Homecoming Festival is only weeks away

Apr 15 2009 By Michael Pringle

Homecoming Festival

SEVERAL days of warm sunshine in the past few weeks have let us know that spring is in the air and summer is just around the corner and with it comes a plethora of outdoor music festivals.

Admittedly, organisers of a few of the bigger festivals have decided not to run them in the current financial climate and the Loch Lomond Festival and Connect have been two of the big names to bite the dust. Despite the recession and last year’s downturn in ticket sales a new festival will be bucking the trend and heading to Ayrshire. The Homecoming Festival will bring with it over 140 artists to Irvine’s Beach Park on the 2^nd and 3^rd of May.

The organisers of the festival have limited it to a 15,000 capacity for the first year but intend to develop and grow the festival over the next five years. Speaking in his Glasgow office, organiser Grant Ruxton explained: “We saw a strong opportunity in the quality of the site down there. Music in general is strong in Irvine”.

The location of the site played a big part in it being chosen to host the festival and Grant pointed out that the transport links were crucial: “You can get the train in, you’ve got the roads in, and it’s fantastic it’s not like Balado where you’re going to have tens of thousands of people winding round wee roads”.

The festival will be a massive boost to the local economy with the 15,000 festival goers bringing in something of the region of £10m to businesses in the area.

If all goes well then there are plans to expand the festival in future years. Grant said he expects the festival to be here for a few years at least: “If you took that site and put one big stage at the end then it could take 84,000 people. We’ve got a five-year plan in place with the council so we’re looking to grow it”.

Homecoming will be the biggest music festival in the west of Scotland this year and Grant reckons it can only be beneficial for Irvine, he said: “We’re bringing international talent into Irvine for people to see on their doorstep. We’re estimating that between the money we’re putting in and the money people are going to spend while they’re here you’re looking at potentially between eight and ten million pounds.

The Homecoming Festival is at Irvine’s Beach Park on May 2^nd and 3^rd. Among the acts lined up to play are; Reverend and the Makers, Armin van Buuren, Utah Saints and Shades of Rhythm. For more information log onto:  www.homecomingfestival.com.

To watch the video interview with Grant Ruxton click on the camera icon to the right of this story.