Live at the Park 2024: 3000 people and an exciting line-up of bands

Dave Hancock, a director of The Immersive Group, told the Journal that it was time to reflect on the music event now that feedback was coming in.  

He said: “I think it was really good, but we plan to go bigger and better for next year. We will get a bigger space and more well-known bands. I think it went well but we can learn from it. We need to listen to the feedback.

“The weather wasn’t great but that is the one thing we can’t control.”

Live at the Park 2023 (Image: Spencer Mulholland)

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There is already some discussion on the event for 2024 with a particular focus on the date.

Dave said: “There was lots of competition with events that weekend, so we will look carefully at the date we book for next year. We sold 2000 tickets this time but there will be space for 3000 people next year.

“We plan to have more food vendors. We only had three vendors this time and there were queues for up to an hour at times and that’s not good enough. But it’s a difficult balance. Vendors have to make money.”

Dave Hancock

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There were some comments about the need to queue for tokens and having to queue again for the bar.

He said: “We tested this many times. It is still quicker to queue for tokens and then go to the bar. It works.“

Dave admitted that more was needed to entertain younger attendees - perhaps providing a designated zone.  

People at Live at the Park (Image: Spencer Mulholland)

He said: “I think next year we will start to do more for children. We may go for a hybrid version of events so there is more for children to do.”

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The event which took place on Saturday, August 12 had a strong line-up of musical acts which included Black Iris, Brodie Risby, The Helmets, Corellian, HP & The Reggae Sauce, Little Mix Show, One Step Behind, and Fleetingwood Mac. 

Advanced booked tickets cost just £10 rising to £25 on the door. It was £5 for children and those under the age of 12 went in for free.

Dave said: “We would rather sell more advance tickets at £10 because then we know what money we have.  I don’t think it was a bad price. People could see a number of bands and attend an event that lasted most of the day.

Dave added: “Next year, we will do more on the marketing to try to get people to book ahead.”