Martin Elbourne (born 19 January 1957 in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

, Cumberland) is an English performing arts promoter. Elbourne was brought up near the village of

Knebworth, Hertfordshire Knebworth is a village and civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England, immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Whitwell, St Paul's Walden ...

. His first job, at age fifteen, was working for the local stately home

Knebworth House Knebworth House is an English country house in the parish of Knebworth in Hertfordshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. Its gardens are also listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. In its surrounding park ...

which in the mid-seventies became the biggest venue in the United Kingdom for outdoor shows and hosted bands such as

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are c ...

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

and

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...

. He is best known as the promoter of

rock concerts A rock concert is a performance of rock music. During the 1950s, several American musical groups experimented with new musical forms that fused country music, blues, and swing genre to produce the earliest examples of "rock and roll." The co ...

and is a well-known figure for his work in music and music festivals in the UK. He has been an advisor to, and one of main bookers for, 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 contempo ...

for 30 years and has helped and advised numerous other festivals.

Career

Born on 19 January 1957 in

, Cumbria, Elbourne grew up in Hertfordshire, north of London. In 1977, he set up his own political party the Epicurean (ethical hedonist '0' movement) which won the student union elections. One of the election pledges was to open up the student union venue to non-students, leading it to become the main venue in Bristol for punk and post-punk bands. He studied

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analy ...

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...

, in South West England earning an Honours B.A. The main bar at the university is still named after the Epicurean movement. He started promoting bands outside of the student union and became involved with the Ashton Court Festival, then the largest free event in the UK, and started going to Glastonbury. Upon leaving university he founded the award-winning ''Bristol Recorder'', a combined vinyl LP compilation and a magazine. This led to his meeting local resident

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

. Elbourne and Gabriel among others ended up funding and co-promoting the first

WOMAD WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance. History WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, w ...

Festival. Whilst critically acclaimed, the resultant financial losses led to Gabriel playing a reformed Genesis Concert and Elbourne relocating to London. Elbourne ended up working for

Rough Trade Rough Trade may refer to: *Rough Trade Records, a record label * Rough Trade (shops), London record stores *Rough Trade (band), a Canadian new wave rock band * "Rough Trade" (''American Dad!''), an episode of ''American Dad!'' *Rough trade (slang), ...

as a booking agent. His most famous clients were New Order and

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to em ...

. His relationship with New Order continued until the death of Rob Gretton. He managed various bands including Green on Red,

David Rudder David Michael Rudder OCC (born 6 May 1953) is a Trinidadian calypsonian, known to be one of the most successful calypsonians of all time. He performed as lead singer for the brass band Charlie's Roots. Nine years later, Rudder stepped outside t ...

, and Gaye Bykers on Acid, and gradually became more involved with the

, ending up as its main booker. In 2003, Elbourne co-founded The Great Escape Festival, held in Brighton, which has music industry related conferences during the day and features live music in the evenings. Sébastien Nasra collaborated with Elbourne and, in 2006, co-founded M for Montreal, a platform for showcasing local musicians and helping them expand their international networks. U.K.-based artist manager Stephen Budd, Jon Mac, who co-founded The Great Escape; Vijay Nair, the managing director of India-based promoters and artist management company Only Much Louder; and Elbourne organized the

NH7 Weekender NH7 Weekender is an annual, multi-city and multi-genre, music and comedy festival held in India. It is created by Only Much Louder (OML) and is among the largest South Asian arts festivals. It began in Pune, Maharashtra, India, as a three-day ...

Rock Festival in India in 2010. In 2012, the Don Dunstan Foundation, in partnership with

Adelaide City Council The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of Sou ...

, the

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austr ...

Arts SA Arts South Australia (previously Arts SA) was responsible for managing the South Australian Government's funding for the arts and cultural heritage from about 1996 until late 2018, when it was progressively dismantled, a process complete by early ...

Adelaide Fringe The Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between mid-February and mid-March each year, ...

, the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and Regional Development Australia Barossa hired Elbourne as a

thinker-in-residence Thinkers in Residence is a program in Adelaide, South Australia, designed to bring leaders in their fields to work with the South Australian community and government in developing new ideas and approaches to problem-solving, and to promote South A ...

on a project named "Reverb". The project aimed "to create collaboration and unified action for a healthy, more sustainable music scene" in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. A report based on his recommendations was produced in 2013, entitled ''The future of live music in South Australia''.

References

External links

Martin Elbourne interview
at virtualfestivals.com (2006-01-18)
Martin Elbourne profile
at britishcouncil.org (2013-07-24)

at rockforpeople.com (2013-07-24) {{DEFAULTSORT:Elbourne, Martin English music people Music promoters 1957 births Living people People from Carlisle, Cumbria People from Knebworth Music festival founders