Festivals have moved on from music, mud and a murky pint of cider. This year they are just as likely to involve qoya dancing, racing hovercraft, learning medieval swordplay or dancing in a lava tunnel.
Promoters are turning to activities to lure people to their festivals, as audiences demand new experiences and great food and show less interest in musicians, DJs or even whether there is a stage.
Boutique festivals such as Camp Wildfire are putting the stress on adventure sports and “wellness” activities with DJs such as Norman Jay and Horse Meat Disco providing a garnish rather than the weekend’s main focus.
At some festivals alcohol is out, while others such as Wilderness are offering hip-hop yoga, qoya dancing – an Inca-inspired yoga-type dance – and ommersion, a mixture of Mongolian chanting, gong baths and aromatherapy.
If that sounds like Center Parcs for millennials, there are more extreme activities available. Elrow put DJs into hot air balloons for its latest extravaganza in Barcelona, while the Secret Solstice festival in Iceland is staging an acoustic gig inside Raufarhólshellir, the country’s fourth largest lava tunnel.
“A small group capped at 50 are brought down into the tunnels and given a tour, then afterwards they listen to an intimate acoustic performance by each artist,” the festival’s Isabel Thomson said. “Secret Solstice are the first to put a party on there. The festival experience now is all about leaving reality. You go to workshops, go and sightsee and do something more positive for you.”
Paul Reed, the chief executive of the Association of Independent Festivals, said only 6.5% of festivalgoers now chose an event because of the headline act, whereas 51% were swayed by the “general atmosphere and overall vibe”. He added: “Festivals are increasingly a bundle of experiences, of which music is a component, but customers are looking at food and drink, and the art offerings across the site. Look at something like Boomtown Fair which has grown a huge amount – now they sell 60,000 tickets. There are a lot of immersive environments on site: 110 microvenues, theatrical experiences and performances – things beyond the music.”
With 975 festivals listed this year – more than double the number a decade ago – the choice has made promoters think harder, Reed said.
“I don’t think it’s the death of the traditional music festival, but it is all about finding your niche,” he added. “You have to offer people more now. To just be putting some bands on in a field is not enough any more. A lot of people grew up going to large festivals and standing in a field watching a band and drinking a pint of cider. I still enjoy doing that but the younger audiences enjoy boutique events.”
Pioneers of activity-based festivals include Swordpunk, now in its eighth year, where people learn how to crack whips, throw knives and axes and fight with swords and polearms. Medieval weapon training is catching on elsewhere too, according to Katie McPhee, the head of marketing for Eventbrite, which sells tickets for hundreds of festivals.
She said the change was driven by millennials’ desire for experiences rather than material goods. “Activities is massive and it really taps into this trend of people who want to go to events that involve things other than drinking,” she said. “We’re seeing so many more conceptual events coming out, like a yoga festival or medieval weapons training. Going to a festival to interact and carry out activities on a different plane than just watching bands and getting drunk is an enormous trend.
“We’re seeing so many festivals around specific themes. Wellness is a really massive one. Many events are coming through around mindfulness, there’s an increasing amount of teetotal events.”
Green Man is offering mindfulness sketching, Bestival goers can combine a spin class with music on a “spin rave”, and Festival No 6 is doing a guided trail run through woodland.
“There really is a distinct vibe that many people are wanting to go to festivals now to carry out an activity and not just in the pursuit of hedonism,” McPhee said. “Promoters are really having to keep that and put on parties and events that pursue that trend and allow them to indulge in a different side of enjoyment.”
Immersive theatre of the sort created by the Secret Cinema is also filtering into festivals, with a new twist provided by Revive at Studio 5 which is reconstructing the Rolling Stones’ Havana Moon concert while showing the film..
“The idea is bringing concrts back to life,” Tom Clark, the director, said. “We were talking about concerts we wish we went to and Havana Moon is one of them.” Actors in the crowd take the audience back to Cuba in 2016, Clark said. “We’ve got the smells, market stalls with mint coffee, people in the markets, clumsy production crew, band lookalikes escorted through the crowd, paparazzi walking through the crowd asking for tip-offs, mega fans, people dressed head to toe in Rolling Stones gear, Keith Richards coming out on the balcony during a solo. We want to make it even better than being at the real thing.”
