The Brighton Tattoo Convention
Some consider tattoos a niche market but they are very big business
With a great number of conventions being held across the UK, The Brighton Tattoo Convention is one of the largest attracting some 6000 visitors over the weekend. Woody, the organiser, had previously held the event at the Brighton Racecourse but for his 7th year he wanted to up the ante and therefore hired, almost exclusively, the Hilton Metropole Hotel on the seafront. About 90% of the 340 guest bedrooms were booked by convention goers whilst most of the conference suites were booked for tattooists, trade stands, bars and entertainment.
Woody asked us if we could help out with the lighting and sound for the main stage. He wanted us to build a stage, book the bands and the DJ’s and run the area for the duration of the Convention. Following a meeting at the venue we agreed that a mini festival stage and sound rig would be best suited to the venue.
On Friday at Woody’s request we booked three punk bands followed by punk DJ’s playing until 02.00. On Saturday we provided background music during the day and then had three indie bands booked followed by the Stay Sick DJ’s, again until 02.00 Sunday was much the same with the exception of the awards ceremony that required an adjustment to the lighting rig so that the audience could see competitors tattoos. That evening we booked the Brighton Rumble crew to play rockabilly music.
We sorted out all of the event signage, from large banners outside of the hotel to the stage backdrop. We also did a bit of guerrilla advertising for Woody, arranging to have the a graffiti artist paint the convention artwork onto a telecom exchange box’s just outside of the venue two weeks in advance of the event.