Protec delivers for Jeddah World Fest
- Details
This event ties in with Vision 2030, a progressive plan which sees the country open up as an entertainment destination and relax some of its stricter laws around events. With the country’s General Entertainment Authority set to inject upwards of an estimated $60bn into the sector over the next decade, Jeddah World Fest is the first of many events which will fuel the AV and events sector in the Middle East.
Featured artists included Janet Jackson, 50 Cent, Chris Brown, Liam Payne, Steve Aoki, Tyga, Future, R3wire and Varski.
Project manager for Protec, Luke Doyle reports, “The show looked and sounded incredible. The stage structure was the largest ever seen in the Middle East. This type of event had never been done to this scale in KSA and it was a great show to be a part of for sure. Definitely one to remember. The crowd were fantastic and it was almost emotional to witness.
“As the line-up wasn’t 100% confirmed until last minute we were under immense pressure to fulfil the technical rider for each artiste. We had catered well technically for the event using stock from our Riyadh and Dubai warehouses, however, we had to move quickly to discuss the requirements with the relevant artiste’s teams and production and get the extra kit rushed into the country once the last line up was finalised. The event was also a few days behind on build schedule so we were tightly pushed on time to deliver from our side with only two nights for build and rehearsals. 22 crew were on site and managed to set up in two days and derig in one shift.”
Protec’s technical director Ed Ross comments, “We chose our L-Acoustics K2 as the primary PA for the event. This was for a combination of factors, including rigging height and weight loading. The PA comprised of a main left and right hang of 23 K2 each and two large outer hangs of four K1-SB, 13 K2 and six Kara per side, as the venue was very wide. Two small hangs of Kara were used behind the follow spot towers just to fill out the dead spots in that area. 32 x SB28 subs were used in a sub arc configuration, with Kara front-fills.”
Protec chose all DiGiCo consoles; SD7, SD10 and SD11 were used at FOH and an SD5 and SD10 at monitors. They also provided all the DJ equipment which was primarily four CDJ 2000 Nexus and DJM 900 Nexus.
“We had 20 channels of Sennheiser 2000 series IEMS and 16 x L-acoustics 115xtHIQ wedges for use by all the artistes, as well as large sidefills of L-acoustics ARCSII and SB28 onstage.” Ross adds. “We had a mixture of Shure Axient and Sennheiser wireless microphones along with a complete package of top end wired microphones from Shure, Sennheiser, Neuman, DPA and AKG.”
Lighting and production designer Mark Cunniffe designed the set up for the stage design. “Protec provided the fixtures which included 74 x SGM Q7 on outer SL & SR towers, 80 SGM P5 on inner SL & SR towers, 66 Claypaky Scenius Unico used on stage rear wall and stage sides, 20 Claypaky Scenius Profile used on stage rear wall and stage sides, 72 Claypaky K.10 B.Eye used on stage rear wall and stage sides, 25 Claypaky K.20 B.Eye used on stage rear wall,40 x Robe Pointe used to line the catwalk and the aprons of the SL/SR towers,” project manager Luke Doyle explains.
These fixtures were controlled by three Grand MA2 full size along with two NPU and a complement of Luminex Gigaswitch. We also supplied a WYSIWYG suite for this event. Two BMFL Blades were used in conjunction with two Robe RoboSpot ground control follow spot systems and 4 Gladiator followspots were used.”
Richard King, director of The Manual sums up the event: " Jeddah World Fest was the first of its kind in many ways, the first festival in Saudi Arabia, the first large scale outdoor show, amongst many other ‘firsts’. We created a historical moment where the audience came together to produce an experience never before seen in Jeddah.”
(Jim Evans)
