In 2007, Sugarhill was a triumph. They probably lost a few quid, but audience numbers weren’t bad and the future looked bright. Since then, it’s been a downhill slide year on year for the Warren Farm event, and this year looks set to be the final nail in the coffin.
The organisers will pin the disaster that was the 2008 festival on bad luck. The heavy rainfall that weekend certainly would have kept many away. However, the line-up (of which the headliner was the long-since dropped ‘Young Knives’) can’t have helped. Choosing to trade the established festival acts of the year before for new NME favoured talent may have been the organisers biggest error of all. Browsing through the line up of supposed ‘next big things’ today, I can’t pick out a single one thats gone on to do anything worthwhile. Infact, the only one who you might have heard of, Ida Maria, didn’t even bother turning up. Total ticket sales were probably less than you’d see down the Vic on a Friday night.
No surprise then, that 2009 didn’t happen at all. This led many to assume that the festival had sunk completely. Not so though. At the beginning of 2010, the organisers announced the festival was back. Could this be a triumphant return to the 2007 event that we all enjoyed?
Well, the short answer is no. It’s now just the one day of music, and the line-up looks significantly weaker than even last year. Headliner New Young Pony Club isn’t an altogether bad shout (based on their new record), but I can hardly see people queuing up to pay up to £45 to see them. Nothing else on the bill would pull a crowd, and there’s alarmingly few local bands for a festival claiming to be the ‘stage for the southwest’.
At least its back, you might think. At least Wiltshire has its own festival, even if it isn’t perfect. If we don’t support it, it might go away, and surely then no one wins?
Before you come to that conclusion, consider the way the festival are bankrolling this years event. Here’s one way:
A series of auditions will be taking place across the Southwest, giving everyone a chance to be seen, and potentially win a slot at the festival, albeit unpaid. Good idea.
These will take place at Vodka Revolution Bars. Bad idea.
Every act that auditions will have to pay £20, whether or not they are chosen for the festival (there is no number of available slots given). Very bad idea.
Anyone who’s been in a band will know why pay-to-play is the worst of all evils when it comes to promoting events. It’s bad enough that bands in this country have to play for free, but don’t get me started on that. The festival claims they are charging bands to make sure they are serious about the audition and festival, but if this was true they would surely be refunding the fees to successful bands?
So, far from supporting the bands of the Southwest, it appears to be the other way around for Sugarhill. I’ve no doubt desperate bands will end up paying the fee, but I leave it up to you to decide if you want to do the same. Tickets and more info from http://www.sugarhill.com.
