Joe GallopMarcus Weedon, co-founder of London’s 40,000-capacity Field Day festival, has added four dates to new 8,500-capacity summer concert series South Facing.
Taking place at Crystal Palace Bowl (pictured) in South London, the series of shows will run from 5-31 August.
Weedon, whose team also runs events including 25,000-capacity Mighty Hoopla and Cross The Tracks (15,000) festivals, is overseeing the event series, which now includes a day of live music curated by Bad Vibrations and Heavenly Records, and a concert celebrating Worldwide FM’s fifth birthday. Other one-day events are headlined by acts including Dizzee Rascal, The Streets, Supergrass and the English National Opera.
Weedon tells Access about the plans for the independently run event series:
Why are you launching South Facing at such a challenging time?
We have been working with the Crystal Palace Trust for some time on securing The Bowl for live events. The first year of our license is 2021, and when the Government roadmap was announced, we had renewed confidence that this summer could work for events. So we felt we should do everything in our power to create a programme and launch the event straight away. South Facing isn’t a reaction to Covid-19, it’s a long-term event series we have been working on and planning for some time.
What are the long-term plans are for the festival?
We aim to provide a programme of events year on year that provides something for everyone in London and beyond. This year we have already secured a number of high-profile acts and partners for the events. We hope to continue to bring marquee names back to an area of London that hasn’t had them for a while. Alongside the commercial events we are also putting together a run of free community events that will run during the weekdays throughout August.
Why have you chosen the Crystal Palace Bowl as a venue?
The site is really quite incredible. The natural amphitheatre is the perfect place for live music and having the stage perched on the lake will really look spectacular. It has a wonderful history of live music, and for one reason or another it’s been dormant for the best part of two decades. With Crystal Palace Bowl being a venue that is off the normal gigging circuit, we believe there will be demand to play and see shows here. People in London love something new and different and we’re excited about getting it up and running. We also feel we can offer acts a unique space and experience for an act to play a live show so close to Central London.