Beach Break Live is the student festival set in beautiful Cornwall where 10,000 students (and friends) get the chance to let their hair down in fine style after those dreaded exams. They will enjoy being entertained in the Cornish sunshine by acts including The Zutons, Friendly Fires and Dizzee Rascal among many others. (see line up at the foot of this article).
It is the brainchild of Celia Norowzian and Ian Forshew and takes place DURING THE WEEK!! – giving proof, as if any were needed, that student days really are the best days of your life.
Now blossoming in its third year, it has been an incredible journey for the couple which has seen them slay the dragons in Dragons Den and take part in a fascinating documentary for the BBC.
Celia has very kindly answered a few questions for Gobshout…
Having watched the BBC3 documentary I feel I already know you. It was a brave move to allow the BBC to film you organising that first festival but it was also very enlightening. How do you feel about the documentary now and would you do it all over again?
Definitely! It was an amazing experience to have such an exciting part of our lives documented. The crew were great and we loved having them around. It was a little cringey watching ourselves back though!
There are loads of festivals out there catering for many different tastes, tell us what is special about Beach Breaks Live?
Beach Break Live is the UK's first and only Student festival. This means we bring 10,000 likeminded people together who are all in the same end of term frame of mind. Everyone just wants to blow of some steam, celebrate the end of exams and socialise with their mates in the sun before heading home for the summer. This creates a great atmosphere with the added benefit of a beautiful Cornish Coast backdrop. Plus the beach is right round the corner giving students the option of where to hang out during the day.
Organising a music festival would seem like a dream job for music fans but most people don’t act on it. What convinced you to go for it?
Before Beach Break I started a student festival, called Vale Festival, in Birmingham where I was a student at the time. I loved setting up and working on this festival and decided after graduating I wanted to do something similar. As well as this, festivals provide a great opportunity to bring creativity into your work which is really important to me.
Who decides which bands/artists to book? Are there ever any arguments due to let’s call it – musical differences?!
A few! There’s a range of musical tastes in the office and we often have Myspace battles trying to sway each other’s opinions!
What about the billing, are there ever any arguments about who headlines or plays which slot?
Generally we all agree on this but it is also really influenced by agreements with artist’s agents.
Who out of this years acts are you most looking forward to seeing?
The Noisettes –holding out for them doing the Live Lounge Killers cover! Also Mystery Jets and Ladyhawke.
When did you start organising this year’s festival?
At the end of the last one! Work really kicked off in December though.
How many people work at the festival?
Around 1000 people – including artists, volunteers, bar staff, production, stewards etc etc etc....
Tell us something about organising a festival that most people either don’t consider or take for granted?
I think how much thought and work goes into every tiny detail of the festival, right down to the little things like the lids on the bins to encourage people to recycle to making sure every caterer has fresh water 24/7.
Will you be getting down and dirty camping with the punters or forsaking the campsite for a cosy hotel room?
We’re hoping to meet in the middle in a caravan rather than the production office floor like previous years!
What is your favourite moment since you embarked on organising Beach Break Live?
Back in the first year during Mr Scruff’s set Ian and I got up on the stage to say thank you to everyone who had come. We couldn’t quite believe it had all come together!
Many thanks Celia!
Beach Break Live takes place on 16th to 19th of June.
http://www.beachbreaklive.com/index.php
Line Up
MAIN STAGE: -
DIZZEE RASCAL/ THE ZUTONS/ MYSTERY JETS/ FRIENDLY FIRES/ LADYHAWKE/ HADOUKEN / NOISETTES/ DAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP / THE WHIP/ CUBAN BROTHERS/ WILL AND THE PEOPLE / RED LIGHT COMPANY/ EBONY BONES/ DAN BLACK/ VV BROWN/ ESSER/ DELPHIC/ OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT / FLASHGUNS/ ZARIF/ RODNEY BRANNIGAN/ ALESSI’S ARK/ OU EST LE SWIMMING POOL?/ THE HITCHCOCK RULES/ VICES/ YEARNER BABIES/ 8 FOLD/ SPIRES/ THREE SEEDS IN PARIS/ ROKHSAN/ FRE3 PEACE/ THE DIRTY DISCO
DANCE STAGE
CHASE & STATUS FT. RAGE, TAKURA AND PLAN B/ DJ YODA/ SCRATCH PERVERTS/ KRAFTY KUTS/ CASPA & RUSKO/ TAYO / COUNT & SINDEN/ CRAZE AND KLEVER/ FREESTYLERS (DJ SET)/ JACK BEATS/ THE NEXTMEN / DEEKLINE / DYNAMITE MC/ MC WREC/ URBAN KNIGHTS/ RADIOACTIVE MAN/ UTAH JAZZ/ TRG/ MARC ROBERTS / DEKKER AND JOHAN
Posted In Features, May 04 2009.
Words - Thomas