Latest news with #musicfestivals
WebMD
14-07-2025
- Health
- WebMD
How I Keep My Psoriasis in Check All Summer Long
We are halfway through the year, and summer has arrived. People are traveling, kids are getting out of school, and the temperature continues rising. A big part of the effects of psoriasis you face depend on where you are and the unique seasons where you call home. In previous articles, I've shared how brutally cold the Chicago winters can be. I've also opened up about how my deployment to the Middle East did my skin wonders as well. On deployment, although there was plenty of sun to go around, it probably wasn't best to always be out doing construction on job sites. However, for those 11 months I was out of the country, in those hot, dry environments, my skin was 90% healthy without issue. Gearing Up for Summer As I gear up for this summer season, I am currently based out of Washington state, where there hasn't been as much rain as I remembered as a kid. We've already hit 90 degrees, and it was a wake-up call for me. Hot weather with more sun means that I should hydrate more. I carry my reusable water bottles around everywhere with me. In addition to extra hydration being required, it's an ideal time to start regularly applying sunscreen, especially if you're particularly prone to burning or not. Lately, I've been someone who enjoys making lots of plans. A few of the big ones this summer include music festivals, a wedding, and a bachelor's party. Most of the events are outdoors during peak summer months. Spending additional time in the sun leads to a rise in vitamin D levels. For each of these events, the plan is to wear something lightweight and breathable. One of the worst feelings is dressing too warmly and being stuck in drenched clothes for hours. As someone with hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) on top of psoriasis, I plan and pack additional items even for short trips. It never hurts to be over-prepared. In the summer, my skin typically responds well. I don't spend all of my day outside. I make sure to get out there because, to a certain degree, it helps my skin heal itself without having to do much. Since summer can come with lots of on-the-go travel and events, I make sure I exercise, moisturize, and take time to decompress. This summer, I plan on taking more evenings to get outside and enjoy the sunset. It's always been calming for me. Catching the sun on the way down is a good way to unwind without an excessive amount of sun exposure. Managing Triggers and Finding Your Process Stress is one of my biggest triggers. Being prepared for any situation and sorting through adulthood's natural obstacles has been essential to weathering the storms. With everything going on during summer, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. It's important to move with intention, instead of reacting to a variety of situations. If going running, painting pictures, or doing yoga brings you peace, then make one of them a foundation of your daily or weekly routine. The hardest part about psoriasis and life is that you have to fail 100 times before you find yourself in an optimal situation. So trying new foods, experimenting with new creams, or living in different regions helps me understand who I am and how I react to certain things. I'm not the type of person to go out and buy every psoriasis solution on the market. I sample what I can, conduct thorough research, and try more. Once I find what works, I stick to it and remain disciplined. Throughout the many moves I've had since my diagnosis, I've discovered that the generally warmer-temperature climates are more ideal for someone with psoriasis. Winters are everywhere, but some are harsher than others. Summer sunshine is great, but when it gets really hot and humid, it can actually make flare-ups worse instead of helping. Regardless of the states I've lived in, I make sure to be prepared for all seasons, no matter the time of year. Planning for Outdoor Events or Travel Days There are always going to be times when we need to get outside and travel. I always have my backpack filled with a couple of different lotions, sunscreen for the super sunny or outdoorsy days, and extra water. By covering your bases with the essentials and having water or meds handy, you're able to mitigate flare-ups and keep stress levels lower. For active days, it's helpful to have wipes, snacks that don't cause flare-ups, and a hat for hotter situations. On travel days, I always stick to comfortable, loose-fitting clothing. A nice T-shirt, comfortable hoodie, and sweatpants have served me well on long or short travel days. Certain flights are freezing on the plane, so I'd rather be overprepared than underdressed and cold. Even the slightest few hours being underprepared has caused me flare-ups, so I always do what's best for my skin when I can. During outdoor events, it's important to grab some shade and stay hydrated regularly. Let the elements work in your favor. Too much of anything can be a bad thing, and it's the same with sunlight or heat. There is nothing wrong with going in for indoor activities and cooling down regularly. In your go bag, you should always have some type of alternate clothing. Self-Esteem and How to Handle It in The Summers Since it is summer, there are more opportunities to show more skin and dress lighter. For some, especially myself at first, this can be daunting. In winter, it's much easier to disguise and hide my skin insecurities, but summer is different. For my severely exposed areas on my knees and elbows, I do my best to apply extra lotion and psoriasis moisturizer. I can't get rid of the marks completely, but using lots of moisturizers does help conceal the issues I'm facing. Much of my self-esteem comes from the way I feel about myself. During summer, I'm wearing a T-shirt and shorts on most days. If I cover all my bases, eat right, and manage my stress well, then I get to benefit from a manageable appearance. On the other hand, if I fail to hit my checklists in one or several areas, then I'm probably going to feel unconfident and overly self-conscious. If there was one thing I would advise for those with psoriasis, it is to make good habits stick and to learn from any mistakes or misfires when it comes to nutrition, products, clothing, stress, and more. It never hurts to be more self-aware and understanding of how or why we react to certain things.
CBC
12-07-2025
- Health
- CBC
Music festivals focus on harm reduction efforts as B.C.'s toxic drug crisis enters 10th summer
Thousands of people will roll up to music festivals all over B.C. this summer in search of some great tunes, good vibes and a little escape. For some, that may include the use of drugs. "Live music festivals and substance consumption, I think, have gone hand-in-hand for a long time," said Stacey Forrester with the Bass Coast Music Festival. "If we think about my parents' generation and Woodstock, it's not a new phenomenon that people consume alcohol or other drugs at a music event." What has changed, however, is just how toxic illicit drugs can be. That's where people like Forrester, the festival's harm reduction manager, come in. She's been preparing all year for her festival, which is being held this weekend in Merritt, B.C. "It's really important to me that we implement measures and talk about safety to our community throughout the whole year," said Forrester. "It's not just the [harm reduction] tent that keeps you safe, but rather we are helping our patrons build their own skills." Forrester is one of the many festival organizers focusing on harm reduction across the province, as B.C.'s toxic drug crisis persists into its 10th year. In the two months leading up to the festival, Forrester's team has increased messaging around harm reduction and making drug use safer; things like consent and access to water are included in that, but the main focus is on safer consumption. One of the biggest parts of that is drug testing. In 2024, the Bass Coast and Shambhala festivals alone tested more than 4,800 samples. About nine per cent of all drugs tested did not match what the person expected. About 11.3 per cent of samples were unknown — that is, the intended user didn't actually know what it was to begin with. But, Forrester said, just because a drug isn't what someone expected doesn't mean they choose not to take it. "Not all adulterants are necessarily detrimental or unsafe. Some things are cut with things like sugar into the sample, which isn't necessarily a risky sample," she said. "Drug checking is about giving people the informed choice to decide to consume it, to decide to dispose of it, to use less of it, to use more of it." But it's not just about drug testing; Forrester is also educating festival-goers about things like what signs to watch for for an overdose or poisoning and how to reduce the risk of running into trouble. A medical team is on site to provide care if things do take a turn, she said. While Bass Coast and Shambhala are two of the biggest festivals working hard on harm reduction, other festivals around the province are too: Rifflandia, FVDED in the Park and Otherworld are just a few of the many. Even the provincial government is putting out information to protect people. A webpage has been established to remind people about safer drug use, with tips like never using alone, making sure you know where things like first aid and water are, not mixing substances and checking drugs. Forrester said harm reduction at festivals is a "microcosm for how we can show up with each other in the world." "From my harm reduction lens, I am really here to show people that wherever you sit on the use spectrum, whether your drug of choice is alcohol or something else, you deserve to be cared for, and you deserve resources that can keep you and your loved ones safe."
Irish Times
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Music festivals and children: ‘The kids were still going strong at 11pm. I'm on anti-inflammatories'
I have a friend who says when it comes to music festivals and her children, there's a Venn diagram. 'I could never be that parent,' she says. 'The Venn diagram would show us at a festival; them at a festival, but a big empty overlap in the middle: never us and them at a festival together.' This makes total sense. Music festivals are loud and crowded, there's camping, mud, rain, sun, booze, broken sleep, queuing, expensive food and increasingly unspeakable toilets – why on earth would you bring your kids? Music festivals are better when you're not responsible for someone else's fun. Go with friends, and you don't need to accompany them to the toilet, or praise their endeavours therein. You don't have to pack snacks, manage naps or (generally) put up with their whingeing. Surely the draw of a three-day music festival is having no responsibilities? Apart from the big acts, that's kind of what you pay for – admission to this liminal space where for three whole days, you can live without routines, lose track of time, step out of roles and unyoke from responsibilities. You get to drink pints in fields with your mates; have long, uninterrupted conversations; roam between the stages and your biggest decision is who to see next. READ MORE Yes, kids at music festivals are all wrong – except at Kaleidoscope, that is, a family music festival, where the kids are all right. Kaleidoscope. Photograph: Anamaria Meiu This festival, staged at Russborough House in Co Wicklow last weekend, has been going since 2019. Billed variously as 'Ireland's favourite family music festival' and 'Ireland's favourite family music camping festival', it's fun and a bit of a mash-up. Just don't expect Glastonbury or Electric Picnic. This looks like a music festival, it sounds like one, and it certainly smells like one, but this time, you're carrying nappy sacks and Calpol. The vibe is relaxed and family-oriented – but hip and edgy it's not. If you were a hardcore music festival aficionado before kids and are still chasing the dragon, you might just hate it. Others here, less haunted by their past, will probably have a better time. Maybe they've never been to a music festival before. At Kaleidoscope they can cosplay with their kids going to one. For others Kaleidoscope is a straight-up camping festival. They've come with 15 other families. Their friends are in neighbouring tents, and their neighbours are in neighbouring tents, and they will spend two-thirds of their time in the campsite, cooking. They will make a night-time foray to the main stage for the headliner, convening with their tween and teen kids who have had the glorious freedom to roam all day. I can see by my nine-year-old's face that there's something pretty new and thrilling about this for him too My husband and I are fresh from Glastonbury. And by that I mean, we ordered takeaways and watched the highlights on BBC from the sofa, as we've done every year since having kids. We used to go to music festivals, but that life seems far in the past, and far in the future. Kaleidoscope is our first festival since having children, and our first time camping with them. Arriving at the festival site at about 6pm on a rainy Friday, we're grateful for the comfort of a pre-pitched Yippee boutique glamping tent, complete with air mattresses and hotel bedding. This is cheating. We can just drop our stuff and head into the main stage. Hermitage Green plays soon, but eight and nine year-olds only have eyes for the fun fair, which dominates the main field – we're suckered in by 'the world's biggest bouncy castle'. It's €5 per child for a 10-minute bounce. That's €1 a minute for two kids. You'll get no financial lessons here, mind – they thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we returned three times over the weekend. The Zozimus tent bings proper festival nostalgia. It's a big, dark tent with a glitter ball, banging tunes, dry ice – and double buggies too. There's no more beautiful vision of Irish motherhood than a mammy here getting her freak on to Daft Punk. Twin toddlers in snug onesies stare up from their buggy, agog at what's come over her. Dad looks on admiringly, sipping a beer. There's joy right there, and triumph too among parents – hey, we're at a music festival, and for these minutes at least, no one is crying, no one needs anything. That's enough some days. You'll find no surge towards the main stage here, no mosh, but there's dancing and communing over great music. Kaleidoscope 2025. Photograph: Anamaria Meiu I can see by my nine-year-old's face that there's something pretty new and thrilling about this for him too. The silent disco with the kids is also a hoot. It's wet outside and there's a gale blowing, so we head back to the camp site via the 'Ickle Big Top' – the Minecraft movie is playing to a packed house of children in coats sitting on mats and in camp chairs. It's like the nation's sittingroom where mostly mothers dart in and out at intervals to check their offspring, whisper-shouting: 'Are you warm enough?' 'Do you need a pee?' 'Do you want your water?' Returning to their camp chairs, which mark the tent's exits, they sit in the drizzle drinking beer, chatting with other parents to the strains of Steve's Lava Chicken. It's 5am, and I'm woken by a man with a low, gravelly voice: 'Do you need a wee-wee?' This voice is not my husband's. The man's entreaty is gentle, but has a slightly pleading insistence to it. 'Do you need a wee-wee?' he repeats. Who is this man? Why is he in my tent, why is he asking if I need a wee-wee? 'Daddy's going, and Seán is going, do you want to come with us?' This is coming from the tent next door, I realise. With a sheet of canvas between us, I'm reminded that when camping, a neighbour's plight becomes yours. Whatever about his daughter, next-door-daddy has done a number on me: do I need a wee-wee? A 'just-in-case' one? And so the day begins. Early. There are clean, hot showers in the glamping area too, and a Pamper Tent, complete with mirrors, hair dryers and hair straighteners. At a family festival, these go unused and unplugged. Instead, there are dads sitting sentinel as teens' devices charge, mums are boiling kettles for their daughters' hot water bottles. I wouldn't be surprised to see a chicken cooking in an air fryer here. The Hunt kids try out Porridge Party at Kaleidoscope There's about 20,000 weekend attendees at the festival, organisers say, 1,000 of them are in campervans. Some pitch tents as big as bungalows. It's a damp and cool morning, so we make for a 10am Porridge Party to warm us up. Is free porridge a problem for the Portaloos? By Saturday night, the system is under strain, but that's every music festival ever. After porridge, I join a 21-person queue for a €4 cappuccino, chatting to Clare Corrigan from nearby Donard. She and a gang of mums and their kids have come every year since 2019. 'It's all the mums of my daughters' friends,' says Corrigan. 'We get the presale tickets, it's good value.' The mums arrive on Friday morning to pitch their six tents around a central gazebo, then they go home and pick up the kids, she says. 'The dads come after with the beer.' There are 16 in the group, with children aged six to 16. 'They are up there eating pancakes now, happy out,' she says. 'Yesterday, before we went down to the main stage, they all got in one tent and were braiding each other's hair, putting on face paint and glitter, that's what they love doing.' It gets easier as the kids get older, she says. The kids have more freedom to roam and can help with camping logistics. 'It's safe for kids. That's the whole thing.' A bearded man in shorts with a tattooed calf limps past in the drizzle. He's walking from the Portaloos back to the campsite, a crutch in one hand, a pink plastic potty in the other. Conor Roe from Artane is here with his wife, Laura, and three kids, Isaac (8), Kayla (6) and Lilly (3). It's their first time at Kaleidoscope. 'We're camping with friends – they have all been here several times and they convinced us this year to come,' says Conor. This dad is in pain. 'I woke up on Wednesday and it looks like I have a bulging disk. I have awful pain down through my left leg, but I couldn't not go, the kids were so hyped up. It's their first time.' They saw Ocean Colour Scene on the main stage last night. 'The kids were going strong until 11pm,' he says. 'I'm getting through this on painkillers and anti-inflammatories.' There are examples of epic parenting everywhere. Parents are doing it for the kids. And to be fair to them, the kids are doing this for the parents too. Spend your day at the funfair here and the cost can rack up, but the Wonderland area of the festival has lots of free activities, a respite from sensory overload. We spend an hour at the excellent Fighting Words creative writing workshop where a solid crew of about 40 kids is expertly facilitated. Heads down, pencils twitching with ideas, they are in total flow. Joanne Hunt and her family at Kaleidoscope Throughout the weekend there are experiments with Mark, the Science Guy, a chance to pilot robots with Munster Technological University and a reptile rendezvous. The Sports Field is a big draw for our kids, too, where on a pitch edged with straw bales, a rolling football match runs all weekend. Like a kind of neighbourhood game from the 1980s, players aged four to 14 drop in and out all day. Old-school fun. Nearby, School Fitness Ireland holds hurdles, boxing and dance competitions. For the sack race, the dads don't need to be asked twice to compete. Anyone for the mums' sack race? Anyone who has given birth will know that this can be a risky business. A urogynaecologist could have cleaned up here. Dads taking part in the sack race By the time Jerry Fish is on the main stage, with circus performers adding visual spectacle for the kids, the sun is shining and warm. Before Texas headlines later, we head to the campsite for some downtime. The kids loll in the tent with the iPad and sort out football cards. For the sleep-loving, schedule-abiding parents we have become, this return to festivals is going pretty well. Sitting outside on camp chairs in the warm evening sun with a ham, cheese and crisp sandwich and a beer, and the Riptide Movement playing in the distance, it's all working out. We head back to the main stage for the Saturday headliner. Beside us, Des McCarthy from Bandon deftly unpacks miniature camping chairs for his children, Evie (5) and Ruairí (3), and serves them a takeaway pizza. With the kids occupied, he starts assembling chairs with complicated telescopic parts for himself and wife, Danielle, who is getting more food. Indeed, everywhere you look, there are women getting things, holding things – wipes, water, sun cream, snacks, nappies, babies, beer. The men are doing it too. With the reflexes of a cat, or a multitasking parent at a music festival, McCarthy dives to rescue the pizza box, just before it slides off Evie's knees on to the grass. Sharleen Spiteri delivers her stonking set, to a chilled-out audience on picnic blankets and camping chairs. 'It's our first time coming, it's very good. It's brilliant,' says McCarthy. 'The kids love it. I think there is enough going on that has their interest.' He hasn't been to a music festival since becoming a dad. 'Just now, we are beginning to venture out in the world again,' he says. 'It's a bit scary, but it's good.' Family-friendly festivals Fancy a family-friendly music festival? Some this year are already sold-out, but there's always next year, and your kids will be a year older. Forest Fest: Franz Ferdinand. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Forest Fest Emo Village, Co Laois July 25th-27th, tickets available Who's playing Franz Ferdinard, Manic Street Preachers, Travis Why go? Music and arts festival, intimate setting, craft beers. Kids circus skills workshop and Viking house excavation. Kids under 12 go free, single parent family pricing options. All Together Now: Fontaines DC. Photograph: Tom Honan All Together Now Curraghmore Estate, Waterford Dates Thursday 31 July – Sunday 3 August Who's playing Nelly Furtado, Fontaines DC, CMAT, London Grammar Why go? Boutique festival fusing music, art and food in a glorious setting. Two children aged 12 and under attend free of charge, accompanied by a parent with a family ticket. Dedicated family campsite. Tickets for 2026 on sale now. Chappell Roan Electric Picnic Stradbally Hall, Laois Friday 29th-Sunday 31st, August SOLD OUT Who's playing : Kings of Leon, Hozier, Sam Fender, Fatboy Slim, Chappell Roan Why go? Ireland's biggest and one of the longest running music festivals. Dedicated family campsite for children under 12, limited to two children per adult. Tickets for 2026 available spring 2026 Night and Day Festival. Photograph: Marek Petrovic Night and Day Festival Lough Key Forest Park May 29th-June 1st, 2026, tickets on sale now Why go? Dance workshops, circus skills, foraging for kids. Children 14 and under go free when accompanied by a ticket-holding guardian.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘80s metal band cancels shows so lead singer can have emergency surgery
Saxon have canceled ten summer gigs as lead singer, Biff Byford, 'undergoes an emergency procedure.' The legendary British metal band announced 'the immediate cancellation/postponement of 10 shows across a six-week period' on Facebook Monday, June 30. Among these shows include Saxon's performances Wacken Open Air, Pol'And' Rock, Summer Breeze, Ekenäs, Area 53 and Öland Rock festivals. 'Saxon were so looking forward to performing at all the below Summer festivals and events, but the health and wellbeing of the band obviously has to come first,' a spokesperson for Saxon's management company said. 'It goes without saying that all in Saxon are gutted that they will be unable to perform but look forward to hopefully being back on stage in time to play both Trutnoff Open Air Festival in Czech Republic on August 23rd and Neuborn Open Air on August 29th. The band are also very much looking forward to their upcoming tours of both Spain, France and the UK later this year too.' Saxon are still expected to several European shows from July 12 to Aug. 16. 'Saxon are sorry for any inconvenience caused to fans and ask for everyone's patience and understanding at this time,' the band wrote. 'The band are currently working with all the promoters of the above events to see as to whether any of these shows and appearances can be rescheduled.' Details of any other rescheduled shows will be announced on Saxon's website. Formed in Barnsley, England in 1975, Saxon is considered one of the leaders of the new wave of British heavy metal. The band established itself as one Europe's most successful metal acts in the 1980s, racking up eight UK Top 40 albums, four UK Top 10 albums and two Top 5 albums. Some of the band's biggest hits on the UK Singles Chart are '747 (Strangers in the Night)' 'And the Bands Played On' and 'Never Surrender.' Saxon has sold more than 23 million records worldwide. Rock and roll hall of fame legends reunite with original lead singer for new tour '90s country star says what she had to 'let go of' after coming out as gay Rock icon apologizes for using racial slur in X post: 'I do not discriminate' White Lion Brewing of Springfield to open 'Pridelands on Mane Street,' a container bar Support surges for country music legend who suffered stroke on stage Read the original article on MassLive.
Telegraph
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
I covered live music for the BBC. Here's how to fix its disastrous Glastonbury coverage
As the dust still settles on Somerset, it is looking likely that Glastonbury 2025 will be remembered less for sunshine, champagne-swilling celebs or even for stellar sets than for another cack-handed attempt at censorship by the BBC. Is that really fair? Well… BBC bosses, always so desperate to signal that their fingers are firmly on the pulse of popular culture and the latest cutting edge technology, literally took their eyes off the box. Instead, they were gazing at live-streaming. It's the future. Or it was. Because with it the BBC forgot its role – to provide public service broadcasting. To select what to show and programme it accordingly for the enjoyment of their TV and radio audiences. It lost control. Music festivals are bound to be an absolute minefield for the BBC. They are not strictly structured and controlled like, say, a football tournament. Imagine if a player on the pitch at the World Cup was wired for sound. You couldn't control their language. You couldn't edit out the rude bits, stop matches or choose not to show them altogether. You can't control front musicians with mics, and egos bigger than that of the entire baying crowd, either. I'm thinking of Snoop Dogg on the Pyramid Stage one afternoon at Glasto, clutching his crotch while rapping that women are asking to be f---d and demanding: 'What's my motherf---ing name?' You can't tame them. And you shouldn't try. Bands shouldn't fear having their collar felt when they're in full flow because of an off remark between songs. I'm not talking about mouthing off at a mob and inciting to kill by the way. Glastonbury has always been billed as celebrating counter-culture and promoting protest and provocation. But then the BBC gets involved with its remit to reflect popular culture, desperate to get down with the kids and yet to comply with the law of the land. On top of the BBC Charter, Ofcom, the BBC Board, its own editorial guidelines and compliance policy, and the court of public opinion constantly on its back. What are the dozens of Auntie execs on site supposed to do? How about spending less time being starstruck in the VIP hospitality tent? Get out into where the music, and possible trouble, is being made. The BBC's role and responsibility is not to host the freeloaders. It is to be selective. Since 1997, when the BBC took Glastonbury on, this has often left those licence payers on the sofa in front of the set furious if their favourite act doesn't show up in the schedules. The excuse has been time constraints and limited resources. The suspicion is that their heroes were at odds with Auntie's agenda. You know, DEI and all that. But now there's no time restraint on how much or what can be shown and, with the BBC eager to exploit the endless possibilities provided by the latest technology, it has slavishly committed to showing everything from everywhere on site. I was at another festival on Saturday where, backstage, the bands were being given written instructions on how to behave. The organisers, Labour-controlled Coventry city council, (40 of 54 seats) demanded that performers refrained from: using language that may be deemed offensive; making political statements; references to political, religious or other affiliated groups to be categorised as unlawful or hate speech of any kind; or the show could be stopped. One band blurted out: 'It's not like Glastonbury is it, where they tell you to be political and provocative? We refused and got banned for four years.' Another band told me that they fell out of favour at Worthy Farm back in the 1970s when they refused to vocally support nuclear disarmament on stage when Glastonbury was championing and donating to CND. They have only played there once since and that was only when their agent agreed to supply them and Worthy Farm favourites The Worzels as a package. Let's not forget, the BBC does not book these bands. It does not curate the festival. But did nobody at the BBC anticipate that an artist with previous for inciting violence and murder from festival stages might kick off – especially as he was the warm-up act for a band they had already very publicly and controversially banned? Had anyone done their homework? BBC bosses still can't seem to explain why they banned Kneecap – a bunch of blokes from Belfast with their Irish 'rebel' music, one of the boys wearing a tea cosy on his head that his mammy probably knitted for him – and yet they let loose Bob Vylan, two self-styled punks who also had form at recent festivals. Was anybody monitoring the live stream as it went out? Was anybody of the right pay grade around to pull it? Were the production staff all ignorant, incompetent or deviant? We deserve to be told which exec on site on the day and on a six-figure salary was responsible for fulfilling their main responsibility to provide an impartial public service. It's not enough to say: 'The livestream was monitored in line with the agreed compliance protocols and a number of issues were escalated but the editorial team decided not to cut the feed.' Or even to admit: 'That was an error.' The track record of production staff handling live situations has often been a bit hit and miss. My friend who was a very busy BBC head of complaints told me this week: 'Of course it's always easier with a presenter on hand to deal immediately with a situation.' DJ Bruno Brookes and I learnt this very quickly in 1980s Ireland. Another band of angry young men were set on causing mayhem at our Radio 1 Roadshow in Ulster's second city. All the advice we'd been given before we anxiously took to the stage, overlooked by paramilitaries perched on the city walls, was to alternate the name Derry with Londonderry. The bosses were confident that would keep all those sectarians on side, and were very relaxed even when the producer shoved a bloke up from the crowd to be our competition contestant, handed him a mic, and he immediately launched into a rant about the British and their political prisoners, chanting: 'Free The Birmingham Six!' The crowd went wild. And not in a good way. 'Fantastic. You've won, mate. Liz, give him a goody bag. Let's get him off the stage. More fun from Northern Ireland after Rick Astley!' A few years ago a legend of punk was suggested for an 'in conversation' at the 6 Music festival. On stage he was straight into character. Anarchic effing and blinding, and fantastically funny. The audience in the venue were lapping it up as he slagged off his rivals. but particularly when he explained that he had chosen his famous instrument because 'it's an extension of my penis'. All this apparently offended nobody in the room. Except our producer. It was all too rock'n'roll for radio. So it was duly sent off to be considered by the compliance committee. It took nearly a week for a ruling to come back. But it was well worth the wait. 'His penis is fine. That can stay in. But there are to be no f---s under any circumstances.' BBC bosses have now announced that they won't be live-streaming the festival. Ever again. Good. Let Glastonbury do it themselves. As I'm sure Michael Eavis knows, Karl Marx said that 'the workers must have the means of production'. Eavis has certainly got the means. So just dent those multimillion annual profits with a few cameras and a website. Crack on. Then sit back and broadcast whatever you've booked. And you deal with the er…mud… when it hits the fan.
