New festival planned for south Bristol

A new festival could be coming to south Bristol as early as July 2021.

Organisers of the event hope to host a two-day event at Greville Smyth Park for two days over July 24 & 25.

National promoters Slammin Events and St Jude’s-based Platform Live are seeking a licence to host the festival for three years from a Friday to Sunday each July.

Saturday will be hosted by Motion favourites Sequences and will showcase some of the best names in drum’n’bass. Sunday will feature a range of music styles and will be programmed by a local company.

For the festival’s first year just the Saturday and Sunday are planned, with a capacity for the event of 7,999 including staff. Slammin Events are working with Bristol City Council to secure a license and will formally announce the festival by Easter.

“As promoters, our company has worked with almost every venue in the city over the last few years and we’ve been gradually increasing our summer events offering and regularly selling out day parties at Motion for many years now,” says Tom Hoyle, director of Platform Live.

“I have lived in South Bristol for over 20 years and have many friends who also live in the area, so I’ve always wanted to host events here.”

Tom says the “logical next step” is for Sequences’ events is to branch out to one of the city’s parks. The aim is for the festival to complement the summer events that Bristol already hosts and to bring a new offering to the south of the city.

Greville Smyth Park will host the new festival. Photo: Martin Booth

“I feel that, although east Bristol is well served with two amazing festivals in Eastville Park, south Bristol is comparatively lacking in outdoor summer music events since Ashton Court festival ended – with the obvious exception of the occasional gigs that take place at Ashton Gate stadium, but these are a very different offering from ours,” says Tom.

Greville Smyth Park has been chosen for its location, easy transport routes and for its proximity to Ashton Court Estate, with its historical festival significance.

Festival organisers are working with Ashton Gate’s residents to mitigate any possible issues.

“We’re notifying and consulting with local residents now to make sure we understand their concerns and are aware of any potential issues they may experience as a result of the event,” says Tom.

“We’re viewing this as a long-term project and would like to be welcomed back for years to come so it is vitally important for us to establish a good rapport with local residents and businesses and to ensure that people experience as little inconvenience as possible from these shows.”

The promoters hope to support the upkeep of the city’s parks as a portion of the fee paid to use the land goes towards the maintenance of these green spaces.

“2020 was a really tough year for many people but with the announcement of the government roadmap it has been great to see people starting to feel more positive about the possibility of events and live music happening again soon,” says Tom.

“We are working with a great team and are looking forward to bringing some amazing acts to Bristol to put on a great show.”

Main photo: Sequences/Ko Lab

Read more: Motion confirms reopening date