GLASTONBURY
it with the group’s own touring set up – which came courtesy of Universal
Pixels. The company deployed the biggest LED screen at this year’s
festival. The 2019 TPi Awards Favourite Video Rental Company supplied
a 19m x 11m Leyard CLM10 screen, which was more than a third larger
than The Chemical Brothers’ usual touring video screen. This increased
the resolution, had 44% transparency and, crucially, weighed under three
tonnes, which was essential for The Other Stage’s weight-loading limits.
Universal Pixels also continued its support of Years & Years at the
festival and provided a ser ver package for Vampire Weekend – both bands
played the Pyramid Stage on the final day.
Audio duties for The Other Stage were overseen by Skan PA. This year,
the company’s design consisted of 20 d&b audiotechnik KSL 8/12s, 18 KSL
side hangs, 20 SL subs in an end on sub array, V8 centre hangs and J12
front fills between the main and side arrays. Using array processing and
careful temperature and humidity monitoring, Skan was able to provide
consistency across the audience area.
Along with stage and control, Skan put multicores of ever y flavour into
the ground tunnels so that all artists could simply turn up and plug in. This
comprised eight multicores, two dual HMA, three dual OpticalCon Duo,
Quad Ethercon, eight-way BNC and a dedicated headline multi. Each multi
had its own power and tielines. FOH control was all matrixed by a DiGiCo
SD11i with mini racks on stage and at FOH. This also took care of shouts, VIP
and transmits for sign language signers.THE PARK
Tucked away in the south west of the festival site was the Park stage. Famed
each year for being the site of many secret sets throughout the weekend,
this year was no different, with performances from Vampire Weekend and
Foals. Having been involved with the festival since 1995, Bristol-based SWG
Events took up residence at the Park Stage for yet another year, providing a
audio, lighting and video package for the three days.
“In 2007 Emily Eavis began a new project to develop The Park as a whole
area of the festival,” recalled SWG’s Operations Manager, Mark Bott. “Wewere invited to supply audio and lighting solutions and quickly developed
into supplying solutions for other venues in The Park, including The Rabbit
Hole, Stonebridge Bar, HMS Sweet Charity and the Land’s End Bar.”
Bott continued to outline the challenge of overseeing the site year
on year, especially with the much-anticipated secret sets. “Each year,
we welcome surprise acts at The Park who are used to performing on
much larger stages. Our challenge is to accommodate both the incoming
production and incoming audience sizes.”
The audio offering that SWG now provides for The Park stage has
certainly evolved from the original analogue package to a full digital
console set up and Martin Audio line array system. “This year we upgraded
to a DiGiCo SD10 mixing console on monitors,” stated Bott.
Meanwhile FOH control and matrixing was covered by Lab Gruppen
LM44 Lake processors and the house console was an Avid Profile. “With the
audio system, it’s really important that engineers feel they have the level of
control over the PA so they get the best sound possible for their artist,” said
Bott. “The Avid Venue Profile is still a good festival choice as ever y visiting
engineer has a file or knows the console. We also have a large number of
visiting consoles at The Park, so we add various types of cable systems and
connectivity choices to cover these.”
This year, SWG’s set up consisted of two 12-box hangs of Martin Audio
W8LC, 16 WS218X subs, four W8LCDs and a combination of fills.
When it came to lighting, Bott explained that the goal was to provide
visiting artists and lighting engineers with “plenty of options to enhance
their performance”. By selecting a range of fixtures from Robe, SWG was
able to satisfy the majority of the artist riders.
The main rig comprised 24 Robe Spiiders, eight SuperSpikies, Robe
MegaPointes and Robe LED Beam 150s. Also on the rider were eight Martin
by Harman Atomic 3000s, 12 SGM P-5s and myriad pars and blinders. “We
did provide some additional units as floor packages specific to individual
acts across the weekend,” commented Bott.
The FOH console provided was a ChamSys MQ500 and a ChamSys
Stadium Wing. “For lighting, we installed a fibre optic Art-net network thisThe SWG Events team.