The three-day festival has been going for more than 30 years, and is now one of Europe's greatest music events. Pukkelpop selects its 300 musical acts from the alternative fringe, and presents the different genres across 10 stages. This year, VDB-PA was responsible for the Shelter stage (hard rock/metal), the Club stage (pop/rock/hip-hop) and the Castello stage (electronic music), using NEXO STM and GEO systems.
This year, VDB-PA has made a major investment into Nexo's STM modular line array technology, purchasing 18 sets of STM M46 and B112 main and bass cabinets, together with 24x STM S118 subbass cabinets. This inventory expands VDB's considerable stock of Nexo products, which includes Geo Series, RS Subs, 45°N-12 line monitors and many PS Series cabinets.
The 3000-capacity Club Stage was played by Catfish & The Bottlemen, Matt Corby, Glass Animals, Julia Holter and Brian Fallon & The Crowes. System set-up was nine sets of STM M46+B112 per side, with 24x S118 subs running in cardio mode groundstacked along the front. STM M28 modules were used for front-fill, and PS15 cabinets for stage monitoring.
Along with delay towers of five M28 modules per side, an identical set-up was used on the Castello stage, slightly larger with an audience capacity of 4000. Artists included Tale of Us, George Fitzgerald, Bob Moses, Kink Live, Palms Trax and Dusky Live.
Over on the Shelter stage, where the hard rock and metal acts were playing (Refused, Neurosis, Mastodon, Graveyard and Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg), there was a Geo D rig - 10x D10 cabinets per side, with two Geo Subs in the array, and 16x RS18s on the ground. 45°N-12s were on-stage for monitoring.
From Nexo's Engineering Support Team, Theo Said was on hand to help set-up the new STM systems. "Set up and system tuning went very well. VDB's technicians liked the way STM sounds flat and didn't push the EQ too hard. All three venues were in big tents so the acoustics were not optimal. However, the skilled VDB team demonstrated impressive knowledge and efficiency in getting the stages up and running. It was a pleasure to work with open-minded young technicians like these."
Nexo's success in Belgium continues, with leading companies like ARTO and VDB using the modular line arrays on several of the country's top festivals - Couleur Café, Les Francofolies, the Brussels Summer Festival and Leuven.
(Jim Evans)
