All’s Well At Summer Well

Although it usually gets about half of the 20,000 crowd that attends B’Estfest, it did all it could for the local market by coming close to its 12,500 capacity.

Last year it sold out a smaller 10,000 capacity. It’s hard to say if Summer Well would have done so well if B’Estfest had happened, or how much either would have suffered from the competition, given that two regular annual outdoor fests is – at the moment – probably the maximum the Romanian market could support.

As legendary Dutch promoter Leon Ramakers, a major shareholder in B’Estfest, can testify, the difficulty with the Romanian market is that it has never really grasped what festivals are about.

Now in its fourth year, the two-dayer at Buftea, outside of Bucharest but near the international airport, takes place on the grounds of an old country estate.

It’s maybe compromised to suit the local view of festivals by not having camping, one aspect of festivals that the Romanian market has particular difficulty in coming to terms with. With help from such sponsors as Orange and Samsung, the Aug. 9-10 Summer Well lineup included Bastille, John Newman, Placebo, The National, and The 1975.