PICTURES: Plans under way for Electric Bay 2026 after record year

Plans are already being made for Electric Bay 2026 after this year’s record-breaking event saw more than 17,000 partygoers flock to the seaside bringing in an estimated £2million to the Bay’s economy.

Fat Boy Slim, Bloc Party and Andy C headlined a weekend of music, dance, entertainment and fun on Torre Abbey which went off with barely a hitch.

Festival Director Biff Mitchell revealed results from an independently commissioned research into last year’s two day festival showed  £1.75 million had been generated into the local economy. This year’s three-day event - the most successful in four years - is expected to top £2million.

Biff said: “2024 was held over two days, so it is almost certain that 2025’s three-day festival will have far exceeded that. We are absolutely delighted.

“More than 9,000 people attended Fatboy Slim on Saturday night, and yet the event has been really calm, with only a single arrest and a handful of medical incidents, all largely related to dehydration due to the sun. 

“We’ve seen Torbay at its best and already have big plans for next year. To put on an event of this size isn’t easy, but we are thrilled to learn that we are also helping local businesses, as well as bringing such great music to the area. 

“Apart from the staging, everyone else we use, from cleaners, to the bars, and security are all local companies and it’s fair to say the hotels nearby have all been full.”

Phil Black, Torbay Council’s Head of Events and Culture, said: “We have record numbers. It has been a huge success and I think the £2million into the economy is a fair assessment.

“You only had to see the large groups or people arriving at the festival site to see that the harbour was buzzing both before the acts began and into the night afterwards as guests continued the party into the early hours at after-parties at venues like The Foundry. 

“We started planning Electric Bay two years before the first one in 2022 and the aim, back during the pandemic, was to create a weekend event big enough to attract an act as big as Fatboy Slim. 

“Originally, we wanted to create a music event for the younger people in the Bay. That’s why we allow 14 to 18-year-olds into Friday. Having done that, we have built on it year-on-year, and now we have what we wanted. It has  far exceeded our expectations.’

“Any problems were only minor stuff and were dealt with really well by the police and security company. We are already planning for next year.

Carolyn Custerson, chief executive officer of the English Riviera BID Company who invested in Electric Bay as part of its growing events strategy, said: “What an absolutely amazing weekend for the best ever Electric Bay weekend.

“The sun shone and the biggest crowds ever came to enjoy some great music with the English Riviera looking at its very best. Here’s to next year.”

From this observer’s point of view the atmosphere over all three days was one of only friendliness and huge enthusiasm. Everyone I spoke to had the same message, which was what a fantastic thing this was for the Bay, to have such an event. 

Although the weekend was attended by plenty of locals, it was clear that there were also masses of tourists too. 

I spoke to guests from, amongst others, Durham, Cheltenham, Andover, London and even Hong-Kong! Visitors definitely saw Torbay at its best with temperatures well above 75 degrees (in old money), each day, and crowds were fired with water canons from the stage and could refill water bottles, for free throughout the weekend. 

On Friday night, those leaving, witnessed an incredible orange moon that hung over the harbour. 

Day one allowed guests as young as 14, and it was clear many parents had brought their families and it was fun to watch dads in particular share their love of bands such as The Coral and Bloc Party, twenty-plus years on from their early years. 

Bloc Party especially, were incredible live, with lead singer Kele Okereke, leaving the stage shouting ‘Who knew Torquay was such fun?’. 

Electric Bay definitely had something for everything, with largely indie-guitar on the Friday, dance-DJ’s on the Saturday, and Drum & Bass on Sunday. 

The crowd more than trebled on Saturday, and it was clear that Fatboy Slim was the main draw. 

However, Radio 1’s Sarah Story is hardly an unknown DJ, and Idris Elba (again DJ-ing, not acting) was also on the lips of many of the female guests I spoke to. 

His set was a great warm-up for Fatboy Slim, and by that time over 9,000 people were crowded onto Torre Abbey Green, with almost all of them dancing by this point.

Fatboy Slim (aka Norman Cook) opened his set with the gentle Charlie and the Chocolate Factories’ ‘World of Imagination’ but the set-list soon roared into a combination of his own classic hits like ‘Rockerfella Skank’ or ‘Praise You’ and classic songs from such diverse acts as David Bowie, or Earth Wind and Fire. 

My favourite was a mash-up of Underworld’s ‘Born Slippy’ and The Killer’s ‘Mr Brightside’. Accompanied by an incredible light and video show, the two-hour set rushed by ending with tracks which sampled both the Beatles and the Stones.

Sunday’s crowd was smaller but no less lively, and where-as most of the acts were very twenty-first century, Drum & Bass legend, Goldie brought a fantastic older-style show with a large crew of people on stage, including two separate drummers. It’s probably fair to say that Torquay seafront has not seen anything this exciting since the days of the Radio 1 roadshows in the 1980s. To slightly misquote Fatboy Slim’s first album: ‘Torbay: We’ve come a long way baby’!