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.
Five of the Hottest Event Photographers in 2015
EVENT INDUSTRY
Event photography is an art form all its own. You need someone who understands how to capture the action while it s happening without creating overly-staged shots, how to shoot under low lighting conditions for parties and night events, and how to take compelling action shots. Here are the Decibel Management picks for best-in-show photographers for 2015.
Shot by Rob
Speaking of low lighting, Rob is a roamer of the after-hours streets, a nightlife photographer with a real gift for capturing hot late-night club moments in which nobody looks tremendously drunk. Rob shoots around 500 events a year that s slightly less than two a day.
Dave Bird
With a portfolio that tends towards lovely conference and speaker shots showing the special of corporate events, London-based Dave Bird s event photography is top-of-the-line. About himself, he says: I love bright and exciting stories of people doing cool stuff, whether that s in their day job or what they do at the weekend. Natural interactions are really important to me, and I m always after that special moment my approach and process lets me light and then direct what s happening so that it works best for the camera, but still never feels posed or rigid.
Rukes
No post about event photography would be complete without a mention of Rukes, who specializes in electronic music and festivals. Snapping some of the hottest DJs and large-scale music events in the last few years, Rukes has been catapulted to the top his game with his amazingly colorful and dynamic imagery that showcases crowd excitement and scale like few others can.
Alan Klein
Alan Klein s photography is a mature but not at all boring, serious but not at all staid, and careful but not without a splash of fun. Based in New York, Alan s lens perfect captures political events, gallery openings, corporate functions, and visions of audience engagement.
Heisenberg Media
Heisenberg Media specializes in dramatic event photography and executive portraiture. We re not your standard documentarians. We seek out, capture and produce works of art that can be used time and time again in your marketing materials, publications, presentations and more.
Three of the Most Unique Expos Happening in Vegas This Fall
LIVE EVENTS
Click your heels and say it with us: there s no place like Vegas , a playground of shwag bags and call girls that plays host to some of the most hilariously specific events in the world.
The Las Vegas Souvenir & Resort Gift Show
These people are avant garde event planning geniuses. This event is like, a miniature Vegas inside of actual Vegas, an endless expo floor of souvenirs in the mecca of souvenirs. There s gonna be customized bracelets and personalized picture frames for miles. There s gonna be custom-printed sports jerseys and little baskets of eco-friendly soap. There s gonna be shwag bags of souvenirs OF the souvenirs.
International Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigator s Association Conference
Looking to lock up some hog-riding hooligans? There s an association for that. The IOMGIA holds their annual get-together September 13-18 this year, celebrating 41 years of putting mustachio d bad boys behind bars. Sorry: not just anybody can go: Only sworn law enforcement officers, law enforcement agency personnel with specific analytical investigative functions or prosecutors with valid identification will be allowed to register for the conference.
Mr. Olympia 2015
First held in New York in 1965, Mr. Olympia is ground zero for watching greased-up bohunks lift heavy things and punch each other. With kettlebell, boxing, and jiu jitsu competitions rounding out the more traditional body-building segment, the event is more fitness-focused than it was half a century ago. Snag a ticket and find out if reigning champion Phil Heath can hang on to his title.
Music Festival Month: Best Instagrams from the State of Trance in Mumbai
LIVE EVENTS
June is Music Festival Month on the Backstage Pass blog, where we take a twice-a-week peek at highlights from the biggest summer concerts worldwide. This week, Dutch producer and DJ Armin Van Buuren linked arms with the promoters at Sunburn in Mumbai to bring party-goers A State of Trance, a music festival headlined by Van Buuren and named after his weekly radio show. We dug through the social media melee and fished out our favorite shots of the throwdown. We re loving
This monochrome welcome:
This screaming sea of souls:
This amazing fisheye crowd shot:
This field of cellphones:
This rain of fire:
This explosive behind-the-decks view:
This electric storm:
This trippy space lighting:
These colorful spotlights:
This gates of Heaven goodbye:
4 Great Podcasts for Event Managers & Producers
EVENT INDUSTRY
The humble podcast: so simple, so perfect for busy event professionals to listen to while making brekkies. The popularity of the Podcast seems to be on a kind of wheel of reincarnation: everyone s making them, then no one is, then they re back in favor and all over the web. In the last few years, a there s been a minor resurgence in podcast popularity, and we thought we d gather up a few good event-related shows you might enjoy.
The Event Tech Podcast by EventHero
From the savvy team at EventHero comes the Event Tech Podcast, a great interview-format podcast on the latest developments in event production and management technology. The Event Tech Podcast has already heard from the folks at Attendify, Event Manager Blog, Eventbrite, and a host of other big industry players. Not sure the best way to listen? You can subscribe via Youtube, RSS or iTunes.
The Planner s Planner
We are two professional musicians who stumbled into event planning in 2012. We have also worked with some of the finest event planners around the world and now help to plan events for their clients. We quickly realised that there is more to planning an event than meets the eye, and are on mission to learn more and discuss this unique and creative world. We meet so many like minded professionals who share our passion for the event industry. We thought it would be great to share some of the conversations we have on an almost daily basis.
Speakeasy Podcast by Constant Contact
With topics like How Small Businesses are Increasing Engagement and Making More Money , and A Closer Look at 3 Social Media Tricks You Haven t Heard Before , Speakeasy is a good place to brush up on social media tips and tricks if you re still new to the online engagement game.
The Event Alley Show
Event Alley is the brainchild of two passionate event planners, Lindsey Rosenthal and Liz King, who built their businesses in the midst of a depressed economy and found success. As they met countless event professionals, it was clear an outlet was needed for industry professionals to discuss issues, challenges and new ideas. After a year of great success, Liz left the show to work on other projects and Lindsey was joined by two dynamic powerhouses in the industry, Brandt Krueger and Tahira Endean.
With a podcast listing numbering around 250, the Event Alley team isn t messing around. Subscribe via iTunes, or visit their website for a full event archive.
Four Moments of Zen All Event Production Pros Have Experienced
EVENT INDUSTRY
There s more than one kind of zen, grasshopper. And in an industry with such a strong penchant for tossing up curve balls and all-nighters, where there are such extreme alternating periods of high-energy intensity and then low-energy, we glimpse those moments of nirvana perhaps more often than most.
Psychedelic Exhaustion
You haven t slept in 39 hours. Something fell through at the last minute and you had to pull an all-nighter. You re on your sixth double espresso (you think) with at least seven more hours to go before you can crash. Your vision is swimming in a yellow-y, blasted out haze and you feel like you re having an out-of-body experience. Looking back later, you re not sure how you continued to function, but you did, and you got er done.
The Calm Before the Storm
The sun s coming up, the name cards are going on the tables and the final A/V checks are running smoothly. The attendees are about to arrive, but before the doors open and the day gets rolling, there s a moment of quiet where you stop, sip your cuppa, and appreciate the culmination of several months of preparation.
It s Out of my Hands
You ve ticked every box, but sometimes, the unpredictable happens. The weather channel announces an incoming blizzard, or someone central to the project falls ill. These times remind us that in some things, all we can do is offer up our best response to circumstances that are ultimately out of our control.
The Productive Groove
You ve hit your stride, Neo. Your hands are moving faster and more fluidly than spacetime would seem to allow and you re not even trying. You glance at to-do items and they fall off your list. Obstacles melt before you, solutions to the impossible spring into being effortlessly. The Dao De Jing calls this wuwei, or Non-Action , the state of perfect energy expenditure, where your lightest touches have the most profound effects. These are the moments you remember why you ve found your calling.
Music Festival Month: the Deadmau5 Dome at New York Governor s Ball
LIVE EVENTS
Hey hey, it s Music Festival Month on the Backstage Pass blog, and today we take a look at the biggest stage-design goss from the 2015 Governers Ball, namely, the debut of Deadmau5 s new Thunder Dome . Canadian electronic producer Deadmau5 is well known for his audio-visual gymnastics, and the Thunderdome s first live set was highly anticipated, so it was a bit of a disappointment when technical difficulties dogged the first few. Deadmau5 tweeted,
Rehearse all you want, you re still at the mercy at the fuckup who doesn t know how 3 phase power works. Lol. Amazing recovery tho!
But all good things to those who wait: when the dome did get rolling, it was all the LED insanity you might expect from a collaboration of greats. The dome was created by killer lighting designer Leroy Bennett, a twenty-year veteran of the industry who s worked with everyone from Lady Gaga to Prince.
After the technical issue was resolved, the geodesic dome split open horizontally, and the smaller dome that contained Deadmau5 opened vertically, like a hatch. This allowed Deadmau5 to lord over the proceedings, but before these Russian nesting dolls of neon geometry unpacked themselves, the structure s effect was almost eerie. Because Deadmau5 was hard to discern within it and especially because it continued to light up after the audio cut out the setup seemed to have a life of its own, existing autonomously as a pulsating electronic organism that had more agency over what was transpiring onstage than Deadmau5 himself.
Hot diggety, that s some description. Brace for sonic assault:
More, please!
Inspiration: Gorgeous Spatial and Exhibition Design
EVENT PRODUCTION INSPIRATION
Designing a good explanatory or exhibitory space is actually a multi-disciplinary pursuit. The spatial design should match and support the content of the exhibition; it has to be created with an eye on usability so that signage is clear and readable; and a bit of wayfinding, allowing people to smoothly navigate the space. We ve collected five example of our beautiful exhibition design from around the web.
Sustainability Treehouse by Volumes
The main challenge was to create an experience that would engage Boy Scouts eager to find the next adventure activity zip lines, climbing areas, a skate park and leave them with a new perspective on sustainability. The design avoids outdated and formulaic exhibit solutions and, instead, delivers information in surprising and unexpected ways, down to the humorous and irreverent tone of the exhibit text. Nature s natural processes inform the exhibit program which then translates these principles to everyday life.
iFace Sticky Notes
Creators Dela Rostami and Naz Mojab created a sketch > pixel art > sticky notes wall as a promotional and engagement method for an upcoming museum launch. Stunning low-budget creativity. They say:
As part of a land grant university with an extensive population of minority majority ethnic groups, the Shrem Museum of Art (currently under construction, opening early 2017) will provide an opportunity for its intended audience to engage culturally and intellectually both inside and outside the museum.
For this I ve created a series of mockups and primarly prototypes(low-tech)in public spaces around UCDavis campus. My goal is to attract a broad cross-section of UC Davis students, adults, families, experts etc. to the Shrem Museum of Art.
JAZZ
A display of photos from the National Library of Norwayforms this exhibition about the history of Norwegian jazz music from 1930 to 1990. With stories, photos and other archival material this exhibition gives you a unique glance at the true history of jazz in Norway.
Wired Store
Exhibition design for the Wired magazine pop up store in SOHO, NY. Created by Mother New York / Mother Design, with creative direction by Mark Aver and design by Candice Ralph, Jules Tardy and Yoshie Hozumi.
de:block Exhibition
De:block is an nomadic exhibition that celebrates local designs that had made a mark in Singapore s design history, showcasing posters, publications, fonts and products by numerous design studios that have emerged since the 60s. Good design is much closer to home than we think and as a result, this trip takes us to Tampines, one of the most populated estates[s] in Singapore.
The 10 Best #eventtech Tweets from July 2015
EVENT PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY
The #eventtech trend is anything but over, with event professionals turning increasing attention to integrating apps, wearables, and other hot-button technology into their event experiences. Most notably, this month saw the launch of the Paper.li #EventTech Daily site, cataloging the best #eventtech news from Twitter and around the web, and the venue and shortlist announced for the third annual Event Technology Awards. Check out our highlights from Twitter this month:
Woohoo! It s Music Festival Month on the Decibel Blog.
LIVE EVENTS
It s June, and that means the world s gearing up for a solid month of muddy mosh pits, body paint and sonic experiences. So naturally, we re doing the same. This month on the Decibel blog, we ll spend four weeks taking a look at the event production, brand marketing and just plain cool highlights from music festivals around the globe.
We can t cover everything that s going on, but we sure can try. Here s what you can expect to see us commenting on in our June lineup:
The New York Governor s Ball
Photo credit: Governor s Ball
The NY Governor s Ball is a three-day, multi-stage festival that s heavy on the indie rock. Among this year s yes, please bands are Ratatat, My Morning Jacket, Death From Above 1979, and hilare Weird Al.
Sunburn Festival, Goa India
Sunburn is India s premier electronic music brand hosting Asia s largest 3-day Electronic Music Festival in Goa, encompassing various smaller festivals across the city, arena gigs and club tours. This is your straight-out-of-the-box electro-party vibe.
Bonnaroo
If you re not familiar with Bonnaroo, I can t help ya, son. And the 2015 lineup is so long and so varied, there s no single way to sum this one up. We expect to see some killer stage and lighting design, and world-class activations.
Gottwood Festival
The mystical little party hidden in the middle of the woods. Gottwood is a critically acclaimed, independent, boutique, and intimate underground electronic music festival. A tip of the hat to the logistics team responsible for getting all that infrastructure set up in the middle of absolutely nowhere.
Firefly Festival
From Tycho to Snoop Dog, the Firefly Festival (produced by Red Frog Events), is a four-day feast for the ears in the woodlands of Dover, Delaware. Attendees are welcome to camp at the festival site, meaning organizers are faced with planning round-the-clock facilities for partying, eating, sleeping and bathing. Damn.
Newport Folk Festival
From our friends over at Wikipedia, an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival. The festival features performances by folk, blues, country, bluegrass and folk rock musicians, and since the 1990s has featured performers from related contemporary genres, such as alternative country, indie folk and folk punk.
Warped Tour
Created in 1995, the Vans Warped Tour is the biggest travelling music festival in the US. We ll check in with the tour about halfway through the tour dates and inspect the goods.
Looking forward!
