The countdown is getting VERY bloody real now! ๐ฅ๐ธ
In just over a week, members of the Stonedead Festival Production Team will begin rolling into Newark Showground to start transforming an empty patch of ground into one almighty rock โnโ roll playground.
Stages need building.
Barriers need shifting.
Signs need putting up.
Infrastructure needs sorting.
Thousands of little jobs need doing before somebody can finally shout:
โOPEN THE GATES!โ
And behind all of that work is something that makes Stonedead particularly special.
๐ค A FESTIVAL FOR THE FANS, BY THE FANS
Stonedead isnโt simply using the phrase โA Festival For The Fans, By The Fansโ as a catchy slogan.
They genuinely mean it.
According to the festival team, up to 300 volunteers will be joining the operation at different points throughout festival week, helping turn Newark Showground into the home of Stonedead.
And building a festival is definitely not a case of sticking up a gazebo, plugging in a Marshall stack and hoping for the best. ๐
It is a HUGE undertaking.
Before the first guitar chord rings across the showground, thereโs an enormous amount of work happening behind the scenes.
From site preparation and production through to stewarding, logistics and all those countless jobs most festival-goers never even notice, an army of people has to pull together to make the whole thing happen.
And Stonedead has its very own army.
๐ซก ENTER THE BARMY ARMY!
The festival affectionately refers to its dedicated volunteer crew as the Barmy Army โ and without them, Stonedead simply wouldnโt be Stonedead.
Year after year, volunteers give their time, energy and probably several gallons of sweat to help get the festival ready.
No massive corporate machine.
No faceless army shipped in purely to make somebody a gigantic profit.
Just rock fans working alongside other rock fans to create something they genuinely care about.
That community spirit is one of the reasons Stonedead has developed such a loyal following.
Youโre not merely attending somebody elseโs festival.
Youโre part of it.
And that, butt, is bloody brilliant. โค๏ธ๐ค
๐ฐ EVERY PENNY GOES BACK INTO THE FESTIVAL
Hereโs another part of the Stonedead story that deserves shouting about.
According to the organisers, not a single person involved takes a penny from the festival.
Instead, money earned by Stonedead is put towards making the following yearโs event happen.
That means the people spending their time organising, preparing and helping run the festival arenโt doing it because thereโs a juicy payday waiting backstage.
Theyโre doing it because they believe in the event.
Theyโre doing it because they love live music.
Theyโre doing it because theyโre part of the community.
Thatโs about as close to the true spirit of rock โnโ roll as youโre going to get. ๐ค
๐จ WANT TO HELP BUILD STONEDEAD?
And hereโs where YOU could come in.
Stonedead has revealed that there are still a few volunteer vacancies available across the board for anyone who fancies spending the Bank Holiday weekend doing something slightly different.
And donโt worry if youโve never built a festival before.
You donโt need to arrive carrying a toolbox while screaming:
โI HAVE 27 YEARS OF ADVANCED FESTIVAL INFRASTRUCTURE EXPERIENCE!โ
๐๐จ
The organisers say you donโt need to be skilled or experienced in any particular field.
What theyโre looking for is much simpler:
A can-do attitude, a pleasant demeanour, a willingness to get stuck in and the ability to work as part of the team.
Basically, donโt be a knob and be prepared to help.
Seems fair enough to us. ๐๐ค
๐ WHEN WOULD YOU BE NEEDED?
Volunteers are being sought who can commit to the Bank Holiday weekend, with additional help potentially needed from Monday 24 August through to the following Monday.
If youโve got some spare time and fancy seeing a completely different side of festival life, this could be a cracking opportunity.
Because while thousands of people experience festivals from the crowd, volunteering gives you a glimpse behind the curtain.
You get to see how that empty field becomes a functioning live music event.
One day youโve got bits of fencing, vehicles, equipment and people running around with radios.
A few days later?
BOOM.
Festival.
Beer.
Bands.
Riffs.
Happy metalheads everywhere.
Itโs basically the rock โnโ roll equivalent of watching someone build IKEA furniture, except considerably louder and hopefully with fewer arguments about missing screws. ๐
โค๏ธ THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE FESTIVAL
Itโs easy to arrive at a festival, grab your wristband and immediately start thinking about bands, food and where the nearest pint is hiding.
What we sometimes forget is the astonishing amount of work that has already happened before weโve even reached the entrance.
Months of planning.
Meetings.
Emails.
Phone calls.
Licensing.
Production.
Site preparation.
Logistics.
Safety.
Transport.
Equipment.
And then comes the physical build itself.
That doesnโt happen magically overnight.
People make it happen.
At Stonedead, many of those people are volunteers.
So when youโre standing at Newark Showground watching a band absolutely tear the place apart, spare a thought for the Barmy Army who helped create the environment youโre standing in.
Somebody helped put that festival together.
Somebody helped prepare that site.
Somebody gave up their time because they wanted thousands of fellow rock fans to have a cracking weekend.
That deserves a massive Riff Report salute. ๐ซก๐ค
๐ธ WANT TO JOIN THE BARMY ARMY?
If youโre free around the Bank Holiday weekend, fancy getting involved and reckon youโve got the right attitude, itโs not too late to volunteer for this yearโs Stonedead Festival.
The organisers are still looking for a few more people to join the crew.
You can find the volunteer information and sign-up details through the Other Info section of the official Stonedead Festival website.
So if youโve ever stood at a festival and thought:
โIโd love to know what goes into making all this happenโฆโ
Well, hereโs your chance.
Get involved.
Get stuck in.
Meet some fellow rock-loving lunatics.
Help build the festival.
Then stand back and watch the thing youโve helped create come roaring to life. ๐ฅ
๐ค THE COUNTDOWN IS ON!
Not long now, people.
Soon Newark Showground will begin its annual transformation.
The production crew will arrive.
The Barmy Army will mobilise.
The site will start taking shape.
And before we know it, another Stonedead Festival will be ready to unleash the riffs.
To every volunteer preparing to give up their time:
THANK YOU.
Festivals donโt happen because somebody posts a shiny line-up poster on Facebook.
They happen because hundreds of people work their backsides off behind the scenes.
And Stonedeadโs volunteers are about to do exactly that.
A festival for the fans.
Built by the fans.
Powered by the fans.
Now THATโS rock โnโ roll. ๐ค๐ฅ๐ธ
Proudly Loud. Zero Apologies.
โ The Riff Report
