Music Festival Month Meets Throwback Thursday: Historical Photos of Glastonbury
LIVE EVENTS
The first-ever Glastonbury Festival was held in 1970, one day after the death of Jimi Hendrix. Now, 45 years later, Glastonbury 2015 rages on. Running from June 24-28 this year, Glastonbury s line up includes Patti Smith, The Who, Kanye West, The Chemical Brothers and Ryan Adams. We dug around in Glastonbury s historical galleries and hand-picked some cool photography and interesting artwork from the library.
1971
The second-ever Glastonbury festival saw an attendance of 12,000 people.
Pyramid under Construction by Peter Ball
It was in this year that the first pyramid stage was constructed out of scaffolding and expanded metal covered with plastic sheeting, built on a site above the Glastonbury-Stonehenge ley line.
The pyramid stage would go on to become an enduring symbol of the festival
1979
1982
by Jason Pring
1983
A long way from 1971 View Of Pyramid Stage And Tents
by Stuart Thorpe
1985
It rained at Glastonbury 1985, turning the parade ground into a huge mud pit.
1989
And suddenly, punks:
The group s spot. You don t get that much space these days, I m sure.
by Matty
1993
Rave culture is in full-swing in 1993, as this group of festival goers party under a parachute.
Dropzone
by Clive Moore
2002
By 2002, festival attendance was at 100,000. This is what Glastonbury 2002 looked like from the air:
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Arial view, Glastonbury, 2002
2005
The morning after the storm on Thursday night, taken from the old railway track
by rachel osborne
2007
The pyramid stage isn t the only Glastonbury tradition: braving the mud in a set of wellies has become a traditional Glastonbury experience.
2015
Bringing us, finally, to the present. Glastonbury organizers posted this instagram shot of the pyramid stage going up for its 45th year:
Five Great American Breweries that Double as Event Spaces
EVENT PRODUCTION INSPIRATION
The popularity of craft beer has skyrocketed over the last five years or so, and we ve seen hundreds of amazing brew pubs, tap rooms and public houses open across the United States. Breweries make ideal event venues: the raw brick and industrial metal aesthetics are great, the ceilings are typically high and airy, and oh, yeah, attendees can throw back gallons of delicious made-on-site craft ales. Here are a few of our favorite American breweries available for private party rental.
Brooklyn Brewery, New York
One of the more recognizable craft brews in the US, the 4,000sqf Williamsburg-based Brooklyn Brewery is available for after-hours events and has a max capacity of 200. Event amenities include up to 10 draft lines of Brooklyn beer, up to 3 large format Belgian-style Brooklyn beers, tables & benches and A/V equipment .
Angel City, Los Angeles
With a 230 person standing capacity (130 for table seating), Angel City Brewery offers a grand, private space that sits perpendicular to the Brew House, perfect for private or special events. Consider the Beer Hall an open canvas, as it can be tailored to fit any event needs. It has its own 12-tap bar, moveable stage with PA system, customizable chalk-board painted restrooms and room for games or activities. The Beer Hall boasts seven industrial garage doors that open to the parking lot and allow LA s best food trucks to serve food to inside guests.
Nightshift Brewing, Everett MA
Massachusetts friendly home-town brewery Night Shift is one of the smaller venues on this list, but it s got great decor and fantastic beer. Events can include private brewery tours and tasting, plus fresh beer flights for attendees.
Sweetwater Brewing, Atlanta GA
Sweetwater Brewery has the event organization stuff down, with two event spaces, The Tasting Room and The Reel Room, which capture the energy and atmosphere of the brewery, brand and mission. The Tasting Room has a capacity of 650, with 450 for the Reel Room. Pricing includes Two hours of set up time prior to guests arrival, 3 hours of event rental, and 1 hour for event clean up/breakdown, plus Sweetwater tastings for all guests in conjunction with free brewery tours, featuring the SweetWater year-round selections and Catch N Release series depending on availability. Complimentary guest parking is also available, and in terms of A/V, they ve got streaming SIRIUS music, screens, and iPod connections. Grab their PDF one-sheet here.
Red Hook, Portsmouth NH & Woodinville WA
Another event venue rental and brewing veteran, Red Hook has two U.S. locations in New Hampshire (here s the PDF event packet) and Washington State. The Washington location has two event spots, one inside (PDF info) and one outside (PDF info).
Throwback Thursday: Five Early Event-Industry Patents from the Wayback
EVERYTHING ELSE
Event production doesn t exist in a bubble, but rather skates the edges of many different fields: stage design, audio-visual, marketing, catering, and a dozen other things, and its advancement has been dependent on the evolution of technology in its sister industries. This #tbt, we take a peek into a couple event industry patents from days past.
Stage Design & Effects
When the entertainment industry collided with the industrial revolution, new technologies were quickly incorporated into stage design and theatrical special effects. U.S. Patent number 1,332,918, filed in 1919 by Roy J. Pomeroy, is an awesome example of pre-digital machinery created to enhance performance visuals:
My invention related to a new and useful improvement in a theatrical device where in a framework in the form of a hollow sphere is to be rotated and in which there is a stationary platform on which will be placed one or more dancers. The framework may all be painted various colors or part of the framework may be silvered and other portions of the framework my be shaded or colored so that when the sphere is rotated at two or three hundred revolutions per minute it will appear as if it were a huge bubble of a myriad of colors, in which an artist or a number of artists are seen to perform, and thereby provide a very spectacular effect.
Food & Catering
One of the earliest examples of mobile catering as we know it is from this 1961 patent for improvements on the mobile catering truck. Though we know mobile catering was around long before this patent took effect, it was fraught with problems that this new design sought to solve.
in managing trucks heretofore the operator would merely drop the side panels of the truck and stand back to collect as the customers crowd around trying to serve themselves. This results in inefficient operation and lost time in serving the customer . [therefore] another object of the invention is to achieve more efficient control of catering truck operation by providing a truck with extendable cafeterial type table having a central opening in which an operator may stand while serving food.
Invitations & Ads
In the heyday of print advertising, clever design helped one event invitation stand out from the rest. This invitation card, created by Paul Furstenburg, leverages lo-fi human curiosity to drive engagement.
The object of the invention if used as an advertising medium is to provide a device which may not only be readily forwarded through the mails, but which will, upon receipt, so arouse the curiosity of the addressee that he will give the article a second thought and peruse the same instead of immediately depositing the same in the waste-basket.
Mobile Media Road Shows
In 1921, Swiss citizens Roger Juvet and Robert de Stoutz patented improvements in the exhibition car , an invention which provides a car for exhibiting goods and samples without repacking consecutively at different mercantile and industrial centers situated at a distance from each other.
Trade Shows
Portable pop-up display stands are a staple of trade shows and expo halls today. But while the idea seems pretty straightforward, these types of displays weren t actually invented until the portability craze of the mid-1970 s. It began around 1972-73 with Gerry Welton s display apparatus for exhibiting at trade shows and the like , and in 1974, Theodore Zeigler filed his first patent, number 3,968,808, a collapsible, self-supporting structure made up of a network of rod elements pivotally joined at their ends and forming scissors-like pairs .
Zeigler would later go on to found Nomadic Display, one of America s leading expo display firms, and fun fact! a Decibel Management vendor.
Music Festival Month: Firefly This is why Every Event Needs an Evacuation Plan
LIVE EVENTS
It s Music Festival Month on the Decibel blog, where we take a look at the highlights from this summer s best shindigs. The Firefly Music Festival in Delaware got off to a decent start this year, selling out for the first time ever, but took an operational hit or two as merrymaking was interrupted on the festival s third day by severe incoming thunderstorms, leaving festival organizers in the unenviable position of evacuating 90,000 people from the Dover Speedway grounds.
Yup, 90,000 people, a painful reminder that every event needs an emergency evacuation plan. The good news is that festival organizers at Red Frog handled the emergency with efficiency and aplomb, and though nobody was particularly excited to leave, no casualties were reported. The festival continued the following day, as planned. So how did they keep things together in a crappy situation?
Making the Announcement
The first task before festival organizers was getting the word out via channels likely to reach the highest number of attendees with all possible speed. Planners announced the closure both on the official Firefly Twitter stream and in person on the performance stages.
Directing Attendees Towards Escape Routes
Those routes should be clearly-marked and unobstructed, well-lit, and well-signed, with personnel directing evacuees and keeping the vibe calm. Ensure there s assistance on hand for people with disabilities who may be unable to exit the grounds themselves.
Liaise with Local Emergency Services
Appoint one member of the team responsible for keeping emergency services looped in to any developments on your end, and who will ensure that any official directives are followed.
Will the show restart?
Keep attendees notified if or when the show will restart. Organizers utilized social media to keep audiences informed of which shows would be rescheduled, which shows would be cancelled, and when the festival would restart.
Sorry you guys had to deal with nasty whether, but nice save!
Fantastic Buffet Layout Ideas from Around the Web
FOOD & CATERING
We ve been seeing a lot of catering pics recently, and with outdoor snacking season upon us, I realized we hadn t done a food post in a while. Or hey, maybe I m just hungry. Here are five inspiring buffet layout designs from smart and creative decorators around the internet.
Dangling in Mid-Air
There s something kinda Neverland about plucking your food out of the air, and definitely something whimsical about eating it off a swing. If you ve got some scaffolding to work with, you can create a gorgeous gardens-of-Babylon or country backyard feel, like this one from Elizabeth Anne Designs:
Rustic Piles
Three cheers for abundance psychology, that cornucopia effect that wipes away attendee inhibitions and encourages high-piled plates. Plus, something about a big ol mess speaks to the joyful anarchist within us all. Doesn t this pic by Inspired by Charm make you wanna break every diet you ve ever been on?
Or how about this gorgeous mess by Seven Layer Charlotte:
Chalkboard & Slate Labeling
Nothing goes quite as well with modern-vintage as scrawled-on-a-slate food labeling. I know, I know, it s trendy. But we re not sick of it yet. We snagged this pretty thing over at Brit + Co, in their nifty post about creative food stations:
Lifestyle blogger Ramsey nails it:
OCD Flat & Square
Gotta love hyper-organization, and all that food really pops on stark serving dishes. Here s a gem from Colin Cowie Weddings photo inspiration finder, an ultra Type-A table layout that does everything right:
A French country take on the same idea from Bright Bold Beautiful:
Food in a Cabinet
This idea from Austen & Carissa s wedding over on Wedding Chicks would be rough to pull off for anything large-scale unless you ve got the capability to fabricate your own furniture installations, but with a guest list under 500, this is gorgeous:
Same sitch with the Murphy Bar over at Thisoldhouse.com, a small-scale idea that would be fun to convert for a larger event. We re thinking several dozen of these, or a much bigger one:
Got buffet layout ideas? Tell us in the comments.
Event Theme Design Inspiration: Stained Glass
EVENT DESIGN
This week, we re inspired by the incorporation of stained glass into spacial and event designs. The design world went pretty single-color for a while there, but we re seeing (and loving) a lean back towards more vibrant, daring palettes. We ve collected a little mood board of beautiful images with inspiring prismatic decor.
Monumenta 2012
One of Paris most expansive art events, Monumenta is an annual exhibition that challenges artists to execute their vision on the grounds of the 145,000 square-foot Grand Palais. The chosen artist for 2012, Daniel Buren, created a gorgeous stained-glass landscape, reflecting the light of the building s dome skyward.
Tom Fruin s Stained Glass House (via Colossal)
Art blog Colossal featured this October, 2014 work by installation artist Tom Fruin, who created a plexiglass house as part of a performance installation under Brooklyn Bridge in New York.
Sugar House
A similar project to Fruin s was undertaken by artist William Lamson, who created a solarium using panels of melted sugar.
Standalone Window Backdrops
We don t do a ton of weddings around here, but this gem from Southerweddings.com is worth the deviation. We could see these standalone windows in use for both outdoor or indoor spaces.
The Glory Window
From Wikipedia: The most prominent and recognizable feature of Thanks-Giving Square [in Dallas, Texas] is the Chapel of Thanksgiving , a small, spiral tower that features an enclave for prayerful thanks. The entrance to the chapel is at the end of a 125-foot (38 m) bridge that runs over a cascading waterfall. Inside the chapel, the spiral is topped with stained glass Glory Window , one of largest horizontally mounted stained-glass pieces in the world. The window was designed by Gabriel Loire of Chartres, France to feature brighter colors as the spiral reached its apex, becoming brighter as it reaches the center.
The Mirror Woman (pic via Buzzfeed)
From Juxtapoz: South Korean-born artist Kimsooja has had a long, intense career full of installations, performances, photography, videos and site-specific project. This particular installation from 2006 is at the Palace de Cristal in Madrid. Exploiting the structure of the building while also leaving it intact, Kimsooja installed a mirror on the floor to multiply and unify the original architectural space. A translucent diffraction grating film also covers the glazed dome and wall of the crystal palace. Awesome.
Music Festival Month: Underground and Sustainable at Gottwood 2015
LIVE EVENTS
It s Music Festival Month on the Decibel Blog, and today we re turning the lens on the boutique festival scene with a quick intro to Gottwood, one of the UK s most interesting summer events. The Gottwood festival is an intimate slice of hippy-sci-future held in the forests of Wales, a woodland rave that aims for maximum sustainability.
Gottwood 2015, now in its sixth year, ran from June 11-14, and true to their underground roots, accepted no corporate sponsorship. According to an interview with one of the three Gottwood founders in the London Evening Standard:
All seven stages and other festival outbuildings are made from materials found on site. Anything built by teams of local craftsmen will remain after the event so that it can be used by school groups or community projects, while money raised by the festival is invested in improving the area. No vehicles are allowed on site and organisers ask festival-goers to use car share schemes as much as possible. Ticket sales are kept low to 5,000 customers, plus 1,000 crew so as not to damage the site.
Here s a little overview from the organizers:
And a bit more of the vibe:
The festival is held on the Carreglwyd Estate grounds, on a wooded stretch of coastline that was named Lonely Planet s Greatest Region on Earth in 2012. The estate itself has a history stretching back 400 or so years.
Carreglwyd was built in 1634 by Dr William Griffiths. He was the Chancellor of St Asaph and Master of the Rolls to Charles the First. His grandfather, Sir William Griffiths had been the Rector of Llanfaethlu for 44 years. Charles the First gave Dr Griffiths one of the five Edward Bower copies of Van Dyke s portrait at the time of his trial. This portrait hangs in the Dining Room of Carreglwyd today.
The 2015 gallery hasn t hit stands yet, but keep an eye on the Gottwood gallery page for more stunning photos of the event, like this one from photographer Roo Lewis:
4 Truly Useful Associations Providing Services for Event Producers
EVENT INDUSTRY, TIPS & TRICKS
The event industry is a connected, supportive place where you don t have to go anything alone. These great groups specialize in creating industry-specific networks where event producers can share resources, trade insights, and stay inspired.
International Festivals & Event Association
You want the most bang for your membership buck? Look no further than the IFEA, whose membership benefits include workshops, yellow pages, market places, award ceremonies for best-in-class work, industry surveys and worldwide support for overseas events. Members are also eligible to drum up further cred by writing for IFEA s magazines and publications, distributed to industry professionals all across the globe.
Event Marketing Institute
It s not just you: everyone feels a little bit behind on their event marketing know-how, a state of affairs EMI aims to overthrow. Their membership benefits list is extensive, including exclusive access to industry analytics, marketing training, quarterly conference calls with an EMI analyst, and custom educational programs.
International Association of Speaker s Bureaus
You can t join the IASB unless you re part of the speaking industry specifically, but they do offer a membership search page where you can dig through association-approved speakers bureaus (in case you wanna find a local firm or vet your existing one). And in an uber-meta move, the IASB holds their own conferences. With speakers. That speak about about speakers.
National Association of Catering and Events
NACE takes a holistic approach to event management and catering with the tagline One industry. One association. True that where s there s people, there should be food. If you re looking for a catering pro to plug into your event or as a partner for your event production shop, do have a peek at the NACE s member directory. And if you re seeking inspiration and business connections for planning your next mega-banquet, NACE s Experience! Conference and Expo is a can t-miss.
Tips & Tricks: How to Rent a Public JumboTron
TIPS & TRICKS
The word JumboTron is actually a trademarked brand name owned by Sony, though one that has become synonymous with all mega-sized televisions, particularly those mounted in stadiums and public squares. But you knew that already. What you didn t know is how to get your marriage proposal, event announcement, or congratulatory message up there.
Who do I contact to rent?
The short (and rather unhelpful) answer is that you ll need to contact the owner, which can be a private individual, an ad agency or sometimes an institution. If you re looking to rent the JumboTron at a sports stadium, for example, you d need to contact the stadium administration office directly, and you ll probably need to call in as a surprising number of stadiums don t offer JumboTron message information online. The Jumbotrons in Times Square (here s a list of contact info for those) are each owned by private individuals or companies. so you d first need to identify the exact screen you d like to rent, then contact the owner for specifics.
How much does it cost?
There s a marked difference between costs for advertising on a Jumbotron versus costs for displaying a personal message (like a marriage proposal or anniversary announcement). Messages displayed on the scoreboard at Michigan Stadium, for example, cost $250 for a maximum of 50 characters, but you have no control over the design and placement of your message. Advertisements, on the other hand, can run anywhere from $3,000 to $20,000.
Some more examples of popular public JumboTrons in the US:
Yankee Stadium
Messages on the Pepsi Fan Marquee scoreboard at New York s Yankee Stadium cost $100 per message, with a maximum of 10 messages per game, allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Freemont Street Experience
At 135,000 square feet, the Viva Vision screen in Las Vegas is the second-largest screen in the world. Placing a custom message on the Viva Vision screen costs $500. If you want to include photo or video, you ll have to contact the administration for a quote.
Big Screen at Texas Motor Speedway
Positioned in the middle of the backstretch perched above Burnout Alley, Big Hoss TV features 20,633.64 square feet of HD LED display that consists of 4.8 million pixels and 281 trillion colors. The state-of-the-art video board is the largest ever built by Panasonic and surpassed fellow Speedway Motorsports, Inc. facility Charlotte Motor Speedway (16,000 square feet) to claim the Guinness World Record for the world s largest HD LED video board. The size of Big Hoss TV is 79 percent larger than the video board at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, which stands at 11,520 square feet. Contact for exact prices.
Music Festival Month: Video Outtakes from Bonnaroo
LIVE EVENTS
June is Music Festival Month on the Decibel Blog, and today we take a quick gander at the best videos from Bonnaroo. Held in Manchester, Tennessee, June 11-14, Bonnaroo is the only multi-day music festival where events and shows run 24-hours, non-stop.
First, the Stats
80,000 attendees, and a 24-hour event schedule to manage? How many acres? HOW many tons of waste? Respect.
Speakers in the Shower
What s the worst thing about having a scrub-down at a music festival? Missing your favorite songs, natch. But Bonnaroo is remedying the problem with pretty sophisticated shower technology, including speakers built into the shower heads that play music from festival artists. If you re curious about the process, this is what it s like to shower at Bonnaroo.
Because Yes Please: Earth Wind & Fire
The silver pants, the silver pants!
The Domestic Weirdness Video Backdrop
Leave up to Belle & Sebastian to turn the weirdness factor up to twenty with a minimalist video backdrop of bizarre vintage Americana. Check it out start at 28:54:
The Dome (Again)
Hey, look, it s electronic wonderdude Deadmau5! We were just talkin about this guy. The Bonnaroo videographers produced a much better video of the producer s brand new Thunder Dome lighting cube, which debuted at the Governor s Ball in New York only a few weeks ago. Check out this A/V madness:
Odesza Brings the Tuba-Driven Tripiness
A perfect pairing of light and sound at Odesza s Bonnaroo set, which is almost prettier to watch than it is to listen to.