To handle audio production duties for this year's 46th annual bash, Milwaukee World Festival, the non-profit organisation that runs the event, once again turned to local provider Clearwing Productions, which specified the use of more than 340 L-Acoustics loudspeaker enclosures for FOH throughout the grounds.
According to Bryan Baumgardner, Clearwing audio operations/logistics manager, eight of Summerfest's nine largest stages - including the 25,000-capacity Marcus Amphitheater - featured L-Acoustics systems. Five of those stages - the Marcus, as well as Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard, Harley-Davidson Roadhouse, BMO Harris Pavilion (formerly Classic Rock Stage) and U.S. Cellular Connection - utilized K1 for the primary house arrays. Additionally, the system for the Johnson Controls World Sound Stage (formerly Potawatomi Stage) was built around KARA, while Uline Warehouse featured V-DOSC.
A new addition to Summerfest's gear list this year was the use of L-Acoustics' ARCS WIFO enclosures. At Jo Jo's Martini Lounge, Clearwing vertically flew one ARCS Focus over two ARCS WIDE per side, which replaced two six-enclosure KIVA arrays used in years prior.
ARCS WIDE systems were also used on half of the stages for both front-fill and side-fill. "We previously used standard ARCS boxes, but ARCS WIDE has a larger dispersion pattern that makes it particularly ideal for side-fill," says Baumgardner, "Plus the power rating is better suited for front-fill applications. They worked perfectly and everyone was really happy with them."
He adds that Clearwing has been providing audio for the festival since 1995 and first began deploying V-DOSC there back in 2000, shortly after acquiring its first rig. Since then, L-Acoustics has been on the equipment spec every year.
"One of the primary reasons we use L-Acoustics is because of its high rider acceptability; nobody says 'no' to K1, Kara, Kudo or V-DOSC," says Baumgardner. "We've been using these systems at Summerfest for a long time now and they consistently prove themselves to be the right choice year after year. It's what the festival wants as well as what the artists want. We don't have to convince anyone to use it."
Less than two weeks after the close of Summerfest, Clearwing supplied 80 K1, 32 K1-SB and numerous other L-Acoustics enclosures for a huge Pearl Jam concert at Chicago's Wrigley Field.
(Jim Evans
