Christopher BarrettFar And Beyond has hired former Live Nation UK COO John Probyn (pictured) as group head of event operations in a move that will not only see the hugely experienced live events professional return to work on festivals including Download and Creamfields but also see him reunited with Jess Shields.
Prior to her founding award-winning events management company Far and Beyond (FAB), Shields was given her first job in the industry by Probyn when he was at Live Nation. They continued to work together at Live Nation for eight years on events including Download, Wireless, Hard Rock Calling, Creamfields, Electric Daisy Carnival, Global Gathering and Oxegen.
Most recently, Probyn was Solotech’s head of business development in Europe overseeing its Live Products division.
In an interview with Shields and Probyn that will be published in the forthcoming Winter edition of Access All Areas, Shields said, “I grew up at Live Nation. I learned everything from working with John and being at that company.”
Probyn said, “At Live Nation we formed a great team, with some amazing people. Jess was absolutely a key part of that team, and looking at what she went on to do made me enormously proud. I have always followed the progress of FAB, and so when the opportunity came along to get involved it just made sense.”
As well as established FAB event clients including Download and Creamfields, among the new events Shields and Probyn will be working together to produce next year will be the launch edition of Come Together; a 45,000-capacity festival in Newcastle promoted by TEG Europe that is billed as the “largest outdoor music event the North East has ever seen”.