ORGANISERS of a festival hit by the national shortage of HGV drivers has praised the work of his crew for putting their ‘heart and soul’ into getting it ready.

Kubix Festival which takes place in Herrington Country Park, Sunderland, is a North East music festival set up by sound engineers, marketers and designers from the region.

The festival has been running since 2018 as a showcase for music fans by music fans.

It had a very successful 2019 showing, however, due to Covid it was cancelled in 2020.

Organisers did not want to disappoint music fans and pulled out all the stops get it up and running.

The Northern Echo: Crowds at Kubix festival Picture: KEVIN STEVENS COAST TO COAST IMAGE WORKS

Firstly, show bosses rescheduled the dates from July to October, as Covid restrictions were still in place and they thought that an event with huge crowds would be better attended later in the year.

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The festival is being split across two different days throughout the week. The first day was Saturday, October 2, and the next day will be Friday, October, 8.

However, in avoiding one problem the organisers came across other difficulties caused by problems out of their control.

To set the festival up for Saturday the crew put in a mammoth shift throughout Friday night and into the next morning, just hours before gates were opening, to make sure it was set up.

The Northern Echo: Crowds at Kubix festival

Much of the equipment came from down south and had to be hauled up by HGVs.

The organisers were hit with every possible problem from fuel shortages, driver shortages, and bad weather.

Fuel shortages hit London and the South East the hardest, making it even more difficult to get the tents to Sunderland.

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Organiser John Brannon said: “We had to fight through driver and fuel shortages. We had to move heaven and earth to get the festival going.

"The staff put their heart and soul into getting it going. We had to get everything done in an 18-hour period which would usually take three days to set up.

“We wanted to get everything set up by Wednesday for the festival on Saturday but due to the issues we ended up setting up on a Friday night going through until Saturday morning.

“We had two big tops which had to be moved from the south coast all the way up to Sunderland.

"Everything that could go wrong with the logistics did, with the shortage of drivers and fuel.

“To make sure the festival went ahead we made sure that we worked overtime.

“The public were incredibly supportive and understanding and turned out in their thousands on the Saturday, I think the Friday gig will be just as well attended.

“I think it shows that this North East team was not going to let anything defeat them, and was not going let people be disappointed.

“We didn’t want to delay this festival another year, it had to happen to help support the local music industry so it was an effort beyond belief.”

The Northern Echo: Crowds enjoying the festival K STEVENS COAST TO COAST IMAGE WORKS

The first night, was aimed for fans of alternative music. Fans of edgy music such as Ska, Goth Rock and Punk/Folk were catered for on Saturday with the likes of Levellers, Peter Hook and the Light, New Model Army, Selecter and Sleeper.

The next Kubix day which will take place on Friday, October 8, is for those more towards mainstream pop and will include Vengaboys, 2 Unlimited, B*Witched, N Trance and East 17.

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