Whether it’s the comfort of the sound of crackling wood, the opportunity to warm up our wellies or our cave-man fascination in watching the flame rise, fire remains a massive part of the festival experience. From small scale camp fire sing-a-longs to the mass burning of tents/cars/generally anything by the feral festival-goers at Reading festival 2009, the flames seem to captivate us all while bringing home the feeling of freedom that only associates itself with a weekend at a festival. This innate love of all things blazing and our desire to be amazed is something that The Big Burn at The Big Chill Festival has become renowned for combining.
The company behind the epic burning structures is The World Famous and since forming in 1999, it has since made a name for itself by getting creative with pyrotechnics in a way that is both mind-blowing and wholly innovative. Using fireworks, flames and special effects, their shows combine these spectacles with music, lighting and other effects in order to create a truly unique and enchanting display. The flame experts have previously put on displays at festivals all over the world, including Perth Festival, Sydney Arts Festival and the UK’s very own Bestival. The company’s touring shows such as Sticky (with Improbable), Blast!, Crackers?, Frost & Fire and Full Circle, also see their flammable creations travel across the UK and internationally. But it’s their one-off festival structures which are often met with the most incredulity and with each year that passes, the company strive exceed expectations - making The Big Chill Festival’s 2010 gigantic structure look set to be their best yet.
For the last two years The Big Burn, organised by pyrotechnic connoisseurs The World Famous, has wowed festival-goers at The Big Chill with their flaming structures that tower over the festival site. Last year saw the torching of a 13 metre high, red-eyed Zombie structure to an audience of thousands of open-mouthed festival-goers. So what can this year’s Big Chill-ers expect from the wonderfully deranged works of The World Famous? “After the flaming destruction of last year’s imposing undead Zombie, this year’s Big Burn has a gentler theme,” explained Company Director at The World Famous, Mike Roberts. “[This year] A towering, industrial geometric column, stands 30 feet tall. Perched on the top is a nest, organic and irregular, constructed from fallen branches knitted with glittering treasure. The nest is filled by a huge, shimmering egg, glowing with life, and hinting at a surprise waiting inside…”
As the weekend of music, cider and (hopefully) sun draws to a close, this grand display will round off the festival on Sunday night and provide festival-goers the chance to see something truly memorable before they embark on their traffic-rich journey home. The blazing spectacle will be following sets from the likes of The Magic Numbers, Bebel Giberto and Lily Allen, making this almost 10 metre tall, flaming creation, unmissable in every sense of the word.
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Big Chill Festival 2010
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