UK: Although it makes up a relatively small portion of the company’s remit, Architects of Air’s presence at festivals provides punters with a reprieve from 360 degrees of bodies and noise. Their ‘luminaria’ are sprawling inflatable structures constructed of custom-made coloured PVC, comprising approximately 10,000 metres of seams, 20,000 metres of masking tape, 5,000 square metres of plastic, and 200 litres of glue. All in all, it takes around 5,000 hours of work to construct a single one with a team of ten people. But the work clearly pays off. Instead of buying DMT from a guy named Mortimer who…
Author: Michael Baker
UK: Not that they’re required to be, but it’s rare that festivals are concerned with anything beyond purveying good vibes and raking in inordinate amounts of dollar. Environmentalist initiatives are becoming increasingly common, but a lot of these remain behind-the-scenes rather than being an obvious focal point. Similarly, the plethora of themed festivals tend to keep the concept purely decorative, rather than as an exploration of a substantial idea. Again: Serious socio-political preoccupations aren’t a prerequisite for a respectable event. However, it’s refreshing to see a festival with a clear, positive social agenda and academic sensibilities. Festival Insights spoke with…
UK: As a sixteen year old débutante I attended my first ever Leeds Festival, ending up camped on a hillside with a fortunately close buddy on what felt like an 85% gradient. We spent our nights curled up in the foetal position, reassuring each other that it’d all be okay in the end (it hasn’t been), and somehow propping ourselves up in our sleep with what could be generously referred to as our muscles. We had to sleep with our legs hanging out of the tent and on the first night my wristband somehow evaporated and his wallet was stolen…
NETHERLANDS: Between throwing morally reprehensible shapes to Nosaj Thing in Melkweg, discovering that Dutch diets consist solely of toasties, loping through the Red Light District stealing eye contact from prostitutes, and winning the ADE Demolition Panel – I decided to settle down in the Felix Meritis hotel to do some actual work. The first righteous dude I met was Scott Richmond of EDMX. After working with trailblazing online record stores, numerous labels, and as a Consultant and A&R Manager, the entrepreneur co-founded EDMX, a holistic festival app that allows its users to do – well – a whole bunch of…
NETHERLANDS: Wandering between the myriad venues involved in the Amsterdam Dance Event prompted two recurring questions. The first being ‘Where am I right now?’ owing to the copy and pasted canals that I still couldn’t navigate properly by the final day. The second was ‘Why aren’t more festivals doing these sorts of things?’ Some of the ‘things’ in question included officially branded earplugs, a stop-motion workshop, gear playgrounds, and feedback sessions for amateur producers – all in addition to over 2,000 musical acts spread across the city’s historical clubs. One of these clubs – Melkweg – hosted an interactive Art…
If the body is a temple, then the average festival-goer must have a borderline pathological penchant for desecration. Whether you treat festivals like the modern equivalents of Sodom and/or Gomorrah or just like to chill out on the grass with a cider, Peppermint Bars can satiate that thirst via its plethora of unique bars. Founded in 2003, Peppermint Bars has grown to become one of the two largest mobile bar operators in the UK – a one-stop shop for bars and catering services of all shapes and sizes. Its innovative approach to staff is mirrored by one of its collaboraters…
UK: The Surplus Supper Club is an ethical event catering business spearheaded by FareShare South West, the award-winning charity that redistributes in-life, surplus food in an attempt to aid vulnerable people and curb rampant food wastage. The UK food industry disposes of four tonnes of perfectly good food every year, and the Surplus Supper Club repurposes these ingredients into delicious meals whose proceeds go to charity. Moreover, its volunteering opportunities offer a route back into society for the marginalised and dispossessed. After experiencing the Surplus Supper Club first-hand at Bestival 2014, Festival Insights spoke with Clare Winterbottom – Events &…
iZettle is a mobile payments app that allows small businesses and sole traders to accept card payments via smartphone or tablet and a connectable card reader. iZettle was the first to introduce its Smart Rate pricing structure, meaning transaction fees can drop from 2.75% to as little as 1.5% depending on volume of sales. It is currently present in nine markets including Germany, Sweden, Brazil and Mexico. In little over four years they have formulated a working partnership with Peppermint Bars, and offered a more cost effective, stress-free way to run businesses for entrepreneurs and festival traders alike. Jens Münch…
UK: In our second and final instalment of this year’s Bestival coverage, we discuss the ways some of the festival’s sponsors integrated their brands – from concept-driven paint parties to a gig atop a food truck. Bestival’s co-promoters Get Involved deservedly receive some shine too, having played a major role in what organiser Rob da Bank referred to as ‘probably the best Bestival we’ve ever done’. With a palette composed of the most common teeth-staining colours – such as red for [red] wine and orange for sports drinks – Listerine’s dual paint parties aimed to exemplify the effectiveness of its…
UK: Still relatively young but undeniably effectual, the desert island disco-themed Bestival 2014 continued to refine its distinct aesthetic through a plethora of idiosyncratic conceptual art pieces, intimate micro venues, eclectic eateries, and an impossibly extravagant carnival parade. Festival Insights sat down with a few of the key players behind these innovations to discuss how they brought the proverbial ruckus. Wandering through the Ambient Forest area offered a respite from the omnipresent four-to-the-floor bass that pervaded the rest of the arena’s airspace. Silhouettes meandered down woodland paths that wind up through trees illuminated in various shades of soft light. Robin…