Ireland

Music promoter and festival organiser Vince Power dies at 76

Waterford native established Mean Fiddler group which play key role promoting Reading and Leeds music festivals

Vince Power, the man behind one of north London’s music venues, The Mean Fiddler in Harlesden. Photograph: Chris Egan

Carl O'Brien
Sarah Slater
Sun Mar 10 2024 - 21:27

Vince Power, the Waterford-born music promoter who was involved in events such as the Reading and Leeds music festivals, Glastonbury and the London Fleadh, has died. He was 76.

A native of Kilmacthomas, he moved to London aged 15 and worked in a range of jobs before going on to establish the Mean Fiddler venue and events group in the early 1980s.

The group took control of the Reading Festival at the end of the 1980s, beginning a move into a range of other music events such as Leeds, Phoenix Festival and Hop Farm Music Festival among many others.

While his main music industry involvement was in the UK, Power staged the Fleadh Mór event at Tramore Racecourse in Waterford in 1993 which featured Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Joan Baez and Van Morrison among the headliners.

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In April 2005, the group accepted a takeover bid from a company owned by Live Nation UK and Irish event organiser MCD.

In 2006, the Mean Fiddler group reduced its touring and promotion activities to concentrate on running festivals, maintaining control of the Reading and Leeds festivals and announced a new addition, Latitude Festival.

In 2007, the group was sold, along with several venues, to Mama Group Plc. Power was appointed a CBE by Queen Elizabeth in 2006.

Music industry figures paid tribute to Power on social media on Sunday, with promoter Aidan Shortall describing him as a “maverick, a pioneer, a risk-taker and a man that still had his finger on the pulse”.

“Vince would always tell me of the Fleadh Mór in Tramore in 1993, where he brought Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Ray Charles, The Pogues all to Tramore and he would always say, ‘I lost an awful lot of money that day, Aidan’,” Mr Shortall said.

DJ Roddie Cleere described him as a “music man to his core”, while singer-songwriter Niall McNamee said he was a “real gentleman” who left behind a considerable legacy in the music industry.

Carl O'Brien

Carl O'Brien

Carl O'Brien is Education Editor of The Irish Times. He was previously chief reporter and social affairs correspondent

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