Festivals / Bristol Sounds
Conal Dodds on Bristol Sounds’ anniversary, competing with Glastonbury and the luxury of live music
Bristol Sounds returns to Lloyds Amphitheatre for its tenth anniversary from June 22 to 30, with seven evenings of music planned including four all-day concerts.
This year’s headliners include Busted, Placebo, James Arthur, Skindred, Gentleman’s Dub Club, The Skints and The Breeders plus an array of special guests and support acts.
Bristol24/7 sat down with Crosstown Concerts event promoter Conal Dodds to discuss the special anniversary of the beloved outdoor events.
is needed now More than ever
Bristol Sounds is a great event for anyone who doesn’t get Glastonbury tickets – did you always want to time it that way?
That’s why we set it up in the first place: we looked at other options that were available at that site, and it was essentially going to be July, the only other period that we were happy with, in terms of dates.
But post-Glastonbury, even ten years ago, you were running into lots of issues with exclusivity deals that artists had at other festivals. Latitude or End of the Road or Reading and Leeds, a lot of them are locked into exclusivity deals, so we decided let’s just go for it at the end of June and we’ll try and get a load of people doing Glastonbury warmups; so it’s actually helped us.
Most years, we’ve probably got half our lineup playing Glastonbury – we’re a convenient sort of stop off.
How far out do you book the artists for Bristol Sounds?
I have people pencilled in for next year’s events since before Christmas, before December 2023. People holding dates for June 2025, as international artists are planning and working out their tours already.
What’s been your proudest lineup that you’ve curated in the past ten years? Was there a curation that just went really well?
Ironically, probably the strongest year we had was the year that I left Metropolis [the company that promoted the first Bristol Sounds, previously named Bristol Summer Series, before Crosstown Concerts].
I booked the entire event, it was all confirmed and ready to go but then I left the company. So even though that event went ahead that year, I didn’t do it. But that year we had Catfish and The Bottlemen, Sigur Ros, Last Shadow Puppets; we had five very strong nights and it all sold out.
Annie Mac returns to Bristol for her biggest show yet in the city. photo: Annie Mac
Are there any artists you hope one day will perform at Bristol Sounds?
I’ve always wanted Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes down there. I’d love to do someone like Lizzo. I think that would be an amazing show.
But realistically, I’m not going to get those acts unless they’re playing Glastonbury.
We’re always planning ahead and trying to get the best we can, while obviously trying to have diversity on the bill. We don’t want it to be uniform, we need to try and appeal to as many different sections of the public as possible – otherwise it’s not financially viable.
How much has the event changed over the years in terms of financial costs?
With Brexit, Covid and the cost of living crisis, we’ve seen first-hand how the festival industry is truly feeling the effects with 21 UK festivals being cancelled, postponed or scrapped so far this year [at time of interview].
Artists fees have gone up hugely, but also all the infrastructure costs. Due to Covid everything went up and inflation’s hammered everything as well.
The amount of shows that there are around the country, there’s a huge demand for infrastructure. There’s so much demand for everything, from staging to toilets to fencing barriers, that all the supply companies have been able to put their prices up.
On the other hand, I’m trying to counter that because there’s a cost of living crisis, so I’m trying to keep ticket prices down; but with rising infrastructure and artists costs it’s a battle.
Is it important for you to keep ticket prices as reasonable as you can?
We want to be fair, you know. I’ve lived in Bristol for 30 years so lots of people I know come to these events, I don’t want to be walking my dog in the park and someone comes to tell me that the prices are too high.
I don’t think enough promoters think about how much it costs to go to these sorts of events. Because it’s not just the ticket, it’s the booking fees, the travel, baby sitters, the hotels; it’s the food before you go or when you’re there and the drinks and all the rest of it.
This is a luxury industry. Live music is a massive thing to some people, but to many, it’s something they do very occasionally and there’s plenty of other things for them to choose from, whether it’s weekends away, or holidays.
There’s a lot of competition and I think it’s important that promoters think about that, and try to make things good value, provide a good service and a friendly staff, and just try making it an enjoyable time out.
Tickets are on sale now for Bristol Sounds, for more information visit https://www.bristolsounds.co.uk/
Main photo: Plaster
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