Blissfields Festival 2010
Blissed out!
In 2010 Popular Music Journalism students from Southampton Solent University had the opportunity to write, design and produce the Blissfields Festival programme.
Solent at Blissfields
The past decade has seen the rise of Blissfields Festival as the flagship for independent music festivals in England. Ian Easton celebrates the independent spirit of this ‘rags to riches’ event.
Non-branding, independent festival gatherings, which keep brick cityscapes and concrete carpets at arm’s length, are increasingly becoming highly celebrated for being closer to the original grass-roots spirit of a music festival.
After just ten years in existence, Blissfields produces that sought-after feeling of a communal counterculture. As grass-roots festivals go, the story of Blissfields is a stone-wall classic. It’s a story of rags-to-riches - the Cinderella of festivals.
An independent music festival, Blissfields has grown from a single nucleus of friends; an idea brought to fruition through a dream, hard work and success, offering people solace and the chance to subscribe to a like-minded community, driven by the popular dictum: Peace, Respect and Party!
"As we run Blissfields from the heart, it is incredibly important that people support independent festivals. Without the type of festival-goer who looks beyond the latest big bands on mega stages, an event like Blissfields would never happen and the bands that small festivals support would never get the audience that they are able to access at such events ", says Paul Bliss, Festival Organiser.
Winner of the Best Small UK Festival award 2007, Blissfields annually boasts some of the best independent artists on the market, and since 2001 fans and artists alike have been brought together by word of mouth and ingenuity.
Since it began as a small gathering of friends in 2001, Blissfields has built a reputation for providing an eclectic fusion that caters for all musical tastes. Artists of all genres have played the festival, ranging from folk, electronica, indie, dance, alternative rock, reggae and DJs. Some of the performers, like Mumford and Sons, have even gone on to great things after their moment in the Blissfields sun.
Like most authentic festivals, Blissfields has never just been about the music. The alchemy of the festival is astounding, with a vast range of other activities on offer - tractor rides, art workshops, stage magicians, stage hypnosis, chillout areas and bars with good quality food and drink are also available. There is something for everyone at Blissfields.
So what does it mean to fans attending an independent festival such as Blissfields?
Dr Martin James, Senior Lecturer in Popular Music Studies at Solent University explains: "These days Festivals often feel like a full-on sensory assault of corporate branding. Even Glastonbury sometimes feels like an extension of the BBC, despite their apparent no-branding rule. What is so good about Blissfields is it still feels like a festival for people rather than companies. There's an open, relaxed, family friendly atmosphere that is very inclusive.” He continues: "To me Glastonbury is all about myth these days... festivals like Blissfields are more real."
As a representative of the burgeoning independent festival scene, Blissfields is in every way a success. It allows us to distance ourselves from the transnational corporate festival machines raking in revenue. It lets us escape to something authentic, something grass roots that is truer to the original spirit of festivals of yesteryear. It is a return to true festival form in every way.
However, if the promise of Albion myths turned festival freedom don’t do it for you, how about these figures from the Association of Independent Festivals? According to their research independent festivals like Blissfields generate over £135 million for the UK economy and £16.3 million for local businesses. And that’s without mega-branding, or Jo Whiley’s smug face all over the television festival coverage.
These are positive times, with Blissfields paving the way and spreading the word about the independent festival again. Those who attended this year’s three days in the scorching sun should be honoured and excited, because who knows, in forty years time you could be saying ‘I was there!’.