[Official] We are Festival staff, technicians and organisers. Ask us anything!

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12-03-2013, 03:09 PM
Festivals

[Official] We are Festival staff, technicians and organisers. Ask us anything!

We are a group of Festival staff, technicians, managers and organisers. Ask us anything!

Between us we have 120 years of experience and have been involved with events across the globe including Reading and Leeds, Glastonbury, Orlando Calling, Burning Man, Royal events and the Olympics.

We have fought with sharks, battled fires, busted large drug operations, saved lives (and livelihoods) and had fist fights with acts. We have dealt with some of the funniest and most serious of incidents without people ever finding out.

We are currently at a three day meeting in London and crashing at Jin's house and whilst we are all together we thought we would do a little Q&A session.

Our Q&A team consists of:

JM.- Sound and Network technician
EK. - Organiser
ME. - Organiser
MH. - Steward Manager
LM. - Steward Supervisor
JC. - Manager
AB. - Manager
ID. - Organiser
SK. - Crew Boss

We are staying anonymous so we can answer almost any question you have but we may not be able to answer with complete specifics.
We will begin answering questions around 6pm this evening.
12-03-2013, 03:11 PM
GoldenMerc

which artists have you had a fist fight with, im sure the rapper DJ Logan doesnt count in this

p.s you aren't recursion you can't just make a new account then make it god ;)
12-03-2013, 03:24 PM
Cerys

Most embarrasing thing you have done?
12-03-2013, 03:25 PM
j0rd

Do you deal with Beach Break Live?
If so, why has it moved from Pembrey this year?!
12-03-2013, 04:17 PM
Stephen

does jin like to dress as a woman and watch gay porn during his spare time
12-03-2013, 06:11 PM
Lee

Can Jin please forward my PM to the steward team please.
12-03-2013, 06:20 PM
Teabags

seconded ^
12-03-2013, 06:46 PM
IceNineKills

How short is Alexander Armstrong?
12-03-2013, 08:49 PM
Reloaded

How did you go about getting into the festival bussiness? Applies to all people
12-03-2013, 09:24 PM
Aaron

What's the most challenging part of your job? Again like above, applies to all of you.
13-03-2013, 01:54 AM
Festivals

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenMerc

which artists have you had a fist fight with, im sure the rapper DJ Logan doesnt count in this

JM.- None
EK. - None but I could have punched axel rose.
ME. - Noel Gallagher
MH. - None but a few customers.
LM. - None
JC. - Axl Rose, Phil Jupitus and Wayne Rooney tried to punch me.
AB. - None
ID. - A few customers sure
SK. - None

Quote:

Originally Posted by :Cerys

Most embarrasing thing you have done?

JM.- During a crew party a colleague spiked my drink and I ended up running around naked.
EK. - Still drunk from the night before and accidentally ordered 1000 tons of bark chip as oppose to 100 tons. We had to hide it in car parks.
ME. - Got naked and walked across a stage in front of 80,000 people.
MH. - Went to go shout at a member of staff for not doing his job and faceplanted the floor. My assistant was crying with laughter and couldn't help me up so as I stood up still shouting at this member of staff I fell over again in the mud.
LM. - Got pissed on whilst drunk by the team I was supervising.
JC. - Left my land rover unlocked and some drunken mess thought it was a toilet and poo'd in it.
AB. - I crashed my car into a fork lift in front of everyone in perfect conditions.
ID. - None I am perfect!
SK. - I got my shorts caught on a fence I was climbing over and got a massive wedgie. Had to explain the situation when I called for help over the radio as I couldn't get down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by j0rd

Do you deal with Beach Break Live?
If so, why has it moved from Pembrey this year?!

All - Yes, but we are not sure of the exact reason. Possible licensing issue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen

does jin like to dress as a woman and watch gay porn during his spare time

JM.- Based upon his complaints about the internet speed Yes?
EK. - I don't think I have ever seen Jin off-shift it is a bit of a running joke.
ME. - Yeah probably.
MH. - No he goes out on the pull for drunk boys in drag.
LM. -
JC. - Spare time?
AB. - Sure
ID. - Each to their own.
SK. - I don't think he knows what dressing up is.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IceNineKills

How short is Alexander Armstrong?

All - Not crazily but fairly short.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reloaded

How did you go about getting into the festival bussiness? Applies to all people

JM.- I am a qualified sound engineer.
EK. - I won a competition and loved it so much I started volunteering before I was offered a job.
ME. - I started my own festival.
MH. - I needed a job so started working for an event company. 20 years later and now I sit on the board of directors.
LM. - I wanted to go to Glastonbury but tickets were sold out so I applied to work
JC. - I wanted to be paid to go to music festivals and watch bands. Turns out I had a flair for it and really enjoyed the job.
AB. - Did a show as a favour for a friend and really enjoyed it.
ID. - I applied for a job as a site manager at an events company.
SK. - I live in Thailand for 8 months of the year and needed a job that would pay me good money in the summer so I don't need to work in Thailand. Found a job as a laborer on tour.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron

What's the most challenging part of your job? Again like above, applies to all of you.

JM.- Everything, from running cables to keeping clients and artists happy.
EK. - Making sure everyone sticks to the strict licensing conditions.
ME. - Selling our tickets.
MH. - Ensuring we stick to the deadlines and don't fall behind as we have no margin for error.
LM. - Making the staff work.
JC. - Staying awake during 20 hours days. Waking up with only 4 hours sleep for the 10th day running.
AB. - Trying to get contractors to wear their PPE.
ID. - Keeping an eye out so everything goes in the right place when we are building the site.
SK. - Ensuring the crew don't get too drunk in the evening.
13-03-2013, 02:08 AM
j0rd

Quote:

Originally Posted by Festivals

All - Yes, but we are not sure of the exact reason. Possible licensing issue.

That sucks, got tickets before the official venue was announced assuming it was going to be in Pembrey. Thought it would definitely be in Pembrey as there was a contract involved. Guess a trip to Cornwall will have to do it :(
22-03-2013, 04:02 PM
Jordan

Quote:

Originally Posted by j0rd

That sucks, got tickets before the official venue was announced assuming it was going to be in Pembrey. Thought it would definitely be in Pembrey as there was a contract involved. Guess a trip to Cornwall will have to do it :(

There was a news article about it the other day http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-s...wales-21766963 :P I think that answers why it was moved.