimsthorpe Castle, near Bourne, Lincolnshire, in September, with FM and Focus two of the headliners.

“We limit our tickets to 1,000 a day,” says director Tony Castle.

“We’ve all seen pictures of Glastonbury where most of the crowd might as well have stayed at home and watched it on TV because they are only watching it on a big screen. Limiting our tickets is a bit of a risk because of finances, but we want to provide a boutique, intimate experience.

“Our success is based on providing our customers with what they actually want as opposed to being a large organisation that is in it for money. We are non-profit making and none of us draws a penny. That allows us to plough every penny we get back into the festival itself.”

Things such as providing decent loos with an on-site cleaning team have proven popular, Castle says, as have the free shower facilities. Meanwhile, feedback from the first years prompted the organisers to introduce glamping tents, including some that come with real beds.

It has all helped create “a hardcore of supporters” who will buy tickets before the first bands are announced.

“We have their trust that we’ll put on enough bands that they want to see,” says Castle, who adds that a cut in VAT for independent festivals would help.