Christopher BarrettThe duo behind the launch of the Green Man Festival in 2003, Jo Bartlett and Danny Hagan, have returned to festival production for the first time in more than a decade.
With a focus on affordability and a stunning location, the duo has launched The Wake festival that is due to take place on 27 July in West Sussex. The event, which has already sold out, will be headlined by former Super Furry Animals frontman turned solo artist Gruff Rhys.
Bartlett (pictured) and Hagan launched the Green Man Festival in 2003 with 350 attendees, and then grew it to a four-day event that by 2011 was attracting 15,000 ticket buyers. One of the last remaining 100% independent large-scale festivals in the UK, Green Man is now owned by Fiona Stewart and has a 25,000 capacity.
Bartlett and Hagan have had little to do with the festival industry since leaving Green Man more than a decade ago. Bartlett tells Access that over the years since, the duo has been approached on countless occasions by people suggesting sites for a new event. It wasn’t until former Love Affair band member, artist manager and pop video producer Maurice Bacon, who she had previously worked with at Ultimate Records in Camden, approached her about staging an event on his Loxwood Meadow site that the duo’s interest was sparked.
Bacon has successfully used his 30-acre site for a range of events including immersive medieval festival the Loxwood Joust and a gin and music celebration called Jazz, Gin & Blues.
“Maurice has given us a woodland area, where there is already a stage, for the festival. It is such a beautiful site with lovely fields adjoining it. He asked us about setting up a festival there, and back in January Danny and I looked at each other and really felt that this year’s the right time for us to do it.”
Along with Rhys, the 500-capacity event will see performances from artists including Domino Records’ One True Pairing (Tom Fleming from Wild Beasts), Bella Union artist Emma Tricca, Mat Flint (Heavenly Social, Revolver, Death In Vegas), HOO (featuring Mojave 3’s Ian McCutcheon) and folk collective Gymkhana (featuring Patch from The Sundays).
Tickets for The Wake are priced only £30, and entry is free for those aged 13 and under who are accompanied by adults.
“One of the main philosophies behind The Wake is that we wanted to make it an affordable festival,” says Bartlett. “We’ve seen the extortionate prices that a lot these festivals are charging now, and we really wanted to do something intimate and at a very affordable price.
“I’ve been putting on live music events since I was a teenager when I started The Buzz Club in Aldershot, where we had Suede, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Charlatans, and loads of those bands. If you can cover your costs and make a bit of money obviously that’s great, but my main motivation has always been simply to share great music with people. I find it such a hugely rewarding experience when I see people smiling and enjoying the show.”
Bartlett says The Wake is not a one off, with the duo’s intention being to grow the event in the coming years while keeping it at the Loxwood Meadow site.
“There’s tonnes of room to grow the event there,” she says. “The ambition is not to grow it to the size of Green Man, we are looking to expand it to a few thousands like-minded people who gather once a year to have a fabulous time.”