The sold-out, three-day festival attracted 55,000 attendees, with camping adjacent to the site and a bill featuring an eclectic entertainment programme of music and arts.
Artists including Arctic Monkeys, The Prodigy, Snoop Dog and a Dave Grohl surprise guest band headlined some of the 11 stages, all of them based in huge tents. There was also a theatre tent, a debating tent (wherein politicians engaged with the audience around issues of the day) and art installations.
80 Showsec security professionals travelled to Holland to blend expertise and operational skills alongside 640 of their counterparts from The Security Company. Special projects manager Steve Reynolds spearheaded Showsec’s integration of knowledge and systems, sharing his knowledge with The Security Company’s managing director Gerard Van Duykeren.
Reynolds told SMT Online: “There are a lot of parallels and a standardisation of systems that has evolved between our two companies, which have come out of working together on Lowlands over the past ten years. I can see a fresh ‘European ethos’ developing to provide safe, customer-focused event security underpinned by us sharing our approaches to education, management systems and creating career opportunities for security professionals. The result is an ever-improving service we can offer to clients.”
Specialist pit training and accreditation
On site, a relaxed Reynolds – accompanied by recent Showsec Academy graduate Yerodin Stewart – managed the deployment of the UK teams, all members having completed the company’s specialist pit training and accreditation, focusing these skills in the front of stage pits.
The Security Company co-ordinated the 24/7 festival staffing, with senior management located in a sophisticated event Control Centre and using modern camera technology, which improved effective monitoring and communication between their own staff and local emergency services. The event security operation even extended to an on-site Courtroom for quick processing of simple offences (such as drug possession).
Offering his perspective, Gerard Van Dykeren said: “Mojo Concerts is a very safety-conscious promoter. Its management has been very open to us introducing procedures to improve crowd management and security at Lowlands. Mojo Concerts is very attentive to its audience and everyone working on the site, and has fully supported our introduction of security innovations to improve their festival.”
