Festival Republic Takes Second Crack At U.S.

The UK’s Festival Republic is taking a second crack at the U.S. festival market by starting a new festival at the Florida Citrus Bowl.

The London-based firm that’s co-owned by LN-Gaiety Holdings, the company set up by Live Nation chief Michael Rapino and Irish promoter Denis Desmond, will stage the so-far unnamed 50,000-capacity event at the college football stadium in Orlando Nov. 11-13.

It’s the second time Festival Republic has tried to enter the U.S. market. The company runs major UK festivals including Reading, Leeds, Latitude and The Big Chill and helps run Glastonbury for Michael Eavis.

In 2007 Festival Republic teamed with Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza producer C3 Presents to produce Vineland Music Festival, a three-day fest on a campsite about 50 miles from Philadelphia.

The inaugural staging of the event in 2008 was pulled, with organizers citing too much competition and traffic in the northeast and big bands touring through the area at the same time.

The new event is a move to bring a major music festival back to Orlando, the type of show that the area saw in the ’70s and ’80s when the venue was known as the Tangerine Bowl, the Citrus Bowl and the Orlando Stadium.

“I have been looking for new opportunities in the U.S. and I am really pleased that this will see the Festival Republic family expand to the U.S. for the first time,” Festival Republic chief Melvin Benn said in a statement announcing the new event.

At press time it wasn’t possible to contact Benn for further comment regarding local partners or the naming of the festival.

For Festival Republic, which also runs Electric Picnic in Ireland and Hove Festival in Norway, it will be the first non-camping festival the company has produced.