Martin Elbourne

Martin Elbourne
Martin Elbourne Glastonbury 2010
Born	(1957-01-19)19 January 1957 Carlisle, Cumbria, England, UK
Nationality	English
Citizenship	UK
Occupation	Promoter of The Performing Arts
Years active	1972-present
Known for	Performing Arts promotions, Glastonbury Festival, The Great Escape
Title	Martin Elbourne

Martin Elbourne (born 19 January 1957 in Carlisle, Cumbria) is an English performing arts promoter. Elbourne was brought up near the village of Knebworth, Hertfordshire. His first job, at age fifteen, was working for the local stately home Knebworth House which in the mid-seventies became the biggest venue in the United Kingdom for outdoor shows and hosted bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd.

He is best known as the promoter of rock concerts^[1] and is a well-known figure for his work in music and music festivals in the UK. He has been an advisor to, and one of main bookers for, the Glastonbury Festival^[2] for 30 years and has helped and advised numerous other festivals.

Career

Born on 19 January 1957 in Carlisle, Cumbria, Elbourne grew up in Hertfordshire, north of London.^[3] In 1977, he set up his own political party the Epicurean (ethical hedonist `0` movement) which won the student union elections. One of the election pledges was to open up the student union venue to non-students, leading it to become the main venue in Bristol for punk and post-punk bands. He studied Economics at Bristol University, in South West England earning an Honours B.A.^[4] The main bar at the University is still named after the Epicurean movement.^[5]

He started promoting bands outside of the student union and became involved with the Ashton Court Festival, then the largest free event in the UK, and started going to Glastonbury. Upon leaving university he founded the award-winning Bristol Recorder^[6] a combined vinyl LP compilation and a magazine. This led to his meeting local resident Peter Gabriel.^[7] Elbourne and Gabriel among others ended up funding and co-promoting the first WOMAD^[8] Festival. Whilst critically acclaimed, the resultant financial losses led to Gabriel playing a reformed Genesis Concert and Elbourne relocating to London.^[9]

Elbourne ended up working for Rough Trade as a booking agent. His most famous clients were New Order^[10] and The Smiths.^[11] His relationship with New Order continued until the death of Rob Gretton. He managed various bands including Green on Red, David Rudder,^[12] Gaye Bykers on Acid and gradually became more involved with the Glastonbury festival^[13] ending up as its main booker.

In 2003, Elbourne co-founded The Great Escape Festival, held in Brighton, which has music industry related conferences during the day and features live music in the evenings.^[14]

Sébastien Nasra collaborated with Elbourne and, in 2006, co-founded M for Montreal, a platform for showcasing local musicians and helping them expand their international networks. This is ^[15]

U.K.-based artist manager Stephen Budd, Jon Mac, who co-founded the The Great Escape, Vijay Nair, the managing director of India-based promoters and artist management company Only Much Louder, and Elbourne organized the NH7 Weekender Rock Festival in India in 2010.^[16]

In 2012, the Don Dunstan Foundation in partnership with Adelaide, Australia) City Council, Arts SA, Adelaide Fringe, the Planning, Transport and Infrastructure Department and Regional Development Australia Barossa hired Elbourne to look into reviving the city's live music scene and present a report with his recommendations.^[17][18]

References

External links

• Virtual Festivals.com (2006-01-18) Martin Elbourne interview at virtualfestivals.com
• British Council (2013-07-24) Martin Elbourne profile at britishcouncil.org
• Rock for People (2013-07-24) Martin Elbourne visiting RFP press conference at rockforpeople.com