UK: Liverpool-based sound, lighting and AV supplier Adlib is celebrating a highly successful summer of festivals. Here’s a roundup of a few of the highlights from this season: Creamfields Lighting The company has been involved with various Cream live activities since the superclub exploded onto the dance scene in the early 90s and has continued to be a major influence right at the epicentre of rave culture. This year Adlib supplied sound and lighting to three arenas, the Cream Mega Arena, the Curve Arena and Hospitality, with production overseen by Ian Greenway production manager from LarMac LIVE. Adlib’s Ian Tomlinson…
Author: Festival Insights
UK: Pro-audio provider The Warehouse Sound Services helped the BBC Proms in the Park at Glasgow achieve a sensational sound experience after designing, installing and engineering the sound for the diverse range of acts involved. The live event took place as part of the BBC’s wider Last Night of the Proms celebrations and featured X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, Young Traditional Musician of the Year Claire Hastings and world-renowned saxophonist Amy Dickson. The Scottish Symphony Orchestra, under Stephen Bell, performed a versatile show, with music ranging from Bernstein’s overture Candide and Sibelius’ Karelia Suite to a specially adapted Poldark Suite…
UK: The OnBlackheath festival in South East London has quickly established itself as one of the capital’s most popular late summer music events. Set on the picturesque Blackheath Common, the two-day gathering features an eclectic mix of live music and pop-up food stalls, an alluring combination that earned it five nominations for the Festival Awards in 2014, its very first year of existence. This year the festival turned up the juice even more with a new Make Noise DJ stage that featured EDM stars like Erol Alkan and Grammy-winner Tom Findlay (Groove Armada), along with a dazzling array of 28…
UK: Star Events returns to Showman’s Show on the back of a phenomenal season in 2015, which saw it providing infrastructure and ingenuity on grass, on tarmac and on water. The Star stand, at the corner of Avenues B and G, will be focussed on the company’s seating and fencing & barriers portfolio, the latter a component part of events from Cyclo-cross to Latitude Festival. Star seating has shaken up the event model with its comfort, legroom and cost. In the spirit of a taste test, at Showman’s, visitors will have the opportunity to directly compare the industry’s traditional, uncomfortable…
UK: Manchester’s dbn Lighting returned to the annual, 5000-capacity Ramsbottom Festival this year. It’s the fifth year that dbn has lit the event’s main stage, in which time the production has grown steadily under the direction of Roy Fernley of ETS, with whom dbn regularly works on other shows in and around Manchester. dbn’s Project Manager Nick Buckley also created the production design for the main stage which this year included headliners The Wonderstuff, The Magic Numbers, Idlewild and The Proclaimers, together with a host of other performances throughout the three days which basked in the early autumn sunshine. The…
NETHERLANDS: In January 2016, the Central Eastern European (CEE) region will be the focus region at Eurosonic Noorderslag. The first seven acts confirmed to perform at the 30th edition of the European Music Platform are: Alina Orlova (LH), Bokka (PL), Jonathan (HR), June (MK), Ludovik Material (SK), Momend (LV) and Middlemist Red (HU). The 13 focus countries in the CEE group are: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. The CEE-focus will be organised by: Fruzsina Szép (HU/DE), Exit (RS), Open’er Festival (PL), Pohoda (SK), Waves Bratislava (SK), Talinn…
NETHERLANDS: From October 14 – 18, the city of Amsterdam will only have one thing on its mind: Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), the world’s biggest electronic dance music event and conference. With 2200 artists performing at 350 events and 100 venues, ADE and Spotify have teamed up to launch a new integrated service that will give visitors to the festival the best of everything that ADE has to offer. By analysing user’s Spotify listening habits, the new functions will make it easier than ever for visitors to navigate through the festival’s extensive programme, and can be accessed via the user’s…
SWEDEN: Gothenburg’s Way Out West festival offered an immersive showcase for the recently expanded Leo Family systems from Meyer Sound. With the newest Leopard linear sound reinforcement system leading a family of Leo and Lyon systems, Meyer Sound covered all four festival stages, supporting headliners such as Beck, Patti Smith, Florence and the Machine, Belle & Sebastian, and Pet Shop Boys. Stockholm-based Starlight provided all sound, lighting, and staging systems. “Leopard is a sound revolution at its extreme limit,” said Fredrik ”Matazz” Holmstedt, Production Manager for Way Out West. “So much power and headroom from such a small, lightweight box…
Fox James graduated with a First Class Honours in Festival and Event Management after a career spanning almost 25 years in media, most notably working in European Finance & Operations for MTV. Following this were stints at Polygram, Virgin Media, and Twenty Twenty Television, an award winning ITV show with Dermot O’Murnaghan entitled ‘The Big Story’, and forays into marketing with companies such as HP:ICM, who were in the top two of the marketing league table spanning the 1990s. Production and Management work at The Shaftesbury Theatre merged with working on the TV show ‘My Family’ at Pinewood Studios. Thanks…
AUSTRIA: Snowbombing has revealed the first wave of acts for its 17th edition, including headliners The Prodigy. Also topping the bill is award-winning drum and bass pioneer, turntablist and producer Andy C, along with Jungle, Netsky, Groove Armada, J and T, Oliver Heldens, Hannah Wants, Wilkinson (DJ set), Bicep, Henrik Schwarz, Hot Since 82, James Zabiela, Kerri Chandler, Marcel Dettmann, and Noisia. Many more acts and attractions are yet to be announced for Snowbombing 2016, which is set to take place from April 4 – 9 in Mayrhofen, Austria. Snowbombing