Small crowds at The Alliance Festival brings new ideas

THE ALLIANCE Festival at Sheffield Arena on 25th October attracted a disappointing crowd of around 5,000 paying customers despite having an impressive bill that included the Newsboys, Delirious?, the World Wide Message Tribe and Hydro. It is thought the cancellation of US CCM star Steven Curtis Chapman and the death of Princess Diana (seeing ticket sales "all but dry up for two weeks)" were both factors in the relatively low attendance. 1996's Alliance Festival at Manchester drew a crowd of 8,000.

At the Sheffield event it was announced by the organisers Alliance Music that there would be no further Alliance Festivals but new interaction was being established between Alliance and Britain's 2,000 Christian youth workers to establish CCM-based events that would get the British Church's wholesale support. A website has been set up for that purpose and questionnaires have been issued to Britain's youth workers. Utilising this new information a new open air event at a site near Birmingham is now in the planning stage. It will be held in August. CR

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