I'm with the brand!

As the 2008 summer music festival season gets underway, here are a few of the rumours and recommended brand experiences to keep an eye out for:

Sony Ericsson Ibiza Rocks UK parties
Iris Experience will bring Ibiza Rocks to the UK this summer with four Sony Ericsson sponsored parties. These underground events will be promoted through relevant social networking sites and promise surprise guest bands including a Foo Fighters rumour. If you're heading to Ibiza this summer, check out the mayhem at Sony Ericsson's new Ibiza Rocks hotel. Personally I couldn't think of a worse place to book a room for a fortnight's R&R but the Manumission pool parties every Friday night look like they'll be fun.

O2's new improved Blueroom
The exclusive Blueroom for O2 customers only, at Hyde Park's Wireless festival will be open to all this July. O2 customers will still receive priority treatment, extra pampering and freebies but apparently you'll no longer have to leave your mates outside. Register for O2 Afternoons, turn up between 2-4pm (12-4 on the weekends) and O2 will buy you lunch. And if you're one of the first 1,000 through the gate, you'll get a SanDisk memory card loaded with songs by Wireless artistes.

Carling's Cold Beer Amnesty
Swap your warm beer for ice cold Carling at Rock Ness (7-8 June) and the V Festivals (16-17 August). Agency Cake will be roaming the campsites offering visitor's the chance to ditch their tinnies and trade them in for a cold pint.



Strongbow's Bowtime Bar
When you see the yellow roofs, head to Strongbow's new Bowtime Bar, appearing at this year's V Festivals. Agency RPM has kept the live acts and exclusive DJ sets of the former Cider House and added raised dance decks, chill-out seating, speed bars and a photo wall to capture that Bowtime moment of self-reward. Rumour has it they'll also be roaming the campsites offering campers total first pint refreshment for putting up their tents. If you're not a cider fan, you can always swap it in the Carling Cold Beer Amnesty.

innocent Village fete
Now in its second year, the innocent Village Fete will be returning to Regent's Park on 2-3 August. A retreat from the beer tents and the summer headliners and a chance to detox on smoothies. Artistes include The James Taylor Quartet, The Boy Least Likely To and The Ukulele Orchestra. Sledge, the agency behind the fete is planning a welly coconut shy, a huge farmer's market, arts and crafts, a vegetable tent and a cake tent hosted by the Women's Institute.

When there's no better feeling than dancing in a field in the sunshine, it's good to have a few brands around to enhance the experience.

The Godfather of gigs returns to festivals

I first met Vince Power in 1998 at Camden’s Jazz Café. I was dating one of his waitresses and had arrived to meet her at the end of her shift. I had only been in London a year but already knew the reputation of this live music legend. Now, at 60 years old, he’s mellowed with age, helped no doubt by the £13 million he pocketed in 2005 after selling his stake in Mean Fiddler to Clear Channel Entertainment. But back in 1998, as I was summoned to his table in a scene straight out of Scorsese’s Goodfellas, he was a man to be feared and revered in equal measure.

That night he played the role of the protective Godfather, running an eye over this guy who’d turned up to relieve his table’s waitress of her duties. Since then, as a journalist, I’ve witnessed Power play many roles - the festival promoter, loving father, venue impresario and modest, almost shy businessman.

Following the £37.9 million takeover of Mean Fiddler, Power signed a three-year non-compete arrangement, which has seen him dedicate his time to building a venue portfolio. The Godfather of gigs now owns The Bloomsbury Ballroom, The Pigalle Club in Piccadilly, Power’s Acoustic Room in Kilburn and the 101 Bar Lounge on New Oxford Street. He also owns The Moose club behind Selfridges, The Camel in Victoria and several restaurants.

Next month, Power’s non-compete clause expires. Anyone that thinks this Irish workaholic will continue to simply tend his VPMG stable of venues should think again. The man who created the Reading and Phoenix festivals and influenced Creamfields, Tribal Gathering, Glastonbury and Homelands is back. His return venture to a much-changed festival scene will take place on 6 July at The Hop Farm in Tonbridge, Kent.

In the last three years, the festival scene has morphed into branded live music experiences. Power wants it to return to its roots. A Day at the Hop Farm, headlined by Neil Young will therefore be unbranded, free of registration and without VIP areas. “It counteracts the current brand saturated music scene and will make the festival goer the most important element of the event,” he said.

In a live music scene dominated by global conglomerates this brawling, gambling Irishman is driving back into town in his 1970 Buick Skylark and looking to shake things up. I still wouldn’t mess with him. Live Nation, AEG Live and the like should underestimate him at their peril. This could be a new dawn for a true London hero.
Tickets for Power’s return to the festival scene went on sale on 18 March through See Tickets. Additional artistes will be announced shortly.