Interview Melvin Benn
We speak to the man behind Leeds Festival
Interview: Melvin Benn
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“I run Glastonbury Festival, a festival in Norway called Hove, Latitude Festival, The Big Chill, Reading and Leeds Festivals, and a festival in Ireland called Electric Picnic. I think it’d be fair to say that I’ve got the best festivals.
” I started the Leeds Festival in 1999. I’d wanted a festival in the north of England for a long time and as I’m a Yorkshireman, I wanted it to be in Yorkshire.
“At that time there was a fantastic director of culture at Leeds City Council called Denise Preston. The whole council and councillors were very positive about developing a vibrancy in Leeds and it was also at the time when Harvey Nichols was opening up here, and there was a lot of development of new housing and the city was really working hard to become the capital of the north. Having a large-scale music festival very much fit into that pattern. I wanted a festival up north, Leeds wanted a festival, and so it just made sense, really. It just became an obvious thing to do.
“There is no limit to the amount of praise that I could pass on about the elected councillors, Labour and Conservative and Liberal. They were all so positive about the idea of creating a festival for the young people of Leeds, but also the young people of the north as such, and what that would do to invite people into Leeds, and create an economic boost. Terrific vision from them, absolutely fantastic.
“The town now, compared to 10 years ago, 15 years ago and certainly 20 years ago really has moved on. It’s a fantastic town and without doubt, my favourite area is in and around Millennium Square. For me, the whole area is very vibrant. It’s also very nice. It has that ability to attract lovely people that want to have a nice lunch during the day, and people that want to have a party at night.
“For the first five years, Leeds Festival was in Temple Newsam, now it’s in Bramham Park. It’s always been on the east side of Leeds, and happening very much at the same time as the Chapeltown Carnival. Inevitably, it stretches the police resources, it stretches everybody’s time and they’ve also got Carnival to think about, so initially everybody was very nervous of it, but over the years, people have become incredibly supportive of it. The council and the police are just very positive about it. It’s incredible, really.
“Over the years, the festival has grown to meet demand. As it’s grown, the standard of the artists has been able to grow, too. We’ve managed to get someone as famous and fantastic as Guns ‘N Roses this year. It’s a testament how the festival has evolved.
“Tickets for Leeds Festival sold out straight away, so I imagine it’s going to go very well. Last year went fantastically, it was just awesomely good.”
Leeds Festival is on August Bank Holiday at Bramham Park, www.leedsfestival.com, www.festivalrepublic.com
Posted on Wednesday 4th August 2010
Rebecca Shoemaker
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