Considered by many people to be one of the world’s greatest events, the annual Glastonbury Festival has a special place in the hearts of music fans.
First staged in 1970, the festival now attracts more than 200,000 people to rural Somerset for a five-day celebration of contemporary performing arts.
With planning for the event described by one organiser ‘an all-year round job’ in an interview with Betway, most visitors probably don’t realise the work that goes into staging a festival.
While famed for its eco-friendly ethos, Glastonbury has also embraced modern technology in recent years to ensure the event runs smoothly.
Read on as we take a closer look at some of the technological innovations that have helped to make Glastonbury such a massive success.
Glastonbury Festival app
Developed by mobile operator EE, the official Glastonbury Festival app allows users to keep up-to-speed with everything that is happening during the event.
The free to download app is packed with content and features designed to enhance the user’s Festival experience wherever they are watching.
New features for this year include map venue search, map custom pins, real-time line-up indicator, personalised line-up schedule view and personalised line-up clashes.
An interactive map also allows Festival-goers to get identify where they are within the festival grounds and find their way to the iconic stages.
PEE POWER
Technology developed at the University of the West of England Bristol that converts urine into electricity has been repeatedly showcased at Glastonbury in recent years.
Multiple-person urinals have been stationed near the Pyramid Stage to awareness of a system that has been introduced to off-grid areas in the developing world.
The PEE POWER system can turn organic matter such as urine into enough electricity charge mobile phones or power lighting.
Energy produced at the festival powers lighting in the urinal block at night, while a ‘Pee to Play’ feature will allows people to play retro games on Game Boys powered by the system.
Robotic rooster
A Wi-Fi-enabled robotic rooster has been installed on the site in 2022 to remind music fans when headline acts are about to start on the Pyramid Stage.
Another innovation installed by EE, the rooster plays famous songs by the headliners 30 minutes before their set to remind people to make their way to the stage.
The rooster will be joined by a golden egg which is part of a social media competition to win prizes including side-of-stage tickets for a performance on the Pyramid Stage.
With Sam Fender, Wolf Alice and Noel Gallagher’s High-Flying Birds amongst the acts appearing, Instagram and Twitter are likely to be busy during Glastonbury this year.
AI chatbots
Bournemouth digital agency Greenwood Campbell developed an AI chatbot which works with Facebook Messenger to give up-to-date information about the festival.
With big brands such as Domino’s Pizza enjoying huge success with the technology, the Greenwood Campbell team designed a festival friendly chatbot.
The chatbot provides information on the various acts and festival stages by connecting to an open-source feed of information.
Greenwood Campbell also closely monitor Twitter and rumour feeds to see if they can uncover who the secret acts might be.