Festival Republic is a UK

music promoter A promoter works with event production and entertainment industries to promote their productions, including in music and sports. Promoters are individuals or organizations engaged in the business of marketing and promoting live, or pay-per-view ...

. It was founded as Mean Fiddler Group in 1982 by Irish-born chairman John Vincent Power, as a venue-management and music-promotion group. After the group was taken over by Hamsard Ltd in 2005, the focus became more concentrated on festivals, and in 2007 the venues along with the Mean Fiddler name were sold on, with the remaining company being renamed Festival Republic. Melvin Benn is the current managing director.

History

The group was founded in 1982 by Irish-born chairman John Vincent Power, with a venue called simply Mean Fiddler. At the end of the 1980s they took control of the

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

from Harold Pendleton, beginning a move into festivals. After acquiring the LA2 in

Charing Cross Road Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus (the intersection with Oxford Street) and then becomes Tottenham Court Road. It leads from the north in the direction ...

in 2000, they were renamed to become the Mean Fiddler Music Group. In April 2005, they accepted a takeover bid from Hamsard Ltd, a co-operative company 50.1% owned by

Live Nation UK Live Nation UK is the United Kingdom subsidiary of Live Nation Entertainment. They are best known for promoting concerts, operating venues and running festivals. As Clear Channel UK, Live Nation UK acquired the Mean Fiddler organisation and own ...

(formerly the entertainment division of

Clear Channel UK Clear Channel UK is the British division of iHeartMedia, a global media conglomerate based in San Antonio, Texas, United States of America. It operates through a complex group structure, with some 70 UK subsidiary companies. As with its U.S ...

but now part of

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertai ...

International) and 49.9% owned by Irish event organiser MCD. In 2006, the Mean Fiddler Music Group reduced its touring and promotion activities to concentrate on running festivals. It maintained control of the Reading and Leeds festivals and announced a new addition,

Latitude Festival The Latitude Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Henham Park, near Southwold, Suffolk, England. It was first held in July 2006 and has been held every year since, apart from 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-1 ...

. In 2007, the Mean Fiddler Music Group was sold along with several venues to Mama Group Plc in order to allow Festival Republic to concentrate fully on promoting festivals. As part of the sale, Mama Group acquired the rights to the Mean Fiddler trademark.

Festival promotion and production

Festival Republic's flagship events are the

Reading and Leeds Festivals The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Fes ...

. These are a pair of annual events which take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August

bank holiday A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or h ...

weekend, sharing the same bill. In addition they also run the

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

, the Wireless Festival and the Community Festival in London, EDC UK in

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

, and the

Download Festival Download Festival is a British-created rock festival created by Terrance Gough, held annually at the Donington Park motorsport circuit in Leicestershire, England (since 2003); in Paris, France (since 2016); at Parramatta Park, Sydney (since 2 ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire ...

.Festival Republic
They also produce a BBC Proms In The Park and BBC Radio 2 Live In Hyde Park, which both take place on the same weekend in September in London's Hyde Park. In Ireland, they organise the Longitude Festival and Electric Picnic. In Norway, they run the Hove Festival. "Review: Hove Festival (Norway)"
''Crack In The Road'' In Germany they have expanded from running the Berlin Festival to running the first European

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

. They have previously been responsible for Big Chill festival, which last ran in 2011, and were the operators of the

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

from 2002 until 2012.

Former festivals

* Big Chill Festival (2010–2011) * Eroica (2018 formerly V Festival South) * V Festivals (2017) * T in the Park (2016)

Former venues

London Astoria The London Astoria was a music venue at 157 Charing Cross Road, in London, England. Originally a warehouse during the 1920s, the building became a cinema and ballroom. It was converted for use as a theatre in the 1970s. After further developme ...

London Forum The O Forum Kentish Town is a concert venue in Kentish Town, London, England owned by MAMA & Company, and originally built in 1934. History The venue was built in 1934 and was originally used as an art deco cinema. After the cinema was clos ...

Mean Fiddler The Astoria 2, subsequently known as the LA2 then the Mean Fiddler, was a nightclub at 165 Charing Cross Road in London, England. History The venue was originally a ballroom in the basement of the London Astoria theatre and connected by stairw ...

* Jazz Café * The Garage * The Borderline *The Grand *The Old Fiddler * The Crossbar *The Complex *Media * Point 101 * Powers Bar * Ion Bar *Bartok * The Z Bar

References

External links

official site
{{Glastonbury Festival 1982 establishments in the United Kingdom Hotel and leisure companies of the United Kingdom Glastonbury Festival Live Nation Entertainment Festival organizations