Latest Blogs
Going for bold
It seems like an Olympiad since I last wrote, in reality it's a period of weeks that's taken us through the best of British,
devastating rainfall to scorching summer days. It's been filled with festival highs, lows and comical back stage spats. But
t...
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To whom it may concern
Dear Angry Press Mob,It's come to my attention that you, the English gutter press, have single-handledly derided and besmirched
the good names of music festivals. The Commons culture, media and sport select committee should be doing justice on behalf...
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Blog: Malted milks on the mountain tops
As the newest member of the Virtual Festivals team, (I’ve just joined as Live Editor), my first week was spent orienteering
my way around the hectic environs of Tottenham Court Road while learning the all-important tea and biscuit habits of my...
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Downside to being pretty
Last night I was accosted by a young lady on the street, she stopped me just seconds before I got on my bus, tapping me on
the shoulder to let me know my bag was half open. She smiled and let me zip up before I jumped on the 25 out east.You're probab...
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Blog: Sonisphere and faltering festivals
The Olympic year has seen two of its largest festivals falter already. The Big Chill, according to organiser Melvin Benn is
on hold for a year and will return in 2013 but Sonisphere has pulled the plug on a scheduled event, with no cries of &lsquo...
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It's the ecology, stupid
It is with a heavy heart I write this editorial piece. After just two days up a mountain, walking off-piste to the chuckle
of the comedy troupe at Altitude Festival the news of a festival cancellation swept me off my feet. I wasn't really ready
for t...
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New bands blog - No 4
By
on
06 February 2012
Bob Tollast from In The Woods 2012 festival urges you to try Stealing Sheep. Britain’s roughly 33 million sheep need
not fear these professed rustlers of quadrupedal ruminant mammals, because it seems they really only want to make hypnotic,
sli...
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Blog: An Axl to grind
It's good to report back after a week of long days and longer nights, working from Maida Vale Studios to bring you coverage
of BBC 6 Music's 10th birthday sessions and exclusive interviews with Paul Weller, Orbital and De La Soul's First Serve. We
sa...
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Blog: Making hotspots out of the homeless at SXSW
>"Homeless Hotspots." Nope, not the biggest buzz band from SXSW, but one of the biggest talking points from it, as ad agency
BBH (NOT officially affiliated with the festival, we hasten to add) employed 13 homeless people to act as 4G hotspots, sellin...
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Blog: Festival stats show modest green gains
A Greener Festival have announced that they will be presenting the findings from their analysis of the 2011 Greener Festival
Awards scheme at their upcoming Green Events & Innovations conference, scheduled for March 16th 2012 at London’s
So...
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Blog: The Big Ticket Scandal
For a talking point with teeth the Dispatches investigation into the murky world of ticket resellers was an eye-opener for
all those unfamiliar with their dirty tactics. Virtual Festivals responded and urged readers to support legislation to keep
the...
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Blog: Brits, tits and merits
You probably hated the Brits. In fact you probably still wake, sweaty-browed, from nausea-inducing nightmares that fright
the frail bones from your fragile body and leave you, an empty, unfurling cage of unfathomable pain. Yep you read that right.
It...
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New bands blog - No 3
By chrise
on
15 February 2012
This week we’ve given Chris Eustace reign of our new music radar. Enjoy.Outfit Outfit - Dashing In Passing by TheSoundsOfSweetNothing
People have been getting excited about Outfit for a little bit and a the Liverpool five-piece look like...
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New bands blog - No 2
By
on
06 February 2012
Bob Tollast from In The Woods 2012 festival urges you to check out Kwes.The first we heard of Kwes was the beautiful ‘Hearts
in Home’ single, a track which effortlessly blends the delicate sounds of Icelandic bands Mum with dubby bass and...
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New bands blog - No 1
By
on
25 January 2012
Long-standing Camden Crawl supremo Lisa Paulon chooses some of her favourite bands of the moment. Are there any hints as to
who will play Camden Crawl 2012 in May?Funeral Suits On a personal level, one of the most exciting things about this year...
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Blog: Re-Experience The Prodigy
The rave scene was a rabid epidemic, running unabated and wild in the summer of 1991. This free party outbreak spread with
a ferocity of typhoid fever, stretching from satellite sites around the capital, infecting crowds of 50,000 or more in one
nigh...
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Blog: Alex's Almanack - what will happen in 2012?
The Old Moore’s Almanack is a curious book. First published in 1697, it sought the advice of astrology to make predictions
for the upcoming year and back then, who could have guessed it would still be here in 2012?For all of its forward thinkin...
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Stone Roses Resurrected: Should they reform?
By philbrady
on
18 October 2011
YES says Phil BradyImagine if Elvis never died. Imagine if the king of rock and roll ditched the coke habit, went on a diet,
lost a couple of stone and shook those hips again like it was 1957. Imagine if The Beatles didn't split bringing out album
af...
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Blog: Are there too many festivals in the UK?
By chrise
on
10 August 2011
On Tuesday, after 31 festival cancellations this summer, Isle Of Wight Festival boss John Giddings spoke out suggesting that
the festival market is overcrowded.Meanwhile Melvin Benn of Festival Republic argued that despite slower ticket sales, festiv...
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Festivals aren't on their way out - they're just at a crossroads
By chrise
on
11 July 2011
Coming on the same weekend as the sold-out T In The Park and Sonisphere, it seems a bit odd, but is there trouble on the horizon?
Eavis also mentions "WOMAD and Latitude not selling out" - although to be fair the latter is, according to The Guardian,...
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