Orange is celebrating its status as the Official Communications Partner for the 2011 Glastonbury Festival, taking place from 22 – 26 June, with a 50 per cent increase in the number of charging points available via the Orange Chill ‘n’ Charge tents.

The existing Orange Chill ‘n’ Charge tent (Chill ‘n’ Charge Central), will remain at its home next to the Leftfield stage and will be joined this year by two further sites; Chill ‘n’ Charge West, just beyond the Pyramid Stage towards the John Peel stage, and Chill ‘n’ Charge East, towards the main festival meeting point near the kids field. All three will be clearly marked on festival maps and within the Glastonbury 2011 app. Opening times are 9am – 9pm Thursday to Sunday.

Featuring more than 1,500 charging points, over 100,000 people are expected to visit the tents during the festival weekend. There will be a mix of indoor and outdoor seating to cater for all weather conditions and ensure a comfortable charging experience, as well as a retail space selling a range of mobile accessories and SIM cards. Chill ‘n’ Charge West will also have free broadband available.

Orange has also produced an official Glastonbury app for this year’s festival. The app includes a comprehensive schedule, interactive map, news, and a range of ways to share information through social networks. The app also offers the chance to win one of the last remaining pairs of tickets to this year’s event, and also enables users to enter a competition to win a pair of passes to watch a top band from the side of the Pyramid stage on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  

Last year, Orange introduced the Power Wellies, which charged your phone as you walked, This year, its eco-charging innovation is the Orange Sound Charge, which uses sound waves to generate power to charge a mobile phone. Produced in collaboration with renewable energy experts at GotWind, the technology has been housed inside a t-shirt to enable festival-goers to stay connected simply by wearing the prototype around the site.
Good luck with that one. Personally, we think the Power Wellies had more legs.