The UK’s Top 9 Most Crowded Music Festivals.
Festival season is upon us and after a couple of very uncertain years behind us, Google search trends show us just how in-demand this year’s music festivals are.
First Fence based in Swadlincote Derbyshire is, one of the UK’s leading companies in the fencing industry, they delve into the most popular music festivals in the UK and their capacity, to see just how busy and crowded they can become. Festivalgoers' safety is paramount, and the preparation and equipment used when organising these large-scale events are crucial.
Several of these events have increased in size significantly over the past few years and have become even more crowded, requiring organisers to step up their safety more than ever before.
1 - Glastonbury
It will likely come as no surprise that Glastonbury is the most crowded music festival in the UK. Beginning in 1970, the hugely diverse festival has grown significantly in popularity, size and is known all over the world.
This year’s festival in June will have a capacity of 210,000 which is a 3.4% increase compared to the 2019 festival.
The five-day event also known as ‘Glasto’ is held in Pilton, Somerset every June. Due to its large capacity and the damaging effect that the festival has on the land, there is a ‘Fallow year’ once every 5 years to prevent excessive damage and allow the site to recover.
2 - Download Festival
Download is the UK’s most well-known premier rock festival, Held at Donnington Park motorsport circuit in June 2022. This 5-day event has an enormous capacity of 111,000 and sees rock lovers from all over the world attend.
The event’s close proximity to East Midlands airport and excellent connections makes it easily reachable by road, rail, bus and plane.
In 2021, only 10,000 people attended the slightly shorter three-day event as part of a large-scale capacity test. It was the first event of its kind to take place when the Covid 19 pandemic restrictions began to relax. Attendees were required to remain at the campsite for the duration of the festival and PCR tests were required before entry.
3 - Isle of Wight Festival
The popular British music festival will take place in Newport on the Isle of White in June 2022.
The festival’s huge capacity of 90,000 has grown significantly by 41% since 2019.
In 2021, the event saw a reduced capacity of 50,000, to remain in line with covid restrictions. There was no difference in the size of the event, meaning that there was more space for social distancing.
4 - Reading Festival
Held in August 2022 at Little John’s Farm, the Reading Festival has a capacity of 90,000 which has been reduced by 15% since 2019, when it raised its capacity for a second year prior to the covid pandemic.
5 - Leeds Festival
Leeds Festival, also held in August, has a slightly lower capacity of 80,000 compared to its sister event in Reading.
6 - Boomtown Festival / Fair
Boomtown Festival is a four-day unity, creativity and freedom music event which will be held in Hampshire in August 2022. It has a generous capacity of 76,999 which has increased by 23% since 2018.
The event organisers encourage festivalgoers to car share, take public transport and cycle event after setting themselves a challenge to reduce their carbon footprint by 50% as part of their green mission.
7 - Creamfields
Creamfields is the UK’s most prestigious electronic dance music festival, held in two locations in the UK, In August 2022 in Daresbury, Cheshire and Chelmsford, Essex.
The event is hosted by the British club promoter Cream and has a capacity of 70,000 which has slowly increased since the festival began in 1998.
The main event is held in the UK however, Creamfields also host several spin-off events internationally, including in Hong Kong and Mexico.
8 - Wireless Festival
The rap music is held in three different locations across the UK- Crystal Palace, Finsbury Park, and Birmingham. The capacity at all three locations is 50,000.
The wireless festival consists of food vendors, pop up dance floors, video game lounges and even the odd fashion show.
9 - Latitude Festival
The round-up finishes with the annual Latitude Festival which takes place in Henham Park, Suffolk in July 2022.
The diverse music festival includes theatre shows, art, comedy, and literature
Boasting a capacity of 40,000 may be the least crowded on the list but still has a huge audience.
The safety and preparation of these types of events with huge audiences are crucial. The efficient placing of crowd barriers and subdividing of certain areas, using crash barriers can work almost like wave breakers in the ocean to prevent deadly crowd crushes.
Tracey Smith, Product Development Administrator, First fence commented”
With large numbers of people now attending festivals, it’s never been more important to make sure that crowds are well managed and organised, so that visitors are safe.
Crowd Control Barriers are designed to help manage the overall pedestrian traffic at outdoor events such as festivals, by marking out restricted areas and helping to direct crowds.
They can also be used as ticket checkpoints, to make sure all entering the festivals have bought a ticket and the event is not going overcapacity.
Crowd control barriers are constructed from lightweight pre-galvanised steel, helping the longevity of the product, as it protects from rusting, which is essential for a product that is in outdoor use.
They connect easily to each other, enabling a line of barriers to be constructed; they are secure and stronger when interlocked which makes them harder to knock over. Their lightweight quality makes them easy to transport, assemble and store as they can be stacked together when not in use.
In addition, the durability of the barriers means that they can be used again and again, allowing them to be a sustainable product.
Festival organisers can find out more from First Fence on choosing the right fencing options here: First Fence: The correct fencing type for your event.