Avolites Diamond 4 in Glastonbury Dance Tent

An Avolites Diamond 4 console was used to run all stage, audience and effects lighting for the hugely popular Dance Tent at Glastonbury, supplied by leading lighting rental house Utopium.

The Kayam-style Dance Tent featured incendiary performances by the Scissor Sisters, Kosheen, Sister Sledge and many others, plus a fast movin-and-groovin array of top international DJs. The disco-tastic Saturday nite was the highlight of the three day 2004 festival.

Crew chief was Stuart Farrell, and much of the Diamond 4 programming and operation was undertaken by his team-mate Chris Rock. Lighting fixtures were rigged onto a huge internal scaffolding structure straddling the tent poles and covering the stage, stage wings and dancefloor of the vast interior. The wings featured three dance booths per side for the flamboyant and the exhibitionists to strut their stuff …. And all lighting was controlled by the Diamond 4.

For a touch of pure disco indulgence, 34 mirror balls of different sizes were rigged over stage and audience for Saturday’s extravaganza.

Utopium decided to put the D4 through it’s paces in this highly demanding environment as they needed a powerful and versatile desk to run the intense lightshow. They also wanted a familiar brand to offer visiting LDs – and Avolites was an obvious choice with its reputation as the hands-on festival desk of choice.

Chris Rock, Stuart Farrell, Craig Saunders and Jake Sullivan of the Utopium crew visited Avolites ahead of Glastonbury for training, but the event itself was the first time they’d used the console in situ.

Chris Rock did most of the programming and operating on the D4, enjoying the challenge of a steep and fast learning curve, saying “I really liked the D4 and I hope to be using it a lot more”