In a Shock announcement today, organisers of Electric Fields have announced that the festival is leaving it’s home at Drumlanrig Castle near Thornhill in Dumfries and Galloway and moving to Glasgow for 2019.
A spokesperson for the festival team stated “Due to the rising costs of producing outdoor camping festivals and ongoing logistical issues they have made the decision to move site to an inner-city location in Glasgow.
In 2019 Electric Fields will relocate to SWG3 in Glasgow with the event going ahead on the same dates (4 – 6 July) including multi stages (outdoors and indoors) Our Kids Electric plus top-quality street food & drink.
SWG3 is located in the popular Finnieston area, with excellent transport links from and around Glasgow and further afield.”
They’re happy to say that the full line-up remains the same at their new venue as well.
Nick Roberts, Festival Director, said: “After spending the past 5 years putting on a quality outdoor music festival we found the rising costs this year have led us to reimagining how Electric Fields takes place for 2019. Although we leave Dumfries & Galloway with a heavy heart our new venue offers a very exciting opportunity for us to flex our creative muscle and put on an outstanding show in the heart of Glasgow. We will have our full line-up joining us, excellent food and drinks and of course tons to do for little ones with Our Kids Electric. We look forward to seeing faces old and new in July.”
Commenting on the announcement that the Electric Fields Festival is moving from the grounds of Drumlanrig Castle to Glasgow, South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth said;
“This is a deeply disappointing decision but one that people have feared may happen in recent months. But needs to act as a wake up call to Government and national agencies that if they want major festivals and events to take place outwith the central belt they need to provide proper support to meet the extra costs this incurs instead of simply pumping millions of pounds every year into festivals in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Festivals and events can’t just be about our big towns and cities, there needs to be a national strategy that focuses on supporting festivals in rural areas.”
Dumfries and Galloway Council Events Champion, Councillor Adam Wilson said,
“This is a huge loss for our region. Electric Fields has been hugely successful over the last few years and our Council has been proud to support them.
We were aware there were concerns over the future of Electric Fields and I was disappointed that support from both the private and public sector nationally could not be secured. I would like to highlight the hard work put in my Nick Roberts as Festival Director and his efforts to try and keep the Festival at Drumlanrig.
The loss of Electric Fields is a timely reminder of the challenges facing our tourism and events sector and the need for Council support going forward.”
