The organiser of Northern Kin Festival, which has faced a barrage of criticism over queues, mud and broken toilets, has again apologised and admits he felt 'broken' at one point as he struggled to keep the popular music event on track.
Alex Hutchinson - who is expecting the weekend camping festival, now in its fourth year, to make a whopping £200,000 loss - responded to the complaints after the three days of music, headlined by Jethro Tull, Levellers and Hawkwind, came to a close in the grounds of Ushaw Country House in County Durham. The festival was dogged by problems at the off when worse-than-forecast weather resulted in queues just to get in and so much mud that tractors and recovery trucks had to drag vehicles free.
There were reports of people in wheelchairs bogged down by mud and some music fans left early, missing their favourite bands, but there were others who embraced the 'mud fest' experience over its Friday to Sunday run, made up for by the packed music line-up. Alex - who was full of praise for festival staff, some of whom he says were spat at as anger rose - says: "We think we salvaged a festival against everything the weather threw at us" and added: "Just be aware that even if you thought it was terrible, my colleagues and I did everything we could, we really tried everything. We gave it our all."
