The majority of the cabling used during the Festival was high quality Van Damme, supplied UK by VDC Trading and sold to Kent Union Technical Services (the Student Union's internally-run events crew) by Idium Technology.
Over the last two years, Kent Union has amassed a selection of Van Damme multicore, mic, DMX and power cables, as well as an array of Cat 5 and video cabling. These purchases have been part of a major investment by the Student Union, which was determined to bring the running of events such as Keynestock in house, thus improving the range and quality of events on offer.
Jon Fagg, a final year student at the University who set up Idium Technology four years ago in conjunction with Robin Shuff, who is completing studies at the University of Southampton, says: "In the past the Students Union has used external companies to handle the technical side of its events, but it became apparent that we had all the necessary skills amongst the student population, so we set up the Kent Society to harness them. The Keynestock Festival is by far the biggest event we have organised and this year it was an overwhelming success."
The Festival comprised three days of live music, starting with a Friday night warm-up party in the college bar. On Saturday, the main stage hosted 16 student bands and acts that had undergone nine weeks of auditions to win a place among the finalists in a Battle of the Bands competition. This year's overall winner was Elena Goulding, who performed an acoustic set that was well received by the sell-out audience.
(Jim Evans)
