Bury St Edmunds Nearly Festival hailed a ‘fantastic’ success as festival-goers rush to snap up 2025 tickets
Music, food, drink and family fun were the hallmarks of a successful tribute act festival held in Bury St Edmunds on Saturday and yesterday.
The Nearly Festival returned to the Abbey Gardens, with organisers desribing the two-day event as ‘fantastic’.
This year’s line-up of tribute acts included Eminem, ABBA, UB40, Queen, Madness, Tina Turner, Adele, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson, Olly Murs and Whitney Houston.
Tickets sold out for Saturday, with Sunday’s event close behind for ticket sales.
Danny Banthorpe, one of the organisers, said: “The weather was kind to us this weekend, although it was not so kind this morning as we’ve been litter picking and doing the last bits to clear the site
“We love it here. Speaking to our customers yesterday, people look forward to the Nearly Festival and put it in their calendars for the next year. We have a really good crowd.”
A QR code for early bird tickets to next year’s festival was screened at the festival yesterday, with lots of people already snapping theirs up, according to Danny.
“The fact we have had so many people buy tickets for next year already, before we’ve even announced the line-up, makes us really proud,” he said.
An estimated 1,600-1,700 people enjoyed this year’s festival.
“It is not a huge event. Everyone brings their chairs and blankets and spreads out, so we set the ticket numbers accordingly and sell it much less than the official capacity,” said Danny, who cites the quality of the music as one of the secrets to the event’s success.
“The music is great. We pick the best tribute acts and bands. We have done nine years here now and the musicians are phenomenal – many of them perform around the country and the quality is so good.
“We have built a great team of volunteers and staff who are passionate and put a lot of effort into their roles. The food is really good and the kid zone is popular.
”This year we had mascots walking around, from Pikachu to Mickey Mouse, and we had a ‘follow the leader’ with Mickey around the arena and there must have been 200 people following him.”
Pre-line up tickets for next year’s Nearly Festival, on June 7 and 8, will go on sale today, with a link to purchase tickets due to be shared on social media this evening.
