With all technical and production duties overseen by York based events specialists Camel Event Production, KV2 Audio loudspeakers were used on the Black Howl stage, the Arts Barge stage and, most importantly if the festivals slogan is to be taken literally, the Firkin beer tent stage - home to 300 firkins of fine ale.
The Black Howl Stage was situated within a large circus top and focussed on a wide range of acoustic orientated artists - ranging from solo singer-songwriters to full on rock and roll bands. One of KV2 Audio's ES Systems was used for Front of House duties.
KV2 products were also on hand to provide on stage monitoring with a pair of ESM12's powered by the dedicated ESP 4000 amplifier.
The Arts Barge Project brings together 100 creative people and orchestrates unique musical experiences, culminating in their own Arts Barge Tea Tent. The project lost their arts centre 15 years ago and with rising rental costs making affordable real estate unviable they have turned their attention towards purchasing a Dutch barge to create a river-based venue in York.
Part of the requirement moving forward is a compact and versatile sound system. At a separate fund-raising event earlier in the summer Camel provided their compact EX 6 & EX 1.2 system for consideration. The event was a great success and led to The Arts Barge Project requesting the same system for their Galtres Stage with a view to investing in a fixed KV2 install when the barge project becomes reality.
The stage saw a wide variety of acts from spoken word to gypsy jazz, dance classes to ukulele workshops complimented by tea, cake and curries with a daily "Jazz Breakfast". The audio system comprised of two active 2-way 6" EX 6's per side enhanced by an ultra compact active single 12" subwoofer on each side. KV2's ESM 26's were also used for stage monitoring.
The final stage to benefit from KV2 was the Firkin beer tent, where a pair of active EX 10's were responsible for covering the entire tent evenly and accurately.
Overall, the festival was a great success with Camel Event Production's Kevin Wilson commenting, "Having been very pleased with the EX6 / 1.2 / ESM systems we purchased earlier this year we were interested to try the ES system. Massively positive reactions from both musicians and audience members would seem to prove that the larger format system delivers in the same refined way.
"We look forward to expanding our KV2 inventory and continuing to bring the best possible audio experience to future events. I have been very impressed with the level of service and personal interest taken by KV2 and by their flexibility and willingness to help as well as by the beautifully made and sounding products."
(Jim Evans)
