As the UK’s largest festival, Glastonbury Festival impresses each year, offering attendees multiple stages and areas for live music and exploration. For lighting designers, directors, programmers, operators, production companies and rental houses, Glastonbury is an opportunity to liaise with industry insiders, share insights, and showcase emerging technologies. Speaking to TPi’s Jacob Waite as the dust settled on three stages’ worth of equipment, Glenn Gridley of GLX Productions shared his highlights from Worthy Farm…
What is GLX Productions’ history with Glastonbury Festival?
“We were first involved in Glastonbury Festival in 2017 at the Unfairground. Initially, getting to grips with everything was a challenge because Glastonbury is unlike any other festival, but we got there in the end. In 2019, we became more involved in the South East Corner of the site and were heavily involved in the planning, more so than in previous years, and that relationship has grown and developed over time – helping them build and change the field.”
How has your involvement evolved in that time?
“The Unfairground is a special field as the early innovators of the South East Corner of the festival. Initially, we provided lighting and operation for some stages, whereas now we offer full pre-visualisation and 3D renders for the Flying Bus Stage, which features two buses tilted in the air, with a stage in the middle. It was quite difficult to model, as the buses pose many challenges – being completely stripped of everything inside – and are tricky to turn into a stage, but we manage to push the envelope, technically, each year. The lighting design has also evolved over time; we’ve gone from solely lighting the buses from underneath and enhancing the sculptures, to now supplying two levels of lighting fixtures. We’re looking to build on this in 2025.”
What software do you use to previsualise your concepts?
“We build the sculptures in SketchUp and import them into Syncronorm Depence R3, adding textures to make the design look more realistic. We then transfer the Depence file into Capture for addressing and paperwork plots. We also create 3D walkthroughs of the stage and have pre-visualised the entire site to scale, primarily as a passion project. Generally, we earmark equipment and do the designs six months in advance at the start of the year, ensuring we have everything and arranging any sub-hires.”
How has the festival changed in recent years?
“Some companies change over time, but what I love about Glastonbury is the fact it is a melting pot of people, cultures, and ideas. From our industry’s perspective, it’s the only festival in the country where you can stumble across industry insiders in random fields, who you may not have seen all year. Glastonbury is the place where the industry gathers, and we relish the social element of the festival as much as anything else. The atmosphere and experience are unrivalled. This year, I saw Ambersphere Solutions, CHAUVET, ChamSys, Avolites, among many others. It’s the birthplace of new and unexpected ideas and stage designs in the UK.”
Which areas of the site featured a GLX Productions presence?
“In the Unfairground alone, we handled the Flying Bus (the main stage in the Unfairground) and Salon Carousel – which features incredibly heavy music like Gabba set against a twisted fairground-inspired design by the Red Rash Inn team. We have to be quite conscious of trim heights on the stages because it isn’t a large, big top tent, and a single truss at the top isn’t sufficient, so we have to position things on the front and integrate digital festoon across all the sets, running effects over everything – there are mirrors everywhere, so we get to play with that, and it’s really cool. The set is incredible, and the Red Rash Inn team creates it themselves. Additionally, we also light Blind Tiger – an all-day and almost all-night bar, which doubles as a drum ’n’ bass venue. We’re also involved in lighting several sculptures around the festival site and provide all the site power in the Unfairground as well as all the sideshows. Outside of the Unfairground, we also cover The Atchin Tan / Stopping Place – where attendees can learn about traveller’s rights and awareness – featuring a tall tower with an authentic Romany-gypsy wagon at the top, which we light like a beacon… it’s a lovely place to relax, listen to music, and attend talks.”
How much GLX Productions kit and crew were deployed across the site?
“There were seven crew members across ten days, including show days, and we provided around 100 fixtures site-wide, in addition to cabling and distribution – just short of an artic’s worth of gear. Everything was IP-rated, apart from eight lights within the Salon Carousel design; it all came back incredibly dusty – we’re still hoovering the warehouse every couple of hours…”
What are some of your favourite moments from Worthy Farm?
“Having the chance to watch Avril Lavigne and relive my teenage years was an amazing experience. From a working perspective, finishing a day ahead of schedule on the build is something I’m proud of. The weather has been in our favour over the past few years during the build, but in addition to that, the Unfairground site crew, site management, and production teams did a fantastic job this year, making the build seamless, which is a testament to them and our crew for putting in the hours to get the site ready in a professional and relaxed manner… Having two to three days of programming time, as opposed to just an hour, was a blessing. Glastonbury can be challenging enough without adding extra pressure on the crew. Without them, this would be impossible.”
How did it feel to be involved in another successful Glastonbury Festival?
“It’s a privilege to be part of Glastonbury, and nobody should ever second guess their chance to be involved, even if you’ve done it for years on end; the love never dies. The community and the collectivism fostered around the site are something to behold. This was a good year. Fun was had by all!”
