Festival Focus 2018

As is the annual tradition, we at Team TPi have packed our tents and wellies to bring you this year’s Festival Focus. Running every issue from July - October, the editorial crew will be speaking to the wonderful men and women who make festival season what it is; busy, bonkers and brilliant...

CREAMFIELDS 2018

Since launching in 1998, Creamfields has firmly woven itself into the fabric of UK dance culture. As the world around us has changed and musical movements have come and gone, Creamfields has consistently evolved and adapted. It is iconic. Artists and punters want to be part of it and the organisers work hard to give them even more each year.

The 4-day festival, which is held in a field just outside Daresbury, Cheshire, takes place over the August bank holiday weekend and showcases a line-up of leading DJs and artists from the worlds of EDM, house, trance, D&B and grime.

Curated by the Cream brand – which shot to fame in the 1990s thanks to its Liverpool club nights – the festival now attracts 70,000 people and over 300 of the world’s hottest dance acts. But it isn’t just the music that has taken Creamfields to legendary status, the event is renowned for its ‘go big or go home’ production ethos – staging, visuals, lighting, sound and special effects that combine to create visual and aural spectacles.

To fulfil the ambitious production design for Creamfields 2018, 86 trucks of technical hardware (twice as many as last year) and another 120 trucks of staging were required. All of those elements are managed by LarMac Live, with Production Manager Ian Greenway at the helm. “We’re way bigger than the biggest global flat-pack stadium tours,” said Greenway. “We pretty much work on the show on a rolling 12-month programme these days and, like any live project, it’s wonderful to see the planning grow legs and become a living entity.”

That living entity could be mistaken for a production monster, but Greenway and his teams have tried and tested methods of managing such a behemoth task. He explained: “The by-product of doing the biggest ‘this’ or a world record ‘that’ is that the resources that go in to it spiral too - from things like local crew all the way through to trucking. In our case, we stage all of our vehicles off site somewhere really close and they only get called in when we’re actually ready for them and have space on site to get them processed. There’s still only one gate in and one gate out of course, and a single road one-way system around all of our stages which just means we have to phase our load in and out more carefully.”

Creamfields is committed to giving its audience the best possible show experience. This year, that led to a significant increase in production collateral. As the EDM boom has continued apace - spreading out of the superclubs in the US to envelope Europe - the appetite for spectacular shows has shot up. Greenway revealed: “Over the last 3 or 4 years we’ve had a big upscale in the level of show that we’re producing. There are big expectations from this market and, indeed, the acts for us to put on huge shows, so every year I seem to end up with more kit.

“We had 3 new concept venues this year and intricate production designs in all of them. That’s the main reason for the increase, plus a huge show for Eric Prydz in our Steelyard venue that led to the world’s biggest Kinesys rig and about 800sqm of screen and 1,000 lights, all in one venue.

Stalwart Creamfields venues like Steelyard had some new accompaniments for 2018. Generator stepped in to the shoes of the old Stage 3 – morphing from a 120m big top into a building made of containers for an industrial feel. “We purposely didn’t fly much in the roof here, instead focussing more on a screen-heavy eclectic stage end show - think grungy pop up rave with a ton of lasers,” said Greenway.

The Warehouse, with its clean roof arch structure featuring big aluminium roof beams for a real presence, was another addition. Greenway explained: “Sam Campbell (Colour Sound Experiment) worked with us on a design, which was really lean but one of the most impactful onsite. That really played to the venue’s character, aided by the fact that the gable end was left off the roof and so the show literally spilled out the end.”

SILO came from the organiser’s want for an intense club environment. Greenway said: “One of our smaller venues on site, it’s a bit roundhouse meets mad max - 150 or so GLP JDC1’s programmed in line with a bunch of roof projection, lining an intimate circular structure. The added benefit of having a mezzanine allowed people to have another view on the room - adding to the intentional claustrophobia!”

Of course, delivering outstanding production across 11 venues is only possible with a reliable team of suppliers. “It’s beyond critical,” highlighted Greenway. “We introduced Capital Sound and Christie Lites this time. I’m a big fan of evolving and introducing new faces, but on a site like this we really do rely on familiarity. We also have a really tight team of personnel at Creamfields, extending beyond our core LarMac live team.

“All of our account handlers, local crew bosses and stage management team are responsible for the successes of the show and we work with them in a very collaborative way to make sure their experience and opinions are harnessed. Like all of our shows, we want people to come to work feeling like they’re adding something to the party and there’s no better example of that than here. It’s a tough show to work on and only with the support of our teams are we able to do it.”

Acorn Event Structures has been supplying staging to Creamfields since 2015 and has been instrumental in engineering a number of new additions to the show’s production over the last 4 years. That included the 50m x 90m x 20m Steelyard structure in 2016 – at the same time significantly improving the weight loading compared to traditional festival tents. In 2017, Acorn developed the Arc Stage with an increased curve in the LED screen wings, plus development of the Warehouse.

Always looking for fresh ideas and new ways in which to engulf the audience in the world-class production, Acorn designed and engineered new venues for Creamfields 2018 - the first was SILO with is cylindrical shape and 360° wall of LED screen, lights, lasers and sound that provided festival-goers with the ultimate immersive, underground experience. The second was Generator, with its shipping containers, scaffold infrastructure and industrial feel. Acorn also developed additional structures across the site to facilitate the predominant use of LED screens ensuring continuity throughout the event.

PRG XL Video provided lighting, rigging and video services for this year’s festival, delivering 30 trucks of equipment. That included video for 9 stages, lighting for 3 stages and rigging for 8 stages. The event tech specialist worked extensively with Greenway.

Richard Gorrod, Head of Event Services at PRG, project-managed the lighting, rigging, automationand video elements within Steelyard, and worked with LarMac Live for 6 months to ensure that Eric Prydz’s boundary-pushing set blew the audience away.

Gorrod commented: “PRG worked on 10 stages at Creamfields, supplying rigging, lighting and video equipment and services. The show’s just keep getting bigger and better each year and the festival’s 21st outing certainly pushed the envelope. The sheer quantity of everything, from the amount of automation and the number of lighting fixtures, demonstrates Cream’s commitment to creating the best electronic dance music event for fans and naturally, PRG is hugely proud to be a part of that story. We are looking forward to pushing the boundaries even further next year.”

Lighting for the other stages was supplied by Christie Lites (2 stages) and Colour Sound Experiment (2 stages). Colour Sound Experiment’s Managing Director Haydn Cruickshank said: “Creamfields is still the biggest rave in the UK and dance events are such a big part of our heritage here at Colour Sound that it’s something we are very proud to be involved with. I can still remember the first one very clearly,it had a different ethos to everything else that was going on at the time.”

Britannia Row Productions provided sound for The Arc, Horizon, and Steelyard, while Capital Sound took care of Generator and the Warehouse. Adlib Audio supplied the sound for 4 stages. TEC provided rigging, lighting and audio for the Vault and for Hospitality.

BPM SFX’s lasers and special effects were active across the site on all stages. The company also created bespoke packages for specific acts on each day. Managing Director, Adam Murray, explained: “In terms of numbers, the amount of effects, lasers and pyrotechnics that were integrated - the design of the effects, amount of integrated shows, artists and DJs provisioned over a 4-day period - it is without doubt one of our biggest and best festival show provisions that we do year on year. It is always a pleasure to work with Cream and LarMac, and we were honoured to be brought back on board as SFX Site supplier again this year.”

Creamfields is still the biggest rave in the UK and dance events are such a big part of our heritage here at Colour Sound that it’s something we are very proud to be involved with.

Colour Sound Experiment’s Haydn Cruickshank

Reflecting on this year’s festival, Ian Greenway says: “Every year it gets bigger. It’s amazing to be allowed to push boundaries and to work with a promoter and artists who actively encourage it!

“Scale and pace are the 2 words that remainin the back of my mind. Scale purely because the promoter is so passionate about giving the audience the time of their life and so our show has to be truly world class which is a really nice problem to have. Then pace. By that, I mean efficiency really. As with any production, particularly festivals, they’re conceived and planned by a very small team of people.

“A large part of my job is to then make sure that the jigsaw pieces were assembling in our heads get communicated in such a way that they can be actioned by others on site with minimal re-briefing. My team goes from 2 or 3 in the office for 11.5 months of the year and then spikes to almost 600 for the main build period and so having a way to deal with the pace of a show like this being built is a huge factor for us.”

Looking ahead to 2019, he reveals: “All I know is that there’s a handful of big artist shows coming through and we will see more changes to venues and house production setups. Let’s see...” Photos: Anthony Mooney, Kris Humphreys, Charlie Raven, Anthony Black and Lorenzo P. Tonucciwww.creamfields.com www.larmaclive.com www.coloursound.com www.capital-sound.co.uk www.christielites.com www.prg.com www.bpm-sfx.com www.acorn-events.com www.britanniarow.com

Every year it gets bigger. It’s amazing to be allowed to push boundaries and to work with a promoter and artists who actively encourage it!

Ian Greenway, LarMac Live.

BOOMTOWN FAIR

Video Illusions continued its partnership with Boomtown Fair, supplying full video production across the 4-day festival for the 5th year running.

Video Illusions recounts its production partnership with Boomtown Fair, supplying 120sqm back drop of ROE MC7 LED for the Gorilliaz and Die Antwood’s headliner shows.

Dave Whiteoak, Video Illusions Managing Director picked up the story. “Boomtown has never been ‘just another client’,” state Whiteoak. “We’ve always felt part of the family and go above and beyond no matter what was thrown at us.”

Providing full production coverage to the entire site from the downtown venues of Poco Loco, Vamos and China Town to District 5 and Mayfair; Video Illusions expanded its reach to take the lead on Lions Den; whereby Sector 6 sits, an enormous stage and performance area was introduced during the 2016 rendition of Boomtown Fair.

“We were introduced to Lions Den in 2015 when we were offered to look after the whole video production for the stage. From LED IMAGs to video world camera package and HD PPU rack and camera operators and directors to main stage screen with 15 camera ops and directors. We let our PM Ollie Davies loose with the video production down here as he’s in his element and delivers year in year out,” Whiteoak explained.

In 2018, as well as covering Sector 6, Video Illusions also supplied a 120sqm MC7 LED to the Main Stage Screen, 2 x 15sqm Vi-l6 IMAGsk 2 Sony HXC100 + hj40 lens, 3 x Sony EX3, 1 x Panasonic HD robo cam, 1 x HD polecam, 1 x Sony wireless fs7 on a terradek HD transmitter, full HD PPU system and 8 x Blackmagic Design Hyper Deck; including over 3km of signal cable.

Behind the scenes, the Video Illusions contingent also ran production management for Shy Fx, this year’s main headliner on Lions Den; where the team supplied full SFX co2 and flames and visual artist.

Working alongside Stage and Technical Manager David Peverley and Stage Designer Simon Carrol, Whiteoak assured Video Illusions have grown a great working relationship and are ‘on the same wave length’.

“To have IMAGs alongside waterfalls this year was unreal and supplying 4.5 tons of screen to fly within the the roof of the Lions Den was nothing but a walk in the park for Toby Shan at Acorn Event Structures.

The brainchild of Dan Borg, Sector 6’s set design was crafted from several tonnes of reconditioned scrap metal and embodied a living, moving, breathing industrial sculpture.

Towards the end of 2015, Video Illusions worked on the Sector 6 production plans with Lighting Designer Sam Tozer from Vision Factory. “We spent days and nights working out the best way to create the design, so each element of the structure was lit and could be seen in a different light from all angles - from the dance floor to the whole of temple valley,” Whiteoak recalled.

Borg specified the dimensions and technical specifications of the LED panels and lighting fixtures, adjusting the Sector 6 design to fit. The whole entirety of Sector 6 was created around the Video Illusions VI-L6 LED panel.

Video Illusions put together a 30-man strong team comprising lighting, LED and video technicians and riggers to deliver such a unique installation on a tight budget and timeframe.

Production Manager Zoe Hodge was bought in during the 3rd year to tighten the threads and assist in the delivery of operations of Sector 6. Assisting in the entire Boomtown Fair operation was Visual Artist Natalie Smith, Video Illusions’ Oli Chilton, Blinkin Lab’s Tom Wall, CGI king’s Matt King, WattsTV’s Kev Watts and We are the Night’s Elation Hawes.

“We’re looking forward to doing it all again same time next year!” exclaimed Whiteoak. www.boomtownfair.co.uk www.videoillusions.net

FESTIVAL No.6

Decordia has worked with Festival No6 since the event’s second-ever rendition in 2013. Managing to avoid the same fate as the dreaded ‘second album syndrome’, the partnership has born an exciting and welcoming aesthetic. Decordia’s Cordelia Ashwell picked up the story.

She told TPi: “I went to the event in its first year and completely fell in love with the show and Portmeirion.”

“I had spent the summer looking at the totally intriguing website and wondering if this magical little village was real. I was totally blown away and desperate to be involved so asked meet the organisers and it developed from there,” she reminisced.

What initially intrigued Decordia, as a décor company, was that the festival was offering a very unique experience for its customers.

“The importance of attention to detail was clear from the start, the necessity to stay visually true to the Mediterranean style of Portmeirion and to dress the site to create little magical pockets of atmosphere that resonate our discoveries when exploring the village and woodland areas on the site visit,” explained Ashwell.

Started back in 2013, the company focussed on making the site look really neat, staying true to the brand and have added to that each year to create some really iconic venues and spaces.

“Luke Huxham, the Event Director, has incredible vision for the festival so it’s a collaboration where we bring his ideas to life,” continued Ashwell. “He creates a visual reference of how he wants every single area of the site to look, from structures down to meticulously-chosen styling and it’s our job to realise that, whilst being mindful of budget! We also take into account that the festival is in North Wales, on a hill, and in September, hence the climate can – and indeed has been, really challenging. Equally, we have experienced some amazing weather so we make sure we are prepared for every eventuality. Whatever the weather, we need to maintain the quality customer experience, for example replacing soft furnishings and table cloths each day to ensure the show looks good throughout the weekend.”

The key factors with the festival, however, are the incredible unrivalled landscape in which it sits, the estuary, the mountains and Sir William Clough Ellis’ enchanting Portmeirion village. “Our task to echo this through the décor and styling was our best yet in 2018,” concluded Ashwell. “Will miss it so much when it takes a break in 2019...” www.festivalnumber6.com www.decordiaevents.com

DOWNLOAD PARIS

The French edition of Live Nation’s flagship rock and metal festival continues to thrive... with more than a little help from Stageco.

In its 3rd successful year, the French edition of the world-famous Download festival served as solid evidence that rock’n’roll is as alive and relevant as it was in 1980, when its direct predecessor – Monsters Of Rock – forced itself on the unsuspecting English market town of Castle Donington. Launched in 2003 to showcase the best in rock, metal and hardcore, Download expanded in 2016 with Live Nation’s introduction of Download Paris, and Stageco France – as the provider of all 5 stages – is honoured to have played a major role in the festival’s production since it began.

In fact, as long as Igor Dawidowicz steers the ship as Production Manager, Stageco appears to have a job for life. He commented: “Involving Stageco was a very easy decision. Who else could do it? We know a lot of staging companies but I can’t imagine giving this responsibility to anyone but Stageco – they are the most professional and reliable provider, and their engineering processes are very rigorous.

“When you hire Stageco, you feel safe and can trust that everything will happen precisely how you want it, and you leave them to the job so that you can worry about other aspects of the production. It’s safe to say that even if this festival had as many as 10 stages, I would want Stageco to build them all.”

Previously hosted at the Hippodrome de Longchamp racecourse, the festival moved last year to a former French Air Force Base at Brétigny-sur- Orge, 17 miles south of the capital, where the 2018 line-up of more than 70 acts included such greats as Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, Foo Fighters, Guns N’Roses, Ghost, Volbeat, Korn’s Jonathan Davis and The Offspring.

The change of venue, Igor said, offered greater benefits for both the audience and the production team. “Longchamp was a fine location but there were limitations with parking and camping, whereas this old airfield provides 3km of space and the trucks are able to park on concrete or tarmac, which makes a real difference.”

THE PROCESS

Led by Tom Bilsen, the Project Manager and also divisional director of Stageco France, the company’s work began at 6am on 7th June when the crew departed from the Tildonk head office in Belgium, arriving at the festival site 5 hours later to begin the 7-day load-in and build process, ensuring that everything was show-ready by the time doors opened at 1.30pm on Friday 15th June, the first of 4 action-packed days.

The Stageco team also included R&D engineer Bart Dekelver and crew chief Bart Dewolf, who co-ordinated a crew of 10 supervisors and local assistance from 2 cranes with operators, 10 climbers, 6 scaffolding crew, 10 stage hands and 5 forklifts with 3 operators.

“All of our crew are licensed to drive the forklifts ourselves,” said Bart. “Therefore, as we know exactly how to handle the equipment and don’t always have to explain to the local helpers, it helps to speed things up.” A total of 28 trucks carried Stageco’s equipment to the site and, in order to avoid jamming the backstage area, a sensible logistical plan of despatching vehicles in the correct order is crucial, stated Bart.

“That’s one of Tom’s great skills. We get the gear sorted out according to immediate need. Sixteen trucks handle the main stage requirements and by the time everything is offloaded and assembled, we’re ready to advance the next series of trucks for another set of structures. In all of this, we cannot be too rigid with this approach – it helps to maintain flexibility because we might be quicker on one structure than we anticipated.

“Compared to many other festival sites, this is reasonably level with minor differences of up to 50cm. This does affect the equipment and we obviously have to remain flexible in the way we build the structures, but an advance site visit will always ensure we are prepared.”

MARGIN FOR CHANGE Working closely with Stageco were Festival Director Armel Campagna, Production Director Paul Engalenc, site co-ordinator Matt Cocuau and British Stage Manager Charlie Boxhall whose own team looks after all 5 stages – the Main Stage, Main Stage 2, Warbird Stage, Spitfire Stage and Firefly Stage.

“I have dealt with all the technical advancing since the festival started in 2016 and, as such, I have a global overview of what’s coming on to the site,” explained Charlie, who also runs the stages at 2 other major Live Nation events in France that feature Stageco’s work: the Main Square festival and the recently-introduced Paris edition of Lollapalooza.

“My dialogue with Stageco began back in December and we started to firm things up around February, always with an open mind and a margin for change, but once I’m on-site all of the major decisions are confirmed.

“I arrived 4 days before the Friday kick-off to manage the final details, like camera platforms in the pit and opening up a new area of the stage underworld, which is a science all of its own! It also includes finessing the backstage ramps as soon as I knew more about what certain bands require. Are they coming in with soft-siders, semis or trailers on the back of a bus? The answers to those questions will have some impact on how Stageco’s crew deal with things.

“A little reinforcing here and there will often happen. For example, Foo Fighters brought in a drum riser that weighed 4 tonnes but we were expecting it to weigh half that. It wasn’t a big deal but these things need swift attention.”

Boxhall, a former Paris citizen for 12 years who has an 18-year-old son currently working on the festival, is a true veteran of the touring world. With credentials that date back to the mid-’70s when he was a member of ESP’s staff, Boxhall earned his road stripes with Graham Parker & The Rumour, ABBA and Bruce Springsteen, and first encountered Stageco whilst working for Genesis production manager Morris Lyda on the band’s European leg of the Invisible Touch tour in 1987. “I could see just how innovative this company was and that spirit of constantly moving forward remains very strong,” he said.

As luck would have it, Download Paris 2018 benefitted from hot and sunny weather, however, such fortune cannot be taken for granted and without careful attention a heavy downfall of rain can sometimes bring an outdoor event to a sudden close, as Igor pointed out. “If the weather is bad and your stage skins are not to tension, you risk not being able to keep all the electronics dry and that’s the kind of big issue that can stop a show. One of the many things I admire about Stageco is that their waterproofing techniques are second to none. It’s strange that some people often forget how crucial that is.”

As well as all the FOH risers, delay towers, 21 ‘totem’ signage towers across the site and platforms for disabled visitors and video cameras, Stageco built the 6m x 6m support base for the festival’s inflatable 3-headed mascot, Dexter the Download Dog, and a huge antenna tower, and also created Bar Metal – a large, scaffold-based rest area at the edge of the camping site. Pictured opposite, bottom left, the bar area itself is 18.64m wide and 6.23 right, and also includes a Stageco-built DJ platform.

Stageco worked alongside sound, lighting and video supplier Dushow, Mojo Barriers and generator provider The Power Shop. When the festival reached its 4th day, the closure of Main Stage 2 and the Spitfire Stage gave Stageco’s crew a head start on the load-out, allowing them to remove a FOH tower and a few minor structures ahead of 4 very full days of dismantling and re-loading the trucks.

Reflecting on a busy week, Tom Bilsen commented: “I am so happy to work with this team and for this festival organisation. They get along so well and understand each other perfectly. We have 2 more projects to go this summer with the same combination and I’m proud to get this all going.” Photos: Mark Cunningham and Bart Dewolf www.downloadfestival.fr www.stageco.com

SZIGET FESTIVAL

Such is Capital Sound’s long-term and consolidated contract with the mighty Sziget Festival organisation, that the rock solid production formula now ensures that the massive 7-day extravaganza on Hajógyári Island, north of Budapest, runs seamlessly.

With Martin Audio MLA again reinforcing sound on the main and second stages, and further Martin Audio PA on the Colosseum dance stage, the biggest news was that in its 26th year the event again broke attendance records, with an aggregated 565,000 estimated to have visited the picturesque location on the Danube, over the 7 days.

A veritable line-up this year included Arctic Monkeys, Stormzy, Clean Bandit, Kendrick Lamar, Gorillaz, Lana Del Rey, Mumford & Sons, Dua Lipa — and many more. And with such an international line-up of A-listers, Capital Account Manager Paul Timmins said: “All the top acts bring experienced sound engineers who know they will be able to get the levels they are seeking — whether it be 96dB(A) or 106dB(A) — and it’s just not a subject that is spoken about anymore.”

Drilling into the minutiae we see that a slightly wider stage this year called for 2 additional MLA Compact enclosures boosting the infill complement to 18 MLA Compact, and the newer Martin Audio SX218 subs replacing the older models on the delay towers.

“We are geared up to respond to any changes, no matter how small,” added Timmins. “For us it is a 2-truck mission, reinforced by our partners, BG Event and Polish PA company Musnicki, who service it locally.” Thanks to its proximity, any late equipment requests or sudden changes to infrastructure can be accommodated expediently.

In addition to supporting Capital Sound with MLA / MLX components, BG Event also provided Martin Audio PA for 2 further stages. It equipped the Europe stage with 12 pcs MLA and 12 W8LS subwoofers, with 4 XD12 for infill. On the stage they provided 10 LE2100 wedge monitors, plus a set of WS218X and LE1500 drum monitors. And for the Colosseum techno venue they provided 24 MLA Compact cabinets and 12 SX218 subwoofers, with Martin MLA Mini infill and Merlin processing. For DJ monitoring they supplied 4 powerful LE1500 and a pair of WS18X subs.

To ensure top on-site service to production crews and visiting sound engineers, Capital deployed a crack team of Jonny Buck (Crew Chief), Marty Beath (Monitor Tech) and Toby Donovan (System Tech), with experienced MLA tech Marci Mezei (Audio Crew Chief) leading a 5-strong Hungarian team. Capital’s Robin Conway project managed, ensuring all the rider demands were met well in advance.

Paul Timmins said the days were long because soundchecks started as early as 8.30am daily. “It gave all bands and engineers plenty of time on the system, and many who had worked MLA at the Festival previously were rubbing their hands in anticipation.

“It’s what we want to see,” he said in summary. “All the tweaks have been done over the 13 years we have worked this site, so that it’s now a finely-tuned system.” Photo: © Rockstar Photographers www.szigetfestival.com www.capital-sound.co.uk www.martin-audio.com

MADE IN AMERICA FESTIVAL

Green Hippo Hippotizer dealers, 4Wall Entertainment, take stock of 14 new Hippotizer V4+ Media Servers, some of which marked their first outing at JAY-Z’s 2018 Made in America Festival.

With 10 locations across the US, 4Wall Entertainment have been providing creative solutions and rental gear for some of the most impressive shows and projects across the US.

Becoming a dealer for the Green Hippo Hippotizer Media Server range in 2017, 4Wall’s sales and rental divisions have carried a large inventory of lighting and video equipment nationwide, and as dealers for the industry’s top manufacturers, 4Wall continues to provide affordable lighting and video options for countless venues and productions, backed by tremendous service and support.

Supplying 6 of its new additions to the Labor Day weekend Made in America Festival, the event at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway attracted nearly 150,000 spectators to this annual celebration of music and culture, curated by JAY-Z, and designed by Patrick Dierson of The Activity. Headline acts included Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, Zedd and Diplo.

The Hippotizer Boreal+ DP - capable of delivering up to 16 HD outputs - drove the Rocky and Liberty Stages (Rocky Server Programmer Jason Livingston; Liberty Server Programmer Cory Froke), while the Hippotizer Karst+ DP - capable of 8 HD outputs – drove the Freedom stage (Server Programmer Chris Griffin). These 2 models are the most popular Media Server products for the rental and concert market due to their versatility. All 3 of these stages utilised Datapath’s FX4 to split up the 4K outputs from each server into the required number of HD sends to the LED processors for each stage. Rocky and Liberty stages also received IMAG feeds from the broadcast trailers, allowing effected IMAG to be displayed with minimal latency.

The servers ran on the soon-to-be-released Hippotizer V4.4 software, allowing the programmers to utilise some of the newest features, including Crossfade-On-Layer, VideoMapper-On-Layer, and expanded support for Color Blocks, allowing the lighting console to generate imagery on the fly, without the need for pre-rendered media. Each stage had a unique layout of LED screens (ranging from 6-12 individual screens on each stage), and Hippotizer’s workflow allowed the programmers to quickly and easily adapt both stock content and artist-provided content in various formats and resolutions to fit the screen configuration for each stage. www.madeinamericafest.com www.4wall.com

TOMORROWLAND

The international music festival takes the new Atmosphere Stage to mind-blowing proportions with L-Acoustics L-ISA.

Tomorrowland, held over 2 scorching weekends this July in the Belgium town of Boom, is one of the world’s foremost music festivals. Its organisers, We Are One World, are always on the hunt for imaginative ways to unite hundreds of thousands of fans from around the globe at this unique event. This year, Tomorrowland revealed the brand-new Atmosphere Stage, a futuristic tent where L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound delivered deeply vibrant beats as festival goers bathed in stunning visuals for a completely unprecedented musical experience.

L-Acoustics has a rich history with Tomorrowland, and has collaborated with the festival alongside Noizboyz, designers of Tomorrowland audio systems, since 2011. This year was no different, with over 600 L-Acoustics cabinets supplied by Phlippo Productions deployed on 6 stages, including the massive 115m wide Story of Planaxis Main Stage, across the vast festival site.

With the Atmosphere Stage, We Are One World set out to elevate the concert experience with a festival tent stage like no other. Recognising the impact of L-ISA in creating powerful shared connections between artists and audiences, Tomorrowland worked with L-Acoustics and Noizboyz to make it a reality.

“When discussions began about creating an L-ISA area at Tomorrowland,” said Noizboyz Pieter Doms. “We were instantly excited to explore this cutting-edge technology with them, to learn new techniques and new ways of experiencing music.”

Described by EDM.com, as ‘breath-taking and perfectly made for Techno’, Atmosphere was housed in a huge, 32m high tent suspended from a gigantic, custom-built crane. With an all-star line-up including Adam Beyer, Eric Prydz, Sasha, Boris Brejcha, Sven Väth, Nina Kraviz and Richie Hawtin, a ceiling glittering with thousands of lights, a 2km long video net containing 120,000 LEDs stretched around its circumference, and a mammoth 20.1 L-ISA design, Tomorrowland was about to deliver a full-on, mind-blowing, 360-degree dance experience.

To accommodate the production team’s wish for the LED wall to be the visual focal point of the Atmosphere Stage, the L-ISA configuration comprised 18 arrays of 4 Kara each, stacked on a truss above the screen and filling 270° degrees of a carefully configured circle. An additional flown system of 8 K1 per side, plus 24 KS28 subs completed the 360° panorama and provided the full on, low-end kick that is the hallmark of EDM.

This highly flexible and modular configuration allowed for delivery of both conventional stereo and immersive content. The K1 system provided left/right delivery with L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound adding extra detail, dynamics and effects to the mix. Multichannel content was specifically created for the L-ISA system by Jelle Neijs and Bart Revier of 3AM Media for Dutch company Q-Dance, who have hosted stages at Tomorrowland since 2005.

“This content took full advantage of the L-ISA 20.1 surround system,” explained Sherif El Barbari, Director of L-ISA Labs. “Further effects were achieved in real time by Thomas van Hoepen from Noizboyz, using Q-LAB OSC capabilities to fire cues from the built-in L-ISA Snapshot engine for automated dynamic positioning and panning.”

“We create a lot of custom music for festivals to expand the experience of the visitors,” said Revier. “We felt like kids in an undiscovered world with endless possibilities when we created the custom-made audio for L-ISA at Tomorrowland’s Atmosphere Stage. The collaboration with L-ISA takes the Tomorrowland experience a step further; together with L-Acoustics we discovered new ways to give the visitors a sound experience they’ve never heard before.”

“L-ISA works incredibly well with the selection of music curated for The Atmosphere Stage and it was great to be able to play around with the technology during instrumental sections,” added Joost Machiels, Business Development Manager for Phlippo Productions. “At Phlippo, we are convinced that L-ISA gives added value and, as more specific content is prepared for it, it will continue to gain traction. I think there is a lot more to discover and that’s really exciting.”

“The L-ISA system was a huge success,” Doms concluded. “The smiles on the faces of the festival’s organisers said everything. Mission accomplished!” www.tomorrowland.com www.l-acoustics.com www.noizboyz.com

HARD SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL

HARD Summer Music Festival first premiered in 2007 and has rapidly gained nation-wide recognition within the American dance community for its upbeat music, charged atmosphere, and bigger than life performances.

Fans return to HARD Summer Music Festival in Southern California year after year for a full immersion into an atmosphere created by the fuse of electronic and hip-hop music. This 2-day event in August attracts approximately 80,000 music lovers each day and took place at the Auto Club Speedway approximately 50 miles from Los Angeles, California.

This year, the HARD Summer Music Festival experienced a new and improved self with the support of America’s best-known electronic music event promoter, Insomniac. Founded in 1993, Insomniac is now the world’s largest dance music and experience company. From festivals in the depths of the forest to the world-renowned Electric Daisy Carnival, Insomniac creates beauty and inspiration in every element of its festivals. With the philosophies from Insomniac in place, improvements were made across the HARD Summer Music Festival, everything from logistical guidance to aesthetic upgrades. Such aesthetics included 3 massive Shade Structures made by Stretch Shapes out of Eugene, Oregon. Prior to the event, Insomniac reached out to Stretch Shapes as the leading innovator of stretch fabric products for event professionals. The idea was to create one shade structure that was colourful, allowed airflow, provided shade, and could be an artistic element of the festival. With an idea in mind, the team at Stretch Shapes worked some magic. From a simple idea, the Stretch Shapes team was able to create a variety of visual concepts for the Insomniac team to pick from. Upon the review, each concept was loved so much that all 3 Shade Structures were a must have for the festival.

As soon as Insomniac signed off on the designs, the Stretch Shapes team began working on all elements needed to make the 3 giant 100ft shade structures. Six different colours of IFR (inherently flame retardant) fabric was cut with a CNC machine using proprietary software. All 600 Flat Panel Sails within the structure were sewn in-house and Stretch Shapes’ world-class install crew was there for every step of installation and strike.

The end result was 3 geometrically beautiful shade structures that helped set the tone of the festival yet provided the festival attendees a sanctuary away from the scorching UV rays.

During the event, high temperatures hovered just below the 100°F mark, prompting everyone at the Speedway to slap on extra sunscreen or seek shelter from the powerful UV rays. All said and done, the real hero was the massive Shady Lane Shade Structures, which stretched almost the full length of the split between opposite ends of the venue. Not only did these giant shade structures provide shade, but they also had some serious misting action which provided a much-needed cool down on the walk between sets.

At night the shade structures took on the role of crucial landmarks that allowed attendees to easily gain their bearings. Whether people gathered under the tents to meet with friends or were just passing through, people often found a show of its own as they watched the lights flash and pass through the cutouts of the tents in tangent with the music in the distance.

At the end of the day, the 3 bemouth shade structures were a huge success. Posts featuring Stretch Shapes’ Shade Structures continue to flood social media weeks after the event and it’s easy to conclude these functional art structures were critical yet beautiful elements of the festival. www.hardsummer.com www.stretchshapes.net