Go Travel Magazine

Festival organiser Meegan Jones talks about what it’s like to travel the world for work and to be behind the scenes of some of the world’s most famous and trashiest fests.

London, with side trips to Ireland, Morocco and Belgium, as well as a stopover in Hong Kong for a few days on the way home to Australia, is a rough outline of Meegan Jones’ last working trip. She’s a festival organiser who, after years of working on events in Australia, now works on events such as the Glastonbury and Leeds/Reading festivals in the UK.

Meegan’s first leg of work in the New Year will be based at her office in London. After the logistics have been finalised, she will then move onto the festivals sites, living at each of them for about a month. Onsite at last year’s Glastonbury Reading and Leeds Festivals,traveling between the two, she was living in a Bunk-a-Bin: little portable cabins complete with hot shower and toilet. She also worked at the Latitude Festival based in Suffolk/East Anglia, spending a month onsite. Before transforming the sites from farms to festivals, organisers have a month of English countryside visits and excursions to tiny villages close by – which in most cases, also means the pub.

Meegan’s main job is making the festivals sustainable. Working through all the day-to-day operations and assessing whether they are being conducted sustainably, her role is to suggest ways in which festivals can be more green in terms of energy, transport and waste.

Out of all of the UK festivals Meegan has worked at to date, the highlight has been at the Reading Festival. Her satisfaction with the project came from being able to implement several new initiatives that had considerable impact on the event. Glastonbury Festival was also an amazing festival, a “must-do for those interested in festivals,” she says. “Latitude Festival was in its second year, and is the style of festival I would put on if I were to create one from scratch,” she continues. “The attention to detail was amazing. It is an exquisite festival and was just voted the most fan friendly festival at the recent UK Festival Awards.”

Hedonistic crowds of thousands infuse the festivals with adrenaline. Meegan recalls lying in her bed one night listening to huge waves of cheering going across the site, “like a Mexican wave of cheering. It was so electric,” she says, “I got up and wandered the site with a couple of other workmates until 4am. Just being in it was incredible.” This adrenaline, however, is denied an outlet once the music ends on the Sunday night of the Leeds and Reading Festivals. It can then turn into something ugly. Meegan calls Sunday night ‘riot time’ – when “fences go down, portaloos get set on fire, tents get set on fire with people in them, the ‘angry mob’ rove the site creating chaos, gas canisters are thrown in the fires created by burning tents and mini-bombs go off,” she explains. “Lots of people have been injured over the years – eyes out, major burns, et cetera.” In a bid to protect the survival of music festivals and events, the Love Not Riots campaign was born. Created some years ago by some of the festival fans and patrons, they continue to promote safety and peace during the events. Free merchandise are given to festival goers, with the tagline ‘Love Not Riots’ printed on them.

As for festivals back home, Meegan has noted that there is an emergence and an embrace of uniquely Australian festivals, including camping festivals such as Woodford, Meredith, Falls, Peats Ridge and The Great Escape. There are also many boutique events, some with cult audiences like Folk Rhythm & Life in Victoria. Newcomers like Festival of the Sun and Gumball are also having a go. She also ‘bush doofs’ or psytrance festivals like Exodus and Earthcore.

When in the UK, Meegan recommends the Big Green Gathering and Sunrise Celebration. “Due to the number of people in the UK,” she explains, “the festival scene is really healthy and festivals can be quite specific in their style. I really loved the horse-drawn cart camp, with travelers [gypsies] living onsite, tattoo stalls selling their bits and pieces.” The big Kahuna of them all, if it’s big and pure rock concert power you’re after, is the Reading Festival. “It is legendary and the original. Glastonbury, of course, is Mecca, and you can’t say you’ve really been to a festival until you’ve been to Glastonbury.”

Back home though, Meegan loves the Peats Ridge Festival. There are no “big headliners, but the spirit of the festival, along with the natural setting, is amazing.”

With festival work being seasonal as well as on opposite ends of the globe, Meegan has unique opportunities to travel. Her favourite travel destination is Turkey. She describes the country’s natural beauty as mind-blowing. “The Aegean Sea and the south/west coast areas are stunning,” she says. “The crystal-clear water and stark cliffs and valleys right on the coast were amazing. I had some incredible times in Butterfly Valley – a must visit for anyone wanting an idealic chill space. Mostly backpackers are there, so it’s not a mix it with the locals scene, but it’s an Eden, that’s for sure.” Her cultural experience was heightened by the pride the Turkish people take in creating earthy, comfortable spaces to relax in. For Meegan, these havens engage a higher level of interaction between people. Just imagine… floor cushions and lowered tables, grapevine terraced roofs and outdoor clay ovens. These earthly comforts have inspired Meegan and she has emulated these spaces in every place she has lived in since.

Amongst all the bustle of travelling, her favourite mode of transport is train travel as it is much more relaxed than buses. “I like a bit of comfort,” she explains, “but I don’t mind bus travel when I’m backpacking. It is always fun to discover chickens under your feet or a goat at your side.” Meegan always gets excited about international flights. “I find out in advance what movies are showing so I don’t see them beforehand at the cinema,” she says. “I get all my snacks and books sorted, plan what I will wear, check in online and try like crazy to get the best seat.” Meegan recommends the one next to the window behind the exit seats – this way, you can leisurely stretch your legs and get up easily. What can’t she travel without? Chocolate and something to read. And Vegemite of course – it reminds her of home when she is away.