Boardmasters Festival is a popular annual music and surfing festival, typically combining live music performances with surfing and skateboarding competitions. The event is held in two main locations: the music part of the festival occurs on the cliffs overlooking Watergate Bay, while the surfing competitions are hosted at Fistral Beach in Newquay, a town known for its surfing culture.

The festival features a wide range of music genres, including rock, indie, electronic, and hip-hop, attracting both major international artists and emerging talent. Alongside the music, the festival celebrates beach culture, with activities such as surf lessons, yoga sessions, and skateboarding.

This year, however, the festival experienced large crowds that threatened the safety of attendees. Following a crowd surge during Sam Fender’s performance, the festival confirmed that 7 individuals were hospitalised for minor injuries who have all since been discharged.

An update: pic.twitter.com/nUxVBwM0YS

— Boardmasters (@boardmasters) August 10, 2024

One 16-year-old who was near the front told Sky news: “When loads of people came in, I was pushed and fell on my back, with my leg twisted. It was hyperextended. It was incredibly painful, and I couldn’t get up. There were people on top of me, and I was on top of other people.”

In response to the crowd surge, Sam Fender’s performance had to be paused so that the individual’s could receive necessary medical attention.

 While the festival has not commented on contributing factors or causes of the crowd surge, overpopulated spaces are a common cause. Indeed, Boardmasters increased the size of the festival by 5000 people this year after the county council approved a licence application, meaning the event was attended by 58,000 in total.

Crowdsurges are not a new phenomena, and in April of 2024, UK Crowd Management Association, Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), LIVE, and the UK Door Security Association collaborated to produce a “groundbreaking” new crowd safety guide for venues. The guide was created in response to a number of high profile incidents resulting in injury or death, such as the death of two individuals at London’s O2 Acadamy Brixton in 2022 and Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival in 2021 where 10 people died and thousands were left injured in a crowd crush.

The safety guide outlines that its purpose is to:  “suggest a framework for the safety, security and optimal experience of attendees in indoor spaces that are smaller than arenas.”

Through the use of this guide, it is hoped that venues, festivals, music events and other performance spaces can reduce the likelihood of crowd surges from occurring.