Coachella organisers have cost Steps star Ian ‘H’ Watkins thousands of pounds after forcing his tiny Welsh festival into a name change.
The person, aged 49, was excitedly planning his ‘Cowchella’ festival in Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales when the 250,000-capacity music venue contacted him.
Recently, the festival’s social media pages were taken down, and its Eventbrite tickets page had its name vanished due to a complaint believed to be from Coachella Ltd, the US festival in California, as mentioned by Watkins.
Subsequently, on Sunday, new social media profiles were created for the event now called the Moo-La-La Festival, organized by Watkins, actress Claire Sweeney, and BBC Radio 2 presenter Owain Wyn Evans.
The post explained the ‘fab new name’ and that tickets would remain valid for the inaugural event in August.
Welsh singer and actor Watkins, 49, said they thought at first the social media sites were ‘hacked’, before finding an email with an ‘official complaint from Coachella’.
‘I’m taking it as a massive compliment that they feel like that our little festival is a little bit of a threat to their ginormous, juggernaut of a machine,’ Watkins said.
‘It’s a little bit mindblowing… what we’re doing is very, very different to what they do.
Coachella organisers are thought to have cost Steps star Ian ‘H’ Watkins thousands of pounds after forcing his tiny Welsh festival into a name change
The 49-year-old had been happily organising his ‘Cowchella’ festival in Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, when the 250,000-capacity music venue got in touch
‘We don’t have Beyonce performing. We have a Steps tribute act… and also, they don’t have myself, Claire Sweeney and Owain Wyn Evans, hosting, which in my book, is much better than Beyonce.’
He also said he was happy the small Welsh festival is a ‘talking point’ and people ‘love that Coachella has put Cowbridge on the map’ as well as admitting that ‘luckily, it wasn’t like, the week before because that would be the disaster’.
Watkins did acknowledge that thousands of pounds spent on ‘marketing costs, posters and banners’ would be ‘a financial impact that we have to absorb’.
He 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.’
He also said that ‘there’s lots of festivals’ that use this concept including the Welsh event GlastonBarry, with a name inspired by Glastonbury in Somerset, which has not appeared to come up against the same issue.
Top performers from across the music scene have participated in Coachella, including the likes of Lady Gaga, Megan Thee Stallion and Grimes.
Watkins said the idea of the festival formerly known as Cowchella was to ‘make it accessible for families that can’t afford to go to Cardiff or London’ for music events that can cost hundreds of pounds.
Megan Thee Stallion performs at Coachella Stage during the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Lady Gaga sings amid dancers during this year’s Coachella in California
The world-famous festival has a 250,000 capacity – but seems to be threatened by a tiny Welsh family festival (Pictured: Grimes performs at Coachella 2024)
‘We wanted… to provide an amazing place where everybody could come have a great time, make it family friendly, accessible,’ he said.
He said the festival will remain the same, despite the name change, and promised ‘great food, great drink’ on Saturday, August 2 at Bear Field.
Watkins also said ‘the number one tribute acts in the country’ such as Harry Styled UK, Got to be Taylor Swift, Got to be Steps, Got to be Mamma Mia and Wickedly Hariana would perform.
‘Our town is so beautiful, but there’s so much untapped potential there, which is why we keep creating events (such as Pride),’ he said.
‘We do the panto in town, so many amazing things. I decorate the town hall for armistice. I do a lot in the town just to bring a lot of joy, and it’s a town that should be celebrated, and that’s what Moo-La-La, as it’s now called, will be.’
Watkins rose to fame in the the dance-pop group, Steps, and has appeared on ITV show Dancing On Ice as well as mystery Dial M For Middlesbrough.
His group celebrated 20 years since their formation with a comeback album and UK tour in 2017 and in 2022 they released a Platinum Collection album.
