Festival Fever: 2020 line-up announcements continued

Continuing the series of 2020 line-up announcements, IQ rounds up line-ups from Spain’s Primavera Sound, Belgium’s Tomorrowland, the Netherlands’ Best Kept Secret, Italy’s KappaFutur Festival, Norway’s Tons of Rock and the UK’s 2000 Trees.

(See the previous edition of Festival Fever here.)

Primavera Sound

When: 3 to 7 June
Where: Parc de Fòrum, Barcelona, Spain
How many: 35,000

The 20th anniversary edition of Primavera Sound sold over 10,000 tickets in under 24 hours.

In keeping with its 2019 line-up, which rejected the “pale, male and stale” festival bill model, this year’s festival sees an equal balance of male and female performers, with Lana Del Rey, Brittany Howard and King Princess among prominent female acts on the bill.

The Strokes – who were also recently added to the Rock Werchter and Nos Alive line-ups – Iggy Pop, Massive Attack, the National and Bad Bunny are also performing at the festival.

Primavera Sound Barcelona is – alongside festivals in Oporto, Los Angeles and Benidorm – one of four Primavera Sound events planned for the tastemaking festival’s 20th year.

Tickets for Primavera Sound are available here, priced at €195 (£165).

The 20th anniversary edition of Primavera Sound sold over 10,000 tickets in under 24 hours

Tomorrowland

When: 17 to 26 July
Where: Boom, Belgium
How many: 70,000

Dance festival franchise Tomorrowland is returning for the 16th year of its flagship Belgian event, with acts including Eric Prydz, David Guetta, Marshmello, Amelie Lens, Afrojack, Helena Hauff and Maceo Plex making up the line-up.

The festival, which takes place across two consecutive weekends in July, is part of the mega Tomorrowland festival brand.

A winter edition of the festival launched in the French Alps last year. Tomorrowland Winter returns in March 2020, featuring acts including Armin van Buuren, Martin Garrix and Steve Aoki.

The presale for Tomorrowland Belgium begins on Saturday 25 January at 5 p.m. (CET), with general sale starting on 1 February.

Tickets cost €295 (£249) for a standard pass and €510 (£430) for a comfort pass. Fans can pre-register for tickets here.

Tomorrowland is returning for its flagship Belgian event, with Eric Prydz and David Guetta

Best Kept Secret

When: 12 to 14 June
Where: Beekse Bergen, Bergen, the Netherlands
How many: 25,000

Another headline slot for the Strokes, FKP Scorpio’s Best Kept Secret festival also counts the National and Massive Attack as headliners.

Badbadnotgood, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Belle and Sebastian, Metronomy, Diiv, Jarvis Cocker and Etep winners Fontaines DC also appear on the line-up.

The FKP Scorpio festival portfolio includes twin festivals Hurricane and Southside, Provinssi, M’era Luna, Seaside Country Festival and Gården.

FKP Scorpio is majority owned by German powerhouse CTS Eventim, which earlier today took a majority stake in the newly founded Gadget abc Entertainment Group AG, uniting abc Production and the wepromote group.

Tickets for Best Kept Secret festival are available here for €184.

Another headline slot for the Strokes, Best Kept Secret festival also counts the National and Massive Attack as headliners

KappaFutur Festival

When: 4 to 5 July
Where: Parco Dora, Turin, Italy
How many: 20,000

Italian electronic music event KappaFutur Festival is this year hosting acts including Amelie Lens, Diplo, the Black Madonna, Carl Cox, Denis Sulta and Motor City Drum Ensemble.

The festival, which is part of the European Commission-funded soundproofing project MONICA, is helping to develop technology and best practice to limit the impact that inner city festivals have on nearby communities.

Tickets for KappaFutur Festival are available here, for a discounted price of £38 for a day pass and £59 for a weekend ticket.

KappaFutur Festival is this year hosting Amelie Lens, Diplo, the Black Madonna and Carl Cox

Tons of Rock

When: 25 to 17 June
Where: Ekebergparken Sculpture Park, Oslo, Norway
How many: 10,000

The biggest rock and metal festival in Norway, Tons of Rock will be headlined by Iron Maiden, Faith No More and Deep Purple in its second year under Live Nation ownership.

Other acts appearing on the bill include Bring Me The Horizon, Disturbed, Airbourne, Within Temptation and Gojira.

Launched in 2013, the three-day rock and metal festival received recognition from the Norwegian Concert Organisers (NKA) in 2017, being crowned the best Norwegian festival.

Tickets for Tons of Rock are available here, priced at NOK 3040 (£257).

The biggest rock festival in Norway, Tons of Rock will be headlined by Iron Maiden, Faith No More and Deep Purple

2000 Trees

When: 9 to 11 July
Where: Upcote Farm, Cotswolds, UK
How many: 15,000

Independent UK festival 2000 Trees released its first line-up wave earlier this week, with acts including Jimmy Eat World, the Amazons and Creeper appearing on the bill.

Previous acts to have performed at the festival include Frank Turner, Enter Shikari, Deaf Havana, Slaves and Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes.

Tickets for 2000 Trees are available here for £156.

Photo: Julian Dael/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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More UK music festivals go cashless

The Cotswolds’ 2000 Trees has become the latest UK festival to go 100% cashless with a PlayPass-supplied RFID system.

The 10,000-capacity, three-day event – whose most recent edition was held from 12 to 14 July 2018 – deployed 100 point-of-sale terminals across 55 sales outlets, with visitors incentivised to pre-register and load funds before the festival with a £10 or £15 bonus credit if they topped up £100 and £150, respectively.

Festival director Andy Rea reported a “significant” increase in bar sales, along with a reduction in queueing times, with transaction times down to 40 seconds.

“Twenty-eighteen has been a momentous year for us with our move to cashless,” says Rea. “It was a decision we had been deliberating for a couple of years; I think it is a very positive step forward for our festival that we are really proud of.”

“You can’t underestimate the convenience it adds to the customer experience, not having to worry about bringing cash and keeping it safe – plus the tech helped render queues almost non-existent, allowing people to spend more time enjoying the festival. The positive feedback we’ve had from our audience, traders and staff has reinforced our belief that we made the right choice in going cashless and appointing PlayPass.”

“Queues were almost non-existent, allowing people to spend more time enjoying the festival”

Also doing away with paper money was Northern Ireland’s Jika Jika! Festival, which made its debut on 25 and 26 August in Ebrington Square, Londonderry.

Event Genius supplied the RFID technology, which increased spending by 23% per head when compared to prior Jika Jika! events held on the same site last year.

“We’ve been hugely impressed with Event Genius Pay,” says festival director James Crossan. “The solution speeds up transactions at the bar and makes it easy for fans to top up credit, allowing them to spend more time enjoying the music and less time waiting in queues.”

Lauren Lytle, newly appointed head of technical operations at Event Genius, adds: “It’s been a privilege to be able to help Jika Jika! make a resounding success of their debut festival.

“From start to finish their team’s commitment to ensuring their fans have the best possible time has been amazing and it’s great to have been the first RFID payment provider to deliver a fully cashless festival in Northern Ireland.”