GLASTONBURY 2019 HIGHLIGHTS Following its fallow year, the world’s largest greenfield festival was back with a vengeance. Hitting the site for the first time, TPi’s Stew and Jacob loaded up the car and headed down to Worthy Farm to meet some of the industry’s finest, battling the heat to put on a show for more than 200,000 festival goers…
I’m usually a bit of a last-minute packer when it comes to festivals and work trips. But as Jacob and I were setting out on our first ever Glastonbury weekend, I thought preparation was going to be key. However, as I was setting up our tent in over 30° heat, my over provisions of wellies, several coats and hand warmers suddenly seemed fairly redundant. For those on-site, or at home viewing the BBC coverage, this year’s Glastonbury was indeed a scorcher in many ways, with endless highlights and standout performances that are still being talked about months after
the event. As is the annual tradition, the UK’s biggest festival saw some of the industry’s best known suppliers, manufacturers and crew members come together for one almighty gathering. With water bottle in hand, we ventured out to visit the various stages, tents and cranes – yes you read that correctly – to meet some of the teams that collectively create one of the most talked about cultural experiences of the year. TPi www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk
performance. “We got the green light in the Autumn and started in earnest in February with Production Manager, Joel Stanley and Misty Buckley completing the team.” The main goal for this collection of creatives was, in the words of Routledge, to bring “South London to the farm,” and going by the mainstream reports, it seems they succeeded. The build for the show was certainly a logistical challenge, and Routledge was quick to complement the work of Crew Chief, Keith Duncan. “All the fixtures we brought in were from Neg Earth – as is Duncan – which made the process slightly easier as they were the house supplier for the rig. We were certainly pushing the capabilities of what the Pyramid Stage could handle in terms of weight loads and the time available.” The LD explained that to fit the impressive structure required a twostage build process that involved hanging the top-tier balcony while loading in the lower tier and band structure, before joining it all together. All of which couldn’t be completed until the festival’s back lighting truss and half the house screen had been removed. “It was pushing the limits of what could be created during a 45-minute turnaround, but Duncan was the man for the job as we have done many major turnarounds together.” Supplementing Stormzy’s rig were 116 GLP JDC1s, 47 impressions X4
MAIN STAGES PYRAMID Where better to start our Glastonbury journey than the iconic Pyramid Stage. This year hosting headline performances from The Killers, The Cure and Stormzy, with many of the biggest names in the world of live touring making a home at FOH and on the stage. Once again, technical infrastructure of the stage was overseen by Neg Earth, Creative Technology and RG Jones. To kick-off the conversation about the main stage, it seemed only natural to speak to the team responsible for one of the most talked about performances of the year – Stormzy’s Friday night headline set. Fresh from his success with the Spice Girls, Lighting Designer, Tim Routledge was one of the main creatives alongside Creative Directors, Amber Rimmel and Bronski from Tawbox behind the grime star’s set. Routledge has been involved with the artist since his 2018 Wireless Festival headline 44
