Festivals For All were lucky enough to grab an exclusive interview with Josh Dalton, one of the key players behind this year’s inaugural Ignition Festival. Josh is busy finalizing details for Ignition – destined to be a great addition to the festival scene and billed as the first ‘with camping’ live music festival in the North East.

FFA started by asking Josh about the festival scene in general and their plans to bring a major festival event to an area of the country with limited exposure to a local festival scene. “We are really excited about Ignition. The festival market is a little congested currently, but the North East in particular is not known for providing ‘traditional’ festivals with overnight camping and the like, so we are sure that Ignition will be a huge success. It’s our inaugural year and we are pulling out all the stops to make this one something special. The team behind the event has many, many, years experience in promotion and event management and this is enabling us to put together a line-up of top flight international calibre artists and some wonderful local talent. The North East is famous for its music heritage and we a proud to provide a platform for young local artists alongside major players like Calvin Harris and Frank Turner.”

“We are thrilled to be in partnership with Newcastle Racecourse, who are placing their extensive facilities at our disposal. The festival site is within the racecourse itself, over two days, and people can commute easily from Newcastle and the surrounding areas, but we are also providing camping facilities too … so festival goers from all over the UK can make a great weekend of it. Anyone who knows Newcastle Racecourse will appreciate the size and quality of the facilities on offer there. We have use of the grandstand itself so people will be able to actually sit in the stands and watch the artists if they wish; and its covered, so we are not too concerned about the vagaries of the English weather!” he joked. “There is the added benefit of permanent washroom facilities too of course. It really is a beautiful location to hold Ignition. We want to lay down a marker that this neck of the woods can provide a truly stunning event; not only with the facilities, but the whole festival experience too.”

“We’ve something for everyone; not only in the music policy, but the range of entertainment on offer. The racecourse already has some great permanent attractions like mini-golf, astro-turfed sports areas etc, and other facilities for adults and kids alike, but we’ll be augmenting that with crèche facilities and a host of kids entertainment to make it truly family friendly. You can expect a funfair, big screen video gaming, and of course some excellent food and drink. Likewise with the bands; over the two main stages we are finalizing a line-up on each stage to complement each other so there will always be a top quality act to see whatever your tastes or preferences.”

What of the artists on offer FFA asked; “Alongside Calvin Harris & Frank Turner, who both know how to deliver stunning sets whatever the make-up of the festival crowd, we also have a host of other bands who can deliver a great festival show. Echo & The Bunnymen are past masters at providing a great live set and Feeder will deliver anthem after anthem. Alongside the likes of the excellent Ocean Colour Scene and Subsource we are keen to introduce the audience to the best talent that the North East can provide. There is some immense local talent in this area that we are delighted to introduce to a wider audience. For instance Miles Kane and Little Comets, to name but two, are destined to be huge.”

“We’ve not finalized all the acts yet.” teased Josh, “and I can promise a few more big names to be announced over the next couple of weeks. These will broaden even further the attraction of the festival to all ages and types of music lovers, whatever their preferences….. This area is renowned for having a good time and knowing how to party – and with the current line-up and those acts being finalized we can certainly promise our festival goers a great time.”

FFA will be right there with you guys!  

The Ignition Festival 2011 is held at Newcastle Racecourse over 6th-7th August. Be warned that tickets are selling fast. Full details and availability here:

http://www.festivalsforall.com/festival/ignition-festival-2011