Main Square Festival

MAIN SQUARE FESTIVAL

screen on the back of the stage was used by a number of acts including Gavin James, Bring Me The Horizon, Bigflo & Oli, Jain.

Absen products were also placed in several of locations on site. The Greenroom stage, a pair of screens comprising AT5 Pro 5.5mm panes were also supplied to stream a live feed from the stage. Finally, in the VIP tent Dushow installed an Absen AT3 3.75mm LED screen measuring 8sqm to broadcast images of the main stage.

LIGHTING Dushow Lighting Crew Chief, Fred Hamonou took care of the lighting design and rig plans, assisted by Jérôme Santi on the Mainsquare festival since 2015. “The relationship with the festival is excellent and based on a relationship of trust between the production and the technical.”

Having been a fixture of the festival since 2012, Dushow’s technical involvement also required the desired “human factor” Campagna was searching for. “Dushow has been with us throughout the evolution of the festival. All of our vendors supply the best in terms of sound, video, lighting.”

Hamonou explained the lighting design changed each year to give the festival a fresh look while also being able to adapt to plug and play capabilities of the various touring acts. To light the way, Dushow provided a range of beam, wash, spot and strobe fixtures along with projectors with good light output, reliable, and simple operation capabilities. Robe MegaPointes, BMFL Wash Beams and BMFL Spots were among the workhorse fixtures of the extensive main stage lighting rig.

Impressively, the team also provided added kit for artists such as Macklemore or DJ Snake which required an additional 100+ fixtures in 30 minutes during the set change. This involved adding 46 Robe Pointes, 56 GLP JDC1s and 27 Martin by Harman Viper DXs. The latter moving heads were used to replicate a focal point of an 8m totem, in addition to a screen in the form of 14m x 2m DJ booth.

“The main difficulty was the changeover times. We have to load-in complete productions in 30 minutes in some cases.” To succeed, organisation and upstream thinking was required. Hamonou summed up: “It was a particularly complicated edition but a feat in great technical and human success. Everyone went away satisfied and the most importantly, the audience was able to fully enjoy the artists performances.” Arnaud Presse, Camille Loiseau, Lionel Mulet, Julien Riefenstal, Nicolas Marc, Stéphane Colin, Julien Rousseau, Benoit Saint Denis and Fabien Croize made up the main stage lighting team.

SOUND Historically, Dushow Project Manager Marc de Fouquières has maintained a basic principle when it comes to sound design - have as many boxes as possible in order to achieve best coverage - without overworking the speakers. Campagna recalled: “We insist on not having a big ‘in your face sound’ instead opting for quality, working with technical partners with the sound experts to achieve that.”

The resulting output was a soundscape that fit best for the festival both on and off stage. Capagna explained: “We want to make it as smooth as possible for the bands to turn up and play in the best sonic conditions.” As well as constant investment, key to the sound quality, according to Dushow Technical Manager Gaetan Salmon, was Meyer Sound boxes. “It’s a great sounding system with very low distortion and accidental headroom. In my opinion, it is the best system on the market.”

The main stage PA hangs comprised two clusters of 23 Meyer Sound LEO-M line array elements as well as two columns of 21 Meyer Sound 1100- LFC transient subwoofers in cardioid mode.

A cluster of six Meyer Sound LEO-M line array elements were purposed as down fills along with two clusters of eight Meyer Sound LEOPARDs. Four stacks of three Meyer Sound LINA small dense curvilinear elements

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MAIN SQUARE FESTIVAL

performed as front fills. While two clusters of six Meyer Sound LEOPARDs aside sounded the FOH delays.

Six Meyer Sound LEO-Ms as downfills and two clusters of eight Meyer Sound LEOPARD were purposed as out fills. Four additional stacks of three

Meyer Sound LINA small dense curvilinear elements were used as front fills. Whereas two clusters of six LEOPARDs were placed aside the FOH delay screen as delays.

For control, a mixture of Yamaha CL5, QL1 and Avid Profile Venue mixing desks were specified in FOH and monitor world across three stages along with a range of Shure and Sennheiser microphones.

The Bastion stage PA System boasted two stacks of four Meyer Sound LEOPARD two-way high-power cabinets on top of two stacks of three 900- LFC subs. Two Meyer Sound UPJ cabinets as fills and eight UM-1P wedge monitors made up the extensive Meyer Sound rig.

Marking one of the few festivals as audio operator, Salmon recalled his roots with the festival: “I’ve been doing this festival since 2012,” he smiled. “This is one of the first big festivals Live Nation covered in France, which has since opened the door to other big festivals in France and I’m thankful for that.”

Having signed an extended contract until 2026, Campagna relished the prospect of Live Nation France’s involvement in the festival for a further seven years. “We’ve hit 125,000 while still being a relatively young festival,” he said. “Its origins are anchored in the region and we reinvent our approach each year in line with the increased ticket and technology demand - which is rapidly evolving. Although now reached a level of maturity, we’re constantly striving to improve.” TPi Photos: Nicko Guihal, Marc de Fouquières & TPi www.mainsquarefestival.fr www.dushow.com www.alabama-media.com www.absen.com

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