Tuesday 20th + Sunday 25th May 2025
Co Founder + Lighting Design + Op - Tom Campbell
During get-in week I toured the festival site and was able to look behind the scenes as to what it takes to put on a festival of this size. I had previously contacted the co-founder and lighting designer/operator to arrange shadowing opportunities.
On Saturday evening I shadowed the lighting operation for Will Young’s set and was given the opportunity to operate half of the show. This required learning an entirely new system on the fly, quickly understanding fixture layouts and their functions, and adapting to live changes.
The experience significantly broadened my knowledge of busking techniques and enhanced my ability to respond to dynamic show conditions.
For Good Times 2026, I was much more involved in the overall process, spending the entire week on site and gaining a wide range of valuable experiences.
I had the opportunity to operate lighting for the support acts and Family Day performances, which allowed me to become familiar with MA. By the end of the week, I had developed a solid understanding of the system and would feel confident operating future shows with it.
My main responsibility was RoboSpot operation. I worked across all of the headline acts, liaising with touring operators to ensure everything ran smoothly and that I understood exactly when and how they wanted me involved. This experience allowed me to quickly build confidence using the RoboSpot system.
On the final night, during the Comedy Gala, one of the Lite Up technicians and I began preparing the artic lorries for the load-out, moving LED screen flight cases into position ready for the screen strike. This helped make the get-out process far more efficient.
Overall, Good Times 2026 was an invaluable experience. It gave me confidence operating industry-standard equipment, working alongside touring professionals, and reinforced my ability to adapt quickly, communicate effectively, and take initiative when opportunities arose.