This article needs additional citations for verification .(December 2016) |
In the early to mid-1990s Heineken sponsored free admission four-day live music events in the United Kingdom in and around large capacity big top tents in Heineken green.
Taking place in city parks up and down the UK, the first event was held in Wollaton Park, Nottingham in 1990 headlined by John Martyn and Tom Robinson. It was co-promoted by Nottingham City Council. Other regular venues included Swansea, Brighton, Portsmouth and Leeds. Also Bristol, Norwich, Gateshead, Sheffield and Greater Manchester.
Heineken Music Festivals featured r&b, pub rock, punk, folk-rock, world music and rock.
From 1993 leading "Britpop" indie bands featured on Saturday evenings including Oasis, The Verve, Bluetones, Pulp, Pop Will Eat Itself, Sleeper, Manic Street Preachers, Blur, and Catatonia.
The Heineken events also featured long-established bands and singers including The Stranglers, Jools Holland, The Pogues, Saw Doctors, Tom Robinson Band, The Men They Couldn't Hang, Bonnie Tyler, Richard Thompson, Labi Siffre, Siouxsie + The Banshees, Squeeze, Carmel, The Levellers, Martin Stephenson and the Daintees, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, Wilko Johnson, Tony Joe White, Aswad, Bhundu Boys, Jamiroquai, Kirsty MacColl, Boy George, Mike + The Mechanics. In total there were thirty free admission festivals over six years as well as several pilot events, and six indoor venue gigs in London.
There were also spin-off events and college tours. Standout being the Murphys Tours with Energy Orchard and Toss the Feathers across the UK. Respective city councils co-promoted the events.
Granada Television broadcast a Greater Manchester event and many other festivals achieved tv coverage. BBC4’s Hype and Hustle featured Blur at the Heineken events.
Regular house-bands included Dr Feelgood, Alias Ron Kavana, The Tansads (now Merry Hell), Oysterband, Seven Little Sisters and Chumbawamba.
Event director and promoter was Mike Eddowes, formerly head of promotions at Capital Radio in London and publicist to Elton John and Paul McCartney amongst others.
Bookers included Fiona Glyn-Jones (later Bella Union record label) and in season one Stuart Griffiths and Carrie Wagner. Event managers were Linda Harley, Miles Beacroft, Adam Ali, Gabby Taranowski, Charlie Connelly (now an author) and Tim Haines. PA was by ESS. The events were promoted and produced by Square One Events.
The last event under Heineken's sponsorship was held in Roundhay Park Leeds in July 1995, which attracted 110,000 fans on the Saturday and more than 320,000 fans over four days and was headlined by Pulp, who also headlined at Glastonbury that year. More than one million cans of Heineken lager were sold at the farewell event. It claims to be the largest ever free music event in the UK.
At the end of 1995 Heineken didn't renew their ground-breaking sponsorship, in favour of sport.
Various events continue in England and continental Europe under different names but are now paid admission shows and festivals.
In 1994 there were six free festivals taking place at various locations in the United Kingdom featuring the following artists:
|
|
Pulp are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. At their critical and commercial peak, the band consisted of Jarvis Cocker, Russell Senior, Candida Doyle (keyboards), Nick Banks, Steve Mackey (bass) and Mark Webber.
The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970.
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm on Richfield Avenue in central Reading, near Caversham Bridge. The Leeds event is held in Bramham Park, near Wetherby, the grounds of a historic house. Headliners and most supporting acts typically play at both sites, with Reading's Friday line up becoming Leeds' Saturday line-up, Reading's Saturday line-up playing at Leeds on Sunday, and Leeds' Friday line-up attending Reading on Sunday. Campsites are available at both sites and weekend tickets include camping. Day tickets are also sold.
Download Festival is a rock festival created by Terrance Gough, held annually at the Donington Park motorsport circuit in Leicestershire, England ; in Paris, France ; at Parramatta Park, Sydney ; Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne and at the Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
The Festival Internacional de Benicàssim, commonly abbreviated as FIB, is an annual music festival that takes place in the town of Benicàssim, in the Valencian Community, Spain. It focuses mainly on pop, rock, and electronica artists, as well as short films, fashion shows and art.
The Subways are an English rock band from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. Formed in 2002, the band consists of Billy Lunn, Charlotte Cooper, and Camille Phillips (drums). Founding member and original drummer Josh Morgan left the band for personal reasons in October 2020.
Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who originally formed in 1996 as Runston Parva, before reforming as Parva in 2000, and releasing one studio album, 22, in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their current name that same year. Since their formation, the band has consisted of lead vocalist Ricky Wilson, guitarist Andrew "Whitey" White, bassist Simon Rix, keyboardist Nick "Peanut" Baines and since 2013 drummer Vijay Mistry, who replaced founding drummer Nick Hodgson following his departure from the band in late 2012.
Wireless Festival is an annual rap and hip-hop music festival that takes place in London, England, United Kingdom, and is owned and managed by Live Nation. Debuting in 2005, the festival's earlier years primarily featured rock and pop artists; since the 2010s, the focus has shifted largely towards hip-hop and other genres; for example, urban contemporary music.
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds, England. The events both happen on the bank holiday weekend in August, and share the same bill. The festival's origins date to the Beaulieu Jazz Festival (1956–1961) which became the National Jazz Festival in 1961 and settled in Reading in 1971. In 1999 a second leg was added at Leeds.
The Music in Leeds encompasses a variety of styles and genres, including rock, pop and electronic. While groups like Soft Cell, the Kaiser Chiefs, the Wedding Present, Utah Saints and the Bridewell Taxis have gained success in the mainstream, Gang of Four, the Sisters of Mercy, Chumbawamba and the Mission have helped to define genres like punk rock, gothic rock and post-punk.
Primavera Sound is an annual music festival held at the Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, Spain, during late May and early June. It was founded in 2001 by Pablo Soler as "a showcase for Spanish noise bands", originally held at the Poble Espanyol before moving to the Parc del Fòrum, a much larger site on the seafront, in 2005. It is one of the largest and most-attended music festivals in Europe and the biggest in the Mediterranean.
Courteeners are an English band formed in Middleton, Greater Manchester, in 2006 by Liam Fray, Michael Campbell, Daniel "Conan" Moores and Mark Cuppello (bass); the last was replaced by the band's producer Joe Cross in 2015. They previously toured with pianist Adam Payne, who has been featured on every album, but in 2019 was replaced with Elina Lin. In December 2012, the band dropped "The" from their name, continuing simply as "Courteeners". In 2024, Cross and Lin became official members of the band.
The Dot to Dot Festival is an annual music festival currently held at various venues in Nottingham, Bristol and previously Manchester across May bank holiday weekend.
Bingley Music Live was an annual music festival held in Myrtle Park, Bingley, West Yorkshire, England. The festival featured a range of musical genres including rock, alternative rock, indie rock and pop music. Organised by City of Bradford Council, it was held on the Saturday and Sunday and since the 2009 event, also on the Friday at the end of August, with one of the days having free admission. First held in 2007, it was shortlisted in the ‘Best New Festival’ category of the Virtual Festival Awards. The ethos of the event was to present high quality music at an affordable price and give a platform for local bands from across West Yorkshire to a large audience.
Damnation Festival is an annual one-day heavy metal music festival currently held at Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester. It was held at Jilly's Rockworld in Manchester from 2005 to 2006 and then at the University of Leeds from 2007 until 2021. It is organized by Gavin McInally and Paul Farrington.
The Sonisphere Festival was a touring rock music festival which took place across Europe between the months of June and August. The festival was owned by John Jackson and Kilimanjaro Live. It was jointly promoted by K2 and Kilimanjaro Live. It hosted heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Avenged Sevenfold and Babymetal.
Calling Festival was an annual music festival, formerly held in Hyde Park, London, from 2006 until 2012, and from 2013 in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. In September 2013, Hard Rock International announced that they would no longer be sponsoring the festival; however, the event returned in 2014 and 2015 under the name Calling Festival at the Clapham Common.
Slam Dunk Records or Slam Dunk Music is a British independent record label, promoter and concert organising company, founded in Leeds, England, in 2007. Some notable signees include You Me at Six and Decade. The label evolved from "Slam Dunk", a weekly club night held at the city's Cockpit music venue, centered on emo, punk, ska and metal music. They have organised and promoted concerts for Leeds venues such as the Key Club, Leeds University Stylus, Leeds Beckett University Student Union and the First Direct Arena, as well as venues in other cities such as The Dome Leisure Centre, National Exhibition Centre and Hatfield Forum.
Don Broco are a British rock band formed in Bedford, England, in 2008. The band consists of Rob Damiani, Simon Delaney (guitar), Tom Doyle and Matt Donnelly. The band have released four studio albums, including Priorities (2012), Automatic (2015) and Technology (2018). Their most recent album Amazing Things (2021) was their first to reach No.1 in the UK Album Charts.