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Live Nation Entertainment, Gaiety and SJM have collectively taken a 45% stake in British festival Boomtown Fair, with Live Nation UK & Ireland chair Denis Desmond and chief operating officer Stuart Douglas joining the event\u2019s board.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Companies House filings<\/a> show that Desmond and Douglas joined the board of Boomtown Festival UK and its parent company Circus of Boom<\/a> as directors on July 6.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Live Nation UK & Ireland acquired 18% while fellow promoters Gaiety acquired 18% and SJM acquired 9% to make up the 45% stake.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In a statement to Mixmag<\/a>, a Boomtown representative said: \u201cFor us as a business, our vision has always been very clear, we are a festival like no other \u2013 a full living theatre which is set around friends, community, and creative spirit.<\/p>\n \u201cLike many other businesses in our industry, due to Covid our landscape has changed, and to stay ahead we have had to adapt and be agile. It\u2019s been a very tough few years.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the decisions we came to in the last few months, as a direct result of the rising costs in staging such an epic and complex show, was to seek investment; a minority stake in the business from some of the most experienced names in the industry \u2013 SJM (9%), Gaiety (18%) and Live Nation (18%).<\/p>\n \u201cThis decision will not only allow Boomtown to continue its vision to be one of the most exciting festivals in the world, but it will also ensure the flexibility to continue to uphold independence on all decisions around business and creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n The Hampshire festival was founded by Lak Mitchell and Chris Rutherford, who are both Bristol-based, in 2009. Boomtown was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and received a \u00a3991,000 Cultural Recovery Fund grant from the UK Government.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n More than 70,000 attended the most recent event, which ran between August 10 and 14.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n TheTicketingBusiness.com<\/a> has contacted Boomtown for comment but has not yet received a statement at the time of writing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Image: Sam Warrenger | TheFestivals<\/a>\/CC BY 4.0<\/a>\/Edited for size<\/p>\n<\/div>\n