LS EVENTS with the former being venue director and latter event director . The duo took on the roles in 2019 following the departure of Dan Craig . While Grindle had pitched in at BST each year since the outset , Reynolds first got a taste of working on what is now a 65,000-capacity event when he joined LS in 2016 .
I came to watch The Strokes here as a punter in 2015 , and I thought ‘ I would love to work on this ’. So , I was absolutely delighted to come in the following year and work as event manager . Then , when Dan left in 2019 , we rejigged everything .”
After AEG successfully retendered for the event , and secured a new contract with Royal Parks that runs until 2027 , a new-look BST was planned for 2020 but Covid stood firmly in the way . It wasn ’ t until 2022 that the event re-surfaced , and it was to return with a new look , a more complex production , and a third weekend of concerts extending the show day count from six to nine .
The additional shows not only meant AEG could be more adventurous with programming , but the increased turnover enabled it to invest in growing the site and production .
“ The biggest challenge was coming back in 2022 ,” says Grindle . “ Supply chain prices had gone through the roof , and
Laura Armstrong
we were trying to create and develop this whole new look and feel for BST off the back of Covid in a very short timeframe because it wasn ’ t possible to start to build things until January when we should have been able to start in September . It was a huge challenge to get that across the line for 2022 , but we did it , it looked great , and it was very well received .”
One of the key milestones in 2022 was the unveiling of a new BST main stage , dubbed the Great Oak Stage , developed for the event by Star Live using its freshout-of-the-box Titan system .
“ We ' ve got a great relationship with
The LS Events team
Star Live , they ' ve been at BST since the start and done all the stages ,” says Grindle .
For the return of BST , Star Live also created a grandstand hospitality area using its VISTA Starbox structure , built the Rainbow stage , and provided a range of installations across the huge site including delay towers , accessible viewing platforms and entrance arches .
“ The scale and nature of the BST contract means we always take the opportunity to introduce new products ,” says Gavin Scott , BST project director for Star Live . “ Our state-of-the-art Titan stage was initially planned before lockdown and was redeveloped in 2022 to enable the entire Elton John touring production to fit within the festival stage format . We had spent a year working with LS Events to develop this new stage before Covid-19 hit .”
“ A lot of what we introduce at BST is rolled out across all our other events ,” says Star Live technical director Roger Barrett .
Another key player in the reprise of BST in 2022 was operations director Laura Armstrong , who had started working full time for LS Events the previous year , having repeatedly worked freelance with the team in the past , and pitched in to support LS ’ Covid-offshoot Hub Logistics during the pandemic .
Armstrong has worked on numerous events at LS including South Facing Festival , the Champions League Festival , Operation London Bridge and All Points East , but her core focus is BST .
“ One of the best things about LS Events is that we are very collaborative and there is a lot of internal support , the level of expertise we have from individual people across all of our shows is really important ,” she says .
Armstrong recounts this year ’ s BST show by Andrea Bocelli as a perfect example of the way in which the LS team can be relied on to work collaboratively to overcome challenges and get the best results . accessaa . co . uk 33