Takedown Festival and the Tonic Music For Mental Health charity team up in Portsmouth for a festival first

This collaboration will see Takedown become the first festival to offer such mental health charity resources backstage through Tonic Rider when it takes over Portsmouth Guildhall on Saturday, April 8.

The Tonic Rider team, who consist of mental health professionals with a background in the music industry, will be in the green room offering information about their programme, and free resources, along with one-to-one support in a private space, if and when required.

Tonic Rider is a programme created by the Portsmouth-based but nationally operating Tonic Music for Mental Health, with the aim of promoting good mental health in the music industry. The programme was launched in 2021 and consists of online training courses, support groups, taught workshops and one-to-one sessions exclusively for anyone working in the music industry.

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The scheme’s coordinator Jeordie Shenton said: ‘We are delighted to be offering mental health support to artists, crew and staff working at a music festival for the first time, and even more so, that it will be at Takedown Festival in Tonic’s hometown of Portsmouth. Throughout 2023 we will be expanding our programme of backstage support and we are thankful to the Takedown team for providing this opportunity.’

Festival director Sarah Harris said: ‘Takedown is extremely proud to be working with Tonic Rider. The music industry is notoriously hard on its workers due to various different factors and the promotion of good mental health for artists, crew and staff is key to individuals thriving. We are very pleased to have resources backstage and for fans at Takedown 2023.’

Alongside the backstage support, Tonic will also have their Never Mind the Stigma stand offering information and support to attendees at the festival. This will be positioned near the box office with fundraising Tonic T-shirts and merch available to purchase.

After a seven year hiatus, Takedown Festival has moved from its Southampton University roots to the larger venue. The line-up will see more than 30 bands perform across five stages, featuring Sleep Token, Skindred, Loathe, Jamie Lenman, Punk Rock Factory, InMe, Fearless Vampire Killers, Seething Akira, Dendera and many more.

For tickets and more information go to: takedownfestival.com and tonicmusic.co.uk.