GLOBAL GATHERING

Angel Music Group’s ethos of bringing us an ever fresh and evolving experience certainly rang true at this year’s Global Gathering festival at the Long Marston Airfield on the weekend of July 27-28. The mainly sun-blessed event featured several new terraces, a new, gigantic inflated balloon tent and a unique VIP viewing platform that overlooked the main Radio 1 Stage.

    This was the focal point for the 55,000-strong crowd who gathered in swarms to watch the Friday warm-up session by Carl Cox and headliners Faithless, who played an impressive live performance of old classics and new material.

    The band’s personal lighting rig ensured the night sky flashed with strobes and projections, on top of the Robe-heavy rig already installed. Production manager Simon Barrington (Production Eye), who designed the rigs throughout the site with assistance from Andrea Frey of AMG, kept the lighting simple on the main stage to make room for additional kit brought in by the headliners.

    As event manager for AMG, Frey had a leading part in the design and look of all stages, as well as much of the other on-site entertainment, and Barrington was full of praise for her effort and support.

    Saturday’s main act, Basement Jaxx brought the spirit of Brixton to Stratford-on-Avon with the fixtures they’d used at Brixton Academy the previous night and produced a show throbbing with urban beats and powerful divas. CSE provided lighting for the Radio 1 Stage consisting predominantly of Robe 700 spots and washes, as well as rigs for the Random Concept and Sensual Selection arenas. Zig Zag provided lighting for the main arenas.

    Calvin Harris took to the stage of the Modular Arena with his band after hosting his very own barbecue joined by Sister Bliss, Faithless and other A-list guests. Altogether 150 of the world’s best DJs descended upon 16 arenas to provide beats and basslines at the UK’s biggest dance festival.

    The talking point of the weekend was the jaw-dropping show by the Red Arrows, which took place as the sun was setting on Saturday evening during David Guetta’s dance-happy set. The planes swooped low over the stage and formed a heart shape before jetting off. It was these extra touches, on top of a wide range of dance music styles, which really raised the euphoria of the weekend.

    A number of small outdoor stages, designed for around 1,000 viewers, were added this year: Nocturnal Groove, Mixmag, Polysexual, Circo Loco and the International Terrace, which featured DJs from all over the world, including Malaysia and Ukraine.

    Festival organiser James Algate (pictured top right) explained: “We introduced the terraces because Global is continually reinventing itself. We’re always changing the format of the event and are not scared to take risks. No one has done a VIP viewing platform before.”

    Serious Stages designed the bespoke platform, which allowed guests to see over the confines of the VIP area and on to the main stage. Not only that, but the stages were moved around this year and roughly 50% of acts were new bookings.

    A sight that drew a lot of attention at this year’s festival was the looming positive pressure dome, a new tent concept that has the appearance of a gigantic blow-up balloon. This Sputnik arena was fitted with revolving doors to ensure it was kept airtight and inflated at all times.

    Sputnik Vodka was the main sponsor at this year’s event and the responsibility of keeping the big men from Russia happy fell to F1 Sound Company, the new, north London operation co-run by Matt Bate, whose main equipment asset is its Funktion-One Dance Stack formerly the resident system at Hammersmith Palais.

    With the challenging acoustics in the Arcstream AV ArcSphere, the amazing and unique positive pressure dome structure chosen for the Sputnik Launch Pad, F1SC’s team had their work cut out.

    F1SC’s Dance Stack was combined with a Funktion-One Resolution 4 monitor system, and the results certainly won the approval of all including the headline Russian, DJ Spy.der.

    Matt Bate explained how to keep a Russian Vodka distiller and all its friends happy: “We put in the right system for the job, it just works, right out of the box and people just know it’s going to be an awesome system when they walk into the tent and see it. I don’t think we disappointed anyone!”

    Coupled with XTA processing and MC2 amplification, all under the Funktion-One badge, the guys at F1SC have turned a product designed specifically for the reproduction of dance music into a one-of-a-kind ‘touring’ system.

    Said Bate: “Because Funktion-One conceived this product to be installed into clubs there is no other system of its kind in the western world available to hire. It presents many challenges to take on the road but we have proved it’s possible and hassle-free. With further minor development we foresee it will be deployed as easily as a standard ground-stacked modular PA system, and I know which option I would take to my party!”

    Main audio supplier SSE increased its presence at this year’s festival to provide a total of 12 systems including an L-Acoustics V-DOSC line array on the main stage and two arenas, Nexo Geo T in three arenas, including the Godskitchen tent, and Nexo Alpha on three terraces, all designed by SSE’s Miles Hilliard.

    On the main stage, 15 V-DOSC boxes with three dVs were flown both left and right with 16 SB218 subs a side. A Midas XL4 and Heritage 3000 controlled the mixes at the FOH and monitor positions respectively.

    Audile’s Rob Ashworth and PM Simon Barrington designed additional Funktion-One systems, which were provided by Audile and installed on the VIP deck, the Contagious Clubwear Stage and Strongbow Cider House, which featured DJ sets by HotChip and German duo Digitalism. The Radio 1 Extra Stage was fitted with a d&b system provided by Systems Etc.

    For the fourth year running, UK Rigging provided rigging services for all of the main structures on the site, including the outdoor stage and the Godskitchen tent. There was a full rigging crew on-site for the duration of the event and a complement of over 150 motors. The Radio 1 stage featured tracking video screens from PSL (the event’s sole video provider) to provide a different look to the day’s events. In the evening they were tracked to one side, allowing the artists access to the full stage.

    The Godskitchen tent was essentially a very straightforward system of long straight trusses to provide audience lighting and a number of vertical shapes. On-stage, 15 4m cantilevered arms were cleverly rigged from a ground support system to provide a living backdrop.

    Serious Stages constructed the main stage and Event Staging managed all the other stages, with Silver Stage donating its Saddlespan Stage. Laser Attractions, Laser Graphics and LCI provided lasers throughout the site, Creative Draping supplied draping and Stagecraft lent its crewing services to the event.

    This year, the camp site was expanded to the north to accommodate an extra 5,000 people. James Algate said they are looking to build on that capacity for next year and have already secured a permanent licence for the site. “The more people we get, the bigger the revenue we have to invest in the brand and the festival. We want more people to move from a single day ticket to a weekend one. We are currently in discussions about making it a three-day event,” he revealed.

    The festival brand is certainly in a good place right now. With the Godskitchen residency at Code in Birmingham now monthly, more time is being spent on developing the brand worldwide by producing festivals in Malaysia, Ukraine, Dubai, Turkey and the UK. Algate commented: “We did the first-ever outdoor show on a green field site in Ukraine. We really brought something new to the country and because dance music is so fresh over there it’s a really exciting market.”

    One of the sunniest weekends of the summer masked the behind-the-scenes problems caused by previous downpours and a water-logged ground. Algate said: “The sheer weight of water on-site hampered our set-up and members of our production crew didn’t sleep for three nights to ensure the festival’s success. It was all worth it because of the phenomenal response we got from guests and DJs alike. A heartfelt thanks goes out to everyone who helped make the event happen. We had unbelievable support from all of the local residents and authorities who all pulled together to ensure a safe and thoroughly enjoyable event.”