Nick Lucy is the Communications and Marketing Manager for Showsec. In this article he focuses on what makes John Hadland one of the great characters of the festival scene, and how we can all learn from the friendly, personal approach he applies to his work. You don’t normally want to forget ‘Good Times’ in a hurry, but John Hadland would rather that had been the case after being caught on camera when he stepped up from his own stage onto the main one at V Festival 12 months ago. ‘Johno’ can briefly be seen on a YouTube video cutting some…
Author: Festival Insights
UK / EUROPE: The Festival Awards has announced that PlayPass and PayPal will be the RFID / Cashless partners at this year’s editions of the UK Festival Awards & Conference (in London) and the European Festival Awards (in Groningen, NL). PlayPass, one of Europe’s leading providers of RFID cashless, access, accreditation and brand activation solutions at festivals and events, have achieved notable international success this year, earning an enviable track record for delivery at an impressive list of festivals spanning Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Thailand and China. These included Lollapalooza Berlin, Berlin Festival, Melt!, Splash!, Together Festival, Road To Ultra,…
UK: Brands, events, conferences and exhibitions now have the opportunity to connect with their audiences through taste, with the launch of Multi-Sensory FX from Quantum. The immersive effect synthetically replicates any flavour, from the latest soft drink brand to food combinations. It is then dispersed via a range of mechanics, visual and non-visual, including smoke-filled bubbles, mist, rain and snow. Shaun Barnett, owner and director at Quantum Special Effects, says: “Taste is one of the most powerful human senses and until now it has been very difficult to incorporate into an event. Now we can bring this additional dimension to…
UK: Capital Sound’s big weekend at Hyde Park, which traditionally brings the curtain down on the festival season, saw Proms in the Park link up live with the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, while similar events took place in Belfast, Swansea and Glasgow. The sound company has now become accustomed to rigging its flagship Martin Audio MLA at the London site, mitigating its historic problems with offsite noise escape; working for promoters Festival Republic for the second year they were probably anticipating an easy ride following the successful system induction in 2014. But 48 hours…
ITALY: Since its debut edition in 1997, Brescia Summer Festival has hosted artists as renowned as David Bowie, Joe Cocker, Elton John, Bob Dylan and Neil Young. This year’s headliners at the event, staged in Piazza della Loggia – the Italian city’s picturesque Renaissance square – were Billy Idol, Van Morrison and Anastacia, in Italy on a leg of her Resurrection World Tour. As all the other artists on the program, the Chicago-born singer, with her unmistakable raunchy voice, used an Outline sound system, put at her disposal by local rental firm Cipiesse, founded in 1979. Festival audio chief Giancarlo…
NETHERLANDS: Incubate Festival this year set up a radio studio for the duration of its proceedings, which ran from September 14 – 20 in over 20 venues across Tilburg. The festival’s Radio Studio was a joint effort of radio makers, artists, journalists, DJs and other creative souls from different nationalities who wanted to provide and present their view of what Incubate Festival is all about. The funding for the studio was made possible with funding from City Marketing Tilburg. Incubate Radio is an online streaming radio station and can be heard world wide through the festival’s official website. The project…
AUSTRIA: Arcadia Live has announced that it has closed a five-year deal with the Bogner Veranstaltungs GmbH concerning an exclusive cooperation for the Ottakringer Arena Wiesen venue in Austria, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2016. Folkert Koopmans, shareholder of Arcadia Live and CEO of FKP Scorpio concert productions in Germany said: “Wiesen is the most beautiful location for events in Austria. I am very glad that we will become part of the Wiesen’s musical history and at the same time add a highlight to the still very young history of Arcadia Live.“ The 8,000-capacity festival ground is situated…
UK: Radio Festival 2015, the UK radio and audio industry’s forum for discussion and debate, has today revealed its full schedule for the Radio Festival Showcase on September 29, including an exclusive first ever ‘In Conversation’ with Beats 1 Presenter Zane Lowe and his former boss, BBC Radio 1 controller Ben Cooper. The event is packed with exclusive keynote speeches and talks from some of the most important names in the industry, and this year will feature a performance from critically acclaimed musician, Jack Savoretti. Radio Festival Showcase takes place on September 29 at the British Library in London. Tickets…
Robert Dudley Manages Live Events and Production at The Fair. As large-scale event delivery specialists, The Fair focusses on three things: safety, quality and budget. Some of the agency’s regional projects include Mostly Jazz, Moseley Folk Festival and Lunar Festival. We started local and have always ensured that we have supported festivals close to where the agency was born. Having just left site at another hugely successful Moseley Folk Festival in Birmingham, which incidentally, has just celebrated its 10th year, it seems very apparent that along with Mostly Jazz festival, Folk has firmly found its place in the heart of…
UK: As the PR for 14 events including No Tomorrow (DHP Family), Truck Festival (Count of Ten), Way Out West (Live Nation), Standon Calling and many more, Full Fat has represented an eclectic array of music festivals while delving into the wider worlds of food & drink, immersive theatre, visual art and innovative technology. Full Fat’s onsite teams set up press offices at locations ranging from Cheltenham to Chelmsford and Matlock to Montenegro, with several visits to destination-of-the-moment, Croatia. In total the team travelled over 5000 miles internationally this summer. Amongst the numerous highlights of the season Full Fat were…