FESTIVAL NEWS
Aloompa, the company behind the iBeacons deployed at the recent Bonnaroo music festival, has shared some numbers it gathered on festival goers, giving event organizers new insight into how to improve the festival next year. The iBeacons tracked the most popular stage, the average length people spent in specific areas of the festival, how many users went inside the VIP area. No personal data is collected. Aloompa says one of its goals with the iBeacon deployment was to “lay the groundwork and precedence for real time crowd heat mapping for never before seen operational views.” It’s also hoping to let users in the future “relive their experience in a new way: a “retrospective itinerary” — not just looking at photos and tweets, but the chance to see where you were, when, and who you were with — creating a community feeling even after an event is over.” More here http://9to5mac.com/2014/07/14/bonnaroo-festival-used-ibeacons-to-collect-valuable-data-about-concertgoers/
The 31st edition of the Gurtenfestival attracted over 78,000 visitors over the course of four days, marking a new Gurtenfestival record. Even a short rain delay during the performance of Placebo, the final headliners, couldn’t put a damper on the positive mood. Headliners included Franz Ferdinand, local heroes the Glanton Gang, Stiller Has and Büne Huber, Seasick Steve and Placebo who returned to stage after rain delay - Gurten was hit by a strong thunderstorm with heavy rain showers. In order to avoid any risks, the band interrupted their performance and returned half an hour later to complete their set despite the wind and rain. Even the first aid tent had good news to report. Numerous visitors were seen, but most cases required only minor treatments. Only three people had to be transferred to a hospital – considerably fewer than in previous years. When a pregnant woman showed up at the first aid tent, there almost was a premiere of a different kind. But in the end, she delivered a healthy baby at the local hospital. 64 live acts (25 of whom were bands from Switzerland), 61 DJ acts, 800 musicians, 1400 helpers, 78,000 visitors, and one unique atmosphere: these are the numbers of the 31st Gurtenfestival. More pictures: http://www.gurtenfestival.ch/de/gallery
The Fashion Meets Music Festival in Ohio has scrapped R Kelly as one of its headliners following criticism of the singer's booking, due to ongoing allegations of sexual abuse. Although the Fashion Meets Music Festival, which is due to take place at the end of August, initially defended Kelly's appearance on its line-up, calls for it to cancel the booking continued to grow, with two bands, Saint Seneca and Damn The Witch Siren, pulling out of the event in protest and local radio station WCBE 90.5 FM withdrawing its sponsorship. Kelly was acquitted of a number of child abuse charges in 2008.
The first ever Alt-Fest, which had been scheduled to take place in Kettering on 15-17 August, has been cancelled - in a move announced headline acts Gary Numan and Marilyn Manson via the social media. There was a deafening silence from organisers of Alt-Fest who remained tight-lipped apart from a post on their website that said "We at Alt-Fest HQ would like to sincerely apologise for our silence over the last 24 hours. Currently we are working all hours to deal with some extremely challenging & stressful issues for Alt-Fest. We will be able to provide an official statement with full information before Monday and answer any questions you may have at that time. We want you to know that we have been doing everything we can to take the right steps for you: our fans, friends & customers – we assure you we only have your best interests at heart.” Alt-Fest raised £60,000 in funding for its inaugural edition via Kickstarter earlier this year, double what organisers originally asked for. It's not clear what will happen to that money now, which has presumably been spent already. Rob Ferguson, of Transcend Music, tweeted: “The stoney silence from Alt Fest organisers is staggeringly insulting to all those who bought tickets or invested in their Kickstarter!”Festival Insights reports that a festival-goer died in hospital after falling ill at the Global Gathering festival. Shane Kirkwood, 20, from Coventry, was taken from the event to Warwick Hospital and died just after 1am that night. The cause of his death has yet to be established. A post-mortem examination is due to take place.AAA reports that the I Am Music Festival has been cancelled at the last minute. It reports that “Serious health and safety issues” led to Colchester Borough Council cancelling the one-day festival mere hours before it was due to start. Colchester Borough Council’s statement, posted on its Facebook page, has been the only in-detail word on why the festival didn’t go ahead. It reads: “Even though the organisers [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="yes" overflow="visible"][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="no" center_content="no" min_height="none"][the I Am Music Community Group] had the support of the Safety Advisory group, who have been trying to resolve a variety of issues for some time, they have been unable to meet the criteria of providing a safe event[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]