With the summer season now in full swing, there’s a certain type of event that has filled our social media feeds and kept our crews incredibly busy: festivals! From comedy to cars, and music to marketing, there’s a festival to spark the interest of people with every kind of taste and preference. So now seems a good time to share a snapshot of some of the festivals we’ve attended over the last year!
We’ve discussed the rise of experiential consumption in a number of blogs over the last few months and commented on the change in consumer behaviors. A generation born into a heavily-materialistic society is now more focused on spending money on experiences and creating memories.
Having worked at hundreds of festivals in recent years, we’ve witnessed their steady rise in popularity first hand. Because festivals often have tight deadlines and involve incredibly challenging tasks, our experienced crewmen are often called-in to support event builds and ensure everything goes to plan. With impressive technology, an array of creative artists and fantastic fun to be had (interspersed with an awful lot of hard work!), these events have added to our portfolio and extended the skillsets of our crews greatly.
Music
Music festivals have been a part of our culture for centuries, bringing people together to celebrate the art form, and creating an exhilarating experience for people of all ages. You can read about the history of some of the most well-known UK festivals here. There are hundreds of music events taking place around the country every year, from the legendary big names to niche gatherings offering a more intimate experience.
From the point of view of our crews, festival work offers the possibility to take time off to enjoy some of the events themselves, especially if, as is the case with Glastonbury, we have crew working on-site for weeks before and after the ‘live’ period. Some of our clients allow crew to stay at the festivals they work on. At one festival, we had crew on-site after the gates had opened to the public. They assisted festival-goers with transport from parking lot to campsite, and then setting up camp if they required it. These crew members were also welcome to stay on-site for the event.
Here are just a few of the music festivals our event crews have attended in the last year:
All Points East Festival
Bingley Music Festival
Cambridge Folk Festival
Creamfields Festival
Wireless Festival
Wilderness Festival
V Festival
Lovebox Festival
Beat Herder Festival
BST – Hyde Park
Festival Number 6
Lattitude Festival
Leeds Festival
Liverpool International Music Festival
Lost Village Festival
Reading Festival
Shambala Festival
Cornbury 2017
Deershed Festival
Detonate Festival 2018
Gala Festival
Glastonbudget Festival
Godiva Festival
Henley Festival
House Festival
Kendall Calling Festival
Parklife Festival
Petlife Festival
Rochester Castle Festival
Standon Calling Festival
Sundown Festival
Tel Aviv Festival
The Big Festival
Victorious Festival
Volvo Henley Festival
Wilkestock Festival
Arts & Literature
From poetry and books to film and TV, people are drawn together to celebrate their shared passion for the arts. While arts and literature may be included as secondary strands to the larger music festivals, there are plenty of world-class events that are exclusively dedicated to these creative disciplines. A few of the arts and literature festivals we are proud to have supported include:
Cheltenham Literature Festival
Edinburgh International Book Festival
Edinburgh Festival
Manchester International Festival
Brand Film Festival
Edinburgh International TV Festival
Sport
Sporting festivals are adrenaline-fuelled, exhilarating and unique events that draw people from all over the globe to watch in awe. The sporting events we’ve had the pleasure of working at this year have involved fast cars, brilliant bikes and incredible stunts - all performed at speed. Not surprisingly, these events require a large number of crewmen to set the stage for each act. A few of this year’s have included:
Goodwood Festival of Speed
Brackley Bike Festival
Motorrad Bmad Festival
Other Festivals:
Although music tends to take centre-stage when conversation turns to festivals, we’ve seen that sport, literature and comedy have all carved their place on the festival landscape, as have food and drink, business events and seasonal gatherings. All of these events are attracting growing numbers of attendees year-on-year. Whether visitors are attracted by the prospect of learning and building on their skills, embracing the seasonal spirit or indulging in specialist food and wine, each individual festival has something unique to offer. From Gallowglass’ point of view, these events enrich the work of our skilled crews, showing them aspects of life that they might not ordinarily get to see.
Here are just some of the non-music festivals that our crews have worked on:
Also Festival
Comedy Festival
Cyprus Wine Festival
Foodies Festival
Glamour Beauty Festival
Festival of Business
Festival of Marketing
Glow Worm Festival
Wychwood 2018
Greenwich Winter Time Festival
Liverpool Christmas Ice Festival
International Bus Festival
Sm+Op Boss Charity Car Festival
Gallowglass Crew Chief's, Alan Sy and Michael Hewett said:
"Festivals come in all shapes and sizes these days but the great thing about them is you get to enjoy being outside and not stuck in a loading bay. But then we are in the UK so there are times when things can get a little muddy! Tied in with lots of walking either between stages or from the car park, you do get to meet and see major artists sound check before anyone else which is a great perk of the job"
If you’re looking for crewing work in London, Manchester, Bristol or any other UK regions, get in touch today, and you may just find yourself attending one of the festivals we’ve mentioned over the coming months!
