But while the COVID restrictions have faded and the summer is packed with events, industry executives are facing new challenges — and ones they predicted in 2019. “Our festival was growing organically, you know, everything was working perfectly,” says Adam Gregory, one of the directors of the award-winning British rock and metal festival Bloodstock. “There weren’t really any major obstacles that we could say would prevent a festival from being successful. “Then came Brexit and literally every barrier in the world went up overnight.” It’s a sentiment echoed across the music industry, from big name acts like Elton John to smaller bands and those working behind the scenes, that festivals are harder to organize and play after Brexit. And while the philosophical argument for leaving the EU has been fought and won, there are now practical problems that those in the industry want to address. One of the main issues is that bands of all sizes now need a pass – an international customs document – to be able to move between the UK and the EU with all their gear, at a cost of at least £600. As well as increasing costs and red tape for UK bands wanting to travel across the Channel, EU bands wanting to come and play festivals in the UK face the same hurdles. And even acts flying in from the US for the European festival season have to consider whether it’s worth adding a UK event to their schedule. “Some bands we know haven’t come to the UK because of the headache,” says Mr Gregory. “They can’t deal with it. “I’m not saying it’s a huge amount, but you only need one or two to start that momentum and suddenly the UK becomes one of those countries that just doesn’t add to the programme.” Image: Labor MP Alex Davies-Jones travels and talks to festival organizers about Brexit “Bands Skip UK” Labor MP Alex Davies-Jones, who is working with festival managers on the issues they face, echoes his fears. “If someone is on a European tour, normally they would have used the UK as a stopover, brought all their gear, brought their set, done one of these festivals and then gone on to their next destination,” says. “That can’t happen now. They’re bypassing the UK because it’s too complicated. It’s different rules, different regulations, too much red tape and it’s stopping us from having these world-class acts at our festivals and finding incredible new music.” Justine Jones, lead singer of UK band Employed to Serve, says the new bureaucracy is increasing how much they have to spend to travel to festivals on the continent and knows our European colleagues face the same coming here for the calendar-defining events us. “Bands have to get carnets to list literally every instrument, strings, drum packs and more, with the make and serial numbers,” he said. “We had to pay a professional company to do this and it cost us just under £1,000. “And the cards only last for a year, as they only cover a certain number of crossings, so if we go over that, we have to buy a whole new one.” Image: Justine Jones says bands across the UK and Europe are struggling after Brexit. Photo: Felix Baron “We’re not the only ones canceling shows” But it’s not just the preparation that’s a costly and time-consuming nightmare. “When the bands come out, they have to join the queues with the truckers, so even when it’s not the chaos we’ve seen recently in Dover, we can be waiting for hours,” says Ms Jones. “Obviously these people have trucks of goods, say for Ikea or something, and we only have a small van worth of equipment. But we have to wait in line with them and they have to literally go through every item we have.” It’s the same with air travel, and the extra hoops it takes to get through can often lead to confusion. “We had to cancel our appearance at the Resistance Festival in Spain because an airline lost our equipment,” says Ms Jones. “And we’re not the only ones. It’s happened to people coming to play in the UK.” Alan Hungerford, whose company Freight Minds provides logistics and freight support to artists such as Queen, Adele and Gorillaz, describes how different it is for his clients post-Brexit. “Let’s say you’re doing a festival in Portugal on Saturday, flying a charter to the UK on Sunday for another festival is now incredibly hard work,” he says. “These shows would fly straight, straight to the show, load up, go on stage, leave and go again. Now you lose hours – I can realistically say 12 hours to customs together – which obviously can have a negative impact on shows, meaning artists have to hold fewer shows. “You used to be able to go from Belgium to the UK overnight. Now you have to think about it, look at the situation in Dover and say, ‘Are we going to make it at this festival?’ Hungerford said the concerns affect all bands, big and small, and there is still a lack of clarity around the rules. “UK customs staff don’t seem to be properly trained on how to process carnets,” adds Hungerford. “There certainly hasn’t been any government support or any clear guidance on whether you need a carnet or not.” Image: The combination of COVID and Brexit has made it harder to find the army of staff you need for a festival, says Bloodstock’s director. Photo: Steve Dempsey Jobs, jobs, jobs? It is not just the travel of equipment and their owners that is causing difficulties for festivals after Brexit. Ms Davies-Jones says organizers from both regional and mammoth events, including Glastonbury, told her their number one concern was staffing. “Part of it is a result of COVID,” he says. “A lot of people ended up going and finding other jobs because the music industry shut down. “So the skilled people, like mechanical engineers, lighting engineers, sound engineers, technicians who had the experience to implement all of that, left the industry, which means you’re losing that skill set at the higher end of the spectrum.” However, it’s not just the technical crew that makes a festival. “The staff needed to run an event day-to-day, the set-up, the cleaners, the security, the people you rely on to run an event like this were coming from Europe,” he says. “It’s just not there now.” Hungerford agrees that staffing has affected the industry, saying: “I was at an event in Sunderland a few weeks ago and we were expecting 52 people to turn up for the night shift to tear down the stage. Only six appeared. “Everybody had to work four times harder to get a job done. It took two days longer than it should have.” Mr Gregory says many of his fellow festival organizers have been forced to cancel events due to staff shortages. “The combination of COVID and Brexit has wiped out a lot of people who previously had jobs in music or entertainment,” he says. The festival director adds that it has been a “very worrying, very difficult time” and the end of seasonal workers coming to work a summer of events has led to “a lot of unnecessary hard work for an industry that brings billions of pounds a year into the economy”. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 0:14 Crowds at Glastonbury for first time since 2019 “Festivals need help now, not in two years” So what could be done to help festivalgoers ensure that the UK scene continues to thrive, not just this summer, but for summers to come? “Freedom of movement definitely needs to be sorted out for arts and entertainment as an industry,” says Mr Gregory. “There’s a lot of lobbying going on trying to get some support, but it seems to be falling very flat. He currently receives nothing else from the government. “The industry needs help now. Not in a year or two, it needs this help urgently.” Ms Davies-Jones also says a seasonal worker scheme should be introduced to ensure festivals can bring in staff from the EU as before. “We have all these festivals and events and all our leisure industries are really struggling at the moment,” he adds. “Our cultural activities are all suffering from the same thing – they are struggling to find good staff for jobs that people here don’t want to do. “Without the plan, the UK will suffer as a result. We’re known for our festivals. We’re known for our incredible musical and cultural exports. And that great soft power is now at risk.” For Ms Jones, it’s more personal: “The pandemic highlighted how much people relied on music to get through such a difficult time,” she says. “Now everything is ‘back to normal’, just forgotten and taken for granted. “The festival industry and the music industry make billions for the UK. “We need to nurture that, the top artists and the grassroots artists, especially people who come from working-class backgrounds, who don’t have people to pay for things, but have so much to bring to art and music – it’s a shame not such people can be heard at festivals”. We raised these concerns and demands with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and a spokesman said: “We are supporting the UK’s brilliant musicians to adapt to the new arrangements and make touring easier and have made the case to every EU member state the importance of browsing. “24 EU member states, including major tourism markets such as Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands, have confirmed…
