Booking a festival line up...

Finally... when the artist is contracted... the stage is set!!!

It's that time of year when I'm constantly calling and emailing the agents to get my festival headliners confirmed. As we've formed a bit of a niche at Lytham Proms with the classical/crossover I find this the easiest night to programme. The classical artists tend to like their programme's confirmed way in advance, and part of their usual stable summer touring process is the outdoor 'proms' markets.

I'm currently working on programming for Lytham Proms, Haigh Hall Live and Speke Hall Concerts... plus some other bits for some other promoters...

Next up is sorting our 'pop' artists. This tends to be where things get a little more complicated. Often this is when the big 'record labels' start to get involved, and sometimes the people sitting behind a desk in London really don't see the value of their acts performing 'up north'. Fortunately I have a good relationship with most of the agents, and usually it is out of their hands as a bigger team are looking after the artists. Often one day I have no one on the table, and the next they are like buses... everyone wants to do it!

Finally programming Indie/Rock is the hardest genre. This is where little old me has to compete with the massive summer festivals... often the really great headliners are tied into exclusivity deals with the major festivals. Hey, don't get me wrong... I love to see a great headliner at Glastonbury, but it is really hard sometimes for the smaller festival organisers (even if we are willing to pay) to get to the front of the queue!

This was Katherine Jenkins dressing room at Lytham Proms 2011
We surprised her with Sky TV so she could watch Wales play
an important Rugby Match

Finally, the fun part, is actually getting the contract and then reading the riders... seeing what the headliners like to have to relax to before the concert... getting outrageous demands really is a thing of the past... plus we're in the middle of a field... so some things just aren't possible... but some requests are unusual to say they least, and we get funny looks going into shops asking for obscure items... but usually by this stage by programming job is done.

I'm constantly on the look out for new artists to perform at our event, and really surprised at the amount of artists who are really great that don't quite make the break (and the odd ones that aren't as good and do make the break!)

So Emily Eavis... if you're listening to this one... perhaps you can add a sub-clause to your contracts... that they have to play my 'Up North' event too.