Bestival wrapped up our yet another busy summer full of festival work. Solent students worked at Common People, Boardmasters, Glastonbury, Blissfields, NASS, Butserfest, Camp Bestival and Bestival as stage crew, copywriters, artist liaison, photographers, journalists, sound technicians, camera operators, vision mixers and more.
The 2016 season came to a close with Bestival, the eclectic and award winning brainchild of English DJ Rob da Bank. We caught up with some of the the twelve-strong Solent crew to find out a bit more about their roles and to hear their personal highlights.
Emma
Music promotion, 2nd year
I was artist liaison on the Invaders of the Future stage. It was really good. I worked with some cracking people and great bands. The highlights were bands such as PUP, Creeper, SWMRS, Pinegrove, The Wytches etc. I’d definitely recommend volunteering, it’s such a good way to meet new people within the industry and build up valuable contacts for the future.
Sammy
Music promotion, 3rd year
My role was stage crew and it was very good fun. All the crew were friendly and helpful and I learnt a lot about the job from people showing me and telling how to do certain things. It was very hard work, long hours and lots of heavy lifting but it was good hard work and really enjoyable. The banter with the crew helped produce a great environment. The highlight for me was loading in The Cure’s Robert Smith’s guitars.
Brad
Music promotion, 3rd year
I was the artist liaison at Big Top stage. My role was to ensure the well-being of artists, keeping them in a good mood and being the main communication between the artist and the stage management.
The highlight for me personally was meeting Skepta and Loyle Carner, not just as a fan, but on a professional level. It was also a great was to network, as I’ve now secured a booking with Loyle on this tour. I’d 100% recommend it! The team was a pleasure to be a part of, you work hard, but once your shifts over, you play hard! Definitely signing up for 2017.
Jo
Music management, 2nd year
My role was organising the artists’ riders. The job was difficult and the hours were very long, but I’d still recommend volunteering to get the contacts and CV content. My highlight was the free crew bar.
Sean
Music promotion, 3rd year
The role I had at Bestival was artist liaison work. This included working on artist dressing rooms and riders. I found the experience really good as it gave me a different perspective of things. It was also really good seeing the work that goes into a festival and being backstage rather than in the crowd.
I would recommend this experience to anyone with the opportunity, it’s too good to miss. I was working with artists such as Skepta, Kano, Sean Paul, Wiz Khalifa and the list goes on. The experience gives the opportunity to meet people within the industry which is really good for networking and learning more ways of doing things.