FAR AND BEYOND
A FAB reunion
Some 16 years after he gave Far And Beyond ( FAB ) founder Jess Shields her first job in the events industry , former Live Nation UK COO John Probyn is once again working alongside her having been appointed head of event operations at FAB . They tell Access what their reunion means for the company
Back in 2008 recent archaeology graduate Jess Shields had a very down-toearth first taste of working in the live events industry , a kind of trial by accreditation , thanks to John Probyn .
The pair went on to work together for eight years at Live Nation during which time they experienced the many highs and countless challenges of working together on large-scale and complex events including Download , Wireless , Hard
Rock Calling , Creamfields , Electric Daisy Carnival , Global Gathering and Oxegen .
In 2016 , Shields launched event production company Far And Beyond and has since built a thriving business working in the UK and the Middle East . At FAB Shields has continued to work on numerous major Live Nation events along
“ I HAVE ALWAYS FOLLOWED FAB ’ S PROGRESS .”
– JOHN PROBYN
with projects such as the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool and the BLAST TV Major in Mexico , Denmark , Mongolia and France .
Shields grew up on the edge of the Download festival site at Donington Park in Leicestershire , and it was at Andy Copping ’ s hugely successful rock
extravaganza where she first met Probyn . Years later Shields would be appointed Downloads ’ festival manager by Live Nation , and her enduring relationship with the event continues to this day with Copping having recently appointed FAB to operate it .
“ Jess ’ father owns some of the land where we do Download Festival , so I ' d known her mum and dad for some years , but I ' d never met Jess ,” says Probyn . “ Her dad contacted me one day and said , ‘ would you give my daughter some work experience ?’ and I was like , ‘ Oh , God , do I have to ?’. The way we ran things back then was that if you could work in accreditation for a festival and come out the other end with a smile on your face , you were worth holding on to . Jess not only had a smile on her face but she asked all the right questions ; she was so keen to learn about everything we did .”
Recalls Shields , “ It was really lucky for me , Live Nation used to take on a student every summer who was studying event
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