A new event has been added to the calendar with the launch of the Halo Festival, which organisers hope will become an annual event. How do you start a festival from scratch – and what could it mean for the town that will host it?
For Paul Hamilton, organising a music festival is out of his comfort zone.
He is the founder and chief executive of Suffolk-based software firm Halo, current sponsors of Ipswich Town.
“This is uncharted waters for us as we have never done anything like this before,” he admits.
Hamilton started his tech business 17 years ago from his mother-in-law’s spare room.
It is still based in Stowmarket, where it employs 200 people, but plans to move its global HQ to the iconic Willis building in Ipswich in the summer.
The Vaccines are also on the bill for the festival [Getty Images]
Now Hamilton is planning a festival that will bring acts including Two Door Cinema Club, The Vaccines, Natasha Bedingfield and Scouting for Girls to Trinity Park on the edge of Ipswich on 4 July.
“The team came up with the idea of hosting a music festival,” he says.
“I think they expected me to say, ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Why would a tech firm be getting involved with making a music festival?’
“It was the opposite: I absolutely loved the idea.”
The launch of the festival comes in the same week Ipswich was revealed as one of nine locations in the running to be named City of Culture for 2029.
Hamilton says Halo has been working on the festival for over a year.
“It’s been hard, because artists and agents don’t take you seriously because we are tech company, but we are bold, and we aren’t fearful.
“Whatever we say we are going to do, we do it.”
The company hopes to boost its profile through the festival and eventually wants to go global.
“We are going to start small – a single-day festival for around 10,000 people – and deliver it well. In a few years, we will ramp it up,” says Hamilton.
“We want to build up to multi-day festivals with camping in Suffolk, but with an ambition to do a series of music festivals around the world.”
Hamilton, originally from Caithness in the far north of Scotland, sees the festival as a chance to “give back” to a community he now calls home.
“I moved to Suffolk 17 years ago, and there is so much more to the county than people realise,” he says.
“I always see it as an underdog of Britain, in terms of its people and its talent.”
He says the festival will be affordably priced with some discounts for local people.
“It’s not cheap: the artist costs, the production. This isn’t going to be a profit-making exercise. It’s a chance for us to give back.”
Ed Sheeran is a future “dream headliner” for the Halo Festival [Getty Images]
Attendees will also be offered a discount on next year’s event in case of wet weather, with ticket prices reduced on a sliding scale according to the amount of rainfall recorded.
One millimetre of rain will warrant a 10% discount, with 2.5mm earning 20% off and 5mm a 50% discount.
“Giving back to the community in Suffolk is so important to us. We are in a great position to be able to do this,” says Hamilton.
“The majority of our staff are people from Suffolk, and we wouldn’t be here without the people of Suffolk, so it is a real privilege to give back.”
Hamilton admits he has a dream headliner in mind for a future Halo Festival –someone else with close ties to the county and to Ipswich Town.
“The dream for us, being from Suffolk: Ed Sheeran. There is no-one bigger than Ed for Suffolk, or in the world. To have him headline our festival one day is a dream.”
‘It feels a bit crazy’
As well as big names, the festival will provide a stage for local artists, including Ellena Russell, 22, who is from Diss, Norfolk, and went to college in Ipswich.
She will be performing on the festival’s Suffolk Stage.
“Don’t know how I’m going to deal with a festival this big,” she says.
“It feels a bit crazy. I am really excited, and as soon as I got asked, I was over the moon!
“It’s my biggest gig to date, and hopefully the first of many.”
Russell says that for up-and-coming artists like her, live gigs “are the most important thing in music at the moment”.
She says: “We don’t get paid enough from streaming sites, so the best way to be known is to go out and do gigs.
“Performing is the best part of it. In July, hopefully, the sun will be out, enough to make everyone happy with beers in hand.”
‘It’s great to showcase this town’
Joe Bailey, chief executive of Brighten The Corners, says he is proud to be part of the festival [Qays Najm/BBC]
The Suffolk Stage will be supported by Brighten the Corners, a not-for-profit youth-focused live music organisation that operates three venues, festivals, and education, skills and training programmes in Ipswich.
“This is fantastic news for Ipswich,” says chief executive Joe Bailey.
“It’s brilliant to bring more arts, music and culture into the town and this event looks like it’s going to be huge”
“It will bring different audiences to town and I’m really excited to see how it goes.”
He says the event will also provide great exposure for regional and local talent.
“It’s great to showcase this town, which has so much arts, culture and heritage. I’m so proud to be a part of it.”
‘Ipswich really is changing’
Lee Walker says Ipswich’s City of Culture bid and the Halo festival show the town is changing [Qays Najm/BBC]
Ipswich Central, the town’s Business Improvement District, has been overseeing its City of Culture bid.
It hopes to make the final shortlist of four in September and thinks festivals like this will help.
“It is something that would have felt impossible 12 months ago,” says Lee Walker, chief executive.
“With the news of Halo relocating to Ipswich’s iconic building, to have a music festival of this scale and this size in Ipswich – how fantastic
“It’s a great example of why now is the right time to go for City of Culture, to see moments like this happening.
“It just shows that Ipswich really is changing, and it’s changing using culture as the vehicle to do that.”
‘We have 350 acres, so we can expand’
Trinity Park, which will host the event, says it has enough capacity to accommodate the festival as it grows [Qays Najm/BBC]
The festival will be held at Trinity Park, home of the Suffolk Show.
Graham Thurston, estate manager for Trinity Park Events, says: “We’re excited to be involved.
“We feel it is the biggest music event in Ipswich since the Ed Sheeran concert.
“The economic impact to Ipswich and the surrounding areas is going to be fantastic. Hotels, pubs, shops are all going to benefit from this one event.
“We’re expecting 10,000 this year, but there’s room for more in the future. We have 350 acres, so we can expand.
“It’s fantastic for the town, and this puts it on the map to bigger and better things.”
Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.