Glastonbury and Ö÷²¥´óÐã TV: How it works
I have been covering Glastonbury Festival for Ö÷²¥´óÐã TV since 1997. Every year this week makes me feel like I am a nervous farmer just before harvest, scanning the skies anxiously. Of course the weather will be what the weather will be and it never seems to dampen that famous Glastonbury spirit that enables a city to spring up in a valley outside Glastonbury almost overnight and for those sudden citizens to behave with Caribbean charm and good manners while they are together in Avalon.
Although I have been covering Glastonbury for 15 years I have spent most of my time at the festival trudging between the trucks from which we broadcast that back onto the Pyramid Stage and across the stream to the Ö÷²¥´óÐã compound where our central presentation position and our catering tent resides. That's a long and squelchy trudge when it's muddy.....
Our coverage has grown over the years and now spreads across Ö÷²¥´óÐã Two, Three and Four, red button and online at bbc.co.uk/glastonbury with the attendant catch-up services, not to mention the substantial coverage on Ö÷²¥´óÐã 6 Music with support from Radio 1, Radio 2 and Radio 4.This year we are filming the Pyramid, Other, West Holts, John Peel and Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing stages and bringing some 15 different artists from the Dance Village to the Acoustic, Spirit of '71 and Avalon Stages to the Ö÷²¥´óÐã TWO presentation area to perform for the channel. We have around 38 hours of broadcast across the terrestrial and digital channels, half-hour highlights from a wealth of sets will go up on Ö÷²¥´óÐã online and hopefully even more will rotate on red button.
Glastonbury is surely the richest and most eclectic three day live music event in Europe and probably the world and the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's coverage across the weekend is undoubtedly the largest and most ambitious live music TV broadcast going. Being big means trying to create real appointment to view moments with the headliners who regard the last slot on the Pyramid Stage as a date with destiny. We broadcast these headline moments live to air these days and try and build up to them like a boxing match as Ö÷²¥´óÐã Two comes on air to catch the electricity of Bono and co, finally stepping off their own gargantuan tour to show they can still deliver as a four-piece, in a field with a festival crowd that isn't the regular U2 punter they encounter at their own gigs. We work hard with each act to capture their performance distinctly as they adjust the stage and bring their screens, lasers and what have you to bear on their career-defining moment.
Ö÷²¥´óÐã Three tries to show the audience substantial amounts of the likes of Tinie Tempah, Jessie J, Plan B and Mumford & Sons while Ö÷²¥´óÐã Four offers heritage performers including Morrissey, BB King and Kool and the Gang. Television hours means we can't show all of each artist and many of the artists don't always want us to show all of everything, as they or the Ö÷²¥´óÐã may be faced with technical problems, playing in a field in quick turnaround without much of a soundcheck.
Glastonbury is so impossibly rich - just study the list of artist and stages on the Glastonbury and Ö÷²¥´óÐã websites that it's impossible to capture it all. We have crews out in the field bringing you live and edited reports from far-flung areas like Block 9 and The Rabbit Hole and alongside those acoustic moments, we bring cabaret performers and poets to our presentation area to try and hint at what the festival has to offer. Changing between Ö÷²¥´óÐã services isn't quite like stumbling in the dark between stages but the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's multi-platform offer is all about choice and we try to use our services not only to bring you the big Glastonbury moments but also to discover some of those unpredictable and surprising treats that you stumble accidentally upon and that make Glastonbury the greatest festival in the world.
Did I already say that?
Mark Cooper is the Creative Head, Music Entertainment
Comment number 1.
At 24th Jun 2011, enajh2 wrote:Thank you! :)
Will the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Four coverage be broadcasting without the DOG this weekend like last year?
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Comment number 2.
At 27th Jun 2011, Tigerbully wrote:Beyonce was what she is, she was showing her knickers while shaking her big asssssss
but was not what Glastonbury is about.
Now i understood Noel Gallagher, was unleshed for all the pop rubish that only sells
Glastonbury line up it is about "Greatness" remembering ... She was not like that,
Kool and the Gang was what the show was about. greatness
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Comment number 3.
At 27th Jun 2011, Tigerbully wrote:i think Beyonce was hopeless nothing new, the same thing you can see in a lap dance, Glastonbury its about being a greatness moment, she was not
i can understand Noel Gallagher now, all the commercial rubbish was unleashed GOD FORGIVE FOR THIS SIN, it is the end of greatness from now on you can expect the Spice Girls in Glastonbury
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Comment number 4.
At 27th Jun 2011, basicbob234 wrote:utterly utterly sick of wittering presenters - and i actually like mark radcliffe etc - shut up with the presenters and play the music - unless the artists record companies have you by the danglies that is - no? - then more than 1 track from headliners
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Comment number 5.
At 27th Jun 2011, themaster wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 6.
At 27th Jun 2011, bsm wrote:I mostly enjoyed the coverage, as mentioned above, there could have been more band coverage and less presenter time. As with all other years, the presnters try to pretend they mucking in with the general public and are experiencing the real Glastonbury, but we all know they never leave the VIP area unless in a 4x4 to get them to their next vip area, of course the cosmetic mud spashes are always added. 7/10 I think is a fair score for the Ö÷²¥´óÐã coverage
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Comment number 7.
At 27th Jun 2011, wingnut1664 wrote:The Gaslight Anthem were on the red button on Saturday. So how come their set isn't on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã website? C'mon - it's not like you didn't film it. Get a grip!
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Comment number 8.
At 28th Jun 2011, peter wrote:I don't see why it is not not possible to open up the coverage earlier on in the day at Glastonbury from when the performances start? Ö÷²¥´óÐã 3 and 4 lie redundant most of the time, is it the cost, I suppose it is, but a waste of a resource. Perhaps some of the vast sums in the bbc's coffers can go to opening up these channels?
The very handsomely renumerated presenters to a person are all very irritating and unnecessary screen presences - I'd just like to hear the music - it's simple!? Get rid of all those irritating presenters and open up the channel.
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Comment number 9.
At 29th Jun 2011, Yabbadoo wrote:I'm so utterly sick and tired of hearing about Beyonce or Coldplay on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã. I saw such amazing talent on the smaller stages that was, predictably, completely criminally overlooked by the coverage. Bonobo on the Wow! stage, DJ Kormac at Chai Wallahs, The Destroyers at Club Dada, the list goes on and on... John Peel must be spinning in his grave!
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Comment number 10.
At 5th Jul 2011, coldplayer wrote:The arguements against Beyonce being the headliner at Glasto, are so similar to those made against JayZ a couple of years back. The truth is, they were both excellent. They are both stars...... full stop. And that is the thing about Glastonbury,you can have anyone headline. It is not a rock festival, it is not a pop festival, it is an arts festival and as such covers so many genres. There is something for everyone, rock, pop, blues, jazz, folk, dance, poetry, drama, comedy, theatre, performance art, DJ's......the list is endless. So the choice of headliner is never going to please everyone who attends, let alone the millions that watch the coverage from the comfort of their armchair. The tens of thousands watching and enjoying Beyonce, clearly showed that the Eavis family chose correctly, again! Just like they always seem to do. Its a thankless task...... but somebody has to do it. And i for one am glad they do.
P.S. Can we have the Wombles headlining in 2013 please?
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