XP MUSIC FUTURES

Running from 28-30 November in the days prior to SOUNDSTORM, XP Music Futures saw the region’s music community assemble in Riyadh’s Jax District for three days of captivating sessions, immersive activations, diverse speakers, workshops and, of course, a hefty dose of partying after dark.

Launched in December 2021, XP is built on four pillars which, according to MDLBEAST, “are the cornerstones of who we are, what we believe in, and our roadmap for the future of music”. The first pillar, ‘talent’, is all about focusing on the people that make the industry possible; ‘scene’ meanwhile is focused on growing the audience organically to create a robust music economy; ‘impact’ is all about empowering and enabling the Saudi Arabian scene through the application of knowledge creation; while ‘innovation’ taps into all the latest developments in the creative tech space, from NFTs to Web3.

Highlights from this year’s conference included keynote speaker Mathew Knowles; a fireside chat with David Guetta; Wellness for the Constantly Creative with Hardwell; Afrojack’s Wall Camp; and How Virtual Artists and Beings Change the Game in the AI-Driven Metaverse, delivered by Sensorium’s Art Director & Deputy CEO Sasha Tityanko as well as incognito virtual artist SVORA.

Photos: MDLBEAST www.mdlbeast.com/events/xp-2022 as the setup. In addition to the audio, lighting, video, and rigging, we also supplied backline for a few of the performers, including Jorja Smith and Michael Kiwanuka.”

According to Pudaruth, one of the biggest challenges was the massive delivery of environmental lighting, which comprised more than 2,500 fixtures, along with 5km of festoon lights deployed throughout the site. The supply included a combination of Martin MAC Auras and MAC Quantums, Robe Spiiders, several types of Krypton wash fixtures and battens, MI Bars controlled through Madrix, as well as 4-Lite LED and RGB Molefays, and five MA Lighting grandMA3 consoles.

“I am extremely proud of the MediaPro team who worked on the project over the past few months,” Pudaruth stated, placing on record his appreciation for at least two dozen key members of the team “without whom this project would not have been possible”. He added: “This project was a collaborative effort between so many good people, and I would like to especially thank Michael Jobson and Matt Richman for trusting us with it. What they are doing in Saudi Arabia is incredible. I can only imagine what they will accomplish in the future.”

The COO concluded by stating his ambitions for MediaPro’s future in the Kingdom. “We understood the potential of this market a long time ago, and MediaPro has had offices in the country since 2017. As part of our efforts to manage shows at the same level as international shows, we have invested a great deal of equipment into KSA. Our local team also includes experts in their fields from all over the world. Likewise, we are identifying Saudi nationals and local resources to be added to our team. We currently have operations in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam, and as part of our growth strategy, we plan to expand our operations to additional cities in Saudi Arabia to meet market demands.”

‘THE CREATION OF AN INDUSTRY’

The UNDERGROUND area comprised four main stages – each of which were designed by Sam Tozer of Vision Factory – as well as the Polygon stage, which was reserved for VIB ticketholders. All the UG stages were created using shipping containers, which were arranged in various formations to produce designs that were starkly different, yet all followed the industrial, underground rave theme.

UG1 saw the containers jutting out above the stage to form a makeshift roof structure, with a large central LED screen used as a backdrop to the stage and the PA flown on cranes either side. UG2 was centred around an impressive central LED monolith with a pronounced crack running down its centre. UG3 was an indoor stage completely surrounded by mirrors, creating a seemingly endless environment for lighting beams to bounce off. UG4 meanwhile was an in-the-round multi-level auditorium featuring VIB Booths and an exclusive Royal Box.

Audio for each of the four main UG stages was supplied by Eighth Day Sound. A total of 334 d&b audiotechnik loudspeakers were deployed across the stages, all powered by D80 amplification, with 24 Clair CO-10s and 16 CP-218s used for DJ monitors.

Lighting, video, and rigging was provided by Colour Sound Experiment, which also supplied architectural lighting for the external space around the UNDERGROUND area, including the

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VIB Walkways, and provided a central control cabin to manage everything off a single network. “Our objective was to make the biggest rave bigger and better,” explained Colour Sound Experiment’s Haydn Cruickshank. “We aimed to integrate all the areas together and to use the knowledge gained from working on last year’s festival to create efficiencies where possible.”

This year’s extended scope provided the Colour Sound team with an opportunity to integrate the four stage interiors with the environmental lighting, which was designed by Stuart Pring. TPMEA grabbed a few minutes with Pring during the festival, who explained a bit more about how he approached the task of lighting “everything that’s not a stage”.

The main challenge, he said, was ensuring that both the elevated walkway and ground levels were well lit. “Lighting a site on two levels added a whole new dimension to the task, but it also provided opportunities and plenty of natural positions to light from, so we could use the walkway to fire down onto ground level.”

Pring explained that the environmental lighting wasn’t just functional – it needed to create a “certain vibe” throughout the festival.

“The idea is that it’s like a big club, so we didn’t want to put in bright white light everywhere,” he stated. “I want to make it feel like you’ve just walked into the biggest, best party in the world.”

To that end, a variety of moving head fixtures were selected, with the brand-new IP-rated Martin MAC Aura XIP, supplied by Colour Sound Experiment, a particular feature of the UG space.

“The fact that the XIP is IP-rated but still so light and easy to handle has meant we’ve been able to hang them with very minimal infrastructure required,” Pring said. “They have performed incredibly well and I’m looking forward to seeing what else they can do in other settings.”

One of the major issues on a site this size – especially over two levels – is that it’s impossible to have eyes on all the lights all the time. To combat this, the team came up with the ingenious solution of running everything off a laptop via Wi-Fi. “All the lights on site can be controlled instantly from the iPad,” he shared. “This was really the only sensible choice because of the scale. It’s a super simple solution, but it’s been working for us very well.”

For Colour Sound’s Cruickshank, the main challenge lay in marrying up Pring’s and Tozer’s environmental and stage designs with the existing structures and working with the engineers to make them work together. “None of the structures are ‘regular stages’, so there is a lot of custom fabrication and associated engineering sign off to get everything in the right place and structurally sound,” he commented. “Networking everything together to a central lighting and video control point was probably the greatest achievement; although we’ve done this previously on festival sites, this was a big one!”

Colour Sound has gone all-in on Saudi Arabia, opening a 3,000 sq m facility in Jeddah and stocking it with large quantities of brand-new, premium equipment. “I like to think we have led the field here,” Cruickshank said. “We aren’t just dumping old kit over here and we aren’t servicing Saudi from Dubai. We’re genuinely trying to build a self-sustaining operation, and hopefully we’re training local staff on how to be good roadies.”

One thing that’s important to note is that SOUNDSTORM wasn’t the only MDLBEAST event taking place in Q4 2022. While the festival was going on, the company was also busy delivering its first major event outside the Kingdom, MDLBEAST Presents Aravia – 28 nights of postmatch entertainment at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Then, the week after SOUNDSTORM, the party rolled onto the streets of Jeddah for Balad Beast. Plus, in the three days leading up to the festival, MDLBEAST also put on its XP Music Futures conference, which provided workshops, panel discussions and late-night parties.

As a s tandalone festival and a display of technical excellence, there’s no doubt that SOUNDSTORM is a truly world-class event. However, after spending time in Saudi Arabia, witnessing the festival and speaking to some of the people who made it happen, the biggest takeaway that we at TPMEA had, was that there’s a bigger goal here: the building of a brand-new industry that can support a country with massive ambitions – and the resources to achieve them.

“It’s not really about SOUNDSTORM 2022,” concluded Curly. “It’s about building the live events industry – promoters, venues, concert production, all the things that go with it. This is about the creation of an industry across the board, and we’re at the sharp end of it.”

Photos: MDLBEAST www.mdlbeast.com www.productionglue.com www.prg.com www.mediaproav.com www.coloursound.com www.mtd.net www.aggreko.com www.byrnerental.com www.rockit.global www.eventlab.me www.gingerowl.co.uk www.tag-group.com