Three day 'rave' in Wiltshire countryside given go-ahead
Councillors agree to weekend music festival near Erlestoke
Last updated 19th Aug 2022
A weekend 'rave' of electronic dance music in the heart of Wiltshire's countryside can go ahead, despite opposition over it already being publicised as a rave.
The event, at the start of September, will have 'pounding' music until 3am on its main opening night, and again until midnight on the following two nights.
Organisers of the Kaleidoscope Arts Festival, set to be held off Lower Road, just north of Erlestoke, have been given the thumbs-up by members of Wiltshire Council’s eastern area licensing subcommittee.
The festival, which was initially aiming to attract around 1,000 ravers, since revised to 800, will run from Thurs 1st to Monday 5th September.
Wiltshire Council: not keen on it being called a rave
A spokesman for Wiltshire Council said:
“We can confirm that a licence for the Kaleidoscopic Arts and Music Festival has been granted as applied for with one condition regarding noise monitoring."
The council's not overly keen on it being called a rave and has said:
“Please note that this is a festival event and not a rave which has been mentioned in some recent press coverage.”
But the event's website still says:
"...an immersive three day festival in the heart of the Wiltshire countryside, set to a soundtrack of pounding dance music and live performances - 2-5th September 2022 - 800 ravers"
The festival will begin on Thursday September 1 with a special night of music and dancing for people from the local area. It will then open its doors to others on Friday with music until 3am on that night and Saturday and until midnight on Sunday.
Organisers of the festival, Kaleidoscopic Events, based in Yorkshire said:
“We’re very pleased to announce that following the hearing, the council has granted us our full licence. We’d like to thank Wiltshire Council for all their advice given during the planning process for the event."
“Many hours of careful planning and preparation have gone into curating this event and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome some of the UK’s best underground DJs and an array of talented visual artists into the field this September.“
The company addressed the use of the word ‘ravers’:
“We know there’s been some apprehension in the local area surrounding the use of the word ‘rave’ in our marketing, but we use the term ‘raving’ not to evoke connotations of lawless gatherings, but to describe the act of dancing to the genre of music that we love, surrounded by like-minded people."
“We are a fully licensed and ticketed festival, with a site team and security in place. Our ethos is based around building a welcoming, friendly and respectful community and celebrating the true spirit of dance music."
“Having grown up in the area, we noticed a real lack of arts and music events that are directed towards or appeal to young adults. We’re working to create a Wiltshire based community where we can uplift and celebrate both local and UK-wide talent in the creative industries and provide a safe space where all are free to express themselves.”