Member Article

Tees Music Alliance announce end of Stockton Weekender

This year’s Stockton Weekender music festival was the last, according to organisers Tees Music Alliance (TMA).

This year’s festival was headlined by Happy Mondays and Public Enemy and saw lower than expected ticket sales.

More than 50k people have attended the event on the Stockton Riverside in the last four years.

TMA reports it has been just 1,500 tickets away from breaking even each year.

TMA director, Paul Burns told The Gazette: “We’ve given Stockton Weekender one heck of a go and it’s given us some fantastic experiences in return. We’ve had some world-famous names but it has also helped to develop local bands like Young Rebel Set and Cattle & Cane, giving them great exposure while their careers took off.

“The sheer scale of the event means that just making it happen is always a challenge in itself. We’re working in an environment of seemingly runaway costs - especially for headline artists, who tend to look towards the live circuit to recoup money they no longer get from record sales.

“For the foreseeable future, costs are going to continue to increase and getting the right acts in place will become harder and harder; which has been the key driver behind our sad decision to call it a day on the festival.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .