Melvin Benn (FR): “Eavis Is Wrong, Festivals Are Booming”
The Reading and Leeds organiser and promoter Melvin Benn shot down Michael Eavis’, the Glastonbury organisers, claims that festival culture was in decline this week when he spoke to BBC Suffolk.
Directly addressing Eavis’ claims, Benn asserted that Festivals were a part of “UK cultural life” before going on to say:
“We’re very good friends and one of the great things about [that] is knowing when he’s wrong”
Benn then became the latest pundit to suggest that Michael Eavis’ comments had been taken out of context saying:
“At Glastonbury we work on more of a four-year cycle, because there’s normally four years on and then a fallow year, [and] I guess Michael is looking at it in that context.”
Benn the turned his attention to the wider festival scene strongly disagreeing with Eavis’ prognosis:
“I promote more festivals than anybody else in the UK so I guess I’ve got some right to think that I should have a view too, and it’s very different – festivals are the most incredible value for money for the amount of bands that you can see.”
Finally Benn addressed the controversial claims that Eavis made about Reading, Leeds and Lattitude’s ticket sales:
“Latitude sold out last week, Reading will sell out, Leeds will sell out. It’s a tough economic climate but I think the festival industry is booming.”
Strictly Our Opinion: Benn is the latest in a long line to claim that Michael Eavis’ comments regarding Glastonbury, were taken out of context or at least seen in the wrong light.
More tellingly however, Benn didn’t deny the claims about either Lattitude or Reading and Leeds ticket sales. He simply said that Lattitude did sell out and that Reading and Leeds would sell out.
This may be telling, it’s hard to think of a single businessman who would let a rival say that his business (R&L) had 40% of tickets left on sale and not shoot it down. There was no mention of the figure being ludicrous or misleading, he simply promised Reading and Leeds would sell out.
Again, Benn focused on the Festival scene thriving, but he offered no evidence other than his word and an anecdotal perspective. Now this wasn’t a written interview or a taxing interview, but Benn failed to address the current crisis in the music industry, and failed to recognise the number of undersold festivals, most notably Lovebox and Hop Farm who have both struggled in recent weeks.
Also it’s rather cheeky of Melvin Benn to use the “value for money” claim when he charges the highest ticket prices of any of the major festivals without giving either more bands or more entertainment than his peers.
Equally this line, doesn’t say that the festivals are thriving or selling out, just that they are good for fans, this is worrying. It may be a quick answers to a casual question, but it could also be viewed as a slippery answer deliberately avoiding the major issue at hand.
Here at Strictly Festivals we’re certainly left with more questions than answers.
