Technical director Ben Price was responsible for a crew of over 200 and charged with the planning, design, procurement and coordination of all overlay and technical infrastructure. The festival required technical equipment from over six different European counties and the impressive supplier roster included some of the industry's leading companies including NUSSLI, Aggreko, RG Jones and HSL.
Planning commenced in May with Ben Price and site managers Chris Sheppard and Sam Andrews making the first of a number of site visits to Pula to develop a comprehensive capital works programme to ensure that the venue was fit for purpose and could safely accommodate the numbers.
One of the most challenging aspects of the pre-production was the client's desire to use a portion of the Fort's moat as an audience arena. This required massive ground-works and the installation of structural overlay for audience and artist access.
The main stage production was a lavish affair with a 16.45m transparent skinned archstage provided by NUSSLI set against a stunning backdrop. Audio supplier RG Jones provided a left and right flown Martin Audio W8L Longbow line array system and 16 x triple 18" sub-bass loudspeakers configured in a cardioid array to meet a demanding audio specification.
Under the direction of designer Nic Ayres HSL supplied an extensive LX/Video package comprising 16 x VL3000 Spots, 16 x VL3000 Wash lights and a multi-layered system of Martin EC-20 LED panels. Power generation was provided by two power islands supplied by Aggreko - one of 2 x 350kVA and one of 2 x 200kVA generators. Each island geared for parallel running and isochronous load sharing.
Technical director Ben Price said, "Delivering a nine stage festival with such a high volume of artists would be interesting anywhere in the world but doing so at this beautiful, albeit hugely challenging site required suppliers and crew of the very highest quality. Special praise goes to my core team of Jess Morgan, Chris Sheppard and Sam Andrews who all ended up batting a 1000. Everybody we brought on board delivered to the top of the game to make this a reality."
(Jim Evans)
