Firefly director: 90,000-plus fans possible

A few hours after the dust settled following Firefly Music Festival's long-awaited announcement of Paul McCartney as a headliner, festival director Greg Bostrom gave an interview with The News Journal.

During the talk, he explained the McCartney delay, revealed that Firefly 2015 should draw "at least" 90,000 people -- up from last year's 80,000 -- and reacted to the leaks that undercut the festival's line-up announcement.

Firefly will run from June 18-21 at The Woodlands in Dover this year and general admission passes, $249-$329, will go on sale Monday at noon via www.fireflyfestival.com. VIP passes, $699-$1,999, go on sale Friday at noon.

With Firefly less than four months away, here is the latest information about the fest's fourth edition from the man pulling the strings:

How big of a feather in the cap is McCartney for Firefly?: To say we're excited would be the biggest understatement you an make. In terms of importance in music history, song catalog, quality of performer and everything else -- it's hard to think of somebody bigger. This is a great testament to how much the festival has grown. To be able to book a guy like McCartney, it really means that there's nobody off the table for Firefly.

The impact of teaming up with Coachella founders Goldenvoice: The Goldenvoice partnership has been helpful with [McCartney.] Paul played Coachella a couple of years back and had a great experience. Through that, [Goldenvoice president Paul Tollett] and Paul's team formed a great relationship. They were very helpful in helping push everything through and getting the show approved.

Are McCartney's people aware he has never played Delaware before?: When we were putting together the press release, someone brought up the idea that this might be his first show ever in Delaware. So their whole team combed through The Beatles tours, the Wings tours and McCartney's solo tours and like you indicated, this will be his first time in the state.

What caused the line-up announcement delay this year?: The simple answer is that it's just something that takes a long time. Part of Paul McCartney's success has been that they are keenly aware of what they are doing, when they're doing it and why they're doing it. So we announced his appearance at Firefly just as soon as we could. We didn't have it done until Tuesday night.

Is Paul McCartney's official Facebook page correct in confirming his Firefly performance will be Friday June 19?: Unfortunately, I can't give you anything useful. We'll give our official schedule in the coming months, but until then, we'll have to stay mum on the specific days.

Why The Killers are back as a headliner for the second time in four years: To date, The Killers has been one of the best received headliner performers we've had. Anyone who was there in 2012 will tell you that the showmanship, the catalog, the energy, the live show: I don't think there was a disappointed soul leaving The Woodlands. Every time we ask our fans who they want to see, across the board they're telling us to bring The Killers back. That's been reflective in every survey we've done and every time we've posted on Facebook. They have made it clear: they want The Killers. With the growth of the festival -- the first year we were at 30,000 and this year we should at least triple that -- there's a huge portion of the fans who didn't see them.

Does well-known (and somewhat militant) vegetarian Morrissey know there will be meat served on festival grounds?: Any venue requirements or specific advances from the artists that will be important to their show is discussed during the contract phase. Their camp is aware that Firefly is a festival with a lot of different venues and food options and we've discussed all those considerations. We don't anticipate any problems. There won't be any surprises when he shows up on site.

Reaction to the multiple line-up leaks, which revealed Firefly's line-up more than a month before its release: From one perspective, it's a little humbling that people went to the extent they did to get the information out there sooner than we intended. On the other hand, obviously, we love announce days as much as everyone else, if not more. We love the excitement and the anticipation. Just like everyone else, it takes a little of the magic away when there's speculation and rumors out before any official confirmation. We commiserate with fans on that.

-- Ryan Cormier, The News Journal. Facebook: @ryancormier. Twitter: @ryancormier. Instagram: @ryancormier.