Avolites’ products once again proved their great versatility and popularity in festival situations at Glastonbury 2002 – arguably the best loved summer festival on the planet!

With 13 Avo consoles specified for 11 different arenas at the world famous event, Avolites did its bit to ensure that 130,000 people and many leading performers from around the world had a fantastic festival.

No one could have enjoyed Glasto more than the Avo posse of Steve Warren, Koy Neminathan, Nick Forro and Ben Miles. Happy to spend 5 unwashed days for a mix of technical support and having an outrageously good time!

The lighting n the Pyramid (main) Stage was designed and overseen by Phil Freeman. He used two Avolites Diamond III’s to control the substantial production lighting rig used to illuminate the likes of Coldplay, Faithless, Stereophonics, The Charlatans, Rod Stewart, Roger Waters et. al. The generic lighting was all powered and dimmed via two Avolites FD dimmer racks.

Friday night’s Pyramid headliners Coldplay also bought in their own Avolites Pearl 2000 to run their touring 4 screen Radlite hard drive video system, controlled by Nick Whitehead.
Meanwhile, LD Bryan Leitch used one of the Diamond IIIs to run the production lighting rig. The Coldplay world tour has just kicked off where Leitch and Whitehouse are using a Pearl plus a brand new Avo Sapphire, purchased by Leitch’s company Siyan to run the Radlite system and the lighting rig.

Glastonbury’s Other Stage lighting was looked after by Steve Hall and Rob Gawler. Here an Avolites Sapphire was used.

Bristol based Fineline supplied five areas with lighting using several Avo consoles – the Jazzworld Stage (Nic Ayres, Steve Walsh & Rob Watson operating two Sapphire 2000s), the Circus Tent (James Loudon and Jan Osborne running a Pearl 2000), the Cabaret Tent (Simon Johnson and Sam Morgan using an Avo Azure 2000), the Theatre Tent (Hal Himsworth with another Sapphire) and the Acoustic Stage (Reuben Pinkney and Rob Sangwell using another Pearl 2000). 

Fineline’s owner Darren Wring, has long been a fan of Avolites’ consoles.
 “They’re ideal for this type of multi-user operation” he enthuses.
The acclaimed line up included St Germain, Us 3, Kosheen, Manu Chao, Ozomatli and MichaelFrantic and Spearhead.

Colour Sound Experiment, masters in the genre of dance lighting, supplied the action-packed dance tent lighting. Haydn Cruickshank and Dave ‘Fletch’ Fletcher, using a Pearl 2000 plus Avo dimming for the generics, ran the show.

The Dance Tent was well endowed with high energy sets from the best of the genre including Nick Warren and Sacha, The Genius Crew, DJ Marky, DJ Patife and Stamina, and live action came from the likes of Mis-teeq, System 7, The Bays,  and many more. 

In the Smirnoff Experience Tent, LD Nick Jevons (Video Director of the Year at the 2002 Total Production Awards) and Kris Lundberg used an Avolites Sapphire to weave his illuminative magic in this area. All lighting gear including the Sapphire and Avo dimmers in this area was supplied by Bandit Lites and the star-studded performers included Carl Cox, John Digweed, Tall Paul, Darren Christian and Fergie.

Away from the main festival areas – where it’s possible to spend 3 days without even touching any of the main stages because there’s so much else on – the No Fit State Circus tent featured an Avolites Pearl 2000 run by Ali Circus Girl, plus 36 ways of Avolites dimming.

Last, but by no means least, was the Radio One dance stage arena, featuring lighting by Halo Live, co-designed by Steve Marley and Yann Guenancia and operated by Mark Tigwell. Halo Live's retina-burning lighting scheme was controlled using an Avo Pearl 2000, featuring a wide selection of intelligent and generic fixtures. Radio 1’s lighting brief was demanding - they wanted a stunning visual show to keep energy levels pumped for revellers dancing the night away – easily achieved with their Pearl 2000 and pyramid of light!