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[title]Want to win two VIP tickets to Wide Awake plus a £50 bar tab? Click here to enter!
Festival season is here, which means dancing in the sun, lukewarm cider to hand with your favourite musicians soundtracking. As the sun sets, you’ve watched amazing up-and-coming bands and you’ve got hours ahead of you, watching your dream headliners. But are they all blokes? We’d bloody hope not. Why, in 2023, are we still discussing the lack of women and marginalised genders on bills? This year, Glastonbury entered the chat with a male-heavy selection of headliners and a whole lotta backlash in response. It felt like a step back, considering we’ve been talking about this issue for a while and festivals like Wide Awake have achieved an equal gender split.
Headlined by Caroline Polacheck (it’s her first-ever headline slot), the Brockwell Park festival (happening this year on Saturday May 27) has successfully achieved its aim of achieving a 50/50 split. How? Well, we spoke to co-founder Keith Miller about the process of selecting a line-up.
‘I don’t think we sat down with any set agenda, we want Wide Awake to feel like now; fresh and not completely obvious,’ says Keith on the planning stages of 2023’s festival. ‘We've got loads of exciting new artists who really feel like they’re on the crest of the wave at the moment, like Caroline Polachek, Alex G, Shygirl, Arooj Aftab, and so many acts that are at the top of their game. I think that’s the idea of Wide Awake. You get to see these bands when they’re on the rise. And I think if you see them at that time of their career, they’re more exciting because they’re hungry for it.’
We have got a responsibility to push female acts up the bills where possible
The selection of on-the-rise musicians is something that gives Wide Awake the freedom to select a broader range of talent. In previous iterations, the festival focused primarily on ‘stuff you’d see at The Windmill’ – think Black Midi, Shame and Idles – with previous iterations having a heavy post-punk leaning, fewer electronic acts and not one slither of pop. But this year, the team behind it decided to shed the restriction of genre, so you’ll be voguing to Shygirl’s industrial-hip-hop-meets-experimental-pop rather than headbanging to classic rock bangers of Primal Scream. This shift in tone welcomes a broader range of Londoners – and better reflects the city’s listening habits – while allowing space for those who may otherwise be underrepresented. Keith says, ‘The first three iterations of Wide Awake didn't have a female headliner. So I don't want to stand here and say it's easy to do because we've had three line-ups before where it’s all been male headliners.’
He adds, ‘However, I do think 50/50 is a good place to start. If you aim for that, then you're going to find yourself talking to more female artists from the get-go. Weighing it all down on the headliners is probably wrong because there are fewer female acts available that can sell as many tickets. And it also comes a lot down to availability.’
This year, Caroline Polacheck was available, which in some ways ticked a box for the festival as she has a large, dedicated following that would be willing to pay and see just her at her first headline slot, thus reducing the risk of the festival not selling as many tickets. She’s a unique example, as a lot of the industry-wide debate revolves around bookers prioritising acts that’ll make them money, and sadly most of those are male.
In 2018, Glasto co-organiser Emily Eavis told the BBC, ‘The pool isn't big enough… everyone wants it, everyone's hungry for women, but they're just not there.’ In 2023, when she faced further backlash for a lack of representation, she placed blame on the ‘pipeline’. Stating in the Guardian, ‘We’re trying our best so the pipeline needs to be developed. This starts way back with the record companies, radio. I can shout as loud as I like but we need to get everyone on board.’ It seems to be a self-perpetuating issue whereby women struggle to get a spot on the bill, reducing their exposure and preventing them from moving up. It’s festivals like Wide Awake that are helping to break that cycle.
By giving artists like Shygirl (who’s on just before Caroline), Tirzah, Arooj Aftab and Coucou Chloe, among others, the chance to perform to a large audience, the festival is opening up opportunities for them to be recognised and eventually be booked for bigger slots. As Keith says, ‘We’re not perfect, but we are trying harder. Next year, we’ve got a male headliner booked, but I hope that we can make it a co-headline and find space for a female artist that's pushing up to that level. We have got a responsibility to push female acts up the bills where possible.’
Some promoters have a money-led agenda, but some are happier to play the long game and build something unique, exciting and interesting
It helps, of course, that the public has clocked onto it too. There are think pieces every year on the lack of representation in line-ups, memes swirling around and edited posters showing the lack of female-fronted acts at Reading (for example). Meanwhile, much-loved European festivals like Primavera Sound and regional festival Forwards Bristol are publishing reports that shout about their ability to curate an equal balance between men, women and marginalised genders. It seems a modern audience craves a holistic approach to festival curation, where social impact is considered as heavily as the music itself.
‘Some promoters have a money-led agenda, but some are happier to play the long game and build something unique, exciting and interesting.’ Keith says, ‘And you know, sometimes these things work out, or sometimes they don't last forever, but they were done well with a lot of care and attention. So, it’s a tightrope.’
With this in mind, ticket holders can expect to find a festival that genuinely cares about the all-around experience. It’s not just about making money on bars or through tickets, instead Wide Awake celebrates the community of London’s underground music scene. ‘It’s probably one of the friendliest crowds you’ll encounter.’ Keith says, ‘You can expect to see loads of amazing artists from different genres, and loads of amazing food and drink choices as well.’
He says, ‘I think there’s going to be loads of exciting stuff on the smaller stages as well, where people will be building themselves up ready to play the bigger stages in the next few years. There’s going to be a lot of cool DJs, and just wall-to-wall good music with an eclectic crowd of people from all over London and all different ages.’ With the city’s hunger for a festival that reflects the diversity and insatiable appetite for new and exciting music, Wide Awake feels like the kind of festival London deserves. Will you be front and centre at Caroline, trying to hit the highest notes of ‘Door’? Us too. See you there.
Want to win tickets to Wide Awake?
If you fancy seeing Caroline Polacheck, Shygirl, Alex G and many more on May 27, here’s your chance to go – for free. Enter by filling out the form below and you might just win two VIP tickets to Wide Awake 2023 and a £50 bar tab. The VIP experience includes fast-track entry to the festival, a bespoke bar, exclusive street food concessions, a private sound system and DJs, seating and those all-important luxury loos. You might even spot some of the artists while you’re there. Good luck! Terms and conditions apply.