Oasish Set To Rock Glastonbudget

Music festivals. Once upon a time, we couldn't get enough of them. Tens of thousands of tickets would sell out in a matter of hours, and all the best bands would queue up to play.

Fast forward to 2008, and it's a very different picture.

Now, critics dismiss them as over-priced, over-hyped and over-commercial, and that's even before the challenges of the unpredictable British weather.

The fans too seem to be weary of the annual mudbaths and the burgers which cost £5.

In 2007, Glastonbury tickets sold out in less than two hours.

Tickets for this year are still available now - three weeks after they went on sale.

Glastonbudget - absolutely no relation to Glastonbury - is reversing that, having doubled its ticket sales year-on-year since it began in 2005 as the brainchild of Nick Tanner, landlord of The Harrow Inn in Thurmaston, and his old schoolmate Chris Dunn.

"Nick noticed that whenever he had a tribute band on, it drew three times the crowd.

This year's line-up includes many familiar-sounding names - The Kaiser Thiefs, Crowded Out, The Jamm, Let's Zep, and the Ded Hot Chilis.

One of the few acts to have played every Glastonbudget so far is Oasish - the tribute version of a certain well-known Manchester group.

Paul Higginson is the lead singer, Oasish's own Liam Gallagher.

"On the calender of gigs for us, Glastonbudget's one of the top gigs of the year, definetely," he says.

"I think there's only us and two other bands who've been back there every single year since it started, and it's quite a privilege to be asked back every year."

When I suggest to him that there must be dozens of other Oasis tribute bands, he answers with a swagger worthy of the real Liam.

"There's lots of tribute bands that'll do a gig for cheaper than what we would, but if you're gonna pay £30 for a jeans-and-t-shirt band, a £30 jeans-and-t-shirt band are gonna turn up and deliver a £30 jeans-and-t-shirt show.

"That's why Glastonbudget are getting bigger and bigger crowds each year, they're not scrimping on the quality of the bands."

Indeed, ticket sales for this year's festival are 40% up on last year, with fans known to be arriving from as far away as Denmark.

The organisers hope it might even be a sell-out with all 5,000 tickets taken.

"We've never actually broken even," says Nick ruefully. "It would be fantastic if we could do that."

:: The event begins at Turnpost Farm, Wymeswold, Leicestershire on May 23.

Read the full article here, for more information on Oasish visit www.oasish.co.uk

Source: www.news.sky.com