Ashton Court Festival
Encyclopedia
The Ashton Court Festival was an outdoor music festival
held annually in mid-July on the grounds of Ashton Court
, just outside Bristol
, England
. The festival was a weekend event which featured a variety of local bands and national headliners. Mainly aimed at local residents, the festival did not have overnight camping facilities and was financed by donations and benefit gigs.
Starting as a small one day festival in 1974, the festival grew during succeeding years and was said to be Britain's largest free festival until changes brought on by government legislation
resulted in compulsory fees and security fencing being introduced. After problems were caused by a temporary move to Hengrove Park in 2001, due to the foot and mouth crisis, and a washout in 2007, the organisers declared bankruptcy in 2007.
. After this, new organisers came on board and fund-raising gigs were held enabling the event to grow steadily through the 1970s.
near the entrance to the clearing. There were many other perform,ance spaces, varying form year to year, including a dance tent, marquees for world music
, acoustic acts and performing arts
, and the "Blackout" tent for experimental music and video, as well as a children's area and funfair rides. Camping on the festival site was not allowed.
Estate, which includes a deer
park, was closed as a quarantine
measure due to the outbreak
of foot and mouth disease that affected the United Kingdom
that year. The move caused a massive drop in attendance and a heavy financial loss, leading to debts which hung over the organisation. This, along with changes to licensing laws and tightening health and safety requirements, led to a more commercial style of organisation, with a compulsory entrance fee and a strict security presence around the perimeter fence
. This attracted criticism from some locals who felt that the "community" nature of the festival had been lost. Even so, the festival continued to be run by volunteers on a not-for-profit basis.
In 2003 the weight and vibrations of crowds returning from the Ashton Court Festival and the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta
put such a great strain on the Clifton Suspension Bridge
that the Bridge Trustees decided to close the bridge to all traffic, including pedestrians, for the entirety of the festival and most of the Balloon Fiesta in 2004 and 2005.
Although locals have long referred to the festival as the "Ashton Court Festival", before 2004 it was officially called the Bristol Community Festival. Since then it became increasingly popular, and for several years it was claimed to be Britain's biggest free festival; however, the "suggested minimum donation" for entry become a gradually increasing compulsory entry fee. From 2007, children (aged 10–16) also had to pay an entry fee, while under 10s remained free (previously all children got in free), and a new discounted weekend ticket became available. The festival was typically attended by over 60,000 people annually.
In the festival's last year, 2007, the site was moved to Smythe's field in front of Ashton Court Mansion. On the second day, the event was cancelled due to torrential rain, which made the site inaccessible to emergency vehicles. "The health and safety of our audience is what is important," said organiser Steve Hunt. Over 80 bands were due to perform that day, including Damon Albarn
's The Good, the Bad and the Queen. The cancellation increased the pressure on the already strained finances of the festival. On Friday 20 July 2007 Bristol Community Festival Ltd, the not-for-profit company which organised the event, announced that it had started the process of winding up the company due to unsustainable financial losses.
Things are looking up, however. The Bristol Festival Community Group are planning to return to Ashton Court in 2012 after four years of success at Bristol Harbourside.
BrisFest is planning to return to Ashton Court in 2012, with tickets already on sale.
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
held annually in mid-July on the grounds of Ashton Court
Ashton Court
Ashton Court is a mansion house and estate to the west of Bristol in England. Although the estate lies mainly in North Somerset, it is owned by the City of Bristol. The estate has been a venue for a variety of leisure activities, including the now-defunct Ashton Court festival, Bristol...
, just outside Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The festival was a weekend event which featured a variety of local bands and national headliners. Mainly aimed at local residents, the festival did not have overnight camping facilities and was financed by donations and benefit gigs.
Starting as a small one day festival in 1974, the festival grew during succeeding years and was said to be Britain's largest free festival until changes brought on by government legislation
Licensing Act 2003
The Licensing Act of 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that applies only to England and Wales. The Act establishes a single integrated scheme for licensing premises which are used for the sale or supply of alcohol, to provide regulated entertainment, or to provide late night...
resulted in compulsory fees and security fencing being introduced. After problems were caused by a temporary move to Hengrove Park in 2001, due to the foot and mouth crisis, and a washout in 2007, the organisers declared bankruptcy in 2007.
History
Origins
The first festival was held in 1974, organised by Royce Creasey and friends, as a small event, for the local musicians to entertain the local community. The first festival took place over four successive weekends with bands playing from a stage improvised from a flat bed truck. Bristol City Council donated £50. The following year the festival took place over one weekend and was located near to Ashton Court mansionAshton Court
Ashton Court is a mansion house and estate to the west of Bristol in England. Although the estate lies mainly in North Somerset, it is owned by the City of Bristol. The estate has been a venue for a variety of leisure activities, including the now-defunct Ashton Court festival, Bristol...
. After this, new organisers came on board and fund-raising gigs were held enabling the event to grow steadily through the 1970s.
1980
In 1980, large numbers of people from far afield attended, trees were damaged and burnt and there was illegal camping and lurid press reports of drugs and nudity. It was not until 1983 that the festival recommenced. when it was a one-day event; in 1984 a de facto two-day event was created by staging it back-to-back with a one-day WOMAD event. The festival took place in a large sloped clearing surrounded on three sides by New Barn Wood and Clarken Coombe. The main stage was placed at the bottom of the slope and the second stage in a natural amphitheatreAmphitheatre
An amphitheatre is an open-air venue used for entertainment and performances.There are two similar, but distinct, types of structure for which the word "amphitheatre" is used: Ancient Roman amphitheatres were large central performance spaces surrounded by ascending seating, and were commonly used...
near the entrance to the clearing. There were many other perform,ance spaces, varying form year to year, including a dance tent, marquees for world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
, acoustic acts and performing arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
, and the "Blackout" tent for experimental music and video, as well as a children's area and funfair rides. Camping on the festival site was not allowed.
21st century
In 2001 the Bristol Community Festival temporarily relocated to Hengrove Park in the south of the city. Ashton CourtAshton Court
Ashton Court is a mansion house and estate to the west of Bristol in England. Although the estate lies mainly in North Somerset, it is owned by the City of Bristol. The estate has been a venue for a variety of leisure activities, including the now-defunct Ashton Court festival, Bristol...
Estate, which includes a deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
park, was closed as a quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
measure due to the outbreak
2001 UK foot and mouth crisis
The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001 caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism. This epizootic saw 2,000 cases of the disease in farms in most of the British countryside. Over 10 million sheep and cattle were killed in an eventually successful attempt to...
of foot and mouth disease that affected the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
that year. The move caused a massive drop in attendance and a heavy financial loss, leading to debts which hung over the organisation. This, along with changes to licensing laws and tightening health and safety requirements, led to a more commercial style of organisation, with a compulsory entrance fee and a strict security presence around the perimeter fence
Perimeter fence
A perimeter fence is a structure that circles the perimeter of an area to prevent access. These fences are frequently made out of single vertical metal bars connected at the top and bottom with a horizontal bar. They often have spikes on the top to prevent climbing. Residential perimeter fences are...
. This attracted criticism from some locals who felt that the "community" nature of the festival had been lost. Even so, the festival continued to be run by volunteers on a not-for-profit basis.
In 2003 the weight and vibrations of crowds returning from the Ashton Court Festival and the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta
Bristol International Balloon Fiesta
The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is held annually during August in Bristol, England. Teams from the UK and other parts of the world bring their hot air balloons to the site and participate in mass ascents where as many as 100 balloons may launch at a time.The event was first held in 1979...
put such a great strain on the Clifton Suspension Bridge
Clifton Suspension Bridge
Brunel died in 1859, without seeing the completion of the bridge. Brunel's colleagues in the Institution of Civil Engineers felt that completion of the Bridge would be a fitting memorial, and started to raise new funds...
that the Bridge Trustees decided to close the bridge to all traffic, including pedestrians, for the entirety of the festival and most of the Balloon Fiesta in 2004 and 2005.
Crisis
In December 2006 it was announced that the festival was in financial crisis and there was uncertainty over whether the 2007 event would take place. The festival planning went ahead with support and donations from a number of Bristol businesses. In June 2007 it was announced that alcohol would not be allowed to be taken on site, but would be available to purchase from official bars within the arena. Also, that everyone attending the festival would be searched on the way in. This announcement caused much controversy.Although locals have long referred to the festival as the "Ashton Court Festival", before 2004 it was officially called the Bristol Community Festival. Since then it became increasingly popular, and for several years it was claimed to be Britain's biggest free festival; however, the "suggested minimum donation" for entry become a gradually increasing compulsory entry fee. From 2007, children (aged 10–16) also had to pay an entry fee, while under 10s remained free (previously all children got in free), and a new discounted weekend ticket became available. The festival was typically attended by over 60,000 people annually.
In the festival's last year, 2007, the site was moved to Smythe's field in front of Ashton Court Mansion. On the second day, the event was cancelled due to torrential rain, which made the site inaccessible to emergency vehicles. "The health and safety of our audience is what is important," said organiser Steve Hunt. Over 80 bands were due to perform that day, including Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn is an English singer-songwriter and record producer who has been involved in many high profile projects, coming to prominence as the frontman and primary songwriter of Britpop band Blur...
's The Good, the Bad and the Queen. The cancellation increased the pressure on the already strained finances of the festival. On Friday 20 July 2007 Bristol Community Festival Ltd, the not-for-profit company which organised the event, announced that it had started the process of winding up the company due to unsustainable financial losses.
Things are looking up, however. The Bristol Festival Community Group are planning to return to Ashton Court in 2012 after four years of success at Bristol Harbourside.
Notable performers
The festival's music policy always focused on local acts, but since the late 1990s there was a move towards attracting national acts to headline the festival. Major acts at Ashton Court in recent years include:- Steve HillageSteve HillageSteve Hillage is an English musician, best known as a guitarist. He is associated with the Canterbury scene and has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s...
in 1978 - Portishead in 1998.
- FeederFeeder-Technology:* Feeder , any of several devices used in apiculture to supplement or replace natural food sources* Feeder , another name for a riser, a reservoir built into a metal casting mold to prevent cavities due to shrinkage...
and Rae & ChristianRae & ChristianRae & Christian were Grand Central Records' founder Mark Rae and fellow producer and DJ Steve Christian. Their music is broadly classed as Hip-Hop / soulful dance music and features such vocalists as The Jungle Brothers, Jeru The Damaja and The Pharcyde as well as contributions from Bobby Womack...
in 1999. - Mad ProfessorMad ProfessorMad Professor is a dub music producer and engineer known for his original productions and remix work. He is considered one of the leading producers of dub music’s second generation and was instrumental in transitioning dub into the digital age. He is a prolific producer, contributing to or...
, KosheenKosheenKosheen are a British trip hop, breakbeat and rock group based in Bristol, England. The trio consists of producers Markee Substance and Darren Decoder , with singer and song writer Sian Evans...
and Stereo MC's in 2001. - ReefReefIn nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
and KosheenKosheenKosheen are a British trip hop, breakbeat and rock group based in Bristol, England. The trio consists of producers Markee Substance and Darren Decoder , with singer and song writer Sian Evans...
in 2002. - Robert PlantRobert PlantRobert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
, McKay and The Electric Soft ParadeThe Electric Soft ParadeThe Electric Soft Parade are an English psych-pop band from Brighton, comprising brothers Alex and Thomas White, the creative core of the band, as well as a number of other musicians with whom they record and perform live, most recently including Andrew Mitchell and Damo Waters, as well as...
in 2003. - The StranglersThe StranglersThe Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...
, Goldie Lookin' Chain and Glenn TilbrookGlenn TilbrookGlenn Martin Tilbrook is the lead singer and guitarist of the English band Squeeze, a band formed in the mid 1970s who broke through in the new wave era at the decade's end. He generally wrote the melody for Squeeze, while his writing partner, Chris Difford, wrote the lyrics...
in 2004. - Super Furry AnimalsSuper Furry AnimalsSuper Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band that lean towards psychedelic rock and electronic experimentation. Since their formation in Cardiff, Wales in 1993, the band has consisted of Gruff Rhys , Huw Bunford , Guto Pryce , Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band...
, Lemon JellyLemon JellyLemon Jelly is a British electronic music duo from London, formed in 1998. Since their inception, the band's line-up has included Fred Deakin and Nick Franglen. Lemon Jelly has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and BRIT Awards....
, Roni SizeRoni SizeRoni Size is a British record producer and DJ, who came to prominence in 1997 as the founder and leader of Reprazent, a drum and bass collective...
and Steve Harley & Cockney RebelSteve Harley & Cockney RebelSteve Harley & Cockney Rebel are an English rock band from the early 1970s. Their music covers a range of styles from pop to progressive rock. Over the years they have had five albums in the UK Albums Chart and twelve singles in the UK Singles Chart.-Career:...
in 2005. - Simple MindsSimple MindsSimple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...
, The Go! TeamThe Go! TeamThe Go! Team are a six-piece band from Brighton, England. They combine indie rock and garage rock with a mixture of blaxploitation and Bollywood soundtracks, double dutch chants, old school hip hop and distorted guitars similar to the style of Sonic Youth. Their songs are a mix of live...
, Plan BPlan B (rapper)Benjamin Paul Ballance-Drew primarily known as Plan B or Ben Drew, is a British rapper, singer-songwriter, actor and film director from Forest Gate, London. Plan B first emerged as a hip hop artist releasing his critically acclaimed debut album Who Needs Actions When You Got Words in 2006...
in 2006. - The Good, the Bad and the QueenThe Good, the Bad and the QueenThe Good, the Bad & the Queen is the album by an ostensibly unnamed British alternative rock supergroup also commonly referred to as The Good, The Bad & The Queen, and made up of Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Simon Tong and Tony Allen. The album was released in January 2007...
, The Fall, GravenhurstGravenhurst (band)Gravenhurst is a vehicle for the music of the singer-songwriter, record producer and multi-instrumentalist, Nick Talbot, who lives in Bristol, England and is signed to Warp Records.-History:...
in 2007.
Legacy
Following the end of Bristol Community Festival, other groups emerged hoping to continue with some sort of summer festival in Bristol. Bristol Music Festival became the Bristol Festival (now BrisFest) and has so far successfully put on four summer festivals, albeit in the city centre. 2011 saw the most successful even yet, with over 25,000 people attending over three days.BrisFest is planning to return to Ashton Court in 2012, with tickets already on sale.
External links
- eFestivals listing for Ashton Court
- UK free festivals history: early history-1978-80