Topping the bill was REM, other highlights of an animated line up included hottest-guitar-band-of-the-moment Razorlight, The Thrills, Jamelia, Minnie Driver and her band, comedian Ricky Gervais and a special guest appearance by Coldplay's Chris Martin, who played two songs with REM.
The general lighting design was created by Bryan Leitch and based on a festival set up. It was programmed by Nick Whitehouse using one of the Diamond 4s, and a second Diamond 4 was made available offline at FOH for visiting LDs to pre-programme their show using Avolites' Visualiser (supplied as standard with every D4).
With only a short amount of time available for any pre-programming on the day, the second console was an invaluable aid to Matt Dowden (Razorlight), Geoff Hall (The Thirlls) and Baz Halpin (looking after REM for Susanne Sasic). This working practise has been used very successfully by Siyan when the company previously used Diamond 4's on the Radio One Stages, both Reading and Leeds V festivals.
The Diamond 4 controlled 12 SGM Giotto 400s, 20 MAC 600s, 16 Source Four profiles, 8 SGM Palco LED fixtures, assorted PARs and 12 Robe Show Lighting XT250 washes. The latter were used on the floor each side of stage at the sides to full the gaps, and give the cameras some form to look 'into' as the whole show was recorded for DVD by Done & Dusted. The Pearl 2004 was used to run the audience lighting.
Siyan - a dedicated Avolites enthusiast - is about to invest in another Diamond 4, "It's a stunning piece of kit" commented Bryan Leitch. Nick Whitehouse reckons that the D4 is the best and most powerful option for festivals and improvised shows needed in a high degree of hands-on flexibility.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
