Vancouver Sun

SUMMER OF MOSTLY SILENCE

Not all music festivals on mute

- STUART DERDEYN sderdeyn@postmedia.com twitter.com/stuartderd­eyn

Can you have summer in Canada without music festivals? It’s a question on people’s minds as the COVID-19 pandemic put the kibosh on events coast to coast to coast.

Even with a complete overhaul of how we social distance in groups, even with holding events outside traditiona­l venues, the possibilit­y of any kind of mass gathering to enjoy live music and arts is slim. As one event after the other throws in the towel in 2020, festival organizers explained their decisions and speculated on what the future may look like.

“Festivals are truly lifeblood for many artists, who can work from the beginning of June to that second or third week of September and make a major part of their whole annual income,” said RPM Music Services’ Rob Pattee.

“Even if the money isn’t the best, merchandis­e and CD sales are created live and are a big part of that which can’t be recreated online. We can look at new ways of doing things, like Holland Park becoming a drive-in venue or limiting small places’ audiences by half and charging a little more for tickets.”

Another problem heading into the top earning time of the year is how to maintain momentum with postponeme­nts. Artists booked to tour in support of an album that was released prior to the pandemic may have put all their eggs in one basket to promote the record. Festivals that have done similar advertisin­g buys and advance ticket sales based around a specific lineup have boxes of glossy programs and custom T-shirts that are COVID-19 collector’s items at best, unsellable at worst.

Bass Coast Music Festival music director Andrea Graham, who also DJs under the stage name The Librarian, says everyone is talking about the logistics with such considerab­le uncertaint­y looking ahead.

“Working with promoters, agents and everyone connected to touring to even predict how to move ahead and how to navigate this is really tricky,” said Graham. “We book a lot of one-off artists from Europe, Australia, Africa, all over the world, to try to create a unique lineup, and even if it was possible to have a gathering in the fall, would it be possible to do it again with those artists? We had cancellati­on insurance for all the other possibilit­ies but not pandemics, so it’s a really tight place.”

Bass Coast organizers are “thinking creatively” about what comes next, having given ticket holders the opportunit­y to utilize their tickets at any of their events in the next three years with various benefits and limitation­s applied. Pushing the pause button is the new normal.

Tamara Stanners of the Squamish Constellat­ion Festival said it was heartbreak­ing to have to postpone the second annual event.

“Obviously, we aren’t 100 per cent certain about how it’s going to go, because nobody is,” said Stanners. “But every party involved seems super understand­ing, and it almost feels like we’ll be able to pick up where we left off a year from now and move forward. Of course, that depends on whether we’re allowed to gather in public spaces a year from now, and all those other unknown factors.”

But you can always depend on the creative sector to live up to its name.

Faced with said unknown factors, the 5X Festival has embraced the disruption and come up with a completely unique digital-dominant event. Canada’s largest South Asian millennial festival for ages 16-35 is going virtual in 2020. As the press materials state: “We’re not postponing, not cancelling, we’re continuing.”

Partnering up with the popular Indian Stepathlon B2B engagement app to create a B2C (business to client) experience, 5X: Race to the Stage kicks off on June 11. The virtual event features concerts, performanc­es, fashion shows and art events on 40-plus stages across the globe, as well as daily contests, challenges and swag to win as you “race” others on the app. The ultimate destinatio­n is the final weekend two-day blowout on Sept. 19-20.

Designed to get you engaged, active and inspired, the concept has 5X Festival executive director and DJ/producer Tarun Nayar smiling.

“In December, I was at a trade mission to India and met Ravi Krishnan, the CEO and co-founder of Stepathlon Lifestyle Private Ltd., who had built this fan engagement platform that I thought could really work for a festival,” said Nayar. “This was pre-COVID and I was thinking of some sort of post-festival, off-season multimonth engagement in the fall. We fast-tracked it and it’s this year’s festival, new and unknown.”

Inspired by a big campaign that Stepathlon did across India with Manchester City fans that drew 45,000 downloads, 5X Festival committed to the new concept as soon as COVID-19 cancellati­ons started rolling in. Registrati­on runs from June 11 for five weeks.

“When the race/festival starts, you move throughout the virtual world using steps that are directly linked to the step counter on your iPhone or Android, or you can log in and record other activities,” said Nayar. Daily, there are challenges and contests with some of the biggest South Asian influencer­s in the world providing “gratificat­ions.”

There are many stages along the way, with unique events happening and exclusive merchandis­e to purchase leading up to the final weekend.

Getting to the front of the line to reap benefits has always been the goal of those campers at festival gates. 5X: Race to the Stage delivers this digitally from places like Birmingham, London’s Brick Lane and Nairobi, as well as already establishe­d 5X Lower Mainland destinatio­ns. Freed from the cost of flying artists from around the world, Nayar says a world of potential has opened up.

He’s still keen on getting back to live festival block parties. But for now, something new is needed, and this model is truly inspiring.

Festivals are truly lifeblood for many artists. ... Even if the money isn’t the best, merchandis­e and CD sales are created live and are a big part of that.

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? Canada’s largest South Asian millennial festival is going virtual. The 5X Festival starts June 11 and will feature concerts, fashion shows and art events on 40-plus stages across the globe.
Canada’s largest South Asian millennial festival is going virtual. The 5X Festival starts June 11 and will feature concerts, fashion shows and art events on 40-plus stages across the globe.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada