Tennent's Vital

Tennent's Vital
Genre Indie rock, pop, Hip hop
Dates Mid-Late August
Location(s) Belfast / Bangor
Years active 2002–2007, 2011–present
Website
Tennentsvital.com

Tennent's Vital is an annual music festival in Northern Ireland. It was first held near Botanic Gardens in 2002 then later moved to Ormeau Park in 2007, both of these venues were in Belfast. The festival had taken a noticeable undesired hiatus between 2008–2010 and is to return in August 2011 at Ward Park in Bangor due to success of Ward Park as a venue for Snow Patrol's homecoming gig in 2010 which drew in an estimate crowd of 40,000. Sponsored by C&C Group plc and MCD Productions it has been confirmed that the festival is set to return in 2012 and 2013.[1] Notable headliners throughout the years have included Kasabian, The Killers, Snow Patrol, Kaiser Chiefs, Kings of Leon, Franz Ferdinand, The White Stripes, Ash, The Streets, Primal Scream and Eminem.

Tennent's Vital 03 Tennent's Vital 04 Tennent's Vital 05 Tennent's Vital 06 Tennent's Vital 07 Tennent's Vital 11 Tennent's Vital 12

Headliners included:

Headliners included:

Headliners included:

Headliners included:

Headliners included:

Headliners included:

Headliners included:

History

2014

On 21 March 2014 Tennents Vital released an official statement confirming the festival would return in summer 2014. On 25 March, organisers confired via their official website, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat that The Killers would headline the first day of the festival supported by Bastille. This will be The Killer's second time headlining the event following a headlining set in 2007, while Bastille are making their Tennents Vital debut this year.

The festival will return to a two-day event on 21 and 24 August. The presale for the festival's "followers" began on 29 March, with a password being released via Facebook. Tickets for the first date were sent to general release on 31 March, at a price of £49.50. Despite previous rumours that the festival would return to Bangor's Ward Park, the 2014 event will be held in Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast for the third time. Around 20,000 tickets became available for each day. On 27 April, Tennents Vital announced that the second day of the event would be announced within 24 hours. However on 28 April, Ticketmaster Ireland accidentally released the event to their page before quickly deleting it again ahead of the official announcement. It was confirmed that David Guetta would headline a second day on 24 August, supported by Steve Angello with Shimmons stating, "We’re thrilled to announce a huge dance act for Tennent’s Vital 2014 - we got such a fantastic response from Tennent’s Vital fans when we introduced a dance night last year, we had to do it again for 2014 / David Guetta and Steve Angello are two of the biggest acts in the world and we’re delighted that our partners MCD have managed to secure them to play Tennent’s Vital over the bank holiday weekend on Sunday, August 24 / We’re thrilled to be able to bring some of the finest global talent to Belfast for Tennent’s Vital and with acts like David Guetta, Steve Angello as well as The Killers and Bastille on the bill, this year’s festival is sure to be pretty incredible."[2] Following this it was revealed on the 4th August that Klangkarussell and Robin Schulz will appear alongside headliner David Guetta and Steve Angello on Sunday 24th August. The 2014 event marks the first time the festival hasn't been held on consecutive days. Tickets for the second day are priced at £44.50, with a pre-sale being held on 30 April and general sale commencing on 2 May. More support acts are expected to be confirmed by June.

21 August 24 August

Headliners

Confirmed Support

Headliners

Confirmed Support

2013

On 9 April, Vital officially announced its return, playing at the Boucher Road Playing fields again. The first act announced were Kings Of Leon, and on 11 June The Vaccines were announced as the main support act for the first day. On 13 May, Snow Patrol were announced along with singer/songwriter Foy Vance and Irish upstarts Kodaline, the following the Jason Mraz was added to the bill. On 11 June, Vital announced its first ever 3 day festival, with Avicii, Tinie Tempah, Rudemental and Tommy Trash playing on the 3rd day.

14 August 15 August 16 August

Headliners

  • Kings Of Leon

Confirmed Support

Confirmed

Confirmed Support

Confirmed

Confirmed Support

2012

On 8 February, Vital announced that they would be running "Tennent's Untapped", a platform to give rising bands an opportunity to make themselves known, with the winners securing a set on the Main Stage of the 2012 Vital concert. On 5 March, Tennents Vital confirmed via Facebook that the lineup for its 2012 concert would be revealed live on Tuesday 20 March at its live launch party at a secret location, and also via its official website. On 16 March via their official Facebook page, Tennents Vital announced that the venue for the 2012 concert had been moved from Ward Park Bangor, to Boucher Playing Fields, Belfast. On 20 March, The Stone Roses and Florence and the Machine were confirmed to be playing Wednesday 22 August, as confirmed via the official Tennents Vital Facebook page. The Foo Fighters and the Black Keys were also announced through MCD's official site. The Stone Roses leaked their announcement early via their Twitter page.

21 August 22 August

Headliners

Confirmed Support

Confirmed

Confirmed Support

2011

BBC News reported that MCD Productions paid previous debt in April while requesting for permission for future events at Ormeau Park suggesting a strong possibility that Tennent's Vital would be back.[3] This previous debt was due to gaining permissions to hold the concerts in 2010.

It was later announced on 12 May 2011 that Tennent's Vital will be held on 23 and 24 August in Ward Park, Bangor despite rumours of it being held in Ormeau Park. The official line up is due to be announced on Wednesday 25 May.[1]

An advertising campaign began immediately. Power hosed advertisements appeared outside University of Ulster Belfast and Queen's University Belfast while Translink Metro services where used for regular advertisements with online banners on selected music related websites. On 25 May Eminem was formally announced to headline on 24 August.[4] The remainder of the line up; both for support and the other day have yet to be announced. Script and Two Door Cinema Club were confirmed as headliners for Day 1 of Tennents Vital(23 August). On 16 June, Vital confirmed on Facebook that Ellie Goulding and The Wombats will also be on the bill of Day 1.

23 August 24 August

Headliners

Confirmed Support

Confirmed

Confirmed Support

2007

Moving Tennent's Vital to Ormeau Park allowed for the event to grow. Razorlight headlined the main stage on Tuesday 21 August while The Killers headlined on Wednesday 22nd. There was a combined audience of 45,000 across two days.[5] BBC Northern Ireland featured the events live on air. The weather during the festival was fitting and there was no reports of serious crime except noise pollution calls within the nearby student housing area after the festival ended.

Tuesday 21 August Wednesday 22 August

Radio 1 Stage

Radio 1 Stage

2006

2005

2004

The Main Stage in 2004

2003

2002

2002 was the first year of Tennents Vital and was located nearby Queens University Belfast's PEC centre beside Belfast Botanic Gardens.

Organisation

Since its conception in 2002 the festival has been organised by MCD Productions and sponsored by C&C Group's Tennents cider brand. With the exception of technical and security staff, there are voluntary opportunities for most positions at Tennents Vital. Stewards are organised by charity Oxfam, which receives a donation in return for their work. Catering, and some retail services, are provided by various small companies, typically mobile catering vans. Significant logistical operations take place to bring people into the festival by public transport each year. In addition to extensive private coach hire by festival goers, Translink implements additional bus and rail services to meet the increased demand.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Belfast Telegraph Online
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ BBC News
  4. ↑ Belfast Telegraph
  5. ↑ Virtual Festivals
  6. ↑ efestivals.co.uk