Welsh festival ‘stunned’ after changing its name because of Coachella

A Welsh festival has had to change its name because of the infamous American event Coachella.

Ian “H” Watkins, more commonly known as H from the music group Steps, has been pressured to change his festival’s name due to a complaint from Coachella Ltd over the name “Cowchella”.

According to Wales Online, the festival’s social media accounts were taken down, and Eventbrite took down its ticket link due to the legal controversy as a result of this name change disagreement between the festivals.

On Sunday, H announced the “fab new name” in a post on the festival’s new social media page as it re-introduced the Moo-La-La Music Festival, still maintaining the “same incredible event” and “the same line up”.

The Moo-La-La Music Festival, set to take place on 2nd August at The Bear Field in Cowbridge said in the new name announcement: “The original name was a cheeky nod to Cowbridge. Honestly we’re a bit shook they even knew who we were.”

H, however, has found the silver linings within this complaints from the hugely successful and globally known Coachella festival and said to the PA news agency: “I’m taking it as a massive compliment that they feel like our little festival is a little bit of a threat to their ginormous, juggernaut of a machine.”

He added that “it’s a little bit mind blowing…what we’re doing is very different to what they do,” and that people “love that Coachella has put Cowbridge on the map”.

The Steps star pointed out how many local festivals use play on name, like “Glastonbarry”, a play on Glastonbury festival, which hasn’t faced the same struggles.

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Amid the dispute, the 49-year-old singer said: “We’ve spent a lot of money on marketing and flyers and posters and banners that are all visible around the town. So yes, those will have to go in the bin… but let’s just do that, rather than have any more people knocking on our door.”

The festival is set to be hosted by the Welsh singer, alongside actress Claire Sweeney and Radio 2 presenter Owain Wyn Evans, and consists of a lineup filled with tributes to Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Beyonce, ABBA and many more A-list cover artists.

H also took to social media to respond to the press about the renaming and unlikely recognition from Coachella. He said: “It’s important to say that we totally understand and respect [the complaint]…Our event is a tribute act festival so we thought what better way to celebrate than paying tribute to the biggest music festival in the world … it was never about imitation or confusion it was always about admiration and celebration.”

Both companies, Moo-La-La and Coachella, were approached for comment but neither responded.

Feature imaged via Unsplash