Swindon Invincible festival may need to move to new venue

THE ORGANISER of a one-day dance festival has signalled the event may have to change venue to accommodate large demand.

Vince Macari, founder of Swindon Invincible, said he could sell triple the amount of tickets if a more spacious spot than The Bowl in Old Town could be found for next year.

The second annual show, which took place on Saturday, once again sold out of its 1,200 tickets.

One of the biggest names in hip-hop – DJ Yoda – was among those who took to the stage.

Vince said he believed the event now has the pulling power to draw multiple thousands of electronic music fans to the home of this year’s Radio One Big Weekend.

He said: “Lydiard Park has been mentioned but we are really not sure yet. We are thinking about a bigger event and venue next year.

“One thing we are sure of is that we sold out this year and last year and this year I could have tripled my sales if I had of had more room for sure. The list of people that just couldn’t get tickets at the last minute was huge.

“After the success of the Big Weekend we really felt as though it may be time to bring Invincible to the next level – that really showed that there is a huge demand for live music in Swindon.”

Vince continued: “Another idea we are toying with is making it over two days or having more than one event in a year.

“The thing is we want it to grow organically, and we had a three-year plan to hold it at The Bowl, in the Town Gardens, but you can’t stop progression if that’s what the people want.

“It’s a big jump but there are very few events, if any, in Swindon that rival us in terms of selection or quality of music.”

Invincible featured artists including Breakin’ Bread, a funk and hip-hop collective, DJ Para, a local hip-hop and funk DJ, Discharge, a dubstep act, Lighterthief, a Swindon based trip-hop music collective, Elektrophonik vs Kandifunk, a rematch of last year’s turntable battles, Duke, a hip-hop group, DJ Cybernetic, described as a hip-hop guru and Adam Freedland a drum ’n’ bass DJ.

The festival was put on in conjunction with Swindon Council and Swindon Does Arts.

Anyone interested in suggesting acts to the organisers should search for the Invincible group on www.facebook.com or log onto www.invincible.areasix.co.uk.

Phil Young, cabinet member for culture, regeneration and economic development, said he was trying to encourage more music events throughout Swindon.

He said: “I turned out to the event on Saturday for a few hours and it was really buzzing, they were turning people away at the door so I can understand why they are thinking about bigger venues.”

Tags: dance festival, Event Venues, Swindon Invincible festival, Vince Macari

Category: Event Venues, Festival News