Events United supplies complete rig for Soulfest
- Details
“We designed this rig to be complete so it could provide big looks for the opening acts, while also complementing the floor packages brought in by the headliners,” said Tim Messina of Events United, which also supplied a “world class sound system” for the event. “As Soulfest has continued to grow over the years, Events United’s role has grown with it - from first providing production for a few smaller stages, to this year providing full production (audio, video, lighting, and backline) for the large stages of the festival.”
It was Events United’s goal to create striking, yet simple symmetry and basic fixture profile modes for the downstage, mid-stage and upstage trusses of the Revival Stage (A stage) rig. The Events United team provided this straightforward and impactful set-up to allow easy cloning for touring LDs, all of whom carried their own floor packages to complement EU’s flown system.
The A Stage rig featured an impressive ensemble of: 12 Maverick MK2 Washes, 12 Maverick MK1 Hybrids, four Maverick MK2 Spots, 32 COLORado 2 Solos, four Ovation E-260WW IP elipsoidals, eight Xeno 2500 strobes, six STRIKE 1 units and six STRIKE 4 fixtures. Each side of the stage had video walls consisting of 120 PVP X6IP video tiles. These displays were used for IMAG during the acts and video advertising between sets. Events United provided 5 cameras for IMAG and recording.
Messina explains how it all came together: “We hung the fixtures on three 50’ pieces of truss positioned upstage, mid-stage and downstage. The downstage truss held 32 COLORado 2 Solos, 4 Ovation E-260WW IPs, and six STRIKE 1s. On the mid-stage truss, we placed eight MK2 four Washes, four MK1 Hybrids, and four STRIKE 4s, while the upstage truss had four MK2 Washes, eight MK1 Hybrids, and two STRIKE 4s.”
“Regardless of the type of music being performed on stage, we were able to reflect it in our lighting,” said Messina. “Sometimes, we washed the stage in soft pastels. At other times, we hit it with intense beams and did a lot of audience lighting. All in all, we gave the opening acts a level of lighting that went way beyond expectations.”
“Events United also provided an audio system that featured d&b J series speakers, M4 wedges, D80 amps, Avid consoles, Shure ULXD wireless mics and Shure PSM1000 in-ear systems,” says Messina. “Donald Van Slyke, our FOH engineer, made sure all of the opening acts were mixed as if they were the headliners - and Chase Clark, our monitor engineer, did an excellent job working with the bands on stage.”
(Jim Evans)
