A day to celebrate at White Hart Lane
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“The closing ceremony proved a triumph,” said Andrew Zweck of Sensible Events who helped produce the ceremony with Spurs. “Broadcast live to over 13m fans around the world, Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler said after the ceremony, ‘this is a club that is doing everything right’ and I’m sure I heard 13m voices say, ‘Aye’.”
Zweck is a season ticket holder and as a fan was happy to help. “What we did was bring in rock and roll companies because this had to be fast and be really classy. Phil Mercer at Unipix provided an additional big screen up on Stageco towers, and all audio came from Britannia Row.”
Tom Brown, Brit Row’s project manager for the event explained how months of meetings preceded the event. “The fact is it needs a lot of care and attention to detail. This is 2017 and audio has to be perfect, not just within the stadium, it has to be perfect to broadcast as well. We were not allowed to place anything around the pitch before the game had ended, apart from a small amp’ station placed well behind each goal and fully padded just in case. We had barely 20 minutes after the match ended to have everything on the field and ready to go live to broadcast.”
The complete system comprised 11 stacks of L-Acoustics Kara including SB28 Subs around the pitch perimeter, two Yamaha CL5 for live mix and IEMs, and a Profile to manage Pro Tools tracks. “We had ambient mics to track a thirty-piece marching band and thirty voice choir,” continued Brown. “That’s a big deal in itself. Then there was a close mic’d tenor Wynne Evans a world class opera singer and all were performing live in a torrential downpour. Plus, we had VT of Spurs Legends narrated by Sir Kenneth Brannagh. That all had to be perfect.”
“There is no blue print for something like this,” added Zweck. “It has to evolve. Spurs management knew they wanted their fans to feel involved, to have the fans singing and be part of it. Tom Brown and the guys from Brit Row did a great job making it seem simple. It couldn’t have gone better. They have people with vision at Spurs.”
Spurs now move home games to Wembley Stadium for the 2017/2018 season and plan to open the new stadium in Tottenham in August 2018.
(Jim Evans)
