The entertainment line up included Gary Barlow, Will Young, Melanie C, Alfie Boe, Charlie Siem, The Feeling, Kimberly Walsh, BGT winners Spelbound and many others, uniting Team GB and ParalympicsGB for both the Olympics and Paralympics in the run up to the summer Games.
The equally high-profile guest list for the black tie event was topped by TeamGB ambassadors including Sir Steve Redgrave, Dame Kelly Holmes, Denise Lewis OBE and Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. They joined over 3000 people for dinner with gastronomy created by Michelin starred chef, Simon Hulstone.
LarMac LIVE were contracted by Team GB/ParalympicsGB and worked in unison with Fireball, who co-ordinated all the night's fundraising and FOH operations.
LarMac's Jo MacKay (creative producer) and Ian Greenway (producer) were recommended to produce the show both technically and creatively based on their recent work and extensive knowledge and experience of the venue - in which they have produced several other cutting-edge one off and special events.
LarMac Live worked creatively with the Allstars Collective to facilitate musical performances for a key event sponsor as well as other guests artists, and for the first live performance of the official Our Greatest Team song One Vision with Alfie Boe, Kimberly Walsh and the Youth Music Voices.
With excitement and anticipation ramping up ahead of the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games count-down, it was absolutely crucial for all elements of this event to be spot on. Says MacKay, "We were hugely honoured to be asked to work alongside Team GB/ParalympicsGB & Fireball on this show, and add our expertise and skills to the mix."
MacKay's stage design divided the performance space into three interchangeable sections, delineated by moving screens and drapes.
The most downstage section was masked off at the back by a large blue drape with a high resolution screen in front, eight feet off the floor. This is where hosts Davina McCall and John Bishop introduced presenters, guest speakers, performers and VT links that played out on the screen above.
The second stage look saw the area immediately behind the forestage open as the front screen was raised. This was used as a performance area, still in front of the blue drape. With break up gobos and projection creating movement and depth on the blue velvet backdrop
Look three revealed the entire stage and choir stalls - including house band the All Stars, positioned upstage - and three large screens in the centre, flanked by four additional columns of screen each side. All the live bands playing and using their own backlines also used this format
LML brought Chris Saunders of OgleHog on-board to manage the screen content and all live video aspects of the event. This included cameras and IMAG mixing and direction, together with formatting of all the VT playback material supplied by the BOA and running the projection system for the silent auction, which was displayed on two side screens left and right of the stage.
The screens and the moving blue drape were all flown on a Kinesys automation system supplied by lighting contractors HSL, who, together with Martin Professional provided the Martin LC-2140, EC-10 and EC-20 screen.
Audio was supervised by Derrick Zieba, with equipment supplied by Britannia Row, comprising an L-Acoustics K-1 system with Midas PRO9 consoles at FOH and onstage. The FOH mix was engineered by Colin Pink and Tom Brown, with monitors looked after by Dan Ungaretti.
LML also brought in many of their other regular suppliers including Music Bank (Backline) and Kevin Monks from Blackout as Head Rigger. Blackout also supplied the drapes and soft goods for the show and the dressing
