George Kyle, Head of Sponsorship at T In The Park, on the Festival's 20 years

Over one hundred artists spread over three days and seven stages, an average of 80,000 ticket-holders per day and a small city that popped out in the middle of nowhere. T In the Park is in proportion the f5th most visited festival in the world and this year is its 20th anniversary. The festival decided to celebrate creating a very eclectic lineup: from bands like Munford and Sons, the Editors and the Killers to pop stars with Rihanna and Calvin Harris and then cult bands like Kraftwerk and My Bloody Valentine.
George Kyle, the Head of Sponsorships of the historic festival spoke to Rockol about it: “The 20th anniversary? It’s probably a bigger deal for us than for the audience that comes to the festival. T In The Park for us is the cherry on the cake. In 1986 we started to develop a project that could link our brand [Tennent’s Lager] to music and so we created Tennent’s Live. In the following 8 years we organized over 2,500 concerts, from a remote pub on the island of Skye to large events in major UK cities with international artists. It cost us 2 and half million pounds but it was worth it. Our goal was that of making something happen and – musically speaking – something has happened. In the 90’s in the UK there were essentially only two festivals, Reading and Glastonbury. At that stage we wondered if it made sense to organize one in Scotland as well.”
This was not an easy thing to plan for various reasons: “Many were perplexed because of the weather, but even more they were doubting the willingness for the Scottish public to attend outdoors events and the willingness of artists to take part in such an initiative. For Tennent’s Live we had worked with DF concerts and had established a strong relationship so it came natural to partner with them for the event. After 10 months of work in 1992 we had our first edition in Strathclyde Park, just outside of Glasgow. The headliners were Cypress Hill and Rage Against the Machine. With 17,000 ticket holders, the event had a big effect both on the public and the media and T In The Park was effectively born. This was the first example of a festival created through a program conceived by a brand. Then came V Festival [a Virgin event], but the original model is ours. Compared to where we started a lot has changed especially in terms of the organization and the scale. But one thing has stayed the same: the public’s participation. With an average age of 22, what makes T In The Park special is the spirit of the people that come to the event. Artists that play here are unanimous in recognizing the warmth of the Scottish public. I’ve been to Glastonbury last month: it’s an exceptional event but the public is much colder than ours. Here there’s a real hunger for concerts: the public feeds the artists and vice-versa. It’s a purely Scottish attitude.”
Organizing an event of this scale during a period of economic uncertainty is definitely a risk: is it worth it for your investors to dedicate funds to the live music industry? Kyle answers: “Yes, without a doubt. In times of crisis people choose events they trust. For many of the kids here at T In The Park today this event is the highlight of their year. There are people that make sacrifices for the whole year in order to buy a ticket and put a lot of thought into making that choice. Because when money’s tight, we’re more likely to spend it on things that we really appreciate.”