Marking its first foray into Malta, the International Music Summit successfully debuted IMS College with an enlightening crash course in electronic music, comprising talks, networking sessions and workshops hosted by Point Blank and SAE Institute respectively. An intimate and hugely interactive format saw delegates given the chance to engage in valuable one-to-one Q & A sessions with all of the speakers throughout the two days, who each offered genuine and personable advice in their areas of expertise. With proceedings officially opened by IMS co-founder Pete Tong, day one of IMS College Malta saw a wealth of young minds in attendance,…
Author: Festival Insights
UK: Quantum Special Effects provided confetti, streamers, and pyrotechnics for three major headline acts at the muddiest Glastonbury on record. Battling against pouring rain and mud that threatened to swallow flight cases, the Melksham based company managed to survive and service its biggest Glastonbury festival to date. With trends in special effects rapidly becoming a staple of festival entertainment, the Quantum team were called upon to supply bespoke visuals for Foals, Muse, and Adele on both Friday and Saturday night. In close collaboration with the individual production teams, Quantum worked tirelessly over the weekend to ensure each act had its…
UK: Grub Stub, the UK’s first electronic meal ticket service, has launched a new ‘little sister’ printing service called Grub Stub Lite. The introduction of the service means that event managers and production staff can now enjoy more freedom by drastically reducing the effort and stress of counting meal tickets and drinks vouchers. Grub Stub is an intelligent electronic system that tracks and stores live data, cuts out time-wasting ticket counting and, increases accuracy and traceability – greatly reducing the stress and wasteful aspects of event catering. Now with Grub Stub Lite it offers an introduction to the numerous benefits…
UK: Festicket, Europe’s largest online platform for music festival experiences, raised $6.3 million in a round of investment led by Lepe Partners and existing investors pan-European VC firms Wellington Partners, PROfounders, and Playfair Capital. Ex-CMO of Booking.com Arthur Kosten, and Jean-Charles Carré – the business partner and manager of David Guetta – have also backed the London-based firm. Festicket empowers music fans with a seamless service to discover and book tickets and travel packages for music festivals worldwide. The platform offers an end-to-end experience for music travellers, an efficient two-sided marketplace for 500+ music festivals across 40 different countries, and…
UK: Following a highly competitive tender process, VisitBlackpool has appointed Richmond Event Management (REM) to undertake the event and site management for the prestigious Blackpool Illumination Switch-On Festival Weekend, taking place from September 2 – 4 September. Last year’s Switch-On Festival attracted around 30,000 people to the arena across four events, including two music concerts, a comedy roadshow and a live CBBC broadcast, as well as Hollywood film director Tim Burton turning on the famous Illuminations display. Details of this year’s line-up are beginning to be announced, with special guest performers and the switch on star set to be unveiled…
UK: The 21st century revival of the legendary Isle of Wight Festival once again launched Europe’s season of summer celebrations, with this year’s edition benefiting from relatively hospitable weather and the auspicious debut of a new Meyer Sound LEO Family system at the main stage. Supplied by Wigwam Acoustics of Heywood, the new system effortlessly powered performances by headliners like The Who, Faithless, Stereophonics, and Queen + Adam Lambert for crowds of up to 60,000. Equally important, the linear characteristics of the system coupled with precise directional control kept the festival grounds rocking while significantly reducing bleed into nearby residential…
UK: PlayPass’ latest collaboration with PayPal saw the successful deployment of cashless payments at Amsterdam Open Air Festival, making it the second year the RFID specialist made the event fully cashless. This time round, visitors were able to connect their PayPal accounts to their festival wristbands before, during and after the festival in order to enjoy a number of enhanced features. The deployment resulted in shorter queues at the entrance and bars during the festival, and PlayPass’ auto top-up feature allowed for a smooth and automatic refund of unspent credits after the festival – deposited directly into the customer’s PayPal…
UK: Sound System, the four-way, 135,000 Watt speaker system designed by British speaker brand Bowers & Wilkins to deliver studio quality sound to the live environment, returns to WOMAD from July 28 – 31 with a typically progressive and ambitious line-up. Having fast become a favourite on the WOMAD music programme for the past two years, the Sound System returns for a third year, with an exciting array of artists who will explore the theme of sound in interesting ways. With each day starting with a soundscape, visitors will be taken on a sonic journey of discovery which progresses via…
UK: World famous London nightclub Fabric has teamed up with Pioneer Pro Audio to assemble the sound system for its first-ever outdoor event, Lovebox Festival. Taking place from July 15 – 16 in London’s Victoria Park, the Fabric stage is the only stage at Lovebox to commission an exclusive pro audio partner. The Fabric Arena is a 2000-capacity, 38-metre round tent designed to recreate Fabric’s Room One, giving attendees the true nightclub experience in a festival environment. Both Fabric and Pioneer Pro Audio have gone to great lengths to make this happen, starting with the sound system which comprises six…
UK: Utopium was called upon to light up Bristol Summer Series as it returned for four nights of live music, set against the backdrop of Bristol’s iconic Harbourside from June 22 – 25. Bristol Summer Series welcomed a host of international acts including headliners Catfish and The Bottlemen, Sigur Rós, The Last Shadow Puppets and James Bay. Utopium’s Colin Bodenham and Jon Newman combined their skills to help create a stunning setting for Metropolis Music, through the supply of a comprehensive lighting production, including newly acquired equipment from Utopium’s extensive inventory. As well as on-stage lighting, Utopium also designed and…