Rapper 50 Cent proves to be a huge draw for Mutiny Festival

ORGANISERS of a dance music festival have been overwhelmed after tens of thousands people signed up over the weekend for tickets following the announcement of 50 Cent as its first headliner on Friday.

Nearly 25,000 music fans poured on to the Mutiny Festival website after news emerged that the hip-hop superstar will top the first night’s bill for the event on May 27 and 28 next year.

The rapper has been concentrating on his acting for the past couple of years as one of the stars and executive producer of the hit US TV show Power, which is on Netflix in the UK.

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But he is expected to return to music with the release of his sixth album, the follow-up to 2014’s Animal Ambition, on a yet-to-be confirmed date next year.

The festival moved to the King George V playing fields in Cosham last year and has a capacity of 15,000 people a day.

Organiser Luke Betts said: ‘After the announcement everything went really crazy.

‘I’m often quite pessimistic, so with Black Friday and it now being the run-up to Christmas, I didn’t think there’d be that much interest, but we’ve never seen a response like this.

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‘Of course, just because 24,000 people have signed up doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily buy tickets, but I’m confident that we’ll sell out this year as well.

‘Last year 80 per cent of the people came from a PO postcode, so we want to give them the best chance to get hold of weekend tickets first.’

The festival moved to the playing fields last year and organisers have recently confirmed a deal with Portsmouth City Council to keep the festival there for the next five years.

‘We’re very conscious of how difficult it is out there for festivals at the moment – lots of good festivals are struggling and downsizing or cancelling – and we want to get the best headliners we can. This deal means we can plan a bit further ahead and we can be a bit more business savvy about things.’

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Tickets went on yesterday sale to people from the PO region who had pre-registered. They go on general release today.

Early-bird weekend tickets start at £54.50. Day tickets will be released at a later date.

For more information go to mutinyfestivals.co.uk