Sign up for IQ Index
The latest industry news to your inbox.
Organisers are planning a symbolic 'Burning Of The Main Stage' in a call for urgent change in the crisis-hit festival sector
By James Hanley on 23 Jul 2024
Secret Garden Party
image © Matt Higgs
This weekend’s Secret Garden Party (SGP) will have its main stage set ablaze, symbolising the finale of the event in its current form and a call for change in the embattled UK festival sector.
Organisers say the 2024 event – entitled, Secret Garden Party: Roots – will “mark the end of Secret Garden Party as you know it”, off the back of festival crises at home and abroad.
With a focus on collaboration, SGP is aiming to highlight the need for independents to work together to rebuild and restore the scene, after the number of UK festivals to have announced a postponement, cancellation or complete closure in 2024 surpassed 50. Saturday’s ‘Burning Of The Main Stage’ will represent “a call for urgent change; from the ashes something new will grow from the garden”.
“In 2025, we’re offering our SGP site to all those festivals that have had to cancel or for stages and collectives that have lost their ‘home'”
The 30,000-cap event, which runs from 25-28 July in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, UK, features more than 350 artists including Unkle, Crystal Fighters, Ren, Chinchilla, Franky Wah, Carly Wilford, Adelphi Music Factory, Jakkob, Omega Nebula, Technobrass and TC & The Groove. It previously announced it was foregoing big-name headliners for 2024 in favour of nurturing grassroots acts after signing up to independent collective Chai Wallahs’ Drop a Headliner campaign.
“In today’s world it’s no longer sustainable for independents to run festivals,” says SGP founder Fred Fellowes. “In 2025, we’re offering our SGP site to all those festivals that have had to cancel or for stages and collectives that have lost their ‘home’. Let’s work together, we have the space and drive to make sure not all is lost for those independents that drive our scene forward.”
Last year, SGP, which returned in 2022 following a five-year hiatus, announced plans to evolve into a social enterprise-based music festival, with organisers committing 65% of the event’s profits to being a “force for good”.
The SGP team are also premiering seven-day wellness and family camping festival Wild Meadows from 5-11 August. As well as music, it will feature a programme of activities including crafting, woodland skills, and games, while the Herb Garden Wellness experience will offer sound healing, yoga, breath work, meditation and workshops.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.