GLASGOW 2026: Crew Supplier for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies
When Glasgow 2026 needed a crew supplier for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, we were there from the first rig to the final blackout. Six teams, over a thousand shifts and not one missed cue. Here’s how the team pulled off the biggest job of the year.
Services
- Large Project Management
- Rig Teams
- Production Support Crew
- Stage Crew
- Follow Spot Operators
- FM Crew
- Prop Teams
It started back in May, when we won the tender to be crew supplier for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, working for client Spectaculars, by People. From there to showtime, it was months of planning, rehearsals, recruitment and logistics, all building towards two nights that had to go right first time.
THE TEAMS
Delivering a ceremony of this scale meant crew working across multiple disciplines:
- Rig teams — built the lighting rig and installed the largest video wall ever put up inside the Hydro
- Follow spot teams — kept every key performer lit, cue after cue
- Prop teams — handled flags for the flag bearers, the CWG flag, and the ceremonial batons
- FM crew — kept every in-ear monitor running, swapping an estimated 200–300 battery packs across the show
- Stage crew — including the removal of a garden scene built from 25 troughs, live, in a two-minute window with 65 crew, in front of the Hydro crowd and TV cameras
THE CHALLENGE
Both ceremonies were staged at the Hydro but were entirely separate productions, each with its own cues and set changes. Going from the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony at the same venue didn’t mean an easier job second time round. The Closing Ceremony was its own production, with a completely different set of cues and set changes to learn. Here came the came the biggest challenge…the team had four hours to turn the Hydro around and have it ready. The venue was used as a netball stadium and needed to be ready to host the closing ceremony. That’s the kind of deadline that could easily go wrong. It didn’t. The same crew who’d delivered the Opening stayed calm under pressure and nailed it again.
FULL FIVE STAR SUPPORT
Behind the ceremonies was a full Five Star office operation running in parallel. The operations, bookings and HR teams worked to keep the project moving day to day. Coordinating crew across regions, managing the schedules behind more than a thousand shifts and making sure the people on-site had what they needed to deliver. It’s the kind of support that doesn’t show up on camera, but without it, a job of this scale doesn’t happen.
Glasgow 2026 was Five Star’s biggest job of the year. Six teams, over a thousand shifts, two completely different ceremonies, and not one missed cue. It’s a clear demonstration of what this crew can deliver when the regions come together.
“I’m incredibly proud of the team. This is the biggest and most demanding project I have led, and its success was down to an exceptional group of people built around our core Crew Chiefs: John McDade (Large Project Head CC), Lewis Kennan, Andrew Jackson, Peter McMillan and Grant Muir. We couldn’t have done this without every single member of the crew and all the other regions who came to Scotland to support us. Thank you to each and every one of you.
We had a brilliant mix of experienced crew and newer faces, and the new crew stepped up, learned fast and more than held their own. I genuinely feel like we bonded as a team along the way, and that made all the difference.
I also want to give a huge shoutout to the full Five Star office team, the people behind the scenes who kept the day to day operation of this project running. A big thank you to the full operations, bookings and HR teams for making this possible.
This was the biggest job of the year and everyone involved was, quite simply, incredible. Bringing regions together to deliver an event of this scale says everything about what Five Star is and what we are capable of. This one will stay with me for a long time. Without a doubt one of my proudest highlights.”
— Jack Alexander, Large Projects Manager
OUR LOCATIONS
As a national company, we have offices across the UK, with each region dedicated to delivering excellence across all aspects of our operations.
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