Buyer’s

New order for Henley Festival
Thirty-four years in, Henley Festival takes the biggest step in its perennial
evolution this summer, putting more venues in the mix, partnering with
Ronnie Scott’s, increasing capacity by a third and breaking beyond its
physical boundaries.
To the ticketholders at least, Henley Festival has long
been about much more than increasingly profile acts
on the Floating Stage, Elton John, Elvis Costello and
Shirley Bassey among them this year. It’s comedy,
dance, street entertainers, fireworks, fine dining, and
that’s just the middle of the menu.
For 2016, the Thameside event, which follows Henley
Regatta and inherits much of its infrastructure, will
have a bigger footprint and a busier programme.
New spaces allow for a comedy stage proper, The
Salon Comedy Club, which comes bearing Al Murray,
Reginald D Hunter, Nina Conti and other profile names,
while a Big Top platform, ‘The Top’, for up and coming
artists, stretches the event outside the Regatta’s
Stewards’ Enclosure for the first time.
“Being able to programme a wider variety of work
enables us to grow our audience and I hope that we
will reach a more diverse range of people as a result,”
Chief Executive, Charlotte Geeves, says. “We have
an excellent relationship with Wokingham district
council and work closely with the team there, and the
locals, which makes any [changes] to our licence an
easier process. I do hope that we are now seen as a
permanent fixture by the Henley community and that,
in the most part, they attend.”
Site for sore eyes
In 2013, the Festival was caught between a
river and a hard place, ramping up its budget to
attract the likes of The Beach Boys and Madness,
but falling far short financially. A move to Henley
Business School, a cheaper site three miles up the
road, was mooted, before an invigorating deal was
floated by the Royal Regatta Committee and the
Festival settled back into its natural berth, in the
wake of the rowers.
“We use all of the Regatta’s [Arena] structures, although we
do change the functionality of quite a few of them,” Geeves says.
The transition period between the two events pointedly wasn’t a part of the 2013 deal; it remains just
66 hours, from 8:30pm on Sunday to Festival doors on Wednesday at 6:00pm.
“We’re free to be venturesome, this year a particularly prime example,” Stewart Collins, Henley
Festival’s Artistic Director for the last 25 years, tells Event Industry News, “but it’s an uphill task, as ever
it was, to get everything done on time. Our fantastic team just makes it happen.
“We have extended the site by half an acre this year and capacity will be up significantly as a result,”
Collins explains. “We always had a mix of performance, but the extra venues will give jazz, comedy
and new music their own spaces, making it easier for the audience to know where everything is and
there’s so much going on, beyond the main stage. It will be very easy simply to spend a whole day in
the Comedy Club.”
The partnership with Ronnie Scott’s will see the world famous jazz club, satellite-style, in a Henley
Festival temporary structure. The 1930 Spiegel tent, which has a permanent venue feel anyway, will be
rife with rich reds and an onus on replicating the Frith Street club’s famously good sound.
“Ronnie Scott’s is a recognisable brand, the ‘best you can get’ jazz venue and our audience is a
perfect fit,” Collins continues. “It’s a little older than the typical festival crowd. Dining is a very important
element and we will have early evening supper there, then a performance, in keeping with the London
club’s model, the Ronnie Scott’s Story. After the headline concert on the Floating Stage, there will be
a jazz jam and Ronnie Scott’s players are already in touch with bands from the main stage. We’ll have
the finest jazz quintet anyway and they might just be joined by players from Elton John’s band, for
instance.” I guess that’s why they call it ‘The UK’s Most Magical Summer Party’.
Henley Festival 2016 runs from July 6-10.
For more information see: www.henley-festival.co.uk
Suppliers include:
Lighting – Panalux (stages)
Oakwood Events (site)
Power/distribution – SSE
Site maintenance – Henley Contracting
Sound – RG Jones
Staging – ESG
Temporary structures – Arena Group
Trackway - Eve
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