Blog by David Sinclair

The week of the Glastonbury festival tends to coincide with Wimbledon. This year it sees a clash with the World Cup as well. This is also the time of the year when employer organisations express concern about how much money businesses will lose as a result of people taking a day off to enjoy the sun and sport.

And if it wasn’t for the emergency Budget we’d also be heading towards the ‘silly season’ and a story by Orange on the ‘Future of Festivals: Glastonbury’ predicting “Contact lenses that act as retinal projectors”, “‘grow your own’ fabrics”, and “tattoos that connect you to the internet” might have got more attention.

The Future of Festivals,explored how technology will change the face of music festivals. It talked of renewable technology to deal with environmental and energy challenges ahead. It considered how new communications technology might improve the experience of festival goers.

But one major area of neglect was of the impact of the ageing society. The median age in the UK is currently around 38. By 2050 it is expected to be about 49 across the EU. In other words, the festival audience will almost certainly get older.

In 1997, Festival organiser, Michael Eavis expressed concern about the lack of younger people coming to the festival. He said that they were “trying to get the youngsters back – the 16, 17 and 18 year olds. We’re attracting a lot more people in their 30s and 40s and need to get the Radio 1 and NME crowd back in”. He went on to note that the 30 and 40 year olds change the character of the event: “The demographic is changing and it’s slightly worrying. We might lose the fascination the show has for the public”.

The reason blamed by Eavis for the ageing audience wasn’t that we had an ageing society but because people in their 30s and 40s had faster internet connections and were more likely to be able to secure a ticket. And the solution was to ensure a return to ticket sales by telephone. (Although the relatively high ticket prices -£185 this year- arguably remain a bigger part of the reason why younger people may be not attending).

But of course its not just the audience which are likely to get older – so are the acts. It is a long time since Paul McCartney sang of “losing my hair, many years from now” but it is a truism that some of the biggest acts across the world have achieved significant longevity. “The headline acts are Gorillaz, Muse and Stevie Wonder. This represents an ageing Mojo editor’s view of what Good Music is. The line-up is designed to satisfy the thirtysomething, fortysomething, and even geriatric attendees.” argued the Spectator on Glastonbury this week.

What does all this mean? I remember a prominent environmentalist arguing (about 15 years ago) that it was only when Hollywood producers, musicians and artists turned their attention to environmental concerns, that significant policy interest would follow. Arguably that has now happened.

A couple of weeks ago, Tom Robinson held a “Glad to be Grey” birthday concert in London. The generation of older musicians may well have a major role to play in embracing ageing and raising the profile of the challenges faced by an ageing society.

Perhaps one of the reasons why The Future of Festivals didn’t raise the profile of the ageing society was a fear of the media reaction. The festival scene is portrayed youthful and young and therefore stories about an ageing audience may not have seemed appropriate to the PR people. But ageing is a challenge which will not go away and Glastonbury and other festivals must seriously research, consider and address the long term impact of an ageing society on their activities.

See you in the mud.