Putting on Bristol’s Summer Series

Sigur Rós, James Bay, The Last Shadow Puppets and Catfish and the Bottlemen will all headline this year’s Bristol Summer Series, which returns to the Lloyds Amphitheatre in June for four evenings of outdoor concerts.

The site will open at 4.30pm this year, significantly earlier than for the two previous Bristol Summer Series. Fans will be able to get into the Waterfront Square area and enjoy the food and drink stalls there, reducing the likelihood of queues to get into the whole site.

Some of the tastiest festival food in the area will be on sale at Bristol Summer Series, including Hobbs House Bakery, Burger Theory and Somerset’s Gilcombe Farm, who’ll be serving up a hog roast to hungry fans.

Bristol247 meets some of the people who work year round to put on this urban music festival.

Liz Madden, stage construction 

“My company build the stage over the steps of the bell tower. The first year was the most challenging; now we have the kit ready and cut to size.

“This year we are building a new roof for this event; the Apollo roof is much stronger than previous roofs with more weight loading which means it’s quicker and safer to build. 

“We’re on site for two days building but it’s worth it when you see your kit with the boats behind. There is something about the Summer Series which makes you very proud to be involved in this.” 

Paul King, sound manager

“Every band has a technical rider- what they are bring and what they need…and every sound engineer has his preference. 

“It’s a really challenging site; the stage is pointing into the horseshoe of the building and sound tends to bounce off it and back out into the noise sensitive area on the other side of the dock. The flats are really close and we have sound level limits which are constantly monitored.

“We make sure the sound points down to the audience to try and stop it bouncing off the buildings. During the show I’m the bad guy with a clipboard saying we are over the lit and we need to pull it down a bit.” 

Paul Glossop, event organiser 

“Bristol is quite a dream –  it’s a really perfect location. Even if it rains the atmosphere will still be great; it’s a mini urban festival – and no wellies are required!

“My role is working closely with agents and the artists and sorting the communications between the business and consumers to make sure that everything going right.

“There is not that much you can do when you have such a beautiful natural setting except make sure we have the right bars, lighting and toilets and they are clean.”  

Dawn Woodhouse, event organiser

“I am one of the event organisers for Metropolis music 

“We started planning nearly a year ago just putting out tentative thoughts and the initial offer to artists we wanted to have here

“We like to play a diverse mix across the night…Sigur Rós is completely different to the Last Shadow Puppets who is completely different to James Bay.

“I get to probably the end of August early September and we’ll definitely be thinking about artists for next year, we’ve already applied for the dates at the venue next year, so we’re definitely thinking ahead in long term that Bristol Summer Series is kind of here to stay. 

Linda Gooding, catering

“I provide catering for the band and crew. We get sent a rider (list of requirements) for what they want in their dressing rooms; sometimes it’s weird stuff but most of the times you can get everything.

“I’ve had to get underwear, socks , postcards of Bristol with stamps already on.

“American bands especially want drinks which aren’t available here and they get quite confused if we can’t get it.”

Lou Side, catering

“Most of the time we try to fulfil everything within reason. I was asked once for flowers with stems taken out but that is a step too far; they can remove them themselves.

“I’ve worked in the business for 25 years…now I don’t know who most of these people are. I asked Ricky from Kaiser Chiefs if he was a truck driver once as he said ‘no, I do a little bit of singing’ –  he was the nicest, most charming man.

“Alex Turner has cooked on BBQ with me – he was great. Most people are lovely.”  

Jon Newman, lighting

“We provide lighting and rigging for main stage…we’ve got to work with whatever the stage roof will take in terms of load weight, what power requirements there are…so it can be quiet complex.

“Every band wants their own look…we’ll need to work with all of them to make sure they get the right look for their band.”

Scottie Mckean, site manager 

“I take a care of procurement…fencing cabins, marquees everything really then I oversee all the build and the health and safety requirements on site.

” It’s not very festival like – its all about spreadsheets and lists. I have spreadsheets that I work to and then site meeting with client and then I adapt the spreadsheet to requirements.

“It’s a wind tunnel here on site so if the weather is bad you end up running round the whole time checking marquees and fencing. We have wind meter on top of highest structure but you can feel it when it gets bad. We’ve never evacuated here but on Blackpool seafront once we had to evacuate three times in one week when the wind go up to 75mph.”

Read more: Full Summer Series lineup