Glastonbury 2002 donated more than £1m to good causes in keeping

Glastonbury 2002 donated more than £1m to good causes, in keeping with its hippy roots, but the event had earlier struggled with surging demand and security problems, and in February 2002 called in Mean Fiddler to help run it. Mean Fiddler launched Leeds six years ago and that, according to Mr Power, took “at least three years to make money”. Mean Fiddler also cancelled Fleadh this year after failing to find a suitable headline act to pull in the customers and make the event profitable.Others can face difficulties as popularity rises, bringing its own problems. Chairman and founder Vince Power remains coy about how much money they generate, conceding only that festivals “make money but also lose money, just like any other business”.

In June, however, Mean Fiddler reported full-year turnover of £39m (it also went further into the red but mainly due to a business-wide shake-up which saw it sell off its loss-making bars and restaurants arm).Certainly, the money does not come rolling in straight away. They are big business.
The summer festival season is dominated by a handful of big firms, with Mean Fiddler the biggest. The listed music specialist has three core divisions, but is probably best known for festivals: this weekend’s Reading and its sister festival at Leeds, a 30 per cent stake in Glastonbury (which will rise to 40 per cent by 2005), the Irish-themed Fleadh and dance extravaganza homelands. From Jimi Hendrix on the Isle Wight to the present day, mud, dodgy loos, drugs, sex and rock’n'roll have become legendary. But festivals are no longer about hippies gathering in a field for a day or two of loving and listening. Asda always knew where it was going and now, neck and neck with Sainsbury’s, it’s got there.peter sru.co.uk.

Most under-50s have a rock-festival story. I was fooled for several seconds running because I hadn’t realised the theme of everyday low prices and pocket slapping had been running quite so long (and I put the suede patches and the “dear chap” down to minute observation). It’s Islington laughing at Isleworth.You knew all along, didn’t you? You knew it was just another of those ghost period ads that turn up on my tape. Something about him – the graceless under pressure part – makes me think of Hyacinth Bucket, and television’s tremendous unfairness to lower-middle-class characters.