A UK and a US festival promoter have announced a partnership to launch a new North American event in Vineland, New Jersey. Festival Republic, behind the UK's Reading, Leeds and Latitude festivals, and C3 Presents, promoters of Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, will launch the Vineland Music Festival next August.
The partnership follows those previously reported comments made by Festival Republic chief Melvin Benn earlier this year when, having sold much of his UK venue empire to concentrate on event and festival production, he indicated an interest in expanding into the US festival market.
Confirming the new venture, C3 partner Charlie Jones told Billboard: "For our company to be involved with an individual who more or less has inspired the American festival movement as we know it today is an honor for us. The European, Melvin Benn festival model is a camping festival and ours are based more on urban green spaces. The goal is to take our model and his model and somehow merge it to where there is a feeling of a European camping festival and an American festival at the same time".
Music wise, Jones added: "Vineland will be rock-oriented but the music will be extremely diversified, with hopes of drawing all different types of people".