Last weekend, 63 rock bands participated in the SPIRIT OF WILDFIRE 2: a 3-day-weekend ‘festival-on-radio’ that showcased bands to new audiences, promoted the importance of supporting band web-stores during the non-gig era, and raised money for NHS charities.
This radio festival adventure has been so successful that organizers are eager to organize another, so are currently inviting artists & bands to sign up for the next one and participate.
Spirit of Wildfire 2 was conceived and run by the radio host and amiable rock musicologist GuyB on the new internet radio station Great Music Stories Radio.
With traditional festivals off the menu for 2020 Great Music Stories founder GuyB opted to host a full 3-day festival programme via his radio platform.
Guy sent invitations to bands, managers, and P.R.s. and within just 72 hours 50 bands confirmed interest: this rose to 63 bands, who performed 20 minute sets and gave interviews.
“In the last three months,” explains Guy, “everything has changed and it’s likely the world after COVID-19 won’t be the same as it was before. Many musicians have innovated in recent months with Facebook live and acoustic Zoom sessions. But whilst that’s great, a lot of music fans have missed that full-band live sound and live sets in good audio quality.”
“I suggested to the Wildfire Festival team that Great Music Stories put on a tribute to Wildfire Festival on the weekend it would’ve been due to happen, to give our listeners and Wildfire’s followers an immersive audio experience for the weekend.”
Spirit of Wildfire 2 drew a strong audience, not only from rockers, but also from people new to the genre; additionally, listeners were encouraged to purchase an album from a band over the weekend. The grassroots promotions company ‘Reach 360’ joined the project to run a donations page for NHS charities.
GuyB created Great Music Stories in January 2015 as an audio interview site, focusing on telling the stories of a new generation of British rock.
At the beginning of the lock-down Guy installed a radio platform on the site for weekend broadcasts. Since 2015, Great Music Stories has aired over 850 band hour specials and over 2,000 additional interview shorts, making it arguably the largest archive of recorded interviews on the burgeoning new wave of classic rock scene.
Bands get involved here: https://greatmusicstories.com/the-modern-rock-wellbeing-festival/
Link: https://www.facebook.com/greatmusicstories/
Images: Eric Duvet Photography
RAW RAMP 