FESTIVAL ORGANISER chats FESTIVALS & returning to NORMAL with TPD TV! - Melvin Benn

good afternoon good evening and good morning welcome to the view from the afternoon today we're absolutely buzzing we have a very special guest it's the man the myth the legend mr melvin ben melvin thanks so much for jumping on with us today we really appreciate it oh sorry mouthway yes a true professional um i'm very pleased to be here thank you very much for inviting me um on what seems to be a video podcast that i didn't know existed i did i thought that there was a different term for that but anyway well there's an answer and i challenge you to find that term well we've got a bit of homework yeah we've got some homework already um so melvin um we obviously know you are we've um we've kind of done this before but we've grown substantially since we last spoke um so why don't you do a bit of an intro why don't you tell the people out there who you are what you do and what we're going to talk about um okay my name's melvin ben um i am a festival promoter and producer i'm the managing director of festival republic i have quite a number of festivals in the uk ireland and germany one of which is leeds festival the very amazing leeds festival that takes place at the august bank holiday weekend um which i started in 1999 if i was able to count i would tell you what edition this one is in 2021 but i'm not um not least because we had to miss an addition due to kovid last year and so we are excitedly planning and thinking about and looking forward to leeds festival in 2021 and i guess that's what we are going to chat about amazing and reading festival there's a bit there's a big one that you missed out there and reading but later reading as well of course as well of course so nice to just be able to talk about festivals again in a in a in a non kind of remembrance kind of way like it seems like everything we've spoke about is like oh remember festivals remember how good it was and now we can actually look forward to right now we're going to do this this is and we went to reading last year for the first time and it was it was a great experience really surreal scene such a well obviously we've never been but it was so familiar yeah because we've been to leeds for 10 years that's pretty odd because she must have been the only three there there wasn't anything happening last year not last year all right i don't actually know what what surreal of you three inner field in reading actually is it's probably best not to talk about it we keep that between us yeah it's under wraps we needed to produce some content it was a slow year right oh bloody hell uh but yeah cheers for jumping on last time we we spoke you came we did it in person and we were in our uh dilapidated six-month rental in burleigh road and you know you were a great guest and i appreciate that you you know you came around and kind of put up with the the car in there and that was not ideal for any of us but we've we've stepped up a bit in the world we've got microphones now there's no handheld iphones so um yeah you know you have a skyline as well actually by the looks of it yeah with a with a title view from the afternoon you've got to have a view at the end of the day [Laughter] um cool yeah but thanks for jumping on let's um let's let's dig in um melvin how's it uh how's the past year been for you um i guess i guess both both personally um and and com company wise generally what have you been up to um and what have you been up to with festival republic then well i guess in truth it's been a i mean it's been a desperate year if i'm being really honest with you and um you you know i i i i in in sort of relatively simple terms you know i you know my life is consumed with um you know producing festivals and promoting festivals and um and i've done that pretty solidly on and off since 1979 and um you know kelvin just stopped using our tracks and uh and that you know that really was um you know just beyond difficult to deal with in some respects and you know obviously you you know we end up having to uh you know failure people you know make some people um redundant um you know to try and keep the company sort of you know in a decent shape to be able to go forward when we're able to go forward so you know there have you know there's been you know individual and staff casualties as well as you know festival casualties in that sense of it and and that's disappointing it's it's massively disappointing because you know people that have worked for me for you know many years um you know we you know we had to let go as part of uh you know reshaping for the future in that sense so you know pretty tragic um in in that sense and i guess um you know that's when you know people you know talk about you know the loss of a festival in a way but the loss of a festival or all festivals also come down to you know sort of you know personal loss for people sometimes it might be jobs sometimes it might just be um the ability to you know express themselves and go out and you know really have a you know sort of a press the release button a little bit on what is their ordinary life or their usual life and uh so um you know it there's lots of uh in a personal you know toughness about the year that we've had but you you know we do also always have to um you know keep it in you know the perspective of you know we haven't had you know bombs dropping on our head and all that sort of stuff you know we we you know we've had um you know relatives and neighbors and friends you know die because of coved um and you know but we have had what is in effect an incredible nhs and an incredible uh scientific community sort of trying to keep us going and and and by and large there you know obviously there's a lot of deaths 125 000 people died in the uk but you know by and large you know as tough as it is you constantly looking at those those people you know within the nhs for example and thinking you know god it must have been tough for them you know it must be really difficult for them and you know we'll forever have you know a a sort of admiration for them of what they've done really and um yeah really tough actually yeah um what's what's been keeping you busy personally um i imagine i imagine that with the festival not going going ahead last year um it's has it given you much free time what have you been filling your time with well ironically i would say i've been busier effectively busier producing nothing than i have producing something um and and because you're constantly trying to um you know particularly myself i've been constantly trying to work ways through of being able to get open in in a sort of covet environment but get open safely yeah and you know so i've spent a huge amount of time uh developing what you know what was a you know i published out in june last year called a full capacity plan i remember this um about about how we could um uh you know get open by you know testing people and or um validating a vaccination um and it's fair to say you know i was the only one shouting about that in in june of last year um and it it it's reasonable that nobody else was shouting about it i guess because nobody really was quite ready for it because we're in the middle of the um you know we were in the middle of the uh the battle at that point to sort of try and keep people alive so that that that was the focus that was the priority and and as times gone on um you know government and and and um you know public institutions have begun to be a bit more interested in that and um you know i think it's fair to say now that um you know the european union are going to bring out a a health passport which is essentially what i was you know suggesting in june last year um you know a number of countries are you know going to want to introduce it for travel um and um i i i've you know continued on that single path of of trying to develop a system and a plan that allows me to effectively get you know 85 000 people in the field um in a a a sort of relatively coveted safe environment um and in particular what that what happens there is that i have to create a plan that says to the public authorities that by having let's say leeds festival or reading festival um that what i won't do is increase the amount of infection and or the amount of hospitalization and or the amount of deaths um as a result of having the festival compared to not having the festival um yeah and i i've i've been you know i've got to know you know scientists that use words that i didn't even know existed before um and i've got to know professors and i've got to know um you know people who actually are part and parcel of the bedrock of our society who are usually unseen and unheard of um but actually do this incredible work behind the scenes to allow us to mess about in the way that we mess about and you know have fun in a field type of stuff in a way so um it's actually been a joy getting to know those you know those people um and i i'm now in a position where actually just today imperial college have um you know put out a paper um saying that this is the route forward this is how we should be uh going forward um at the journal of of the royal society of medicine have um put out a thought piece uh literally just today um it goes up on their website tomorrow um about uh you know the health passport and the what was effectively the the full capacity plan that i published in june um is is actually the way forward and uh they've kind of plagiarized that idea from you then melvin a bit that health passport idea by the sounds of it they've been yeah i should have a royalty on everyone that yeah but i haven't touched are you just doing your bit together i'm man of the people melbourne yeah exactly exactly i think it's fairly safe to say then that throughout all this you've been pretty busy then really considering all i i literally haven't had a day off i mean i do i have not had a day off um well i suppose in some way that's kind of that's that's quite good then actually because it's you know you're still keeping in that obviously you're not working towards the same thing okay you know you're not working towards the you know the end result of like leads vessels but you're still kind of keeping going and you're not just slumping in a chair watching yeah like that all day [Laughter] i'm very pleased to say that i don't know what that is but it doesn't sound like it would be on my viewing list i've never seen that me and russ do recommend it very good no i guess um yeah i mean i have been that busy and it is literally you know i sit on zoom calls from um you know eight in the morning till six seven eight o'clock at night and you know that's really tough um you know without that sort of personal contact with people it's really it is actually really tough um and uh you know but it it's not the same it you know it you are equally busy if not more busy but it's much more difficult if you can't see an end point and uh you know that that's draining really i think i think one thing that's been like getting us through all this as of recent especially in this like lockdown three or whatever you call whatever you want to call it now uh is that now that we are we have an end point um and that there is light at the end of the tunnel i hate those phrases by the way i don't know i'm yeah um interested to know what like you said so you've done you've obviously done a lot of work in the past year but but what options have you have you been through then to try and to try and make it happen last year and anything that you're currently looking at for this year yeah is the is the only is the only option for for reading and leads and other gigs that you're involved in the standard model or have you kind of considered like i mean we kind of discussed why we can't see it happening in a socially distanced version or something like that but is that does that come on the table have you what have you considered no i i i i i was clear from day one that um that um we anything socially distance is not is not for me um it's not what i do it's not what i create um so this is some power experience in it that you're bound to have there yeah i mean economically it doesn't work but even if economically it did work i it just the atmosphere just wouldn't be the same i mean it just couldn't be the same and and you know i know what i love i think i know what you know the festival fans love and i i i've been i i've been blinkered and singularly focused on that i wouldn't entertain anything with any social distancing because my view was that the moment you were doing that you were allowing the government off the hook a little bit um and allowing them to think oh yeah you know music's back on and you know people are having fun and all that but they're not they're having no fun if you can't jump up and down and hug the pedestal right yeah so you know that it's that simple really was there any worries at any point you know in terms of you know festival republic itself or you know because obviously the music industry itself was hit fairly badly was there any worries about about you know coming out of out of this you know was there a point where you went oh god i'm a bit worried here no in fairness i i i i wasn't and i wasn't because um i wasn't because i was meeting bright people all of the time that were trying to help me come up with solutions and and you know to give you the the the context of now um if you added up every brilliant scientist that's created everything that we take for granted you know that you know air travel you know boat travel you know machine guns [ __ ] everything that you could ever sort of imagine what is you know all the scientists that have contributed to our life up until now there are more scientists alive and working now at this point in time this week than if you cumulatively added all of those people together and and what that said to me is that they'll find a solution they will come up with a solution and and and and the lady you know the lady that you know that that that effectively you know developed the you know the um oxford astrazeneca jab and she's been working on what is effectively the prototype for that jab i think for 11 or 12 years um and and the only she needed to finish the last ten percent of it um and actually in normal circumstances that last ten percent might have taken five more years to to to come through but because everybody pulled together it allowed her and her team obviously to get it together in a few months effectively and and and so i never gave up i never gave up because i trusted in what where effectively incredibly bright and well-educated people that were going to get us out of this really science was always the thing that was going to get us out of it i think the the interesting thing was it was and you know we can talk we could talk for hours about what went well and what went badly in terms of the government response to covered and reaction to covid but somewhere someone very early on um got into boris's ear and said the only thing that's going to get you out of this boris is a vaccine and that very clearly uh sunk in with him and for everything else that went was going on he has almost been as singularly focused on that vaccine and getting that out and um it looks like that piece of advice that he got and took and will pay dividends and will allow us to get open absolutely i mean you know in the group chat we're always you know every day it seems to be we're talking about oh did you know you know you know another 5 million has been been vaccine today you know we were always talking about it and obviously there was a point where we're ages away now but you know with the way they're rolling them out it's got you know we're we're we're feeling optimistic you know we're feeling great yeah it's fantastic and and again everybody you know everybody says to me well you you know um you know this is all great melvin but you know young people won't get the back seat and it's like well actually all the young people that keep emailing me tell me that they'll get as many vaccines as is required if it means they're gonna get into leads and ready they're saying to me i don't know don't mind how long the queue is melvin just tell me where the queue starts i'm getting in it i'll wait and wait i just want to go to leeds and ready if you have to like if you have to if you have to inject me with something to get in melvin i think i'll speak with people around the world where i say i'll i'll i'll do it i i need i need i know i was about to say you know i'll say it anyway i need my fix of live music of live music that's what i need no indeed and i mean i guess you know i mean and that's the thing in a way and and i i you know i just uh i i you know i was just talking about it last night and i have a i i usually i mean i know this is would be hard to believe that but you know outside of covid i would play football every thursday night um you know five six seven aside and and and and i still do and we we have uh in the absence of that we in the absence of that we've been having a a sort of thursday night football banter uh um uh you know zoom call everyone with somebody that's capable of setting it up obviously you still have your um um do you still have your two pints when you're when you're on that call we we either have two pints or we have a glass of wine or something um or something of that sort so we we do effectively still have those two pints um and um so and i was just talking last night how actually the people that have been hit the hardest um are the younger people um because actually younger people's lifestyle has been affected to a much greater extent than older people's lifestyle you know that ability to go out and be you you know with with sort of abandon effectively with you know to just be you know free of of thought and worry and all that type of stuff and and you know not being able to go to the pub not being able to go to your mates house not being able to you know go to parties you know go to gigs etc you know obviously far more young people do that than older people and i people are saying well the young people won't get um younger people won't get vaccinated and and i'm saying i think more of them will get vaccinated than older people because their lifestyle for it yes but it kind of corroborates that like there's i've i've heard like i've seen from different various different sources that people saying you know are you uh people like yourself and and big event organizers are they're not worried that like the public's gonna be like too concerned about their safety and it's like well yeah everyone's got safety concerns but these people ourselves included will do anything to yeah to get there is there is no concern from from from me um i know if that event's going ahead you guys have done the the research and you've made sure that you know it's not going to have like you say as long as it doesn't have a negative if it has a neutral or positive impact great as long as it doesn't have a negative effect on anything get me there there's no concerns exactly and no exactly and and and you know as you know as you know i'm not somebody that you know sits you know backstage and throughout the event in a little protected bubble i've seen you matt i've seen you i've seen you exceeding the speed limit on your little buggy in the back we drove past you in our van as we were pulling into leads and yeah we and also something that was something that was really baller something really cool when we got to reading there was another buggy there melvin i think it just had your name on it this is melvin's boogie no one else touched this that's that's cool but i mean i spent i spent time in i spent time in the crowd you know i spent we saw you that time i don't know if you remember something that's cool about that i imagine is cool is obviously you have a quadruple a pass right to that festival you you you run the show so you can go anywhere but you're not a mega star so you can comfortably what like if post malone was trying to wander about you'd obviously get packed everywhere whereas you kind of got the best of both worlds you can go anywhere you want and experience everything and obviously it's work for you it's not like you're just chilling but you've kind of got that it's just like the perfect balance of you can you can comfortably walk past that barrier and maybe only three or four groups of people will bother you us being one you're a shooter correct me if i'm wrong but do you know what i mean it's kind of nice i think i think it is a good balance but you know i guess what what i was going on to say is that i i i won't be sort of staying away from crowds at leeds festival or reading festival or lighting or anything i'll be in the middle of it because i know that i would have created something that is you know as safe as going to the the supermarket that is the intention absolutely melvin i think we've reflected it enough there is a question for you about crowds and about this that and the other when was last time you were in a crowd and like when was last time you were you know who was the last artist that you saw was the last gig you went to oh jesus you know i actually can't even remember i think the last time i was in the crowd uh you know i actually i mean it's like it's like so far away from it it's not in my head at all um it would have been it would have been in the spring of last year um um and it would have either been a gig or a football match um yeah so you know and i'm not you know i'm not i can do the prawn sandwich thing as long as it's a veggie vegetarian prawn obviously but i can do the prawn sandwich thing but i can be in with the away boys as well so yeah i'll bet i can jump up and down well with the mill wall breaking up the main question i'm thinking here melvin is it is what team is supporting here i'm assuming it's tigers that hull is it it's all your team well the whole city whole city are close to my heart but um i'm afraid man united are really gonna ruin my life yeah yeah the red devils yeah a lot of people are tuning out absolutely loved them it's just you know it's just i mean you know i became a fan you know because of my dad and you know and and actually all you know the the five or six best mates that i started school with that are still my best mate we're all still united fans we you know we were all united fans then um and you know it just you know you're definitely less likely to uh you know as nick hornby said you're definitely less likely to change your football team than to change your girlfriend or boyfriend absolutely i completely agree with that one [Laughter] i just support whoever's at the top of that list is it is it's manchester city do everyone leads got promoted and suddenly you became a leeds fan again i've always loved yeah leeds is a great city and it's a great football team but it's not the one that i support [Laughter] oh man um cool so let's uh let's go into a few kind of melvin we are we're very fortunate you know we've got a we've got a great following uh really tight-knit kind of community built around the content that we make but um with that comes responsibilities like i have been pretty much ticket master customer support for the last day for the last month people think i work for ticketmaster um i've had emails i've had messages on instagram and it's lovely that people you know i i appreciate the being put on that pedestal um i keep getting asked about second batch of tickets now i'm pretty sure that it's it's been put out there that there is no more tickets you guys sold out very quickly as soon as the festival going ahead was announced um but can you confirm second batch of tickets what what's the where's your head out with tickets at the minute is it is it truly sold out is there going to be a capacity yeah uplift does it is no no there isn't a ticket left there isn't a single ticket left um there isn't a day ticket left there isn't a weekend ticket left there isn't a day ticket for any of the days there's no second batch um and it it's terrible that um you know people have missed out um but there is a uh you know there is a a limit on the capacity i'm not going to increase the capacity at any of the shows that i've got this year because you know i do also have to focus on um you know getting everything right in sort of covid terms as we've discussed and and um you know it it it would be easy to say oh well let's just get you know get a bigger capacity and get more people in and get more people in and but i just i just want to you know we've we've had the same capacity for quite a while and i want to focus on that and get it right for that unit for that yeah so it so is it it is the same capacity than melvin it's not a reduced capacity it's your already i mean it's not reduced no exactly the same it's exactly the same capacity as it was in 2019 is your header let's get an event like it was but like it was before let's do it and then let's get the ball rolling again um yeah there's a there's an element of that i mean there is an element of that but it isn't that it it's you know obviously the more people the more complicated and people might say well if it's only another five thousand it isn't more complicated and to a large extent they're right but i just don't want to add anything more um to um you know what what is obviously going to be a challenging year in terms of i guess yeah you know making you know testing everybody and or checking everybody's been about you know vaccinated etc it's exciting to think about like okay cool so we aim for that base level in 2021 you know you you have a set you've got a sellout ready and leads what can that look like in a year in two years when you know everyone is safe and hopefully this is all a complete thing of the past and you know is there going to be like double the demand for tickets next year like it's isn't it's i know you you may not have an answer for that but it's it's just an interesting thought experiment really like where can now we've all missed out on on a on a what well two years worth of festivals pretty much what does that look like in in two years time is there going to be so much demand because we all know what we've kind of missed out on is there going to be more glastonbury-sized events going on i don't know just riffing i don't know exactly and it it's worth that thought but we just don't know at this point in time and that that's the honest truth about it we don't know um um um he you know um just sort of dealing with what's in front of you right now i guess yeah i mean that's you know what you can do basically yeah um i mean you know it is it is and you know we we we don't know as um you know we and you don't know from you know um you know from year to year and you know so um uh you know but i mean i do think people i do think people are big genuinely going to appreciate every minute of things that they used to take for granted in a way that they didn't we as a collective commonly talk about how we have great experiences with you know we we go to we go to a lot of festivals we go we we travel a lot obviously this year a lot of the things that we enjoy have been shut down but we commonly talk about like trying to live so much in the moment that like you'll you're almost like i want to remember this more now um yeah so i think this this coming year there's going to be a lot of hold on i'm just trying to really enjoy in this moment i just really want to live in it for a minute um how did how does it make you feel having a sell-out event then this year um and when was the last time leads sold out as a weekend um i you know i don't know but i mean we've pretty much had sellouts in 1718 and 19 to be fair all right um yeah we did well we we very much had sellouts in 1819 17 18 19 because i think we had was it red hot chili peppers eminem and food fighters um in each of those years and we had really strong day tickets yeah we had really strong day tickets um for all all three days of each of those years um um and so we did we probably did less camping tick tickets um compared to day tickets yes you've got to work the two cumulatively for the the total capacity you know this year i've done probably more well i have done more camping tickets and a few less day tickets yeah best get there early then yeah that's what he's saying does it inspire you with confidence then that the the general public like there is a void with the wallet something with the wallets we're ready to go yeah does it inspire you with confidence that the appetite is is definitely there and things are looking very positive yeah i mean i don't know if it's i don't know i mean i i think it validates i don't know so much about inspires me with confidence i think it what it really does is validate my belief that festivals in particular are such a an important part of our culture um i think it validates that point um for me and and and of course they they weren't you know in the mid 80s in the 70s 60s 70s 80s there weren't anything like as embedded in in our culture as they are now but they are now 100 part and parcel of our culture and i think what it does more than anything not just for me but i think for you know for public authorities as well um i think it just it validates that this is something that they have to take seriously rather than treat as an irritant um and you know some public authorities and this is definitely not the case for leeds already but you know some public authorities sort of wish the festival didn't you know a festival didn't exist it's like a painting it's extra work it's a bit of a pain and now all the public authorities are all saying we just want you to be back we want you to be back it's good we realize actually although it's hard work we we actually really like working on it amazing obviously there's the the it's sold out which is great people want to go um going off that is will there be any less acts on the lineup or you know has it been really hard to try get get acts you know certainly from overseas country you know america and things like has been difficult trying to um you know rebook or you know book in general well i think we we you know we you know obviously when you when you're trying to book a lineup for a festival you know there's lots of circumstances around that you know that you have to take into account um and and and act availability of course is is one of the most important ones really um and um you know we i think it's fair to say that we we did look at it early on and and and say look you know if there are sufficient british acts available that we consider to be you know of the right value to us and you know say the right things about the festival then you know we should focus on them as much as we can in order to ensure that there's more likelihood that there'll be still being able to attend yeah um and so we there's no question that we did that and i think that and that has paid dividends for us and you you know but i mean the the american you know there's a number of american acts and i guess the two that you know spring to mind you know post malone and um you know queens of the stone age i mean they're they've been pretty unequivocal to ours is that um and it it it's sort of similar to what you guys are saying is um if you tell us it's safe melvin we're coming absolutely um and you know even if it it it even if it's a a fly in what we describe as a flying because in general you know american acts um but you know all acts you know the you know the acts get on the stage and want to give the best performance that they can give and you know and as great as the bands are they don't want to do that without a decent bit of rehearsal and you know making sure they've got the right guitar techs and front of house engineers etc etc the ones that they work with all the time that all costs money and you know in in that it does cost money they um they you know that costs a lot of money up front to get you know to pay for the rehearsals all that sort of stuff and the way they look at it is that you know obviously if there's 50 people in a touring party even if there's only um you know four people in the band sometimes there might be 30. sometimes there's well over 100 people in the touring party you know for some of the headliners and they've all got to be costed up and then they you know if they play at a uk festival or a couple of you fast uk festivals leads and read in then they might play something in europe you know four or five different other european territories and they spread the cost of putting all their rehearsals together in all of that obviously that's what they do if i mean at the moment mainland europe appears to be less likely to have festivals than um you know than the uk that may change but that's how it appears at the minute and therefore a lot of american acts are going to say actually we can't afford to come in to just do one show um because economically it's not great for them to do that particularly lower down the bill so um you know we anticipated that and that's why we you know we've tried to focus on on british acts um as much as we can because we want to be able to try and deliver on what we're you know what we're advertising in that sense of it as best as we can and i think we will and i said you know poston and and um you know queens of stone age for example have just been very clear in the same way that the fans are very clear tell us it's safe and we're coming absolutely one i'm going to say the b word here because i know you know quite a few years ago now it seems that brexit was a massive thing on people's lips and people were worried about obviously the industry and obviously getting overseas banned has that had any you know have we seen any effect we kind of forgot about that yeah this has kind of taken yeah you know it's all been covered but actually you know throughout all this you know brexit actually happened and i remember when i was doing that dissertation we were talking about um that was kind of a big factor i had to talk about and just because there was just so much uncertainty about um about what it was going to mean for for the music industry you know overseas bands coming over so has that been you know has have we seen any effect of that we we've we've we haven't seen any effect of it yet in the sense of it because no bands are touring nobody's nobody's working at the moment but there's definitely concern a hundred percent concern um and and again it was important that we you know bore that in mind when we were booking leads and read in um but um you know there is you know huge concern um and it's fair to say um you know there's piles of us working away with government trying to work out the implications of brexit on touring artists um and that isn't that that isn't just for us i mean i i i r not ironically but um you know people may or may not appreciate that actually for um for orchestras um it it it's probably even worse because um you know there's you know 40 or 50 of them in each orchestra um and um you know and they you know they do the same as we do they are the same as in our industry they you know they they end their income via live performance um so and then equally for you know for mainland european um you know opera singers and and um you know orchestras etc they've got the the flip trying to come back in and so it's a worry we're trying to work it out we don't think it's going to be the thing that is making things totally impossible but it certainly means that it's more it's tricky and that ability to just get on a get on a on a ferry in hull and go over to um you know rotterdam to play leads and get on a ferry and hold go over to rotterdam and then go and play something in in in northern europe they might need to build a day extra in to do all the sort of customs and all that in a way that they didn't before one thing after another yeah yeah it's some it's something i i worry about being in my band that i won't reference here but like but it's it's it's now the now the additional thing of like oh so now now we have to think think about actually v you know is is there concern about visas and is there is a concern about would we be able to play one day one day after the other okay so i totally get where you came from um i want to i want to talk about the see we've got two two main stages this year is that still planning to go ahead yeah that's a really interesting point that yeah yeah it is yeah it it it is you've done this before right someone someone told me that that's been done before in the past or has it not well in in fairness the the the original reading festival it used to be two main stages but they were they were next to each other and you sort of shuffled from left to right so there's no there's no kind of way that changeover no in that sense of it but and actually there's a big german metal festival um called vacant festival oh yeah that happens is that where they're both facing each other i don't know if i'm no they're they're they're they're they're next to each other they're still next to each other um and um um but then you know i have a festival in berlin called lollapalooza um you know lollapalooza berlin i used two main stages there um and it works really really well and what it means is that um you know what it means is that we can we can attract what would be in effect six headliners um instead of only three headliners that's really the uh the essence around it and um you know we wanted to explore that and look at that and see whether it works i think it does um well yeah melvin you sold out so yeah yeah you can't say it didn't uh no so you know it i i do think it does in that sense of it really you know you you you know we have six headliners that's 16 true headliners as well like you can't really split hairs and and say like well one is the headline one's not like you've got some massive massive names across all six of those headliners exactly and that you know that that was and you know we we actually looked at it um in 2018 and 2019 and i just wasn't ready to to make the change but you know the the covid um year off just gave me more time to think about it and and you know i'm definitely not somebody that's supposed to change but i like to make the change when i'm i'm convinced it's the right thing and it feels like it's the right thing really cause clashes i don't get no no no and again you know we've done well on that john's done well on that really interesting john's er john's kind of responsibility exactly yeah john john yeah yeah john leads on that of course he does yeah so i wish i wish i wish she i almost wish it wasn't sold out because i i feel like it would be great convincing people now about how great value for money is getting six headliners right around rather than just the usual three are like uh just what one main stage let me tell you i used to quit first you suggested that are you suggesting i should are you suggesting i should have shouldn't be charging more i i'll i will i will leave that up to the people [Laughter] um it is exactly that it's great value for money actually it is exactly that melvin who's here who's your favorite act currently on the on the current lineup who are you looking forward to seeing most gosh i don't know i mean i i i mean it would have been rage against the machine charlie it would have been it would have been if we were talking this time last year of course but i i think probably if i'm going to choose one i'm going to choose stormzy really um yeah i am i'm going to choose stormzy because he's homegrown and he came through one extra you know his headline wireless um it's certainly going to mean something that yeah and it represents it represents a statement about you know british music culture um you know that i think is an incredible statement that um you know stormzy is headlining leads and reading i think it's uh um i i think it's phenomenal i mean he's a is an incredible artist there's an incredible you know voice on society he's got great you know perception of um you know what society should be and how we should be as a society etc so if i'm going to choose one i'm going to choose stormzy um because i adore what the guys don't i just think is is incredible um he's absolutely stepped up um out of a genre that everybody wanted to stop when i say everybody you know public authorities etc you know um and you know he's become you know he's despite everything that was was in front of him in terms of in front of that genre of people trying to say it it didn't have validity it's very clear it has validity i always believed it did which is why i brought in the one extra stage right from those you know from that early days um and this validates that it's so for me he's top of the tree we um with our schedule and uh coming down to reading for for a whole night um it actually works out that that's the day we catch twice so we'll be seen we'll be seeing stormzy twice um fantastic which is uh he's actually the only one of the headliners i've actually never seen before so so i'm happy with that is it is it catfish on that same night i can't remember it it is which we we you know we love they were really had to i really had to try to love catfish but then once i'd kind of got once i kind of understood him a bit in my head yeah i absolutely love him we've had some we've been taking loads of catfish gigs big ones small ones some as big as your head we did a a video um 20 2019 okay we did a video guys i didn't know if you know we did a video in 2019 i think it was like uh it was just a questions one where people sent in some some questions to us and they asked us who do we think is going to be headline in a few years time and i remember we said capturing the bottom and we're going to be a headline and lo and behold they are um there you go you're ahead of the camera these guys know what they're talking about melvin do you do you meet most of these people in person then most of the air yeah like some of the some of the kind of you know have you met storms that's what that's what we've caught as friends yeah yeah i've met stormzy but you know i'm um you know i'm like an old granddad to stormzy you know so um you know in that sense of it i you know i i i i don't meet them all i meet some of them but you know really they're they're not here they don't come to the festival to to meet me you're joking you're joking to the festival to play and so i you know i i in truth i would spend more time with their managers and their agents um um and you know as i say you know the more polite among them would actually say hello to me but um in that we're talking about rock and roll most of them don't give a [ __ ] well i hope i hope our friend simon from biffy clyro was nice and polite yeah simon is is simon all three of them actually are beyond gentlemen they are just brilliant brilliant examples of what young men can we we've been fortunate enough to meet them on a number of times that they're my favorite band jake's favorite band one of razzy's incredible such a great band yeah we have to they i don't know if you saw the they were doing it meant to be doing a tour in april in small venues um little academies which is a you know they obviously do arenas and festivals normally yeah we've got tickets to every day of that show um have you really been fantastic i adore them oh man i could talk about we could do a biffy clairol episode you should get salmon on i'm sure we've just actually compiled a list of people to reach out to and their management and their their leads but simon does strike me as the guy who would jump on and i feel we could have a really um just honest and true conversation because we yeah but that's that's too cool yeah i mean yeah i mean again [ __ ] have got really good sort of normal and decent manager and agent it's really nice actually that uh you know they've got a really good setup they always strike me as as a bit of an underdog as well and i don't know why but they've really grafted through the years i think they've played every single stage at t in the park maybe even at reading and leeds um radio on extra and maybe not like every doing the cover of what of course you have but but they always like even though they're a festival headliner i very rarely meet people i mean it was three but i don't really meet people that adore and like they always strike me as kind of an underdog and that's why i think i just love them their first their first gig i think was at the um not their first gig but they certainly their first festival play was um reading in what was i think the old carlsberg stage um and um you you know if you get to chat to them um ask them about how excited they were to climb the stairs at that stage and it was it was the carlsberg stage it was a little stage and um so you know but they drove down through the night from glasgow to get down there and everything and uh yeah they you know they've told me the story of of how they felt as they were climbing the stairs it's it's a terrific story and now they're up you know on these line up i don't want to talk too much about beefy but i obviously love them um they're on the lineup at download next to kiss and iron maiden it's like that's it boys you're a moment you're rock royalty now oh yeah cool but yeah that's that's right i love you i'll have your ear off moment with bishop clara melvin um we you reached out to um some of our uh our community let's call them on on uh was it was it on instagram and we asked for some stuff a few questions that they might they might have for yourself one of them um which is relevant to the point that that you're making earlier um around around having acts like stormzy and rage against the machine and all this different variety of acts um somebody somebody asks like what is reading a leeds festival is it rock is it pop is it indy how how would you best describe it i would describe it as relevant [Laughter] yeah makes sense i would agree with that it's rock and roll as well like rock and roll has an attitude in as opposed to a genre do you know what i mean yeah i mean yes it's it i mean ultimately all festivals have to be relevant to their sort of constituent audience that's what um and you know obviously you know reading um until a lesser extent leads um you know started off as as about guitar bands really and um you know but both have always you know from the emergence of hip-hop out of the us you know both festivals have always sort of um you know championed hip-hop as it was then and then when jay-z was on the lineup jay-z was at reading the leads one of you like years ago he was actually he was not even headlining how mad is that one of the biggest titans of industry so um so i i i've always just had the single reference point of relevance um because that's actually it has to be a relevant festival and um you know relevant to what is exciting uh the audience exciting young people at the time really can't say more than that can you no no irrelevant yeah i think it yeah it's yeah it's just like fingers up to any hairs yeah we're just relevant don't you worry about it we're just relevant we're rocky with this start yeah we're just we're just here and now is what we are we live in the moment man we don't try and put label on it i mean don't worry about it we're sort of festivals so it don't matter at the end of the day sold out [Laughter] melvin let's talk about something like super important and probably on on everyone's minds more so and more so as as the weeks and months and years go on um kind of representation at the festival um female representation is always a big talking point for the right reasons um and we know that that you have the rebalance programme um tell anyone that might not know about that about it because it's better coming from you than from us of course well i i mean i guess yeah and where's and just generally like i know that's a bit of a vague question i've kind of asked there so what what's what where's your head out what what works being done to not only get more females on the line up but at the grassroots level get more get more girls in bands making music with equal opportunities tell us a bit about that well i i guess i guess in a way you know where i've got to start is is is is is referencing the fact that what i am is a live music promoter um and um i'm not really well i'm not involved in in the recording industry or indeed in the uh the broadcast world of music in that sense of it and the broadcast world used to be just the bbc but of course now it's it's spotify and apple music and amazon music etc there's you know any number of the uh you know platforms um that you know the broadcast you know in one way or the other i'll be some of them you know yourself choose in that sense of it um and so i'm a live music promoter and what i have to put on the stage is what the audiences are listening to and the truth of it is the audiences are mainly listening to or have been mainly listening to male bands male fronted artists male artists etc um and um you know and and some of that is because actually a good deal of it is because of what is played on radio stations um and in particular what is recorded um and what's written and so you know i think every year you know in excess of 85 90 of the published music um every year is from men every year the um you know the the you know the top you know thousand um songs you know 85 percent will be men um you know that have played on radio stations you know around the world etc um and and and that obviously influences you know if you're driving along and you know listening to you know the radio or you know whatever and and what you're listening to is is what you get used to what you like or you choose to listen to that station because that's what you want to listen to um that's then also what you want to go and see and so to to a very large extent i reflect that uh what i and and and the reality is the the the pipeline of you know women or the the number of women available uh to you know headline and or perform it is just factually less than men there's just less acts um and the last thing that you have to do need to do is put a uh a female act a woman um in a band of female band um on a stage where they're there because of a gender balance because people walk away they don't want to watch them if they if and that would destroy their careers and so what i've been trying to do is get um it is get the um you know it's get more young women into a recording studio to um record what is their first proper ep um and you know i've been working very closely with the the prs foundation the performance rights society foundation about selecting those acts and and what you know what i do is and and this is an element of the problem i mean when i first started this the the number of women studio engineers um you know was less than 20 um in the entire country um and so even if you were there as a as a you know as a female banner a female artist in your own right you know you could very easily have had a you know sexist male engineer that is like oh why am i having to do this type of stuff and and it just wasn't working you know and so i i and i'm not saying all engineers are sexist of course i'm not you know but but i guess you know that yeah and and so um you know i i was um uh you know thought well actually what we really need to do is increase the pipeline um of young women that are given the opportunity to record music and um and that's what i started to do and i called it rebalance and i give a band a week in a recording studio in leeds um and um uh you know they they i pay all their expenses i paid their accommodation i paid for the studio time i pay for the um you know the engineer etc etc paper and and we only we give them all female engineers in fact the prs pay for the engineer and source the engineer that's cool um uh you know but i pay for their travel i pay for their accommodation i pay for their food so they get a week in a professional studio um with a professional engineer to create their first ep and then uh and then uh you know they that that and it gives them that chance but i'm not a record producer i'm not a record label so i can't take them any further in terms of you know a label or anything like that but i also give them a chance then to play at lea at one of my festivals at least if not more and so i think we have to focus on that we have to focus on that that developing of young talent so that we can get them coming up the ranks in the same way that storms has come up the ranks that biffy's come up the ranks etc etc we you know we have to get to a point where you know those young women are coming up the ranks and um there's been some great examples of that on on the lineups before you know i think of billy she um she absolutely filled that stage man she that was the busiest i've ever seen elite fest crowds yeah and do a leaper was next level i think we were quite close to the front for that so that you know it it does exist and it's there i guess it i guess it's just the percentage in it it must be very hard it is but i i i would also ask and i i you know i would also ask and i think it is something that um and and i asked this of i asked this of my marketing team um and and it wasn't a complicated question but it was like and you know i have a decent sized marketing team the majority of which are women um and i have a decent sized marketing team and there was a point a number of years ago where i asked them all to actually look at their spotify playlist and look how many women were in their top 10 or their top 20 of their spotify playlist and they were shocked at how few women they were listening to and they were people that were saying to me we need more women on the stage of course they were um and and i agree i'm 100 behind that so well and i i would invite you you know you guys um and invite you you know your listeners in that sense you know exactly what you're listening to um uh and and see how uh you know genre represented it really is that's a really that's a really good point and absolutely yeah yeah so everyone listening to this has now got an action to look at their apple music and spotify i'll tell you what just to kind of um just switch on a tangent now i just will open my apple music to have a look um someone i've been listening to loads of not not female someone that's really caught me off guard with how good they are melvin is bloody robbie williams right listen to that i accidentally put a robbie williams song on my speaker at home and it just plays like more songs by the artist once one's been played why are we talking about robert williams he's amazing anyway i'm just i'm a bit late to this robbie williams party but i'm kind of like a middle-aged mum at this point are you are you are you making a a play for more older artists to be at leeds i'm just saying you know if robbie was there as a secret set i i'd be there i'd be singing angels i mean going off this reaction i'm afraid syrup i don't think robbie is going to be i don't know why i'm talking about robbie williams with melvin ben i mean rob is fantastic and he is fantastic but i'm not sure leads and ready in the right location is he relevant yeah let me ask you that he's at 15 or so number he's second to only elvis presley and the beatles in terms of number one anyway i've been reading the wiki article um melvin just shut me up russ all right yep gladly melvin um we we want to run through some super super quick quick fire questions because i i appreciate you're a busy man and we're we're running out of time so we're gonna we're gonna run through a few and and just answer them as concisely i guess as you can so we'll start is all right yeah yeah yeah yeah i'll try well we'll start with uh your favorite act of all time at leeds and reading or just any of the festivals that you put on actually again i don't do favorites of all time because i think the best is yet to come and i think if i i think if i was to say if you put a lid on it then you're gonna stop searching right yeah exactly and and i'm absolutely of the opinion that music has got better um so i love that you you must have a a a fair you must have a favorite artist or someone who yeah who is a strong favorite recently you know you listen to at the minuteman who's top of your spotify um again i'm not going to go into that because i don't want to be i don't i'm not going to say this all right all right because if i say that then if i say that you're going to say are they going to play and so um [Laughter] speaking of people that that might not play then is there is there an artist or a band that you've you know i know downloads very renowned for trying to book van halen or something like that but it's just obviously not gonna not happen is there a band or artist that you've tried to book on various occasions and it's just not happened there isn't a single artist that is relevant to leeds and reading festival that uh is around at the moment that hasn't played i suppose yeah i mean obviously there's you know there's up-and-coming acts that are completely relevant that haven't played yet um but in terms of established acts that there are none that haven't played there are none that we think to ourselves they got away with mr i can't think of any like if i'm just running through my head now what like there's no way i can think of that like they should have had their shots yeah cinema melvin uh you can't say us for this one but who's the coolest uh person or artist or whoever that you've ever worked with who you can't say us yeah yeah by the way who's like the epitome of call to you that you've worked with i mean there's you know where do you start do you start with eminem do you start with yeah you do you stand you start and end with eminem of course you know i mean you know i i mean you know where'd he go do you go tom york you know do you go wow you know do you go you know you know the arctic monkeys i mean it's like it's it's an impossible question to ask because these people are and the list is endless i mean it is endless post malone you know it's like literally listed all my favorite all my idols here it's like yeah and you know you've got to be i think you've got to be brave to be in a band and put yourself out there because you're you're standing in front of people night after night after night and and that that represents a coolness to me in itself regardless of what who they are i absolutely agree i certainly can't do that you know i've played instruments now for over a decade i couldn't imagine having the confidence to stand in front of an audience of any size and play um so i totally agree i think it's there's a coolness to just the just the kind of idea of it yeah uh melvin have you ever used a long drop man i have yeah it's a man of the people yeah fair play man um anyone let's go for a couple more uh who do you think that anyone needs to keep an eye on um anyone anyone that you think so so that might be a headliner for next for next year not you saying that there will be but like anyone that you think might rise to that top level in the coming years who's the who's the cream of the crop rising to the top um i i mean if i was to go in a couple of different directions um you know i'd say um i'd say aj tracy is pretty special i'm i'm a fan um he had a massive crowd as well that was insane yeah you know you know i'm gonna say they're not on the lineup but you know idols i think are a pretty special outfit at the minute and yeah and doing the best i'm pretty special pretty special live actually that's the thing we've ever seen i don't think no that you know they don't they don't kind of tick my box but i know they've got maybe if they're on you know next lineup or something like we might you know get the opportunity to go see him you know you never know i mean and again i'm you know we're not i'm not suggesting they're gonna play or anything of course i think i've got two or three more questions for you malvin um any more uh festival republic festivals likely to go ahead this year at all uh yes um uh yes um uh not um i i just put on sale with um a new partner um a festival on clapham common um uh which is actually the same weekend as leeds and reading uh called return to dance um chasing states are doing that oh nice one or two others jesus and i'm gonna try and add a couple of other um you're busy that weekend then yeah so you're going to go to leeds ready and that are you going to are you going to switch sights on yeah oh my god melvin put your feet on so you've been working out for past year and then and then and then you make this great decision mate to go yeah and i'm going to do three festivals in one weekend are you mad yeah yeah um any uh any clues on the secret set for this year at least in reading is there gonna is there gonna be one can you say yes or no any clues at all uh they will have played before and i think i think final question um to to close off um people people have got a lot of energy saved up they want they want to let off a lot of steam this year um any advice that that you would give to anyone attending losing reading this year or any advice for any return customers let's see people want to let off steam in a lot of different ways and we've kind of we've seen that from our community there's all different ways people yeah i guess i guess the single i mean you know and and you know if and i i don't want to sound like an old granddad or an old parent but you know it's you know just be careful with drugs really um and because there will be people out there trying to take advantage uh selling you stuff that may not be good for you and just be careful with drugs really and i mean be careful with alcohol but you know in the main you know if you drink beer it doesn't matter how much of it you drink you're not going to die is that is that right that sounds like a challenge but so that you know and and i don't want to sort of end on a summer no but that you know that uh you know there's going to be a lot of unscrupulous people out there um you know trying to take advantage of of the enthusiasm the the absolute i can't imagine a greater high than being just at a festival sub or watching a gig do you know what i mean how can you possibly need more than that in your life yeah i will be i mean i'll be leathered yeah i'll i'll be uh i'll be a few a few cans in by the time i hit the gear i'm sure i hope so at least oh cool well anything anything you want to anything you want to add melvin we appreciate we've ran over a little no i think just it's it's as always it's a delight to chat to you guys it's really nice actually and um yeah i wish you well i i'm interested to know how much you're getting from greg's though if you could let me know [Laughter] do you know we actually live above greg's so they should probably cut us a deal because we have greg's on camera like 90 of the time we do i'm a big fan of come on you should at least be getting the the free vegan sausage vegan sausage rolls you know what they're they're better than the than the actual sausage rolls because they've got a bit of seasoning yeah i haven't i've never had one of their sausage rolls because they don't eat meat but the vegan sausage rolls under a pound yes i'll tell you what melvin question for you how much are greg's paying you [Laughter] we will not enough we will leave it at that thank you everyone for tuning in and subscribe down below reading and leads set to go ahead it's going holiday weekend uh you better believe that we will be there we will have lots of content coming for you melvin thank you so much for joining us we really appreciate it we could chat into your wonderful day um look forward to the next time and yeah me too we'll see you soon everybody bye bye bye you

Channel: THE VIEW FROM THE AFTERNOON

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Id: 6zh2xzyLf0Y

Length: 75min 1sec (4501 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 06 2021