tbtommyb
Well-Known Member
oh yeah, never considered that. I would love to do that some time. i'm always massively impressed by the ones who stay behind to clean up.
Glastonbury 2014
- Thread starter wiskey
- Start date
alsoknownas
some bloke
Really great fun. Kinda like a festival before the festival (there are staff bars running, some with casual dj'ing and stuff, birthday parties and general niceness. Good community vibe. Sense of achievement watching punters faces light up as they fill into the areas you have helped to prep.
Only thing, like getting tickets, there's lot's of demand for the good roles. You basically have to know someone I think.
pesh
Well-Known Member
most if not all of the tents and stages are hired in so they're put up as late as possible to save on rental costs and because they'll hopefully be being used on another job elsewhere before the festival.
tbtommyb
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I imagine so. I read somewhere that a lot of the Arcadia team live in a trailer park somewhere near Bristol. I do like working at it because you get a little feeling of ownership but obvs not comparable to constructing a stage. I'm hoping to get a staff wristband that gets me into Maceo's some time, I don't know what grades of band there are though.
I thought they owned a few of the bigger ones though? Everything must be a mad rush for the last few days!
alsoknownas
some bloke
What's Maceo's?
tbtommyb
Well-Known Member
I think that's the name. Staff bar in Block 9, there was a bit of chat about it earlier in the thread.
pesh
Well-Known Member
i'd be surprised if they owned any of the bigger ones, they cost a fortune and you need to be renting them out all summer / as much as possible to make them pay for themselves... obviously with the amount of gear to put up at Glastonbury they have to start pretty early to get it all done in time, but theres been a few times at small festivals i've turned up on the Monday to start work only to discover the venue's tent isn't getting on site for another 24hrs.
as for Maceo's, you should be able to get in with any crew band.
alsoknownas
some bloke
Oh, okay. I think I know the place in fact. Didn't know the name. The staff bars are okay. But you've already got a massive festival to explore - there's nothing that special going on backstage.
Like pesh said - the SE corner bands (Common, Unfairground, etc.) generally let each other in anywhere kind of thing.
colacubes
Mr Hot Cookie
Tbh you just need to know someone working round that way. We went as punters last year and my mate was doing staff catering at Block 9 and got us a pass.
Tbf Maceo's is a bit more than that. They had DJs 24 hours a day pretty much during the festival including from a lot of the big name dance performers including Fatboy Slim I believe. It's a wicked bar with a great vibe.
alsoknownas
some bloke
Has it got loads of dangly light bulbs, or neon or something outside?
colacubes
Mr Hot Cookie
Don't think so. You wouldn't notice it from the outside. It was behind a load of corregated iron just to one side of the 1980s style NY club in Block 9.
alsoknownas
some bloke
Oh, not the place I'm thinking of then. May sniff it out if I end up going this year (currently 50/50).
tbtommyb
Well-Known Member
That makes sense, I guess they must reserve ones then? (thinking of how some stages have the same tent).
I really liked the West Holts backstage bar - slightly cheaper drinks, cleaner toilets, some good bands playing and interesting people to chat to. We used it as a meeting point. Wouldn't spend the whole festival there, though, obviously.
I only mention Maceo's due to hearing about it here. I have no idea where it is actually, so probably I'll get found by security trying to climb on to the back of a tent or something
tbtommyb
Well-Known Member
From previous page :
Yes alsoknownas is most likely right there tbtommyb ... there are some crew on site for a good long time before punter arrival. Even we, who have no site build-up responsibilities, tend to get on site the Sunday before. When we arrive there's loads already around, and plenty have been there for ages.
ETA : sorry, missed a chunk of subsequent posts
tbtommytb said:
alsoknownas said:
Yes alsoknownas is most likely right there tbtommyb ... there are some crew on site for a good long time before punter arrival. Even we, who have no site build-up responsibilities, tend to get on site the Sunday before. When we arrive there's loads already around, and plenty have been there for ages.
ETA : sorry, missed a chunk of subsequent posts
Last edited:
alsoknownas
some bloke
You've somehow quoted tbtommyb as me, and vice versa, or some digital tomfoolery is of occurrence
.
You've somehow quoted tbtommyb as me, and vice versa, or some digital tomfoolery is of occurrence
No that was pure incompetence on my part. Apologies, now fixed.
tbtommyb
Well-Known Member
So when would bits like the SE Corner start to be put together? Surely they can do that whenever, as they've put it together? I'm just trying to get an idea of how it goes from green fields to a festival in weeks. On that note, have Shangri-La announced their theme this year?
glad Arcadia has moved location, I'm determined to get up to the Park this year, somehow missed it entirely last time.
glad Arcadia has moved location, I'm determined to get up to the Park this year, somehow missed it entirely last time.
colacubes
Mr Hot Cookie
The friend who was doing crew catering in the SE Corner was down there for about a month on and off in advance of the festival.
alsoknownas
some bloke
It's amazing how much of it comes together in the last week. From my experiences, most of what you see structurally is tent or scaffold frame, with sheet wood cladding over it, and sculptural artworks giving the biggest visual impact. Putting the big bits up didn't seem to take long (done by specialist people who spend their whole time rigging and de-rigging the same structures over and over again). The cladding and flooring was a bit long-winded, but really not that bad. Making and rigging the artworks and objects (rockets, giant telly's, tentacles, airplane parts, gutted automobiles, etc.), seemed to be the most fiddly and awkward job, with some large scale artworks requiring welding, machine lifting, fitting, painting in-situ, etc., on site over a period of weeks.
Gerry1time
Did a wee in Dirac's toilet
I get down on site on and off from early June these days, and it always amazes me just how much of the site gets built at the last minute. To the point that even a week before gates open I have trouble navigating some parts of the site as it's just empty fields where the usual landmarks should be. Even the Arcadia Spider wasn't there when I moved down to the site full time last year, on the Wednesday before gates open iirc. Not sure of exact running times for the entire build, but the late night areas are usually started earlier, although are often inaccessible due to the large numbers of massive JCBs moving round the area. The Ribbon Tower's there quite early, and Pyramid and Other are usually in reasonably good shape a week beforehand. The traders all come in en masse really late though, Saturday iirc.
Checking on the BBC webcam the only major structures currently visible (apart from the Pyramid frame which is permanent) are the ribbon tower in the Park and an already fully skinned West Holts Stage. We should see the fence starting to appear any day now.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/festivals/glastonbury/webcam/
I haven't been on site before the festival since I worked in 2007 but had a good wander around 10 days before the gates opened that year and apart from the main stage frames only a couple of the larger tents were up. Apart from that the only evidence of the festival taking place at all were the fence and the metal trackways.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/festivals/glastonbury/webcam/
I haven't been on site before the festival since I worked in 2007 but had a good wander around 10 days before the gates opened that year and apart from the main stage frames only a couple of the larger tents were up. Apart from that the only evidence of the festival taking place at all were the fence and the metal trackways.
Gerry1time
Did a wee in Dirac's toilet
Shit just got real 
alsoknownas
some bloke
It's the best stage so they have to put it up first
.
wiskey
Albatross Admirer
The pyramid skin is owned by the festival and stored on a neighbouring farm.
There was a bit of a falling out last year between Michael/GF and the other East edge neighbour which might mean minor changes to the layout outside the fence. I believe oxfam is moving field slightly.
There was a bit of a falling out last year between Michael/GF and the other East edge neighbour which might mean minor changes to the layout outside the fence. I believe oxfam is moving field slightly.
wiskey
Albatross Admirer
Also part of the team we are attached to is responsible for signing off the H&S of the stages, no signature no opening. It's mostly weds afternoon when they do the sign off but some stages can take it to the wire. It's not practical to build the stages too early as they are redundant empty spaces until the expensive equipment goes in and at that point you need to pay for fencing and security. Delay that as late as possible. Most of the equipment from the stages is back in flight cases and off site over Sunday night ready for the next job.
