Dreamscape Interview 2 - 1993

The following is an interview held with Dreamscapes founder Murray Beaton in 1993 about their planned forth coming festival.  This  party sadly never went ahead due to a variety of reason, which we hope to be able to cover in due course:

Woodstock 2 - The World’s Largest Two Day Dance Music Festival

By now you will have heard that Dreamscape/ESP Promotions are to stage the biggest dance music festival seen in Britain for many years. This festival kicks off on Friday 20th August at 9.00pm and continues for the next 37 hours with non stop dance music. This has got to be history in the making. This will all take place at Fen Farm, Wavedon, Milton Keynes from Friday 20th August until Sunday 22nd August 1993. The licence for this event carries a 30,000 capacity and promises to be the dance music event of the year. So I found myself driving up the M1 to junction 14 to go and see Murray who is Mr Dreamscape himself, to find out just exactly what the Dreamscape organisation will have on offer on this weekend. The first thing that I wanted to know was just how many DJs had been contracted to play at this event. So here follows the interview that took place at Fen Farm on Tuesday 6th July 1993.

Q. So Murray how many DJs have you contracted to play at this event?

A. I have contracted 60 DJs from all over Europe, we have the UK’s finest hardcore, house and techno DJs booked to play also we have DJs from the USA, Germany, Belgium and Finland.

Q. Murray could you tell us just a little bit about how you first came up with the idea of doing a Woodstock type festival?

A. Well, the idea has been in my head for quite a few years. We tried to put something together last year, down here at Fen Farm but due to politics we just never got it off the ground. We thought we would be fighting a loosing battle so we never put in a licence application. Since then we have done more and more events and now seemed a good time to bring this idea into reality.

Q. So when did you actually realise that this dance festival had become a reality and was really going to happen?

A. Well when the Magistrates granted me the licence. Mind you the work that had to go in to getting that licence you would not believe. Every dot has to be in the right place and every t had to be crossed in the right place. We put the application into Milton Keynes Council, and I honestly thought that the Council would accept this application as we have a very good working relationship with them and an excellent track record in the promotion business. But the Council just wouldn’t accept it. They thought that it was too big and as I am the sale person behind ESP they thought that I might be out of my depth. So I surrounded myself and took advice from the right people that is professionals who know how to present such an application of this magnitude. I then went back to the licensing committee and they turned it down on some silly reasons. So the only way I could proceed was to appeal and take it to the Magistrates hearing, which we did and we won.

Q. I presume that when you went to the Magistrates hearing you must have been very nervous as there was a lot of national TV media coverage. So how did you feel when you came out of the court, with the licence?

A. On top of the f**king moon. It was unbelievable. I thought we were going to have a bit of a battle on our hands getting the licence granted. But it went so smoothly it was ridiculous. All the money I spent with consultants who work with the government on defining the regulation for open air events, was a good investment as they were able to answer all of the questions that the Magistrates put to them. And the Magistrates felt that I was doing everything right and they granted me my licence.

Q. Murray, obviously with a music festival of this size, the average party goer is going to be concerned about their safety. What can you say to reassure one and all that their weekend is going to be the best?

A. Well, we will be employing in the region of 300+ security people which will be on patrol at any one time so realistically there will be over 600+ security people on site because half will be resting and half will be working. If anybody has any aggravation with muggers, robbers, blaggers or just plain shit heads I can assure you that they will be dealt with swiftly and severely. I want this party to be the best and I personally will not tolerate bringing Dreamscape into disrepute by bad behaviour at this event.

Q. Murray, how much will you be spending on the production for this event?

A. We are spending somewhere in the region of 475 thousand pounds on this event. The ticket price for the whole weekend is £33.00 and I think that is extremely good value for a festival ticket.

Q. Murray, one of the most important parts of an event of this size, is going to be how the local and county police force respond to the event. My question to you is how are the police taking to this event?

A. The police did not want this event, and I don’t care what anybody says police throughout the country do not want events like this full stop. But the police have said that if the event was in the right place, they would be all for it, but that’s bullshit. This site has got better access and better facilities than any other site I have looked at. It is far superior to the Milton Keynes Bowl which only has a music licence until 11.00pm.