UK Music Festival Logistics in 2021 Post Lockdown.

Since the announcement by the British government about the timeline for opening up the UK post COVID-19 the date of 21st June has been a key focus for potentially holding live music events. How are music festival organisers dealing with these timelines to bring their festivals back to life in 2021. 

Although the opening up date of 21st June is in many respects still a tentative date many festival organisers have pushed ahead with their festivals for August, September and October. These three months seem to be a logical choice allowing for slight changes and movements of the tentative June date, selecting a July date would seem risky. 

What is clear is that some festival organisers have been geared up for a rapid deployment of their festival having all the logistics in place for artists, contractors, vendors and volunteers ready to spring into action once they can be confident of a confirmed date. Just such scenarios have been covered in previous articles written by Festival Pro over the last year suggesting that festival organisers should plan and gear up their logistics for rapid deployment once dates can be confirmed. What is encouraging to see is how many large-scale festivals have done just that and quickly after the government's announcement have sprung into action. Unfortunately, there are too many music festival organisers who perhaps have done very little or no logistics planning in the last twelve months and clearly are unable to put on their festival in 2021 because they are almost starting from scratch. Given the usual planning period of 18 months this is understandable as this cannot be squeezed into 6 months. The festivals that are going ahead have most likely had their logistics planning 80% complete meaning that a 6-month period is time enough to complete everything required to put on a large quality event.

It is not, however, straightforward to activate a dormant festival because there are new restrictions and requirements that need to be adhered to. As highlighted in our previous articles an element of planning could have been completed some time ago to incorporate potential COVID-19 screening requirements whether this is rapid testing, temperature checks or evidence of a vaccine they are all elements that could have been arranged in previous months. With the right forethought, planning logistics and flexibility most festival organisers should have been able to put on their events in 2021, it’s certain that the demand from event goers is there having been locked down for most of the last twelve months. Of course, there is going to be some festival congestion as many festivals now opt for the same weekends over the late summer months.

For any event organiser planning their summer 2021 music festival using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their festival logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors guestlists and ticketing. 

Image by Volker Glätsch from Pixabay

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