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Festival Friends Glastonbury murals Press sideshow

Unfairground 17

Ahhh, Glastonbury, It’;s a double edged sword. An obstacle course through a chaotic fairground. Due to the Cannes lions gig appearing in the middle of my usual build, work started early in June, dragging the sideshows out, fixing trailers, building 28 foot mouths the usual thing for a uncrew carnie . Each year we ask a new artist to paint the hoardings in the unfairground. I’ve know Inkie for many years and thought his style would give a post victorian edge to our twisted fairground setting.

This year i brought a new sideshow, Small fortunes, Dystopian futures that favour the unfair! Cross there palms in silver and delve into the future from our resident fortune tellers the Queens of the Underworld and Ted’s Walker. We had queues of the curious leaving satified if not perplexed.

We had a cracking year, with the misery of the previous years festival forgotten. No one can remember a hotter build, a fuller or friendlier festival. We had a Cracker!

Usual thanks to all the Uncrew! The folly family, our incredible production staff, everyone on the bars back stage and back! Jagz kooner, Bez, Scouse and fatty for the battle bus stage. OIf course for Sam Haggerty making it all happen in the first place and all those who came, watched the freak shows, danced and drank the night away or those that lost their shirts on the sideshows.

It was a cracking year, always a little Unfair but a bloody good laugh

 

 

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Festival Friends Glastonbury group show sideshow

Cannes Lions 17

Didn’t really know too much about this festival before i was asked to decorate a sea front house for this advertising award brouhaha. Cannes, the perpetual summer luxury conference center location, hosts the major media bands for the Cannes Lions Awards. The beachfront is turned into a media playground with bands, brands and sands. There is not a dry throat in the house.

June is always Glastonbury and the unfairground and leaving site, from a ratty trailer to a rosé fuelled piss up on a beach was quite bloody culture shock..paint in the sun all week.then fly back to return on  the Friday of the festival, back to the unfairground family of freaks, but more of that later…

Cannes is best described through pictures. A big Thanks to Ruby stone Productions for making it all happen, IPG Mediabrands , UM and Initiative as well as Jay Streetplay

It was a funny week, a dream like break from the shouty field on worthy farm. I met a lot of people, thanks to Rita ora, Halle berry and Hannah Bronfman for being such good sports and showing me how a selfie works.

 

 

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Festival Mutoid waste department sideshow

Before

fieldThe Unfairground ‘Before’ shot, all is quiet before the storm.

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Festival Fuiji Rock Festival sideshow

On a slow boat to Japan

Finally all the pieces slotted into place this Thursday as the crew gathered down in Findon to load the mother of all shipping containers with the set for Fuji Rock Festival in late July. In a secret location deep in the woods the finishing touches were put of the Unfairgrounds sideshows which will accompany the Palace of Wonder outside the Festivals walls.
The weeks painting finished with the tightest load ever seen, it was touch and go whether it would all fit, but with some pushing and shoving the last bits slotted into place.

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Festival Fuiji Rock Festival sideshow

Knuckles

So the deadline looms for all the sideshows to be loaded into the shipping container for its two month trip by sea to Japan. Standing at 4.9m ‘Knuckle Sandwich’ is the sister High Striker for last years  7.5m ‘Old Boney’. The steel framework is still to be attached to the painted facade as is the bell and mechanism. Its going to be a long hard week with the kids striker still to be finished.  Fuji Rock her we come!

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Festival sideshow

Knuckle Sandwich

Below is the new middle sized high striker, ‘Knuckle Sandwich’
the empty scrolls will have the usual rating of strengths from loser to hero. Standing at 4.9m its the little sister of last years 7.3m ‘Old Boney’ . Together with ‘Dem Dancing Bones’ all three will form ‘The Bone Yard’ the ultimate test of strength. check out ‘Old Boney’ or here

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Festival Friends sideshow

Trannies and Hammers

So Debs & Strapper from Wrekon invited us down to Endorse It In Dorset to set up “Old Boney” the High striking test your strength machine. It’s probably its last outing for the year, with the winter providing the time to tweak improvements to its set up and signage. Endorse it was one of the nicest festivals we’ve been to this year, lovely site and a great misx of some of the friendliest people we’ve had swing our hammer. Thanks to all that had a go, we had 48 people win prizes and 37 very strong men ring the bell, with one girl Kattja so close to doing it as well. Sunday is ladies day at the festival where the lads dress as women and with a punk/rockabilly line up there were some stunning outfits as you can see above.

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collaboration Festival Friends Glastonbury Mutoid waste department sideshow

Unfairground update

Just updated the Unfairground website, with pics and new sections about the venues in the unfairground you can check it out here www.unfairground.org

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Festival Glastonbury Mutoid waste department sideshow

Glastonbury report 2011

old_boney_sun

So back in the land of the toilet, a land far far away from the long drop loo. Muddy dirty and tired with a million things to do before i fly to Norway friday.
Much rain made the going underfoot swampy during the build but thankfully the weather cleared and the sun baked the mud into 2 foot waves by the time the festival started. The unfairground is a late night spot with stuff happening in the field starting at midnight. the sideshows were rammed and Old Boney proved a great hit, if you excuse the pun.

base1

We had over 700 customers test their strength, but to be fair its hard to give it your best shot, off your tits at 4am in the morning in a muddy field. We had about 50 really strong guys who managed against the odds to ring the bell each of them receiving a original and unique art work for their efforts.

girl_hammer

As you can see there were plenty of girls who attempted to ring the bell, hats off to them, it was a long way up! Thanks to all those who had a go, and congratulations to those truly strong folk who rang the bell.

gobbler_skull

crack_busy

crack_bone

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Festival Glastonbury sideshow

What more prizes?

More prizes for Old Boney the unfairground striker. All individual, slightly smaller than A4, spray paint on aluminum sheet. There are approximately 80 of these going to Glastonbury festival as the Top prize for the test your strength machine Old Boney.

prizes 1

prizes 2