The idea of having a concert at a Grand Prix is certainly not new, but the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) brought this concept to a whole new level when it introduced the Super Stage in 2015. Since that year, visitors of the F1 race in Austin have been treated by first-class performances of world-renowned artists including Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Ed Sheeran. This year, Sting took the stage on Friday evening, while Eminem is set to entertain the crowd at the Texas racetrack on Saturday.
On Thursday, Autosport Business meets up with Glynn Wedgewood, Senior Vice President of Music & Entertainment at COTA, in his office located in race control. It’s actually one of his three offices out of which he operates during the Grand Prix weekend.
“I also have one at the amphitheatre and one at the Super Stage”, he explains, before confirming with a smile that having three offices can be an absolute nightmare when he forgets to bring something from one location to the other.
Wedgewood’s office on the third floor of race control is quite different to all the other workspaces we pass on our way up there. The room is filled with music memorabilia, while one of the walls is completely decorated with concert posters. Up till the moment we sit down and the mobiles are set to silent mode, Wedgewood’s phone has been beeping non-stop.
“This is actually my mobile being calm”, he grins, before explaining he has people running errands in the city to make sure all the items listed on the riders will be present for when the artists arrive. “Sorry, I have to approve the purchase of some very expensive cigars for someone”, he says, before stowing his phone away.
Wedgewood is a former touring musician from Bishop Auckland, a small town in northeast England, who settled in Austin in 2005. He worked for clubs and festivals before joining the Circuit of the Americas in 2015. That same year the Super Stage was born.
“I worked on the very first time we built what we call the Super Stage”, he recalls. “That was for the X Games when they were here. And we built it for Metallica and Nicki Minaj. And then, the same year, we decided to introduce it on the Sunday of the F1 weekend, so we had Elton John.”
The 2015 United States Grand Prix was a memorable event for several reasons. Wedgewood: “I don’t know how much you remember about that weekend and how wet it was, but it was torrential weather. It was absolutely…
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