FAQs

The Festival Site is very different and only in year 2 - why the big change?

Interest in the Festival has been very healthy since the pandemic meaning we have the opportunity to offer more music and other events. The space we have around the NPC building allows us to provide two stages and a range of other facilities to provide a better range of experience for festival goers while retaining some of the classic elements that the Festival is famous for. We very much see it as a welcome evolution, building on previous success, and developing the layout from year 1 of this new set up.

Are there any constraints around where people can play?

Yes. As always we have licensing requirements from the city council and we always do all we can to adhere to these. For example our license means we have to keep performances within the Festival site. The site is set up in a way that fully facilitates this. 

Why are you charging?

We have more to offer visitors to the Festival. The Festival site has been redeveloped to allow us to run an extra outdoor stage which means more artists. The Festival Pass charges contribute to the cost of the additional artists and equipment.

We pay all of our professional artists, including travel costs for international artists. The cost of equipment hire is also greater due to the bigger Festival site.  

If we continued to offer free access to the Festival site, the costs of the traditional ticketed events would have risen to a level which we feel would be unsustainable. We have sought to price the Festival competitively in comparison to similar events and in comparison to activities such as arts and sporting events. We have balanced this with the cost of bringing world class artists to perform at the Festival.

Won't crowds be lower if you are charging?

Initial sales are encouraging and there has been a very strong uptake of festival site passes which cover the element of the  Festival that was previously free. While this is very much a case of moving into something new with greater associated uncertainty, we are confident that we can maintain and grow the interest in the Festival, offer attendees a bigger and better experience and protect the long term future of the Festival.