FESTIVAL FOCUS
THE 2021 FESTIVAL SEASON; A PRO AUDIO ROUNDTABLE Following a short albeit busy festival season, TPi gathers members of the pro audio industry with representatives from SSE Audio, Wigwam [both part of the Solotech UK Group], DiGiCo and Shure to look back at summer 2021 and the lessons learned on the road to recovery.
Words: Stew Hume
Back in early 2021, it seemed unlikely we’d see any outdoor events at all, either in the UK, Europe, or the US. Indeed, many festivals – the UK in particular – began to drop off the calendar due to the ever-moving goalposts of COVID-19 lockdowns. However, with the various test events, from Sefton Park [TPi #262] to Download Pilot [TPi #263], the reality of a 2021 season suddenly became plausible. What followed was an incredibly busy and frantic few months as crew and organisers alike attempted to replicate 2019’s level of productivity in a year when suppliers were
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struggling to amass crew and gear. Having come out the other side – slightly sleep deprived but otherwise unscathed – we spoke to some of those who were on the front line. Starting our conversation was Wigwam Hire Manager, Tom Bush and SSE Audio Senior Hire Manager, Dan Bennett. Representing two companies under the Solotech umbrella, they provided a vivid account of the 2021 festival season. Bush began describing the challenges of getting the right kit as the demand went from nought to 60 almost overnight. “We worked on the Download Pilot, one of the first events to return, and there was real camaraderie amongst everyone involved,” reminisced Bennett. “However, by the end of the summer, everyone throughout the supply chain was struggling to meet expectations and there wasn’t one person who wasn’t up against it.” Although both Solotech representatives quick to comment on how pleased they were for the business, they were keen to outline why the last few months were so difficult. “Crew!” stated Bennett plainly, citing the biggest issue he’s faced during this time. “We were still crewing the August bank holiday festivals a week before the show,” he pointed out. COVID-19 only added to the difficulties. “We had one of the crew prior to a show contracted COVID,” Bennett recalled. “Crewing is so specific, it’s not just a case of dropping in a replacement. If you lose one person, you need to re-organise the whole team to ensure the best people are working in the right position.” Despite the issues and more than a few sleepless nights, Bennett and Bush pointed out some silver linings to the summer –
specifically some of the fresh young talent they discovered. “We had to kick over a few stones to find the right people – especially when it came to the August bank holiday – and we discovered some real gems,” enthused Bennett. “There have been two new recruits who we’ve now brought into the Redditch office off the back of the hard work they put in during the summer festival season.” Despite picking up a few new upstarts, both Bennett and Bush see this as merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the skills gap emerging in the industry. “You have those at the beginning of their career that have already committed to a university course, and you have some of the older people who might not be able to get another job, but then those in the middle, with transferable skills, have been able to pick up new jobs in this time,” Bennett explained. He stressed the need for a fast track of training and that the “old-school traditions of bringing someone just to make the tea then one day finally get a shot at a gig will not be fast enough to fill the gap.” At the other end of the supply chain and sitting in on the call was DiGiCo General Manager, Austin Freshwater and Shure Artist and Entertainment Relations, Jack Drury. “We anticipated that the festival suppliers were going to be under a lot of pressure,” Freshwater began. “We had expected everyone to be a little more forgiving, whereas what we found was that it quickly turned into a mentality of I need it tomorrow.” He went on to outlined one of the biggest issues that he came across during this time was clients’ reluctance to commit. “We tried the best we could to get