GLASTONBURY, U.K. – XL Video supplied video packages for the three Pyramid Stage headline acts at Glastonbury 2010 – Gorillaz, Muse and Stevie Wonder. XL director Des Fallon handled the account. Glastonbury is the UK's leading music and contemporary arts festival, staged on Worthy Farm, Somerset, and this year it was also celebrating its 40th anniversary.
XL also supplied a PPU and three cameras for the Pyramid Stage in a package coordinated for host broadcaster, the Production Network, by XL's Paul Wood.
Des Fallon, Lee Spencer and Ian Woodall spent the weekend at the festival to ensure everything ran smoothly on site.
Gorillaz
The 97 meters of Pixled F11 screen was a prominent piece of stage architecture for the Gorillaz show, which featured the visuals of co-collaborator Jamie Hewlett.
The high-resolution screen was configured in 16:9 format, 13.2 meters wide, with XL also supplying VVTR playback decks and a Barco Encore screen management system operated by Richard Turner.
XL Video has been involved with every Gorillaz show since the concept started. At Glasto 2010, the set included a combination of new material and Gorillaz classics, with collaborating artists joining in.
The finale, a re-mix sequence from Dennis Hopper's 1969 classic road movie Easy Rider to "Fire Coming Out of The Monkey's Head," served as a tribute to Hopper and a celebration of 40 years of Glasto history.
Just below the bottom of the screen was a set of large scenic letters spelling out G-O-R-I-L-L-A-Z, which were illuminated with LED fixtures.
This is the same outdoor festival rig as used by the band for other events this summer, and the F11 is proving well-suited for the larger shows, emphasising the vibrancy and color of Hewlett's films.
Muse
This is another account that's been serviced by XL since 2001. They took their festival system into Glastonbury 2010.
Lighting/visuals designer Oli Metcalfe's festival system contains 18 hexagonal screens mounted in metal frames that were designed and built by XL Video, each containing 208 Barco O-lite tiles along with five HD VersaTubes framing the shapes. These were flown off two trusses.
XL is supplying a streamlined PPU with mini cams for the ongoing festival rig, and at Glastonbury, Muse video director Tom Kirk also took in some of the BBC's camera feeds via his PPU and output them to screen.
XL is also supplying full video production for Muse's stadium tour before they head back to the U.S. for more American arena shows.
Stevie Wonder
The video look changed for Wonder's Sunday night headline slot, with a 10-meter-by-six-meter Pixled F15 screen onstage at the back, which could be divided up into three areas or run as one large image, taking a combination of playback and camera images.
The four-camera XL PPU, with seven robo-cams and a Kayak switcher, was operated by Wonder's video director Matt Askem, who also took a number of BBC camera feeds into his mix.
As with both Gorillaz and Muse, XL is also engaged in current ongoing touring work with Stevie Wonder with the same rig.
Elsewhere around the Glasto site, XL Video supplied eight Barco SLM R12 projectors and four Hippotizer media servers to the Orange Tent; 22 panels of Lighthouse R7 to the Glade stage; and some extras for Fatboy Slim and Corrine Bailey Rae.
Beyond Glastonbury, XL Video has supplied video production for the headlining acts at other festivals recently. At Coachella, it was for Gorillaz, Muse and Jay-Z; at Oxegen in Ireland, XL was on hand to sort out Fatboy Slim, the Black Eyed Peas and Eminem.
For more information, please visit www.xlvideo.tv.
