Hey, local parish notice today, soemtimes we’re worldwide, sometimes we’re on our own doorstep. “Dive into London’s New Festival Celebrating Music, Culture and Connection” so the headline at the top of the press release that arrived at the Organ bunker today reads. Says a new music festival here in East London, at Lido Field, Victoria Park will be happening in June 2025. A stones throw from the Organ bunker here in Hackney (which is why Victoria Park’s All Points East gets our attention a little more than most Summer festivals do – hey we like festivals we can walk to, we’ve done more than our fair share of ten hour coach trips to see some band in some field in the wind and rain, we like the short walk to Victoria Park, we go to the park pretty much every day).
“Full Line Up and Festival Programme To Be Announced” so says the press release. Will it excite? Will it delight?
“Lido Festival, the newest addition to London’s summer calendar, is set to arrive in Victoria Park in June 2025. Named after Victoria Park’s historic Lido Field, this two weekend festival will feature carefully curated music line-ups alongside community-driven activities during the week, all with a strong emphasis on sustainability” – let’s hope the “community-driven” activities are a little more engaging than they have been in recent times at All Points East. Attempts to engage (with out art/gallery hats on) have fallen on deaf ears every time we’ve tried. Hey, we like APE and their well built bills, don’t want to be negative here, those mid-weeks between the excellent weekends of music feel like a wasted opportunity for some real creative engagement.
“As a new festival in Tower Hamlets, LIDO will bring substantial benefits to the local area, including improvements to the park itself. Echoing the success of AEG’s neighbouring East London festival, All Points East, which contributes over £45 million to the local economy each year, LIDO will similarly engage local suppliers, employ local staff, and boost local spending on accommodation, food, and entertainment. The festival’s midweek programme will also provide free, high-quality arts, culture and wellbeing activities, offering a platform for local talent to shine and enriching the area’s cultural landscape” – high-quality arts? Outside of the actual music on the weekend that has been really strong in recent years, we’ve not seen that much at All Points East, and yes we have tried getting involved midweek, dare we say it has felt a little like tokenism both from the organisers and the council? A little more than just putting CBBC on on the big screen in the tent playing to no one much and a lot of things that might have looked good on paper but didn’t really seem to actually happen (the kids being allowed to climb all over the tractors looked like fun)
“With the full line-up coming soon, LIDO will showcase the most current headliners and work closely with them to curate the line ups, reflecting their own musical passions, with a strong focus on emerging artists. LIDO is dedicated to supporting the growth of music in the UK, providing a platform that not only celebrates today’s talent but also inspires and nurtures the next generation of headliners, all in a responsible and sustainable way” – And yes, a lot of good bands or artists have been seen for the first time on those small side stages at All Points East, APE has been excellent, Stormzy in that biblical rain, Nick Cave feeling almost religious, Willow Kayne a couple of years back, Romy in the big blue tent, Idles, Pixies, Decemberists this year, how good were Decemberists in the sunshine, the mile wide smiles of Cymande, Black Midi undefeated in that same blue tent, Teenage Fan Club this year oh there’s been so many….
“Beyond the music, LIDO is committed to making a positive impact on the local community. A key part of this commitment is LIDO’s ongoing partnership with East London Arts and Music (ELAM), providing students with hands-on experience in the creative industry including offering students the chance to perform, as well as vocational opportunities in festival production, technology, and the wider music industry” – There’s more than just students, East London’s artist-led art scene has been decimated by development and gentrification in recent years, studios knocked down, artist-led spaces forced to close or artists just priced out and left with no option other than to just leave.
“LIDO firmly believes that the future of live music and festivals should be a sustainable one. From the outset, LIDO will implement and then continually develop sustainable policies and processes ranging from how we power the festival and manage waste disposal through to partnering with local food vendors to ensure maximum efficiency, simplify, strengthen, and minimise the impact in our supply chains and our community. LIDO will hold themselves to account and maximise every sustainable opportunity available to the event”.
Jim King, CEO of European Festivals at AEG Presents says, “LIDO Festival represents the next stage of AEG’s festival journey”
Taking place at Victoria Park, one of our favourite locations in the heart of London’s creative districts (nowhere near as creative as it once was, these days it is a rather sanitized rather conservative version of what was once something gloriously creative in the days of Vyner Street, Hackney WickEd and the rest of it), Lido Festival allows us to push our ambitions further in working with young people within the industry and those who aspire to be. Most excitingly, this centres about a new generation of artists, whether they’re headlining or performing for the first time. The vision of supporting the artists’ journey further develops as we program each day directly with the headliner. This delivers a show that fans know has the artists’ musical soul embedded throughout. This is one of the most exciting aspects of Lido Festival, knowing that everyone on the bill means something to the headliner closing out the show.” – okay, ww’re staring to drown in the corporate culture wash now, and when did Tower Hamlets ever give a toss about art?
“Cllr Kamrul Hussain, Cabinet Member for Culture and Recreation says, “This new festival, coming to our multi award-winning Victoria Park, has the potential to provide more opportunities for residents to benefit from cultural events; increase expenditure in and boost our local economy through visits to the borough; and generate more income to support council services including the upkeep of our parks and open spaces. We look forward to working with AEG, to ensure that community benefits are at the heart of the new LIDO Festival.”
LIDO Festival headliners, full line ups and programmes are to be announced soon – we want Mary Mousetrap, Spratleys and Slift, we want someone we haven’t heard of yet, hey, we could run one hell of a side stage alive with art and music. Let’s see what they come up with…
Previously
THE ORGAN 