Jersey Live Report

Jersey Live festival goers

Global Dance act Basement Jaxx are one of the headliners for this years Jersey Live  and the organisers feel they have raised the bar yet again by bringing the group over for the festival this September.

Co-Director Warren Le Sueur says Jersey Live has also been listed as one of the best festivals to go to this year.

He told BBC Jersey: “We have been put in the top 30 festivals to visit within the NME festival guide which comes as a surprise, but I think it engages the work we’ve been doing to get on these festival radars if you like.

“The Independent and The Times, they’re publishing things all the time. We’ve just got into the Times top 100 to visit of UK festivals.

“We’re really happy that we’re getting a good name for ourselves in the UK but we’d really like to get onto the international market now and start spreading our wings.”

The Prodigy at Jersey Live 2008

That is exactly what the organisers are doing now. They’ve teamed up with the French equivalent of the NME, Les InRocks, and will be trying to get more European visitors over for Jersey Live.

Warren Le Sueur explained: “We’ve never really entered the French market but we’ve just created a partnership with this French magazine. We’re really pleased we’ve been able to forge this link.

“The magazine themselves think it is great that they’ve been able to spread their wings a little bit and enter the Channel Islands.

“We’ve been hooking up with lots of French festival like your Trans Musical, Route de Rock and we’ve just been to one called Printemps de Bourges.

“We’ve been invited again by the French Euro Export Office which is basically where they want to push a lot of French acts.

“We’ll be doing something with Les InRocks where we will be promoting French artists at the festival this year.”

The Zutons at Jersey Live 2008

One of the questions we’re asked the most about Jersey Live is whether there will be camping or not.  Warren explained that they are still trying to get camping at the festival, initially for visitors to the island.

He said: “We’ve got proposals on the table, working closely with all the authorities and that is the stage that it is at the moment.

“We’ve identified an area, it is just very 50/50 but we feel really positive with our application. We’ve done everything by the book if you like, the event safety guide. We hope we can make it a great addition to a great festival.”

Warren also hopes that the weak pound will also bring European visitors over to the festival.

“If they’re going to do it and they’re going to experiment, get out of their own territory then this is the year when we’ve got to get ourselves on the radar and give them an offering that they might want to come and taste.

“This is the year we believe, with the help of all the local authorities. Even the likes of Economic Development and Tourism, if everyone can pull together and really embrace what we’re doing then yeah we believe we can attract a lot more people.”

Jersey Live festival goers

He also believes that there will be a lot of people from the UK who won’t be going over to European festivals this year because of the weak pound but they might be coming here instead.

So organisers are hoping this will be the biggest and best Jersey Live yet. Warren said: “We learn each year, we learn how to approach agents, how to deal with agents, how to deal with managers. Bands are coming to us.

“We are speaking with our new contact in France where we are getting tips from bigger French agents on how is going to be big on the European side of things.

“We are really well positioned now where we can offer UK influence and French influence and bridge that gap if you like. You either go to UK festivals or you go to European festivals. We can become a bit of both.”