PhilT Posted September 28, 2005 Share Posted September 28, 2005 I'm aware that Mean Fiddler are the main producers of a number of festivals (including, apparently, Glastonbury), but who do they sub contract the actual site management to? I'm assuming they sub a company in, but I may be wrong.... If anyone has any experience of the festival world, please let me know! Ta, Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted October 1, 2005 Share Posted October 1, 2005 My Showcase International Music Book dated 2001!! lists several individuals and companies try 02083482332 or www.showcase-music.comor info@showcase-music.com to get a current copy. It comes as a book and a cd-rom. Trouble will be finding a supplier that suits your vision of your event, available in your area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hadyn Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 I'm aware that Mean Fiddler are the main producers of a number of festivals (including, apparently, Glastonbury), but who do they sub contract the actual site management to? I'm assuming they sub a company in, but I may be wrong.... If anyone has any experience of the festival world, please let me know! Ta, Phil I've done festival site management, not for Mean Fiddler though. The job I've done 2 years running involved similar crowd sizes to Glastonbury post-MF involvement (approx. 125,000 punters). Was there something specific you wanted to know? As far as I know MF use their own staff at Leeds Festival, as do Global Gathering, not sure about the rest of the festivals though. HTH, Hadyn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilT Posted October 7, 2005 Author Share Posted October 7, 2005 ....was there something specific you wanted to know? HTH, Hadyn. Not really, it's just something I'm interested in getting into and I've not really been able to find anything on Google! Thanks for the reply, Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraggle Posted October 18, 2005 Share Posted October 18, 2005 The production manager/site co-ordinator for Glastonbury Festival has been Dick Tee (www.dicktee.com) for a number of years now, with his faithfull sidekick and general wit, Yasha Morgenstern. The Mean Fiddler are now involved in this festival, mainly in the security ticketing area and as the joint promoter with Micheal Eavis. MF use their in house team headed by Melvin Benn to run the Carling Weekend events (Leeds and Reading Festivals). The V festivals are production managed by Tony Wheeler for Maztec Ltd productions which are essentially SJM and Metropolis sponsored by Virgin mobile. Hope some of this info is useful.. F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabletray Posted October 19, 2005 Share Posted October 19, 2005 Not really, it's just something I'm interested in getting into and I've not really been able to find anything on Google! Thanks for the reply, Phil Talk to people at some of the trade shows, site management is an art with many different aproches. Which bit are you thinking of or do you want to try the whole lot and are you just thinking of festival sites or other large public events like street parties/events in big cities? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilT Posted October 19, 2005 Author Share Posted October 19, 2005 To be honest, I've not really got much of an idea what it entails (other than the very basics), so IF it was something I pursued I'd probably want to get as much experience of as many different 'genres' as possible. This is a philosophy I've always tended to follow, you can get some great results 'going cross-genre'. Not sure if that's a recognised phrase, if it's not, you heard it here first! Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Production Midget Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 The production manager/site co-ordinator for Glastonbury Festival has been Dick Tee (www.dicktee.com) for a number of years now, with his faithfull sidekick and general wit, Yasha Morgenstern. The Mean Fiddler are now involved in this festival, mainly in the security ticketing area and as the joint promoter with Micheal Eavis. MF use their in house team headed by Melvin Benn to run the Carling Weekend events (Leeds and Reading Festivals). The V festivals are production managed by Tony Wheeler for Maztec Ltd productions which are essentially SJM and Metropolis sponsored by Virgin mobile. Hope some of this info is useful.. F.Hmmmm, not quite accurate on quite a few counts. Dick and Yasha are jointly responsible for the Pyramid/Other Stages site and production but not other parts of the site (although for many unimaginative people the festival begins and ends with the Pyramid and Other Stages). Other areas have their own production and site managers e.g. Al Wardle does Avalon and Glade, Nick Love does JazzWorld. Luke Caudell is overall site manager, although Bob St Barbe is responsible for site infrastructure. Luke works for MF while Bob is a GFL employee. MF's involvement in the festival extends to operational control and management. Melvin is now the Licensee (Gold Command) with overall responsbility for licensing. Operational control extends to a whole range of issues from site management to crowd control. Michael Eavis is now essentially a figurehead with Melvin the top man. Melvin was brought in after the diasterous festival of 2000 (where up to 200000 people 'jumped the fence') as the event needed an expert who would get a handle on all the myriad licensing issues which would otherwise have destroyed the festival. Therefore MF's involvement is substantially more than just ticketing, although contrary to what many people are now saying they do not own or promote the festival. Michael Eavis is still the promoter, with MF awarded a minority share rising on a sliding scale over the duration of the five year contract (which expired this year) but which ultimately was capped at 40% by the time of the last joint event. As the contract is now expired it remains to be seen what will occur. Clear Channel and Gaeity Investments (aka Derek Desmond, owner of MCD and shareholder in the V Festivals) now own Mean Fiddler, so it may be that they want a slice of the Glasto pie, perhaps with their head of production, John Probyn, replacing Melvin. We shall see. MF have little or no involvement in the booking which is still done by Martin Elbourne on the Pyramid, Other and New Bands venues. Other areas have their own bookers e.g. Malcolm Haynes for Dance and JazzWorld etc. Most areas at Glastonbury are self contained, each with their own management team, which feeds into the main management system of which Melvin is at the head. It makes little sense for MF to get involved in the booking at Glastonbury as their events have a different core audience profile. MF events are a lot more specialist and so don't look for the generalist approach of Glasto. Think about it, there is limited overlap between the kind of acts that are booked for the Carling Weekend, Homelands and NASS and Glasto. Glasto has to book acts that will please a wide audience while these events are booking for a specialist audience. MF received a sum, which essentially covers the cost of Melvin and the other MF staff seconded to the festival. Melvin is also licensee for the Carling Weekend Reading/Leeds events and Homelands. MF use their inhouse teams for these gigs. Job vacancies are generally advertised on their website if and when they come up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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