Jeddah World Fest was a record-breaking historic end to the Jeddah Summer Season. Held on 18th July, the inaugural edition of the music festival took place in the grounds of King Abdullah Sports (KSA) City, Jeddah, and attracted a sell-out crowd of almost 40,000 music fans. Protec proudly delivered an extensive audio, lighting and rigging package for its client, The Manual, on behalf of Roqu Media.
22 crew members were on site and set up in two days, before derigging everything in one shift.
Audio Solutions
Protec’s technical director, Ed Ross, talked us through the audio setup: “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 4 x K1-SB, 13 K2 and 6 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 frontfills. The power to weight and size ratio of the K2 made this perfect as we were able to hang very large hangs as the main left and right to get the throw needed without main delay towers which the client didn’t want.”
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 4 x 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.
“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 solutions
Award winning lighting and production designer, Mark Cunniffe, designed the set up for this elaborate stage design.
Project manager, Luke Doyle said: “74 x SGM Q7 on outer SL & SR towers, 80 x SGM P5 on inner SL & SR towers, 66 x Clay Paky Scenius Unico used on stage rear wall and stage sides, 20 x Clay Paky Scenius Profile used on stage rear wall and stage sides, 72 x Clay Paky K.10 B.Eye used on stage rear wall and stage sides, 25 x Clay Paky 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.
“These fixtures were controlled by 3 x Grand MA2 full size along with 2 x 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 four Gladiator followspots were used.”
The creative lighting design looked impressive from all angles and with the major challenge being time the crew managed to dead hang approx. 340 fixtures in two nights. Despite this large quantity of fixtures, and the harsh weather conditions not a single fixture failed.
Production and lighting designer, Mark Cunniffe, commented: “Protec’s equipment was faultless and, despite the extreme weather conditions and short setup time, the team managed to deliver a spectacular show.”
Richard King, director of The Manual, added: “When creating the show, it was essential we used excellent suppliers, like Protec, which is known for its reliability and huge inventory available.
“With 20 years’ experience in the region, they confidently coped with tight deadlines and changes to riders and pulled out all the stops to ensure Jeddah World Fest put Saudi on the map as an entertainment destination.”
This content is sponsored by Protec.
Author: Molly Hookings
Molly joined the editorial team in March 2019. She has several years’ experience working in broadcast and journalism, as well as marketing and PR. Past experience includes working for the BBC and independent publishing houses. If you have a story you think Molly might be interested in, please email: molly@eventindustrynews.com
