Beyond the Tracks: We want to be B’ham’s flagship fest
The man behind Birmingham’s first three-day rock festival has told IQ he hopes to turn Beyond the Tracks into the “flagship festival” of Britain’s second city.
Event manager John Fell – who is also event manager/head of booking for Moseley Folk Festival and Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul, both in Moseley Park, Birmingham, and Lunar Festival, held in Nick Drake’s home village of Tanworth-in-Arden – says he hopes the new event will become Birmingham’s leading festival – and that, if ticket sales are any indication, it’s off to a good start.
“For an inaugural event we are delighted with the ticket sales so far,” explains Fell (pictured). “We have certainly sold more, at this point, than predicted, so we are excited to see how the trend continues. We would be over the moon with a sell-out in the first year, and with the line-up we have it is quite possible.”
That line-up is topped by Orbital, Ocean Colour Scene and Editors, who respectively headline three themed days of music: electronica on Friday 15 September (Leftfield, Faithless, Jagwar Ma) indie rock on Saturday 16 September (Maxïmo Park, The Coral, The Twang, The Libertines’ Carl Barât) and alt-rock/shoegaze on Sunday 17 September (The Jesus and Mary Chain, Wild Beasts, Slowdive, Peter Hook of New Order).
Fell says the booking philosophy behind Beyond the Tracks was was to “create three diverse days for music fans”. “The programming is definitely different from our other events, but it has given us the opportunity to offer something different,” he explains. “The prospect of putting on Orbital, Leftfield and a Faithless DJ set in Birmingham city centre on a Friday night is something we are all far too excited about!”
In addition to being his first festival targeted towards towards a primarily adult audience, Beyond the Tracks is Fell’s inaugural event in Eastside City Park, a 6.75-acre urban park in the Eastside district of Birmingham. The park, which opened to the public in 2013, has yet to host a festival, and Fell says the city-centre location is a major selling point. “We have secured the perfect grassed area, surrounded by the iconic buildings of Birmingham,” he comments. “I think this one is about location, location, location.”
“The prospect of putting on Orbital, Leftfield and Faithless in Birmingham city centre on a Friday night is something we are all far too excited about”
Fell says a large proportion of ticket sales so far have been to people outside the local area – something he also attributes to the Eastside location: “Ticket sales so far are showing a large percentage of people attending are coming from outside Birmingham. We believe the location and the convenient transport links make it an easy festival to attend, attracting people from the north, south, east and west [of England].”
The past few years have seen an increase in the number of greenfield, city-centre festivals in the UK, with DF Concerts’ not-a-T in the Park-replacement Trnsmt, Goldenvoice’s Demon Dayz at Dreamland Margate and LWE’s Junction 2 in London all making their debuts since 2016. Fell attributes this to a “combination of festivals abroad offering a cheap option with the guarantee of sun [and] the convenience factor. Inner-city festivals offer great transport links and the option to go for a single day. Plus, when the festival finishes at 22.30 there is the option to head to the local pubs, making it a great day-and-night option.”
Greenfield festivals, being located in residential areas, present a different set of challenges for promoters, but Fell says Beyond the Tracks has been “very lucky with how accommodating the council have been”.
Aside from the logistics of putting on a 10,000-daily cap. music festival in Birmingham city centre, what has been the greatest challenge in getting Beyond the Tracks off the ground?
Probably artist fees, says Fell, which are “becoming more challenging each year, as the bigger festivals with bigger budgets are able to lock artists in early on”. He is, however, confident that will become easier as the festival finds its feet, with pressures on booking “naturally eas[ing] as we become a more established festival”.
“With that said, we are delighted with our inaugural line-up,” Fell concludes, “and think it’s up there with the best.”
The inaugural Beyond the Tracks runs from 15 to 17 September. Weekend tickets are priced at £145, with daily tickets available from £54.45.
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Festival Focus: ACL, Summer Sonic, Karoondinha
With the 2017 festival season fast approaching and many events close to finalising this year’s line-ups, we’ve introduced a new, slimmed-down Festival Focus for 2017 to ensure we cover as much news as possible – keeping you abreast of all the latest developments in the festival world with the minimum of waffle.
Read on for all the latest festival announcements (headliners are in bold), or click here for the previous FF. And if we’ve missed something, or you’d like to see your event featured in a future Festival Focus, feel free to drop news editor Jon Chapple a line at [email protected].
Hurricane Festival/Southside Festival, Germany (FKP Scorpio, 23–25 June)
Kakkamaddafakka, Twin Atlantic, Dave Hause and the Mermaid, Fatoni, JP Cooper, Louis Berry, Stu Larsen, Amber Run , Leif Vollebekk, Rebels of rhe Jukebox, Mikroschrei, Luke Noa & the Basement Beats, Tuesday Night Project, Die Boys
Festival Internacional de Benicàssim, Spain (Maraworld, 13–16 July 2017)
Biffy Clyro (Spanish exclusive), Years & Years, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Temples, Dream Wife, Tiga, Honne, La Casa Azul, Joe Crepusculo (Jim Reid/Jesus and Mary Chain photo by pj_in_oz on Flickr)
Latitude, UK (Festival Republic, 13–16 July 2017)
Katherine Jenkins, Leon Bridges, The Coral, Mystery Jets, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Beth Orton, A Blaze of Deather, Childhood, Black Peaches, etc.
Karoondinha Music & Arts Festival, US (Hawk Eye Presents, 21–23 July 2017)
Chance the Rapper, Paramore, Sturgill Simpson, Porter Robinson, The Revivalists, etc.
Pukkelpop, Belgium (The Factory vzw, 16–19 August 2017)
Ryan Adams, Stormzy, The Shins, Sampha, Halsey, Armand Van Helden, Jake Bugg, Enter Shikari, Richie Hawtin, Jackmaster, 2manydjs, Youngr, etc.
Summer Sonic, Japan (Creativeman, 19–20 August 2017)
Calvin Harris, Foo Fighters, Black Eyed Peas, Kasabian, Sum 41, 5 Seconds of Summer, Justice, Charli XCX, Good Charlotte, Royal Blood, Kesha, Above & Beyond, Rick Astley, etc.
Reading Festival/Leeds Festival, UK (Festival Republic, 25–27 August 2017)
Liam Gallagher, You Me at Six, Vince Staples, Pvris, Goldie, Muna, Mura Masa, Jagwar Ma, Sub Focus, Kurupt FM, etc. (Liam Gallagher photo by Anthony Abbott)
Rock en Seine, France (LNEI Live, 25–27 August 2017)
Band of Horses, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Lemon Twigs, Grouplove, The Shins, Her, Car Seat Headrest, Timber Timbre, Slowdive, Romeo Elvis, Her, Deluxe
Made in America Festival, US (Live Nation, 2–3 September 2017)
Jay Z, J. Cole, The Chainsmokers, Solange, Kaskade, Marshmello, Sampha, Migos, Stormzy, 21 Savage, Run the Jewels, Little Dragon, Pusha T, DMX, Vic Mensa, Yung Lean, etc.
OnBlackheath, UK (Crosstown Concerts, 9–10 September 2017)
The Libertines, Travis, De La Soul, Metronomy, Craig Charles’s Funk and Soul Club, Jake Bugg, KT Tunstall, Seasick Steve, Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Black Honey, Tom Williams, Steve Mason, etc.
Beyond the Tracks, UK (Moseley Folk Ltd, 15–17 September 2017)
Orbital, Ocean Colour Scene, Editors, Leftfield, Faithless, Maxïmo Park, The Coral, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Peter Hook and the Light, Jagwar Ma, Wild Beasts, etc.
Austin City Limits, US (Live Nation, 6–8 and 13–15 October)
Jay Z, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chance the Rapper, The Killers, Gorillaz, Martin Garrix, The xx, Ice Cube, Ryan Adams, Solange, Run the Jewels, Spoon, Vance Joy, Zhu, Royal Blood (weekend one), Eagles of Death Metal (weekend two), Foster the People, etc.
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